Marky

I have a 97 GTB It is running just fine, and 90% of the time does a pretty consistent 15psi (ish, the gauge cost me $5) on either primary or both. Problem is the 10% of the time it doesn't want to, it decides to just run about 8 or 9 psi on primary and then 15 on secondary. Car has factory downpipes and 3" from Y pipe back, pod filter, and I've already tried de gunking everything with some upper engine cleaner (which for the record is a fricken miracle product). Is it just the ECU pulling boost back, or would it be the factory BCS sticking closed now & then? Tonight put foot down in third, sat on 9psi for a second or two (I mean quite steady), jumped to 15 for a bit, then VOD time so it's hard to repeat the problem. Solution is easy (relief valve time) but something in me just likes the idea of leaving it ECU controlled haha

Quick way to verify the boost side of things - chuck a boost gauge on it first On factory boost to be honest they feel damn near no-boost to start with at times. There isn't many places for a leak to create itself - you can see and tighten the clamps from turbo to intercooler from the passengers side, just check the basics - are all hoses plugged in nicely etc. Try an ECU reset before anything else, mine had defaulted itself to WG pressure for some reason (like 8psi), feels dead flat but still 15-16 on secondary, ECU reset, and a can of engine clean stuff through it and down all the vacuum hoses and it's woken back up, 14-15psi on primary and same on secondary, much more.. happier. If the car thinks there is a problem it may be not enough to go into limp mode, but might still hold boost back. For the record I left the BOV hose off and went for a drive, actually drove relatively fine apart from me wondering why I had so much BOV flutter haha

Tightened throttle cable, mucho smoother-o Removed towbar, scraped on every driveway and I have no trailer anyway Moved pod filter to behind foglight hole instead of just attached to AFM, that "seems" to make a noticable difference but time will tell, sound mint if nothing else haha Tightened up all the half - arsed bolts, clamps and so on the previous owner had left for me to find Tried to work out why air con does not work, oh look the radiator has been removed... Ok off with that belt then Whipped plugs out gave them a clean and regap a bit closer Got the spat things (that clip behind the back wheels) back on it, found them in spare wheel well, looks much more in proportion now I don't want to know what other little joys I'm going to find with this car

Hence why I also suggested just getting a complete dead / dereg GTB to just swap the bits over from. He could keep his suspension & running gear (and sounds/interior etc also??) and have a relatively trouble - free swap, either way it goes (either dereg GTB bits into TSR or swapping the "good" TSR bits into a dead GTB). That said you can't put a price on emotion - there's been too many exes I sunk too much $$ into when I should have just upgraded haha

+1 to the above It doesn't always show leaner, or richer, it just isn't quite as accurate for that exact reason ^^ Suffice to say - if the car does not use the factory 02 sensor anymore (i.e has gone to aftermarket ECU) or has a spare bung in the up or downpipe, then it is preferable to use it as that will give the most accurate reading.

Are you positive you've actually got a turbo motor in there? Don't want to go to all this effort just to have a grenade (though sometimes they'll still go forever) My thoughts on it are that if you convert it, you're still left with a bit of an orphan car. Noone would buy a converted (to turbo) car when a factory GTB goes for so little $$ these days, unless it was something really special. The best thing to buy would be maybe one of the countless ones selling with dead regos or bung HG/BEB for around the 1k - 2k for a minta mark. Theres one in chch, silver, which looks immaculate and 2k for example. Then you can grab every single bit you want, sell off the rest afterwards and hopefully recoup some cost without having to fart around finding bits and pieces. Or better yet... if there are things like you say about your car which are mint and you want to keep a hold of, you could swap them from your TSR shell to the GTB, and just find an n/a motor to bung back in your TSR and flick it off. End result you have a genuine GTB (matching engine numbers aren't exactly a common thing with them anyway!) and you could recoup some if not all of the $$ by selling off the TSR. I dunno... Just my way of thinking. Lost too much money over the years with hairbrained car related plans when there's normally a faster, easier (and cheaper!) way to do things, only ever looks clear in hindsight.

