Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 05:52 pm, by: Will Adams(Draco)
Alrighty decided to have a look at the Soarer I am intending to buy hopefully after my current car is sold. The car is a GT-TL (so Twin Turbo) I just wanted to check a couple of things with the board first just to make sure everything is aok from some observations I made.
* I assumed that the car has had a bit of a jut at the front as you can see some tiny paint specs around the main headlight rubber and a little on the passenger headlight * The steering wheel is a bit worn (discoloured, and in saying that the car is 135000Km's old * It is currently running FR12 gas (although I did notice that the valves have the blue caps on them) * The LCD screen problems that I thought I had were fine today (seemed like the 37 degree heat on Monday stopped this from working properly - potentially blinky dash start?) * The middle LCD screen shows degrees centigrade but didn't have a reading next to it, making me think that if it was jutted at the front someone either removed the thing or it is broken.
The other question I have is in regards to the turbos. What sort of sound should I be hearing when the turbos kick in? Up until they kick in the car is blissfully quiet (ah silence, got to love it). I can hear them kick in, but it's nothing loud or anything quite smooth actually. Like you can hear them spool up. Not sure if that is right or not.
The car also has a warranty on the turbos (amongst other things) so that is a bit of a relief - not sure how long that is for though.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 07:16 pm, by: Ben Kelly(Ace)
Can't help on turbos but blinky dash means replacement dash (around $250 second hand in sydney) or fix (around same price) or do it yourself for nix). Front hit=no real worries most soarers have by now been in accidents varying from mild to major. If the car drives straight and there is no acrylic overspray you will be pretty right (acrylic texture is slightly different so you will be able to tell if you look very closely. If you get a mechanical inspection some places will have an instrument that can give you paint thickness so gives a good idea of accident repair. Steering wheel discoloured because the car is old - may well be more than the 135k shown, many soarers are so dont stress. If the car doesnt have a service record then budget an extra 1-2k for timing belt/service.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 07:23 pm, by: Will Adams(Draco)
Thanks for the comments there Ben. The paint is actually pretty good around the entire car. Also had my Dad take a squizz at it and he couldn't really fault anything (regarding the paint). I did however notice that the timing belt has recently been changed so that's a bit of a sigh of relief.
Blinky dash not too much of a drama (may even get it swapped with the colour upgrades). Car is very straight and drives comfortably and is very responsive.
Any other TT owners out there have any comments regarding what the turbos should sound like when they come on boost?
Can't describe the noise in words, u'd probably have to hear it yourself Will. It's like a whining noise sort of, the higher the revs the higher the whine. They are louder when the engine is cold, so u shouldn't spool them up until your car is warmed up.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 10:37 pm, by: Mark Paddick(Sparks)
The turbos will whistle, If there are no other noises then it should be OK. There is nothing quite like a nice tight TT motor and the sound of the turbos coming on....and I drive a V8 (there's also nothing quite like the sound of a nice tight V8...both great cars in their own way). What exact build date is the car? It's possible that the dash has already been changed for a later one in which case the temp display won't work. They've nearly all had a hit in the front at some stage, if fixed properly then no probs. In fact in the case of mine I think it got new radiator and bubble tank for a relatively minor hit in Japan before I got it. Actually a real bonus as it has had none of the normal troubles in that area.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 11:10 pm, by: Will Adams(Draco)
I don't know the exact build date, but from the display I got (comparing to other Soarers), the degrees are to the left and the actual time is displayed to the right of this. I don't know if the time would work if it were another dash or not.
I used to own a 4.0 GT Soarer about 4 and a bit years back and can still remember it's exhaust. Of course the middle 2 mufflers were removed to get a bit more rumble in the back. I have owned a TT before (another GT-TL) and that had a very loud exhaust on it and subsequently I could never actually hear the turbos on that thing cause it was too loud.
This one sounds awesome when driving, and has all the creature functions (bar sunroof) available on the GT-TL.
I will hopefully have someone purchase my car tomorrow and then I can go out and buy this car. It has been at the dealers for about 3 months now, so fingers crossed (knock on wood).
Thursday, March 02, 2006 - 06:00 am, by: Mark Paddick(Sparks)
Clock will work if it is the wrong dash. Temp won't. If it wasn't built after about mid '92 the Temp won't work. It is VERY common for dash's to be swapped in these cars.
Thursday, March 02, 2006 - 09:52 am, by: Nathan Richardson(Richtheblack)
Will Adams wrote on Wednesday, March 01, 2006 - 05:52 pm:
It is currently running FR12 gas (although I did notice that the valves have the blue caps on them)
If it hasn't been Retro-Fitted (converted from R12 to R134a) the valves will be like tyre valves. If it has they will be a quick fitting, similar to a compressor air line fitting. Blue cap = Low pressure line. (the one that gets cold) Red cap = High pressure line. (the one that gets bloody hot)
Thursday, March 02, 2006 - 11:34 pm, by: Callum Finch(Sigeneat)
I gave Luke's stocker TT a run last night at the drags (he drove mine) and i couldnt hear the turbos do anything.. the car was so blissfully quiet.. I guess thats what they are supposed to sound like with stock intake and exhaust Will ;D
Thursday, March 02, 2006 - 11:55 pm, by: Wayne Koh(Teknoboi)
Mines for sale, come and have a drive if you want, my turbos been whistling since i got it. (i think because i have a pod and its possibly the induction noise rather than turbo spool)
mine and lukes soarers probably the only ones i know that are running similar healthy power figures. so drive a few TT's before you make a decision could be a big difference in power..
Friday, March 03, 2006 - 08:10 am, by: Will Adams(Draco)
Wayne thanks for that. I have to sell my current car first before I can buy the Soarer. I'm at this stage anyway, not going for big power and just want a stock car that I can start from scratch.
Friday, March 03, 2006 - 08:05 pm, by: Wayne Koh(Teknoboi)
yeah what im saying is, the health of the engine is usually reflective of what power it puts out/1/4 mile. talked with a guy on this forum that i made join prior, and he drove like 5 stock soarers and each and everyone was different under full throttle or partial throttle.
he ended up buying the one that sounded and performed the best.
POD and Cold Air Intake is pretty much all that is the performance mods. so i'm not saying mines all powerful and everything. just very close to standard form.