OK

I have got to get an idea of what to do in servicing my car.
any suggestions or ideas will be appreciated...

After my car is running smoothly and economically(if its possible) i am going to start to
increase its power and handling.i want to make the best gains possible without going turbo, cos its too much work and stuff...even though i have the ca$h
here is a list of ideas:

breaks are all new so they are ok
Auto box from a better model magna(TP? or a 2nd gen???)with oil cooler
good air intake( thats actually insulated to keep the air temp low)
move battery for more room for intake piping
port and polish head??( astron2 heads are pretty good anyway)
Shaved head (increaced comp)
Sigma rocker gear
warmer camshaft
free flowing extractors(dont know which is best)
2inch? or 2 1/4 or 2 1/2 exhaust, and good muffler
port and polish (de-burr and enlarge) intake plenum

bore out carbie intake or a 4.1L or2L cortina carbie( even though the jets are a lot of work)
OR
full Efi system with good fuel pump and regulator, mabey aftermarket ECU. even though i know nothing about injection systems!!

balance shaft removal? ( and poly-engine mounts?)
stiffer valve springs?
lighter flywheel

new suspension( no idea what..)
sway-bar
tyres of course

so if anyone can add to the list it would be great...
or subtract if the mod has no effect or is useless...

Thanks guys Ive always wanted to do this!

well, wont go in to that to much, be here all day.
alot of people will argue you get a manual.
but i say stay auto and prove to the manual boys how strong the autos are.
just dont thrash the crap out of it like i know most do and say 'oh the autos are weak' :nuts:
you know who you are! lol

i want to make the best gains possible without going turbo, cos its too much work and stuff...even though i have the ca$h

But y??? ur gonna see alot more power gain and its alot easier to get power out of...

I dont know much about NA tuning but from what i do know those mods will probably cost u a fair bit and u wont see a astronimcal gain....

might aswell get a 75hp shot of nos lol

might aswell get a 75hp shot of nos lol
thats still N/A in my books :D
im not a turbo person, lol, so now u can have 2 povs.
ure port and polish, unless you already have mods going for uyou, your not gonna see a great deal of gain there, that kinda mod is like ure 'squeezing half a second for ure track time mod' imo.
if u want some good engine pwr. a big cam, like stage 3 mid cam is what id recomend. stage 2 anything is like beginner, and anything above 3 you have crap idle which these cars already have in a gear.
if ure gonna really mod the engine. then nothing below 2 1/4" above is better, but the bigger you go the less rear back pressure u have. so 2.5" is fine.
extractors. well, any extracts are fine really, genie, rpw, lukey. w/e extractors are extractors.
suspension. the lower the more handling, the less drive comfort...
flywheel allows for more revs but off acc drops the revs faster, so ure gear shifts are stiffer. dunno how well that would work with these auto boxes....
sigma rocker gear, i hear that alot, but fail to see the gain unless ure going turbo.

and after that u kinda lost me with the weber and then mention of fuel injection.
could just be me reading it wrong. but thats my info for now.
i may read it again later to clarrify.

yeah most of this stuff would cost a bit...
i probably may as well consider turbo.
but would a TP auto box hold up?

also im on dual fuel, usually tuned for lpg.
iv got a fast fours mag with a Gas only turbo sigma
and far out it is awesome. like 225 kW at th wheels!!
the gas system with the astron motor apparently goes quite well. the induction system from an old (lpg only)falcon taxi would be alright with only minor machining.

SO mabey a LPG dedicated turbo 1st gen??
here we go...
turbo manifolds are as rare as 18 year old virgins in Tassie
and so are turbo sigma induction manifolds so i will have to get some from the mainland
a TD04 seems to be suitable. I need to get someone to fab the piping system.
What kind of turbo does a SAAB run cos there are smashed up ones at wreckers everywhere.
exhaust could be 2.5" or 3"

ahh the list goes on...
what about a toyota supercharger? easier? cheaper?(yeah i know DO A SEARCH) BUT REALLY THE THREADS ARE ALL THEORY...
im full on SERIOUS yah!!
Who is actually doing it??? TM SE RED???

the downside with lpg is the extra weight.
yes the turbo would work with the autobox. theres a guiy on here with a turbo and autobox. many a posts on it

