STI - Lower boost typical on a higher mileage car?
 

So I test drove this STI today, for the second time now actually, and I noticed it was only hitting about .08 mpa, and really hovering around .06 most of the time. A stock 05 has I think 14.7psi or a full bar/ .1mpa.

So is this to be expected for a car with 78K miles on it? I calculate .08mpa to be about 11.2lbs, and that's at peak. Most of the time it's probably making less than 10.

Other than this the car is mechanically tits. Oil looks clean, all fluids have been changed out, new timing belt, alignment, motor is even clean. New clutch too.

The stock boost should be 14.5. Either the gauge is bad, or the car has some kind of problem...

This might help:

Peak is around 14.5 but you will only see that from 3rd gear or so. First peaks at around 11 and second around 13 because of the lower load in those gears.

I'm seeing about 9lbs most of the time, peaking at 11lbs in 3rd and 4th. I think something is wrong. I'm going to take the car in to a Subaru dealership Friday.

I'll be taking it to a mechanic because they will have a vacuum diagram and I doubt this guy wants me taking his car apart. Haha.

That seems like a good idea. The car really does look fantastic otherwise though.

I know :/ If the mechanic can't figure it out I might offer him less and just take it.

My other option would be an A4, but those I'm sure will be more expensive to maintain and they make 100 less hp.

I dig A4's, but it's really a whole different class of vehicle. I'd take the STi in a heartbeat.

The future professional in me wants the A4, but the dominant Adam wants the STI

I drove another one last weekend, hit the same .08 max and stayed at .06 most of the time. I think the guage might just be inaccurate. I can't trust my own sense of acceleration at this point, 300hp feels so slow.

Anyways, I'm going to check out a black one today. I'm in love with it already, if I can talk him down $1K I'll put down a deposit.

Sounds like it's holding well. As long as it's maintaining a boost level around the expected mark it should be fine. Hard to tell though with new technologies hampering everything a motor does now.

Decided to go with another one, the guy agreed to hold it for me, and if it does, and everything goes smoothly with the loan, its mine.

It's a black one on gold 18s with only 60K miles. Stage 2 tune, pushing 18 or 19lbs? 300whp.

If I go through with this maybe I should sell the Vette with the original motor and put the procharged 6.3 in a designated straight line drag car, like a 1st gen Camaro. Can you imagine if I could put that kind of power down? On the street?! Hahaha

I have a vision of pulling a wheelie at a stop light.

...I found out the STI gets only 16/22 mpg. I was looking at the WRX which is 18/24... 16 is pretty bad. I've been second guessing it.

Also, the 06+ A4 quattro turbo 4 gets 19/27. That might be the way to go. Also, also, found out I can get a Diesel V6 cherokee that makes about 350ft lbs and gets 17/24 mpg. Lifted it would still probably average 18, only problem is they are rare as shit. But so are the 06/07 A4 stick shift turbo 4 quattros.

PS, loan didn't go smoothly. Need to wait for my parents to finish getting their first for a cosign. Should be 30-40 days.

Why? Maybe I can help. Do you have an account with us?

Love me some Audi. It's alittle different than an A4, but an RS6 is about the best looking executive Sedan going IMO. It's funny though, cuz it doesn't look that cool in pictures, but in person it's great.

I was considering a low mileage 2003 RS6 last year when I was car shopping. Very nice car and pretty powerful twin turbo v8.

Bob

Why not get something in the middle? An Audi B5 S4 runs a 2.7 liter twin turbo with torsen center diff awd (33/66 mechanical split) and a six speed. They make 250hp (~200-210whp) and can make upwards of 300whp with a tune. They're basically A4's with more upscale interior and a much better drivetrain. The motors are capable of over 500whp on the stock bottom end and the trans can take ~800whp (there's a company that has an 800whp S4 in the 9's with an untouched tranny)

They're about $2-5000 more than a comparable A4 and usually cheaper than even an STi. price range is ~$8000-13000

Only downside really is the stock K03 turbo's are prone to failure at around 100k miles (which is why there are so many for sale at this mileage). This wouldnt be that big of a deal as you can get replacement K04's for ~$1200 and easily make 400whp (youtube "stage 3 S4"). BUT to swap the turbo's you have to pull the motor >.<

They do sound nice tho. :judge:

Realistically, I only wanted the STI over a WRX for the stronger trans for towing. I don't care as much about the HP. The 300whp stage 2 STI that I drove felt as fast as my mom's stock SRT4 to me.

