Thoughts after driving a manual VR-4 for the day

[bradc]

First gear is a bit hard to access when the car is cold
5th gear is WAY too short, at least the car accelerates quickly in it though
Blow off valves are cool :D
Popping, Backfiring and heavily retarded timing are great when driving past parked cars with their alarms on
My mum could hear me about 900 metres away last night, and I didn't even go above 3000rpm
I'm making enough boost by 2000rpm to have the BOV sound :)
In 3rd gear it accelerates faster than the white VR-4 does in 2nd from 50kmh to 100kmh :D

I need a 6th gear!

[william]

So you picked up the purple one? Tell us some more!!

[bradc]

heh yep :)

[Kenneth]

do your turbos whistle (sounds a bit like the police!) with small changes in throttle? thats just the coolest sound of the lot IMO!

[KiwiTT]

That Grin must be from ear to ear.

[william]

Come on, tell us some more!!

[GroundControl]

finally eh :2thumbsup


First gear is a bit hard to access when the car is cold
5th gear is WAY too short

yep, i agree

[stuey]

finally eh :2thumbsup



yep, i agree


Really needs a 6th for cruising... do you fing the gearbox a little stiff generally when cold..?

[GroundControl]

yeah. its a bit harder to get it into first (and to a lesser extent second) when cold.

[bradc]

Kenneth - yeah even at 2000rpm I can hear them working, at 3000rpm and up the scream is just awesome

Richard - yep :D

As for a longer gear, as you guys know I'm working on it, we will wait until Kenneth puts that box into his car and see if it actually works.

[d i c k i e s]

pictures! we want pictures! new ones too!

[d i c k i e s]

do your turbos whistle (sounds a bit like the police!) with small changes in throttle? thats just the coolest sound of the lot IMO!

i had that sound in my 93 Galant VR4. It was so cool, whenever i had passengers they would always look in the mirror for cops... they always said wheres the cops? i said its the turbos! :evilgrin:

[Gly]

so in the end what turbos did you end up with?
and whats the final power output?

[bradc]

completely stock turbos, 220kw.

[White Lightning]

Glad you've got the car back Brad. Enjoy :2thumbsup

[bradc]

yeah it's good fun :D flooring it from 80kmh in third is just amazing!

[BraindG]

thought you were just changing a few gears? or have you put the lot in? - how short is 5th gear? whats the revs at when your doing say 80mph?

[Gly]

hes got a stock box in his...
the modified one is going to be tested in kens project

[Beastlee]

I find the 3K in 5th in an auto short enough the SAAB was at 2.5K for the same speed and had more pull with better economy. GIven the Aero's speciality of being faster in 5th than a Ferrari or Porsche between 30 and 70 though this wasn't a surprise.
The Auto boxes should have been slightly longer I think, either that or they need one of the new 6 speed autos.

[Paul Beazer]

Brad, mitsu manual boxes on the 8Gs do have a rep for being a bit 'tight' in 1st and 2nd. I had a brand new one put in the V6 and its still a bit tight when cold. Once it warms up its fine, still get the occasional crunch when putting it into 2nd when cold tho. Think of it as a feature!
Whats happening with the modded turbos? I assume you have the stock ones in there for now?

[bradc]

Barry - stock ratios at the moment, the box with the 0.72 5th gear is in Kenneths Galant, we will check it works in there first, then throw it back into my car.

Paul - I found that in the morning it is almost impossible to go from neutral to 1st when I have just started the car. So what I do it put it into 2nd, then 1st, and it works like a charm :D I haven't crunched any gears at all so far.

The modded turbos will be rebuilt and fitted to the car at a later date.

[cribba]

This is nice, some posts about manual vr's! Get fed up with all the stuff about those (dare I even vaguely intimate "inferior" (T.I.C!)and risk the wrath of, well, nearly everyone?-no of course not as I've never even driven one!) auto boxes!! Same experience for me with 1st when cold, also with reverse. If I want reverse first thing after start-up I almost always have to just slip the stick up into 3rd or 4th then reverse, but again it's fine when warm. And yes, a bit higher 5th or a 6th would be great as it would improve fuel economy when cruising at 1XX!!!!