As far as intercoolers go try and get ur hands on either a Supra cooler or a Jap spec Galant VR4 one. They will do the job quiet nicely..... And for the actual turbo... i dunno but i thought td04s were kinda small and would run outta puff to fast, i would recommend a td05... but its ur call

I have a 4cyl TR auto on petrol and a manual with dual fuel.
When I bought the auto it had a burnt valve on no1 cyl so i just replaced the head with a second hand one from the wreckers. Having heard that all magna astrons had the same combustion chamber in the head except TS heads which have smaller combustion chambers, I decided to try A TS head.
The TR and TS efi engine have the same compression ratios but very different combustion chamber designs.
basically All 1st gen and 2nd gen carby engines had flat top pistons that sit flat with the block deck.
The TR EFI piston top protudes into the head gasket,
The TR EFI piston has a small recess in the top.

The point of all this is.... if you wanted to build a higher compression engine using standard parts then the TR EFI pistons and the TS head would be the way to go.
on a different topic, I have this engine currently fitted to a 92 TR efi auto sedan. It goes quite well for a 4cyl magna and I regularly beat V6 commodore drivers with it.
It still has the magna timing chain rattle :rant:
For the first time in ages I filled the tank to full last week, I got 605km highway driving from the tank of 91ron ulp. (this is one tank, not an average)
I don't think it's tr-envy's car that is the freak when it comes to fuel consumption,
(I saw him get flamed months ago by people with worn engines for claiming to get 550km a tank from a manual TR. from my experience 550km a tank is normal economy for a EFI manual TR and about 500km a tank for an auto)

For the first time in ages I filled the tank to full last week, I got 605km highway driving from the tank of 91ron ulp. (this is one tank, not an average)
I don't think it's tr-envy's car that is the freak when it comes to fuel consumption,
(I saw him get flamed months ago by people with worn engines for claiming to get 550km a tank from a manual TR. from my experience 550km a tank is normal economy for a EFI manual TR and about 500km a tank for an auto)

as i said in another thread, my TM AUTO CARBY gets 550-600+km with PULP

(i say 600+ as i have replaced the dash regulator with the oversized one, so i got to 605km, the needle was right down over the empty, and i chickened out and filled up again :P)

but i say stay auto and prove to the manual boys how strong the autos are.
just dont thrash the crap out of it like i know most do and say 'oh the autos are weak' :nuts:
you know who you are! lol
HAHA ur jokin right 'prove to the manual boys how strong the autos are' HAHAHA if they bust with so little power stock how are they gonna be stronger with more power
and eh? if hes planing all thos mods dont u think he'll be thrashing it...
the manual box's arnt any thing to rave over either but yer stick with auto there strong :bowrofl:

as for mods the astron goes with with intake mods and head work, few people on here have s2 cams and are pleased with them u will need stiffer valve springs tho with s2 well at least new ones... but with that on top of no balance shaft you will have a very lumpy idle

the rest of your plans seem ok but unless ur willing to spend over $1000 its not worth going efi

how do you get away with out a ballance shaft wheres the oil feed for the bearings going

the downside with lpg is the extra weight.
yes the turbo would work with the autobox. theres a guiy on here with a turbo and autobox. many a posts on it

If you went dedicated you could remove the fuel tank.

If you went dedicated you could remove the fuel tank.
true, there is alot of pros and cons to both sides, and this debate is a common one. not really worth going into. in the end its up to the user.

theres a kit u can buy to still utilise the oil pump without having the cbs's

and by the way the autos can take it.
but ive heard of people in 4th gear dropping it to 1st.
i dont even know a manual box that can succesfully take that.
so you know, thats what thrash means.
i give my box alot of crap, but i dont thrash it, and my box has been in the car going on 4yrs strong with 5000rpm gear changes PER gear, lol
the only reason the auto boxes die is coz people allow them to. A they dont maintain them, B they think there indestructable, and C all they ever hear is how bad they are, so they kill em on purpose to get a manual
and in the last month i've heard 2 manual boxes dying. same cause in 2 diff cars.
lol
"i rest my case"
*You rest your case?????*
"Oh, i'm sorry i thought that was a figure of speech. Case closed" lol

ill put in my vote for the auto.

