How To: Turbocharge your 4 banger.

[Larry]

**My Home Made Turbo**



EDIT: I still need the oil feed line pictures.

**EDIT: YOU MUST HAVE ANGEL EYES TO DO MY INTERCOOLER SETUP. JSPECS WILL WORK ALSO, BUT ASPEC LIGHTS ARE UNVERIFIED.

PLUS YOU MUST GET 2" PIPING (I got them on ebay - piping that is)**

**EDIT: You can have any size charge pipe to be non intercooled like in the first picture.

Hello all, right now I'm bored. So I guess I'll use my free time to show people how to turbocharge their 4 banger like mines for about 600-700 dollars, depending on the parts you want. YOU MUST HAVE A MANUAL TRANSMISSION. (STICK) ALSO, YOU WILL LOSE YOUR A/C. Sorry But it's a good sacrafice (to me at least.)

As for me. I went with all the ghetto stuff, that's why I did it for that much.

Anyways. First, you need your turbo manifold. In my setup, I got an extra stock manifold from Hughes46 (great guy to deal with) for about $40. You want a 96-97 manifold because the stock flange sits up higher, but the downside to this is that it leans to the right. The 93-95 manifold is different. If I remember right, it's kinda like a 4-1 kinda manifold. I'll take pictures of my manifold to show you the 96-97. What you want to do is reflange the bottom end. Just cut off the stock manifold flange at the bottom using an abrasive cutter or going to the machine shop. Machine shop would be easier. Then get a t3 or t25 flange (can be had for about $15), depending on what turbo you're planning to use, an just reweld that on. And that's the turbo manifold.

(You see how the flange isn't centered, it's to the right a bit, that's why you must modify the compressor housing)

Now for the turbo, I got mines off of ebay for about $140. I got a T3 .48 hot side and .42 cold side. You will need a turbo that's internally wastegated. You must have that swing valve to hold the boost. In order to hold the boost, you must have a wire hanging out that is held tight by the compressor housing screw. Then using a very tight spring, you wrap the spring around that wire. With the other end of the spring, you stretch it over to hold the wastegate swing valve. I'll show you how you hold boost in this picture. Step by step.

(First you take a metal coat hanger, clip off the bottom part so it's just a wire. Next, you take one end and wrap it in a loop and wrap it around the wire so it'll stay. Look at the picture. Then take your spring and wrap it around the loop to stay in place. Wrap it around until you get to the middle of the spring, so that way it's for sure to stay.)


(In this picture, you have to curve the other end so it'll stick to the compressor housing screw.)


(Now in this picture, you can see the other end of the wire held together by the compressor housing screw and the spring wrapped around the wastegate swing valve. That's my mod to hold the boost. The more boost you want, the stiffer the spring you'll need. A loose spring will hold maybe 1-2 psi. A little stiffer spring, maybe 3-4, and so on. You just have to play around with the spring. You'll understand what I mean once you try it.)(Also, I have 2 springs because the first one is weak, so the other is to back it up. One spring will be fine, unless ur going for 10 psi or more. Since the spring will eventually get weaker through time, you must replace it.)

You can't use a wastegate actuator because there is no room; it will hit the block. However, if you have a log style manifold, then you can use the wastegate actuator. Now with the manifold I mentioned above, the way it leans to the right, you will need to modify the compressor housing. You'll have to cut it a bit, because the motor mount is in the way. I'll take a picture of it to show you what I mean. You can't put a filter on it, however, you can try to put a little screen and clamp it down.

(As you can see, gotta make the cut to make room for motor mount)

Now you need oil feed lines. I got those off of ebay for about $60 bucks. With the oil lines, it came with a "T" fitting. In order to get the oil from the block, you'll need a 1 1/16" deep socket tool to remove the oil pressure sending unit from the back of the block. Using the "T", hook the "T" to the block. Where the straight part is, hook the other end to the Oil Pressure sending Unit, and where the sideway part comes in, that's your oil line. Again, I'll show you a picture of how to do this. Don't forget to use teflon tape to help prevent oil leakage.

For the oil return line, I got some heater hose with an "L" bend. For the fitting on the oil pan, I went to homedepot and looked for a fitting with a 3/4" opening. To tap the oil pan, I used a drill and just made a hole and I used JB weld to hold the fitting to the oil pan. I JB welded it inside and out. I just had to make sure no oil would leak. You gotta JB weld that MOTHER all over. LET IT DRY OVER NIGHT.

(In this picture, you can see my oil drain line. I used that "L" bent heater hose from the oil drain flange back to the oil pan.)

For the chargepipes, you gotta get creative with the bends and whatnot. I just bought the 2" chargepipes on Ebay for $125. They also had 2 1/4" for $190 and 2.5" for $300. That included misc bends and lengths of piping, silicone couplers, and clamps. Just plan ahead on how you want to route your piping.

(This is my car non-intercooled)


(Now I'm intercooled)


(Top view of my chargepipe to fmic)


(My Starion front mount intercooler)

Now you need fuel help. I just got a vortech 12:1 FMU. To hook this up is very simple. On the "In" side of the fmu, you need an extra fuel line to hook that up. I went to Pep Boys and bought a foot of the fuel line. Hook one side of the hose to the "In" on the FMU, then the other side to the stock fpr. Where the stock hose for the stock FPR was at, that hose goes to the "Out" on the FMU. Then for the top part, that's where you hook up a vacuum line. I "T"ed that vacuum line to the throttle body line.

(The left side is the stock FPR - fuel pressure regulator. Hook up the extra fuel line to that end. And the other end to the "IN" on the FMU. The original hose that was on the stock fpr, that goes to the "OUT" on the FMU)


To hook up a boost gauge, you need to "T" it again to any vacuum source, I used the cruise control line.

To hook up the blow-off valve, I just looked for a vacuum line that I haven't tapped into already.



Well, that's my writeup for now. Any one like to give me some feedback or help to add to this? Hope I helped out all my fellow 4 bangers. Any further questions, please PM me or post here. I'll try my best to respond back.

It's really not that difficult, all you need to think about is three things. The air, oil, and fuel. The oil to lubricate the turbo isn't that hard to hook up. The only fuel mod I have is the FMU. That's good enought to boost 5 psi safely without a fuel pump and aftermarket fpr. And air is trying to route the piping in the engine bay back to the throttle body, or to the intercooler and then back up.

I forgot to mention to get a better clutch as well. I still have my stock clutch :P But right now it's starting to slip a lot.

[Larry]

Currently, I'm boosting at 5 psi. My stupid downpipe that I had custom made by an exhaust shop is too restricted. Before, I hit full boost at 3,000 rpms. Now I hit full boost between 4,000 and 5,000; which is wayyy too late. I have a Clutchmasters Stage 2 sitting in my room, but not yet installed (no money). I've been boosted for about 3 months now. No problem, other than the common oil leaks.

[Chunchoy14]

Boost

I hope you didn't mind that I copied this to the projects forum. Good write-up

[Gie]

Good lookin out for us four bangers Larry... would love to see your mx-6 run in action.. lol we live in the same area! And if i plan to make my own homemade boost setup, I have the pro homemade boost original to consult.. lol to this write up

[Larry]

Just to bump. I added in the spring mod to hold the boost. Just incase if anyone is following.

[Larry]

No one has any questions or comments? I'm surprised

[M.Hicks]

no coments, I just need my stock precat manifold back! I threw mine out...