Just cause I can be bothered driving 40km to ruapuna I'll chuck this one up

Brought it home (97 GTB Man in rare-as white) Got to have a bit more of an in-depth look at it, found the bonnet isn't just sitting a bit high, it's just plain bent a bit... So new bonnet needed, joy. Also heard a mystery whine after about 2 hours driving it, could be diff, could be gbox (still does it in neutral), could be something to ignore for now till it gets louder. Got head unit installed, some people are mongrels ripping them out of cars! Cut the wires as far back as they could have inside the dash, sasquatch hands do not agree too well with that confined space. Bonus being I then found it had $500 worth of speakers in it. Found 3" Y pipe back exhaust, yay, thought it just had a big muff. Found 100mm ground clearance, boo, perfect for quakechurch rds, hadn't noticed it was that low when buying it... Meh legal is legal. That is all

How would a boost controller cause what sounds like a misfire or leak? Car fine on w/g pressure, hits 12psi starts farting around, sounds like misfire - he could be using a hole drilled in the wg line to raise boost or a $1000 EBC it still has the same result

To be fair 17" tyres are cheaper than most other sizes these days (depending on quality obviously). Take the opportunity and go to larger wheels. Same rolling diameter, near enough to same weight, and you will *probably* notice a difference in sharpness / firmess going to lower profile tyres. I noticed last time I went from 16"s to 17"s on a car. HEAPS of cheap factory suby 17"s around. Won't look jacked up on account of they do come with 17"s out of the box - it's not quite the same as a late 80s civic on 18"s at least haha

By the sounds of it, it's nothing to do with the boost controller. If it is an air leak, if you have access to a compressor try pressurising the intake - block off the intake @ the AFM (a baked beans can is 3 inch haha) and crank 20psi in there. If there is an air leak, that's how you'll find it in no time. It will bleed pressure off slowly (like 1psi a second) - anything more and start listening for a hiss. The boost controller is going to either work fine, or it will either stick open (and give factory boost) or stick closed (and freeboost), what you're describing sounds like either a misfire (check the plugs, look for an extra black one) or an intake leak somewhere.

Thought occurred to me - after he said "i replaced the bonnet" I just went "why...." - gave it a real good once over, no sign of anything up front having a knock or anything else untoward. Seems legit. At this point my theory is a rather large unit has sat on the front of it

Must be all it is. Or maybe the support bracket is bent - would explain it sitting a bit skewed as well. No drama, will sort, just figured I'd ask

Hi, Just bought a 97 GTB, picking it up tomorrow night - guy I got it from tells me he has replaced the bonnet, as the old one was beyond hope with dents etc. Problem is the one on it now just doesn't fit quite right - it sits ever so slightly too high, the catch doesn't grab it quite right (lifts slightly at speed) and it looks like it's a slightly different shape to the rest of the car, the line between guard & bonnet isn't fluch and it doesn't quite follow the line of the headlights right. It is definately a facelift (at least the headlights are) - do the pre-facelift ones (the 93-95? ones) have a slightly different shape, is it likely that's all it is? Dumb question but just putting my mind at ease. Will take it to suby wreckers next week and see what they reckon as well.

I'd be far more worried right now about the non turbo fuel pump not supplying enough and just blowing it up all on it's own. There is a reason there is a turbo one and a non turbo one. The TYPE of boost control has nothing to do with this problem. You could just drill a hole in the wastegate line to run whatever pressure you want. If you have a boost cut of 15psi (or whatever) then just don't run that much, problem solved. But get the fuel pump sorted before you keep fanging it.

