definately something wrong with my turbo from alpine.... im not blaming alpine, maybe its something we did on the install, but we cant figure out whats wrong with my car....


last night got toasted by a turbo eclipse.... got smoked by a honda prelude v tech with cai.... and got absoultley crushed by a early 90's box style acura integra that was still naturally aspirated....


i was at the flash light drags....


i beat all 3 off the line, and midway through second all power stops and that is when i get passed... the more i ran the car, the worse it performed.... any suggestions as to what is wrong

 

well lets see... you need to give us more info. Any strange noises or symptoms of your car performing poorly such as mifires? Id really say the problem is the small turbo, the postage stamp for an intercooler,the inability to tune a Unichip easily and the fifth injector i like to call a workaround. Also do you have a CEL? if so get it scanned and let us know the code and we can go from there as well.
Also there may be a chance the driver is broken wink1.gif

 

ok, strange noises no... not that i can tell anyway... i do have 2 misfires....
i have changed out the plug wires....

around 3 or 4 psi and 2500-3500 rpm the car just looses power, it almost hesitates and shakes horribly.... after i mash the pedal or get out of the 3500 rpm range it works great

i totally agree about the small intercooler, though i dont agree that the turbo is too small.... no one else is haveing these problems that i know about so that is why i dont blame alpine....


i am very convinced its an air fuel ratio problem

 

what's the gap on your spark plugs? what kinda spark plugs are you using? when you turbo a car you have to drop down to a step cooler plug from platinum.... you can't use plantinum... also you have to change the gap from .044 to .030-.035... when you boost the extra air and fuel comin in can snuff out your spark...it'll missfire...bogdown... and crap like that... hope that helped a lil. i had this problem with my car when i boosted it... regapped my ngk v-power to .030 gap... ngk v-power really cheap... and decent for turbo applications... like 1.25 a piece..

 

up untill yesterday, i had the KORE wires with the alpine plugs... i went to pep boys just to get a new set of wires to see if it changed but it didn't... not sure of what its made from or the sizing.... i'll check the box when i get home

 

i am as well.. which is why he is screwed because he is using the unichip.

 

someone had mentioned before about a different computer that is lap top compatable.... i guess somehow it has the 5th injector fire prematurely and bypasses the unichip.... do you (dweet) or anyone else know anything more about this computer system

 

i know the unichip can only be tuned by a unichip dealer because they are the only people with the software to do it. Thats why i always bash the alpine kit because it uses a tiny stock (13b) mitsu turbo and a small intercooler and a shitty piggyback. However, if you need it retuned you are going to have to limp it to a unichip dealer. Hopefully you are near one. The one nearest to me is Chicago which is almost 400 miles away. What I would do is double check all my wiring on the 5th injector and unichip. And then reset the ECU. If that doesnt work. Get it dynoed using a wideband O2 and that will tell you for sure if your A/F ratio is off. If it is then its definately the 5th injector setup or the unichip. If its either itll probably just be cheaper to get an S-AFC II or E Manage and get 290cc to 350cc injectors and run that setup and sell the unichip. But thats my $0.02

 

Yeah, unforutnately, most everyone is finding out that the Alpine kits are like a Radio Shack beginner Turbo kit. It's neat, gets you some status, looks sorta cool, but is just a starter.

Hogboblin had a HORRIBLE time with his Alpine kit and has now had to swap to an UNBLOWN engine.

1. Plugs. Do like they said above.

2. Engine Management. The Unichip sucks, I think this has been proven now. Get a Emanage.

3. Just for giggles, check your MAF direction.

 

You know I was thinking of that Alpine turbo and thank god I never set my mind to it. Everyone is haveing nothing but problems with it. My advice is to sell it and get one from speed-factor insted.