After Procharging the Vette, everything sub 400hp feels the same to me. Unless it's really slow like my Neon. Then I can tell a difference.

So I'd rather have the turbo 4 and the better gas mileage.

The stock WRX trans should be plenty fine for anything you'd be towing on a class 1 hitch. :)

I really don't like the WRX, it feels slow and has too much body roll. And I've heard nothing but bad things about the 5 speed.

Its really the early bug eye trans that got the bad name before they upgraded to the wider gears. The '03+ trans is pretty solid for anything under 350whp as long as its not abused (as with anything, but especially so with awd transmissions)

If you want a cheap turbo 4 cylinder for towing you should take your moms SRT-4 off her hands. They have all the torque you need, as far as 4 cylinders go, for towing and their transmission is as bullet proof as they come.

SRT4 transmissions have more problems than the WRX transmissions. They have synchro issues and 2nd gear shitfork issues I think. And I have thought about it, but my mom's is an 03, meaning open diff. Not going to try to pull the boat out of the water with a FWD open diff. I'd even be afraid doing it with a LSD FWD car.

If you're launching a boat I'd say FWD is definitely out then. And you've pretty much eaten up your selection of awd turbo 4's unless you want an evo.

I've also thought about an Eclipse GSX, but I really don't want another old car.

it sounds like you need a truck. Lightning will tow a boat. Gas mileage isnt...uh...good, but other than that it fits all your criteria. Might reconsider what youre actually looking for?

Mmmmm Lightning :)

What size of boat are you towing? Maybe you should just get a cheap ass truck. Get an old diesel truck or something. The one in my sig is bad ass. It gets 20-22 mpg on the highway. Its a good truck.

16ft, 850lbs less motor. Trailer should be around 450, motor around 500, and the Jet is about 80. So that puts me in the 2K lb range, which is what a class 1 hitch it rated to.

I might just buy a class 1 hitch and weld some bracing on it for strength. But I have thought a lot about going diesel. Diesels are so good on fuel. Ideally I'd like to have a long travel Ranger with a 4cyl turbo diesel.

Diesel can also run on biodiesel, which can be made out of a whole bunch of stuff, which might come in handy when . . .

Actually, since you are into redneck tech, you could go fab up a pretty simple processing station using an old water heater and some plumbing bits. Assuming you can get free used grease from restaraunts (some will let you come and get it for free), you can make your own bio-diesel for something like $0.30/gal. Caveats: Used grease smells like a$$ and for some stupid reason most fire departments have some rules regarding the operation of small refineries in one's garage.

They have rules because if you do it wrong you can blow up your house. There are kits you can buy to process for waste veg oil (WVO) diesel, which is different than bio... Think of biodiesel as more of an E85 for a car. Most diesels can run it just fine, a tune helps most of the time but sometimes its not needed (mechanical injection).

I wish a 4 cyl diesel existed in a ranger... You could go get an older suzuki samuri and put a VW 4cyl turbo in it. My solution would be go find an old military CUCV blazer with a naturally aspirated 6.2liter detroit in it. You can get turbos for em if you want but a CUCV diesel blazer can get like 26 mpg when its naturally aspirated.

That sob sold the black STI that I wanted, for less than I was willing to give him! He couldn't wait another couple of weeks! He traded it in actually. Ug.

I had a major brainstorm tonight. My school is moving to downtown SD next semester. And parking is going to suck harder than Jerry's mom (that seems to be the thing to say around here). So I'm thinking a cheap truck and a motorcycle might be the way to go. I can easily buy both for less than the cost of a diesel Jeep or an STI.