[Goku]

The 7g box is about the same, bit notchy when cold.... 1st is a bi*** when it's cold, and sometimes when it's warmed up too.
Reverse is a hassle aswell, I usually have to let off the clutch a little for it to slip in.

My brothers VR-4 Legnum however is fine, no crunching or notchyness really at all.... it's too slow for my tastes though :P

[william]

I wonder if a better quality gearbox oil like Red Line MTL will improve the shift quality while the oil is cold. If it is any consolation - the Ferrari 308's were famous for the same gearbox behaviour! I think many if not most manuals are a bit notchy when the oil is still cold

[bradc]

It doesn't worry me to be honest, I'll probably throw in some Amsoil at some point and see what happens

[Kenneth]

Amsoil in the Legnum didn't help.

It may have something to do with the GL-4 only specification as apparently GL-5 can cause issues with the syncros.

It isn't too big a deal as far as I am concerned, as it goes away after a minute or 2. (Literally)

[william]

I agree with what you say, was just wondering!

[stuey]

drives my missus mad tho, if she has to manoevre my car, (usually when it's cold cos i've parked up over the drive and blocked her in) she can't find reverse...

[Kenneth]

drives my missus mad tho, if she has to manoevre my car, (usually when it's cold cos i've parked up over the drive and blocked her in) she can't find reverse...

Easy enough to do from standstill, you just put the gearbox in neutral, clutch out, blip the accelerator and then hook reverse.

This works as it causes the cogs to turn, which re-aligns the syncromesh.

[Goku]

I wonder if a better quality gearbox oil like Red Line MTL will improve the shift quality while the oil is cold. If it is any consolation - the Ferrari 308's were famous for the same gearbox behaviour! I think many if not most manuals are a bit notchy when the oil is still cold

The redline oils don't really help with the Galants or Legnums either, I have been running redline oil and haven't really noticed too much difference

[mpau009]

Easy enough to do from standstill, you just put the gearbox in neutral, clutch out, blip the accelerator and then hook reverse.

This works as it causes the cogs to turn, which re-aligns the syncromesh.

:thinking: Sounds like our work tractor, but then it was designed in the 50's or something:P so its got a lever throttle, takes some coordination:smash:

I find reverse in the VR4 a bit rough sometimes in the morning, but at least with this car you know for sure if your in gear or not, unlike some of the lighter linkages, or ones where the gear lever jumps around everytime you lift off..

[dickytim]

you should only be using VMX or the same grade, I put some GL-5 on had it for a week and dumped it, as soon as I put the VMX in back to a sweet box. Also from what I hear using the wrong grade can be quite detrimental to the gear box...This may be mechanic BS but it came from Ron at Road, race and rally who knows these cars.

[bradc]

Vmx??

[dickytim]

http://www.castrol.com/castrol/productdetailmin.do?categoryId=8290054&contentId=6007785

[bradc]

ahh ok. Sorry I didn't come in and see you during the week Richard, you're welcome to come around anytime on Sunday, or I'll pop past your work next week sometime.

[Subaru ETA]

ummm mie is fine.... never have any probs putting it in gear... o yea vmx is a castrol gear oil...we have all castrol products on tap at work :D

[pitslayer]

yeh, the gearbox`s are quite tight when cold, but as i live on a massive hill i usually get in car put it straight into second gear, clutch down start it up roll backwards then turn down my drive get some momentum up, let clutch up slowly, and by the time its got down to the bottom of my drive in second its all warmed up and i have no issues

[stu1888]

still have my manual 9000 aero (315bhp)and it would eat the vr4 on the motorway, tho off the light in the wet is a diff story lol, could get 163 on the tom tom, tho a bend nearly killed us lol.

all testing done on a private track, of course.

:afro:

found the saab a lot taller in 5th

[bradc]

Dave - I see you're reading this, what do you think of the finished project?