its going like **** atm, cos its never seen a service in its life, so i wonder how impressed ill be after i change the transfulid lol

auto boxes strong? LMFAO

sure me and my mate did kill to manual boxes, yet for my mates ive never seen that much smoke come from the wheels before or 1st gen spin into third so the manuals were givin way to much crap to deal with, plus the manual boxes allow you to access so much more power, and are quciker

the autos ive seen 5 dead ones just between me and my mate, ok mine again i killed it cause it was ****ting me and working like crap so i gave it the finishing touches, yet my mate didnt kill his, and gave them less that hes giving his manual box now thats runnings perfect.

its ok that u cant use a clutch yet it doesnt mean autos are better :P (just a joke dont take offence to this last part)

how often did you have them serviced though, ive never met a magna owner who has their auto serviced like they should.

how often did you have them serviced though, ive never met a magna owner who has their auto serviced like they should.
exactly my point.
its a car part. not an indestructable piece of machinery.
hell i could make any gearbox blow up even manuals if i drove em the way some demonstrate. not hard at all. the thing is. are you dumb enough to....

isnt the auto box from a TP or later model better than the TM?
dont they have helical-cut gears or something??

oh yeah im still confused on what is actually in the front of my car...
iv got a radiator, coz it says radiator on it!!(no shlt!)and it burns fingers and arms
then there is something the same size in front of it connected to small 1cm dia aluminium piping(my guess is air condenser??)
then there is another smaller radiator-type thing about 30cm x 20cm nearer to the right side
i havent quite figured out what this is. could it be a trans cooler?!

so if i find an auto box in good condititon,some mitsu trans fluid, and an efficient trans cooler
i might have a good combination for a strong(er) auto....

one problerm i find running gas is in the mornings (like -2 to 3 deg) it starts so rough and stalls which just sessip me of! lpg condensing into droplets causing un-even fuel distribution?

and also the top section of the cylinders dont get much lubrication so it warms up pretty quick but doesnt go past 1/3 on the temp gauge ever...

Should i stay carbie or go efi....
i am really not sure. 82kW or 93kW umm which is better??? :doubt:
the ECU is pretty touchy right? if i do too much to the engine would it go crazy and do stupid fuel mixtures and stupid stuff...
carbie is probably easier eh...

Thanks guys im starting to look forward to this....
iv got about $1500 just for the engine, but it increases by $250 a week so i will see how i go
oh yeah
SIGMA TURBO MANIFOLDS
and DUAL CARBI MANIFOLDS
can you guys keep an eye out?
thanks

OK. I'm going to put my two cents in on both the fuel economy, and the transmissions.

My auto, EFI wagon, often saw 600km out of a tank on the initial motor. It never ran long enough to calculate the economy on the second motor. I've gone to 650km, and managed to fit 76 litres in (meaning, I was into the fuel rail)

As for my automatic dying, it ran as failed for 70,000km. It only died, as the car kept having to be moved around dead, due to various motors dying. :rant: :rant:

Incidentally, to block the oil passage on the balance shaft bearing, it's a ring plug

i dont think if u install another tp auto box it would need to be serviced in under 6 months, thats less time than it took to die

i will see how long this auto box lasts then get a manual...

for turbo, is a TDO4 good? are they ball bearing or bushes??
ebay... http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=72478&item=4562141903&rd=1
or http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=72478&item=4563054857&rd=1
looks in good cond, but i dont know if it has any shaft play or what...

piping still is gonna be the hard part.
i have a friend who owns a aluminium fabrication workshop who might be able to help but he is flat out making boats and stuff...

MANIFOLDS!!! Where the hell do u get them?

ok i got a T04 but the compressor wheel looks a bit stuffed on only one side?
so im going to replace the ceramic bushes and find a new compressor wheel...
a workshop can make me a manifold for around $300+
the gearbox is starting to slip and im starting to think get a manual from a TP which seems like a lot of farting about but it will hold out longer surely!
im trying to figure out the piping from the 'cooler to the carbie so any ideas??
an dthe gas system is getting checked out soon and the guy is going to set up dual mixers\twin lpg jets, and reckons one in the pipe before the carbie and a smaller one inside it (existing one). i got all sorts of $hit that i busted off a XF on gas and most of it will be used, but far out its gonna be cramped in the engine bay!

i still need to get a quote for a 2.5 exhast system, and find out about STRENGTHENING THE AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION. are there stronger parts i can replace the old mitsu ones with??
i know nothing about autos...
and im looking for some wheels off a turbo Sigma and chrome\polish them cos i like 'em!