stage 1? stage 2? stage 3?
 

What do these mean? I've seen them around for ages and assumed i'd see an explanation somewhere eventually, but no dice. And it's really hard to find a definition by googling since "stage" is a very common word..

so what do the stages mean?

basically they're just different steps or degrees of tuning/modifying.. stage 1 being the lowest and the higher stages being more aggressive or advanced..

^ that pretty much explains it

cool! thank you

stage 1 - 2 - 3... its pretty straight forward..
its like a video game.. higher the stage the more advanced it gets.. common sense

but sometimes, more advance doesn't mean it suits your needs.. depends on your goals... track prep, street prep, or simply just a drag prep.....

you don't want extreme aggressiveness on a daily driven street car...

Also, not all stages with the same name are necessarily equal (i.e. BC stage 3 camshafts are not the same as Skunk2 stage 3 camshafts).

nicely said

But what precisely is done to the car in stage 1 & stage 3, the difference? What do they change, the intake/exhast?

You don't just get stage 1 and stage 3 done to your car.
You would get parts for your car at those stages, like a stage 1 clutch or stage 3 cams, etc.
And like I said before, not all stage 3 cams will add "x" whp, they are different between different companies so you can't say what effect it will have on the car by knowing just the stage of the parts.

stage 1, stage 2, etc are just a reference to how advance something is... (like mentioned above)

take clutch for example... being more advance meaning the quality is nicer, the material is better, and so it can handle more whp...

or if you're referring to camshafts... different brand have different specs for different stages, and again, more advance stages means more advance and aggressive specs...

how aggressive you want your specs to be depends on what type of car you want... what are your goals and do you drive it daily on street or its just a track/drag car...

different stages of different brand have different lift durations causing different results in whp gain because there are different timing to exhuast/intake duration...

lastly, no matter how advance the stage, without matching parts and proper tuning, everything is useless

i hope this helps

thanks for the info, and what does 'tuning' mean exactly? Sorry, I'm really new to all this so forgive my ignorance.

tuning is like changing the map so that air and fuel are mix at the right amount and time, so it won't be too lean or too rich... and it also see where (at which rpm or range) that there are power loss, so you can fix those dead spots... and try to optimize the powerband throughout, so you maximize the whp/wtq output in every range... however, there are some sacrifices sometimes... some cams gives you more highend power in which power comes in greatly in the high rpm region... some are more midrange power where the middle region gives you the most power, and same for low end... however, with any upgrades and tuning, the whole range should increase in whp more or less... tuning will also keep your engine run cool because you're not running excess fuel nor air... without proper tuning and with tons of upgrade, you will probably exprience some power loss or you might be killing the engine (expecially turbo applications).

so tuning is like optimizing the power output, remove dead spots (spots where there are power loss), and to allow the engine run properly..

this is a simple way of seeing tuning... if you talk to zeeman or anyone else with more knowledge, you will know more advance stuff about it

lol I hate talking to people...."I have a stage 4 clutch" and stage 2 this and stage 3 that.....wtf dude stage 4 clutch eh what brand is it.." I dont' know it's a stage 4" lol ok then is it a puck disc how many lbs is the pressure plate what manu is it.....I thought this whole stage thing was long gone....you shoudl be strictly focused on teh spec of the product not the "stage"

that came on the scene back in the day for retards with $$ that knew nothing of anything.....get your specs right and save your $$$ and get good stuff


the wrx scene is strictly stages I swear...that's all they know...lol