I'll sell you mine for like $4000. Its a diesel with 190k on it. All original stock save for the exhaust and the shit-tastic wheels the guy put who owned it before me. Its a suburban with a class 3 hitch, brake controller and it can tow 10k lbs. On the highway , like to mammoth or big bear I get like 22 mpg with the cruise on at like 65.

Diesel is the way to go dude.

I'm just over it. I'm single and I have no need for a 9 seat vehicle. I will probably just get a truck of the same year if I sell my burb at some point.

I'll keep it in mind, but I was thinking something smaller. That I could park if I needed to when it rains. That thing sounds like a bus. And although it is a diesel, I'd rather go for something with less miles.

Yea it is a bus. It's awesome in the rain, I love to sling mud in it. Serisouly if your boat is that small just try to find a suzuki Samuri with a swapped VW diesel motor or a middle 80's Blazer with a 6.2L Naturally aspirated diesel.

Long travel on a TTB ranger is pretty strait forward as long as you can fabricate. Bent forged beams, spring hoops and shock/springs for the front. 62/64" chevy leafs in the back with an inverted shackle. You'd definitely have to go with an explorer 8.8 if you went diesel and did any amount of towing, the 7.5 wouldn't last long.

Getting one with a diesel would be some work. You could try to get the 2.5 from the Mexican rangers and swap it in (or find a Mexican ranger). The most popular/easy to source diesel swap is a 3.9 cumins 4bt but requires a bit more fabrication. It's not really a powerhouse and they're pretty heavy but they make a good amount of torque, get decent mileage, and are bulletproof. Either way, you'd likely have trouble getting it to smog in California.:huh:

I had a '97 2.3 ranger given to me. Its got 215k miles on it now and is a pain sometimes when shit decides to break (coil packs, clutch pedal broke off, u joints melted, serpentine belt flew apart, cat fell apart, crazy ttb alignment issues, brakes completely failed on me twice when the rear drums fell apart, etc. etc. etc.). But the 2.3 is a trooper and ranger parts are dirt cheap. You can't really complain with a free beater (well, except when it tries to kill you). Its a pretty practical little truck with enough power to move around town and on the freeway and haul shit in the back. I wouldn't want to tow anything with it tho. I get ~19-21mpg out of the 4 cyl with the 5 speed, nothing amazing.

I had considered putting some work into it, 8.8 w/ disk brakes swap after I'd had it with the drums but decided it's not really worth it considering the mileage and worth of the truck.

I ran with a bike and a truck for a while in SD. It's pretty easy assuming you only want to ever take one person with you anywhere.

You might want to consider a Toyota PU. I bought one new in 1984 and used it for work. After 225K miles, I sold it to my in-laws for $700. They drove the truck for another 120K miles. The clutch lasted until 196K for me. I was paid $.35 a mile on the truck and it cost me less than $.05 a mile to drive it all those years. The truck was the most reliable and inexpensive to own vehicle I ever owned.

Bob

Diesels don't need to be smogged in CA, well at least mine doesn't. I know there are supposed to be new rules coming out or they are out already. The easiest way is to find one already done. Transfereing a car to the US from Mexico, from what I understand is a pain.

Also long traveling a diesel is kind of pointless... A diesel is heavy, if you want a long traveled truck idealy you want light. Hell if you are going to go through the trouble of an engine swap just go get a full floating currie enterprises 9inch custom ford rearend.

If you want to Long travel a ranger start with a Ranger Edge with tortion bars, they have an excellent frame. Then toss in a 4 banger gas motor in it and turbo it. That would be the most effective long traveled streetable truck. I have seen a good amount of Toyotas and Fords in Ocotillo and Glamis that have a similar setup. It will tow a little boat (which sounds like a ridgid inflatable or something similar) with ease. And the 5 speed trans that comes in them isn't bad at all.