Perhaps I'm alone on this (feel free to tell me so), but I am constantly befuddled by what people mean when they say their car is Stage ___. It seems like different tuners mean different things by different stages. I think we need an agreed upon convention across all platforms and tuners for Stages. There's just too much confusion. In my head it should be:

Stage I = flash
Stage II = Stage I + exhaust and/or header and/or intake work
Stage III = Stage II + upgraded turbos (or, in the case of a K24 car, Stage II and stock K24s)
Stage IV = Stage III + upgraded fuel injectors and/or fuel pump
Stage V = Stage IV + built engine internals (rods, head studs, cams, heads, etc.)

I think this could work. Thoughts, modifications? Maybe if we hone this, we can make a sticky.

P.S. Feel free to tell me to go to H*LL if it's clear to everyone else and I'm the only one confused.

 

How do you like your K16/16G's and exhaust?? Don't mean to hijack your thread, but I'm considering doing a similar upgrade on my '03...

Looking over your list of 'stages', it still looks ambiguous to me in the sense that a turbo upgrade in stage II could mean drastically different things to different people depending on which turbo they upgrade to. I try not to get too caught up in the vernacular, and since I'm a newb on turbos I try to look at HP numbers, 0-60, 60-130 times and stuff like that... And cost

 

True, but not really. No matter what turbo you go with, no matter the potential HP that turbo can make, you will be fuel limited to, at most, 650hp unless you do fueling (Stage IV). So pretty much any upgrade over a stock K16 should land you in the 575-650 range if properly tuned.

As for my turbos, PM me to keep this thread on track, but I'm as happy as a clam.

 

True, there is a cap on what you can do with stock injectors and fuel system in general, but there is a drastic performance difference between the different turbos. I can't say this with any certainty, but I'd guess there are differences between different tuners as well.

To add to your list, would you think that a boost controller would fall into a stage III modification? From what I can gather reading posts and trying to educate myself, a BC can drastically change the performance of these cars by using race fuel and bumping up the boost.

 

I feel you Mike, this has gotten very confusing. But let me make it more so. I have the 16/16 kit with an exhaust, but I don't have headers or an intake. Would that still fall into the Stage 3 category?

 

Onetime, I think it would (same setup as me by the way).
The list is by no means perfect. For stage II, I meant any exhaust or intake work. Heck, I'll make it more confusing: I ran K16/16g on stock exhaust and intake for a few hundred miles.
I revised the original post to clarify a bit.

 

I'd like to refer to my setup as Stage R2D2

 

You have great taste in cars.

 

I hear so many people talked about "my car is a stage_" and I think to myself, WHAT TUNER'S stage_? Never made sense to me. Supras have it simple using the BPU staged upgrades, which were coined by one person, and make sense every time. Us Porsche guys should have something as simple as Supra guys. We should try and get everyone on the same track.

 

I guess I really don't care. I actually like to discuss what mods I have done and never refer to any stage (over simplification). Why do I care what stage anyone is at? I understand that tuners may find it easier to sell there products, but I still prefer the more complex thorough understanding of what you are getting.

Stages are meaningless to me as even cars with the same stage from the same tuner can have dramatically different results.

 

I hear you, Seal Grey Matte. These things are sooo confusing. I believe most tuners are now only have entry levels as Stage I or maybe a Stage II. And then they are going into xx550, xx640, xx650, xx660, xx700... and replaced the old stages.

 

Wross, I hear you. In fact, I've never referred to my car as a Stage anything.
However, people will continue to use the concept (there's got to be at least 10 posts a day that do) and I was hoping to normalize what's meant by it.

 

Power stages can be a bit confusing, isn't it simple to say how many HP do you have?

 

+1...