Favourite job I saw on one of the gun city cars was "hmm, it's going a bit lean, needs a bigger fuel pump. OR we could just cable tie this spare 25t fuel pump lying over here to the pump cradle... and use this brass T piece to feed into the fuel line... Yeah that'll be fine". If it works it works I guess. I used to live not far from their place, sometimes you could hear the sweet sounds of a very angry skyline getting opened up for a veeeeery long time - lots of long straight roads north of chch

You're implying that those days are over ;D

My '97 GTB - it was auto which was a shame, bought for 2k, cleaned it, towed my VR4 with it a few times then sold it for 4k hahaha And my '99 GTB - Loved it to bits, really miss it. Sucky part is I've moved across town and see it around now & then with the new owner - he lowered it a sh!tload and it looks mint now too!

This makes my head hurt a little Car was fine Intake got pulled to bits Car runs bad Have you tried borrowing an AFM? Easy simple intake leak test - if you can borrow a compressor, block the front of the AFM (a baked beans can is 3" just quietly), pressurise intake (use a vacuum hose from before the throttle), listen for a leak. Hell even a bike pump will do it in a pinch. If you hear hissing, you have found a leak. Saved me hours on countless cars, the most simple diagnosis you can do short of checking things are plugged in properly. Changing plugs won't make idle go bad. Plugs either spark or they don't, sometimes you'll get a nice in-between where they'll blow out under boost. By the sounds of it you had that, you fixed it with new ones. Closing plug gaps is a great bandaid fix for spark being blown out under high boost, or if coils are getting crook (less distance for spark to jump, more chance of spark occuring). Don't go less than 0.6mm and 1.1 is a pretty big gap for anything turbo. Platinum plugs are the same kind of crock as "premium" hdmi cables, you'll make no more power than before, you just save yourself some time. Personally I prefer $3 a pop for copper plugs to $30 for iridiums, but my labour is free I guess. The fact your old/new plugs have gone black & sooty points again towards something intake related - or has been said an 02 sensor also. If curious about the BOV, just block off the hose it's mounted to completely - worst case do it the bogan way and jam a D cell battery in there hahaha just to check if the problem lies in that area

It can act just like a normal aftermarket rev limiter (just cuts spark), but you can set it to "mad savage insaneo" setting and have massive backfires, flameage, disintegrated cat converters and general lols Do a youtube search for them

Or try a relief valve inline, no boost to actuator till X PSI Saw a guy use one of those cheapo boost gauges with a warning light to trigger his factory boost control solenoid once too - actually worked perfectly. If boost drops down at higher RPM, solenoid would close, WG lost signal - boost went back up, repeat X a grillion

Without reading the codes if I would be looking towards an AFM fault or intake leak of some sort. Does it feel quite "surgey" when driving - as in not smooth at all? The fact the CE light is coming on means the car at least thinks it knows what is wrong - getting it to tell you will save a heap of time and effort.

Hi, I'm in the market - well will be shortly - for a new wagon. Me and the other half have agreed on a BH (That is the B4 shape right?) GTB - It was either that or an xr6t @ twice the cost! I had one about 2 years ago and to be honest just miss it, just "ticked all the boxes" really. The 96 model is just a step backwards for very close to the same money so won't go there haha What I'm trying to find is any decent info just what the different models actually achieve? The one we had was a just a normal silver GTB, to be honest it went fast enough (17ish psi, exhaust etc) and was pretty good on gas. I've just sold my turbo airtrek (have a corolla in-betweener) and don't want a legnum/libero so I'm coming back to the dark side! Yes I've searched for the info - the internet has been as helpful as ever and told me nothing handy. E-Tune - can anyone say that they actually DO get any better mileage to the other models? If so, is it just an ECU difference? Also are they more of a time bomb than normal - is it just literally running leaner or less boost? Rev "D" - Is this just the last run of them, I've seen 4 pots on earlier B4's etc but would these all be just retrofitted, other than lower kms and double the price is there any other real benefit to them? Reflashing - is this restricted to just the rev-d cars - and again can that ecu be retrofitted to earlier BH/B4/Whatever they are cars? I think that's about it ;D