blacktop 4age few Qs

[sick_ke]

Hey guys hopefully I'm posting in the right section I apologize if not anyway I'm the proud new owner of a levin bzg

It has 175,000 on the clock and I want to do a service on it oil, coolant, sparkplugs etc. I did a bit of research to find which grade oil is best and to be honest after doing some reading I'm confused as hell lol. From what a can gather I should avoid fully synthetic oil and go with mineral or semi synthetic but as to what grade to run well I'm now I'm more unsure than when I began people are running anywhere from 5-40w to 20-50w so I thought I'd ask on here and see what you guys are running/recommend? Apparently what grade you choose makes a big difference with vvt etc so I want to make sure that I make the right choice, car is for daily driving if it makes a difference but hey it's a 4age so will be getting a nice wee trashing once in a blue moon lol.

Now onto my next Q did some research on this also but didn't come up with much at all. I was think of adding a new intake pipe and pod to open it up a bit more and compliment the exhaust would this be worthwhile or would it just be a waste of money? Thanks.

[1I1]

I ran 15W-40 Magnatec in my 20v (it's done 137k) and only drinks it once the oil is starting to get old and due for a change. From what I've seen with other members on here that's not uncommon for a 20V running that oil.

For the intake - I've tried:
pod filter on 3" piping with the pod sitting behind the battery
stock setup
stock with ARC intake chamber


In terms of butt dyno, of those three different arrangements I found the stock setup with ARC intake chamber to be the best. Ideally something with a cold air feed works well.

[Bling]

I used to run magnatec (10/40)and it was pretty thirsty. It appears to be less thirsty with castrol GTX which is 15/40.

Pod filter will sound a bit cooler, but do nothing for performance, if anything you will lose power. I'd just stick with factory intake or at most stick a better panel filter in there. So in my view, a pod is a waste of time and money. Unless of course you want to build a cold airbox to stop it breathing hot air from the engine bay. I would still doubt you'd get any gains. With an airbox / piping / whatever, any gain you do manage to get will be bugger all so still not worth it IMO.

[touge_ae101]

if it does burn a bit of oil use either motul turbolight or penrite oil. these are what i've found do the best job and don't burn as quick. penrite has just gone to a fully synthetic 10w50 which i'm trying atm. its not very expensive either $60 for 5L.

if you are going for all out performance go for motul 300V. there is a noticable improvement in performance can highly recommend.

[BZG Wagon]

+1 for Magnatec. I ran it in my BZ-Touring for 3 years / 60,000kms with no issues at all.

They tend to burn through oil no matter what the kays; I woud top mine up usually once between each 7,000km service.

K&N Pannel fliter made a noticable difference to my motor. I've seen guys try PODs, trumpets, custom extractors and IMO they rarely make the car faster.

[Vertigo]

not really worth creating another thread for... what is it about pod filters that supposedly reduce performance?

[Dell'Orto]

Generally because people just whack them on the end of the intake pipe, and they inhale lots of hot engine bay air. The stock airboxes have a cold air feed, albeit it quite small.
A properly set up pod filter can make a good improvement.

[bzrspeed]

Put a gze style scoup on your bonnet, then build a rubber sealed box over the trumpets as blacktop is map, suck the nice cold air in and you will get a little power increase.

If you do it right once you dont have to muck around again and again.

Not that hard of job, build a alloy box over the trumpets so it seals tight around the bonnet and then run small filters. Very easy.

[iOnic]

Building a good intake for a 20V is a lot harder than it may seem. The stock airbox and intake is actually very good on them - about all I would do is a drop in filter and a better cold air feed.

[touge_ae101]

Put a gze style scoup on your bonnet, then build a rubber sealed box over the trumpets as blacktop is map, suck the nice cold air in and you will get a little power increase.

If you do it right once you dont have to muck around again and again.

Not that hard of job, build a alloy box over the trumpets so it seals tight around the bonnet and then run small filters. Very easy.

its actually quite difficult fitting it between the bonnet and the rocker cover, round the back of the trumpets and getting around the strut brace etc.
trust me i've looked at it and it is my plan eventually but it is difficult and i'm an alloy fabricator... just practically not as easy as you make it sound

[bzrspeed]

I mean how hard can it be?

I used to do this on the Lancia Beta's, just build a box over the carburtor and marry it up to the contours of the bonnet and put a rubber seal.

If I look at my blacktop engine I say just take top off current airbox, block intake pipe up and extend the airbox to the bonnet and seal it.

Maybe I am missing something but it doesnt seem that hard.
It doesnt need to be big, as your ram airing it from outside in, you dont even need a gze soup, maybe a cosworth or mazda GTR style one, just enough to let air in.

[iOnic]

I mean how hard can it be?

Do it and let us know

[bzrspeed]

One day I may get around to it.
It is only an issue if you give up[ easy, the old saying: where there is a will there is a way.

At this stage trying to look at my Redtop small port 16v and think what can I do to it, as 115hp is not enough. Looking at 160-180hp.

[Bling]

I've run stock intake, pod filter and open trumpets.

Worst I found was open trumpets, I got torque steer at 7,000rpm which just shows how it messes with the power curve. No dyno time, because I have better things to throw money away on. But butt dyno told my stock gave best overall performance. I guess Toyota knew what they were doing after all.

Have been running K&N filter in factory airbox for years now. If you think you'll get worthwhile gains from a stock motor just by changing air intake I really think "you're dreaming".

[bzrspeed]

If you think you'll get worthwhile gains from a stock motor just by changing air intake I really think "you're dreaming".

I think you hit the hammer on the nail there.

Save your money and take your girlfriend out for a nice dinner, maybe a movie, atleast that way you will actually get something out of it.. (that was a joke, meant to be funny hahaha)

[jacobrjett]

I think the stock airbox is fine... you could run a hose from under the airbox to the bumper if u want, that may make it better...

but if the car came factory with a pod filter people would be saying "I want to upgrade to an airbox"

[Vertigo]

well, main factor for me was the sound. lets be honest, its just a stock 4AGE, doing anything to the filter isnt going to do wonders for performance.

[sick_ke]

Thanks guys I'm gonna go with 15w-40 or mangatec I've read quite a bit on the net about mangatec been pretty bad at causing sludge tho what are your guys thoughts about that?

I'm gonna go for good a panel filter down the line no need to get carried away with the intake on a daily driver.

Another Q what octane gas are you guys using? I've been chucking in 98 recently and seems to run so much smoother/better with it but I'm thinking 98 is a bit excessive/costly for a daily driver am I better off just going with 95 or even 91?

Sorry for all the silly Q's guys just wanna look after my levin as I want many years of good service out of it, thanks.

[Bling]

I ran magnatec for ~8 years in mine, still going so can't be too bad. Don't any more due to cost savings / using same oil as our other car instead now. I don't recall seeing 15/40w Magnatec in 4L containers, only ever 10/40w. Never looked for it mind you.

I only ever run 98, no other choice IMO. 95/91 will detonate.

[1I1]

Same here, always run Magnatec and my engine had no signs of sludge with it apart.

Also as Luke says, 98 is best