What are the differences between stage 1, 2, 3 turbo kits?

steefnap

Member
I've searched this message board and Googled this subject to death and can't find any answers. Can anyone point me to a site that has it all laid out for me? Or, can someone explain it to me? Thanks.
 
what comes in my mind for each stage:

stage 1: basically low boost (below 6psi)/ non intercooled, Fuel clamp

stage 2: higher boost (4-9psi), front mount intercooled, fuel pump (maybe), FMU

stage 3: higher boost (over 10psi) large FMIC, standalone fuel management, larger injectors/additional injectors, AUX fuel pump.

people feel free to correct me.
 
Spool turbo has stages out for his kits... They no longer make protege kits though, so i guess it really doesnt matter....

Stage 1- non intercooled
stage 2- intercooled
stage 3- was standalone ECU intercooled..

some changes were made to his staging before a stage 2 was the tubular manifold, but i believe he changed the stages,
 
this is true.

hi boost and wagner just sell one kit.

both have large FMICs, Hiboost comes with standalone, wagner has that option too.
 
steefnap said:
Or, can someone explain it to me?
there is no such thing as what a stage 1 turbo kit consists of. each company can have their own interpretation of what is "stage 1". one company can say it is a t3/t04 with fmic and full standalone, and another a small t3 with no intercooler, but they're both stage 1 because that's what the company calls them. spool did stages before and that's mostly what people talked about on here. in other circles there may be things accepted as stage 1 mods, but it is specific to their circle. basically, stage 1, 2, 3 means absolutely nothing other than what the company or whoever is talking about it decided that it meant, and there is no standard. the parts are what matter when upgrading, not the stage it is at.
 
yeah the whole "stage" thing to me is ridiculous. cant tell you how many retards ive come across that are braggin about their's or someone else's car sayin how theyve got "stage" 2 or "stage" 3 turbo upgrades. so i say yeah, what exactly comes with a "stage" x upgrade? reply: i dunno? i could give two s**** less when people talk about stages, dont tell what stage it is, tell me what its got, and ill decide if your full of s***. owell;)
 
This is an easy one...

Stage 1 = $
Stage 2 = $$
Stage 3 = bankruptcy and/or divorce

:D
 
viVid said:
This is an easy one...

Stage 1 = $
Stage 2 = $$
Stage 3 = bankruptcy and/or divorce

:D

Hehehe... nice analogy. I get it.

I kinda figured out what the intercooler and blow-off valve are for. But what is the purpose of the FMU/FMWHATEVER?
 
FMIC = Front Mounted Inter-Cooler. It's purpose is to cool the incoming charge of air. One of the side effects of compressing air is that it raises the temperature of the air. This can lead to detonation which can damage/destroy your engine. One really is not needed until you get over about 4-5 lbs of boost in our cars, since we have such pitifully low compression (in the U.S. anyways).
 
Crap, I just re-read your questions and I think you already knew the answer I just gave you. A FMU = Fuel Management Unit (aka Rising Rate Fuel Pressure Regulator). It makes the fuel pressure increase as the boost increases (based on manifold vacuum/pressure). This also helps to avoid detonation by keeping the mixture correct.
 
This can lead to detonation which can damage/destroy your engine. One really is not needed until you get over about 4-5 lbs of boost in our cars, since we have such pitifully low compression (in the U.S. anyways).
 
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