[Mikesone]

I bought my Manual Legnum from 'Vehicle Buyers Japan' about 4 years ago and could never get it into 1st when cold (I don't think the 2000rpm tickover when cold helped).
Got VBJ to look at it, don't know what they did but they sorted it out, covered over 150,000 miles now and still seems OK.
So there must be a setting adjustment somewhere to cure it.

[Munta]

do your turbos whistle (sounds a bit like the police!) with small changes in throttle? thats just the coolest sound of the lot IMO!

Is all manual legnum vr4's ment to sound like this? as mine does not.
Just wondering if somewhere along the lines of the previous owners would my turbos have been upgraded? they are still tiny small 1s,
havent taken anything apart to look. All i have (that i know of) is just a cheap blitz ecu chip, exhaust tip, and pod but turbos dont make any sound that you and others have discribed... any ideas would be great..
(sorry to steal topic)

[bradc]

if they are running at the stock low boost, you probably won't be able to hear them at all, especially with an exhaust setup.

[Roberto]

My manual box was a nasty sod to get a gear when cold aswell. Ended up getting the Clutch Slave Cylinder replaced, which made a hugh difference.

Now the clutch is starting to go, but getting the bell housing blow out at each oil change has prolonged its life for nearly a year now.

[Kenneth]

Is all manual legnum vr4's ment to sound like this? as mine does not.
Just wondering if somewhere along the lines of the previous owners would my turbos have been upgraded? they are still tiny small 1s,
havent taken anything apart to look. All i have (that i know of) is just a cheap blitz ecu chip, exhaust tip, and pod but turbos dont make any sound that you and others have discribed... any ideas would be great..
(sorry to steal topic)

I think you generally get it when you have made exhaust mods? I never had the noise till I put in down-pipes and a 3" exhaust. then it was all the time :)

[OSiRiS]

How's the seats? ;)

[bradc]

great :D

[djb160]

What are you having done to your turbos? Is there a tread somewhere on it?

[bradc]

my turbos?

[djb160]

Of course your turbos

[bradc]

hehe, I bought some modified turbos from trademe, the exhaust side had been modified to give more flow, the entire turbos were rebuilt and the compressor had been redone slightly as well. Both of them blew apart within a few minutes of being on the car, the nuts that hold the compressors on weren't done up tight enough. I'm trying to sort out who's fault it was and hopefully get them rebuilt.

[djb160]

what was/is your goal for boosting?

[Goku]

I think you generally get it when you have made exhaust mods? I never had the noise till I put in down-pipes and a 3" exhaust. then it was all the time :)


Mine only started to make that kind of noise once I put the pod filter on it..

Love that induction noise :D

[bradc]

I think it is running somewhere between 15psi and 20psi.

[djb160]

I think it is running somewhere between 15psi and 20psi.

What!? before mods to the turbos? What do you think they'll be able to blow once they've been played with?

[bradc]

not much more, but they will probably be more efficient up top.

[djb160]

So say something like 16 - 18 pounds to 7000rpm, that seems optimistic but I'd love to be wrong.

[bradc]

maybe, I don't think there would be much difference though

[djb160]

would it be possible to have them hold 20psi to the redline or even close just by modifying the TD03s?

[bradc]

doubt it, the housings are very very small. I'd move to gt2554r's to do that sort of thing.

[Subaru ETA]

i drove uc's car and that thing goes hard. boosting 19psi and seemed to hold it quite well. loved the waste gate noise and the fact when i nailed it the ash tray opened! :D

[bradc]

my car is a lot quicker than his, especially from 2500rpm to 4500rpm. It makes a good 30% more torque than his in the low to mid range

[Subaru ETA]

whats actually different? i know he has a dodgey link ecu and dodgy welded piping....

[bradc]

I've got an Autronic SM4, custom downpipes, no cat, sealed cold air box, better piping all round.

He's got a Link, stock downpipes and cat, no cold air box, and some super dodgy piping as well as external wastegates which may or may not be a help.

[djb160]

yeah those downpipes would bog a car down something awful. how much and how well will does/will your boost hold Brad?

[bradc]

not sure about how well it holds, but the bov makes lots of noise when I lift off below 2000rpm