Pre-Turbo Modifications

[petrified.rabbit]

and rabbit, where do you find all this info i've been searching for?

its in my head?

[Nemasys]

As far as engine internals go, you dont need to do anything if you dont plan on some serious power, you can easily get 200 hp with stock internals and the car is going to be very fun to drive.

Water/Meth injection also adds a good amount of power while greatly lowering the chance of detonation, that's in my future plans for the 2.0T

But for starters as i said get the exhaust completely redone, stiffen those mounts and look for a good ecu to run the turbo.

[petrified.rabbit]

nemasys, you missed his first thread were he wanted to run a 3" exhaust and buy a header now on the stock engine in preparation of buying a turbo.

he does need exhaust yes, but he needs to design what the exhaust will be going on.

[Nemasys]

Alright, thats good then.

Imo a 3 inch full lenght is overkill, at most use 3 inch for the downpipe and midpipe then 2.5 inch for the rest of it.

Even a full 2.5 inch would be plenty.

[Nemasys]

I forgot to mention 1 critical thing.

The transmission. They are not very strong in these cars, and past their designed torque limits, you are playing with fire.

So if you want to play it safe for your gearbox, ultimately you cannot run more than roughly 180 lbs of torque at the wheels or it will break eventually, it can take a month or it will last a year you never know.

Build your kit keeping in mind that you ultimately want that amount of torque and no more. You could upgrade to the 2.0L gearbox that will take around 200 lbs of torque at the wheels, its a bit stronger and its a direct bolt on to the 1.6L

[Weirdo_Joe]

Heck, yeah! Thanks, Nemasys!!! That's exactly the kind of stuff I need to know! Limits of what I can do, and what I need to think about getting if I want to exceed those limits! Good tiress & lighter rims are on my to-do list, already. So 2 1/2 is your suggestion? Cool! Matches the muffler. That's be beneficial to do anytime, right? Rabbit, my thread was asking about different sizes, I didn't "want" 3 inch pipe, necessarily (though I mentioned it ; ) Headers, well, that's when I found out that if I was gonna go turbo, I'd be getting a new exhaust manifold (I heat coated mine today, knowing I'd be keeping it a while! That's why this forum is really great, and discussing projects WAY ahead of time may help give me better direction! Thanks for all the info! (especially the note on the transmission/engine internals max torque/HP...PM me if you want a free shirt shipped to you, Nemasys! What do you think about an Apexi Neo for turbo tuning? I'm open to any better suggestions!

[petrified.rabbit]

i say with the turbo kit go full stand alone.

that said you can go full/piggyback standalone now, and the retune for turbo. if you like to make adjustments/tune etc.
you will have much more management wth megasquirt, sds etc that the neo.

[Weirdo_Joe]

Hmmm... Megasquirt sounds good! Thanks, rabbI'it! I see that's what Nemasys is using, too! I will look into that! For now, I think 2 1/2 inch exhaust, better wheels/tires, and maybe those camshaft pulleys are gonna be next... Now that I know the engine will most likely hold up, I may skip that step, and if I'm not paying for headers... it (turbo) may happen sooner than I even planned! YEAH!!!

[Nemasys]

Adjustable camshaft pulleys are useless, especially if you're going to use a full stand alone system that will have full control over spark/ignition timing. Use the cash for something else.

Even in a piggy back situation, the stock timing is well suited for boost.

[Weirdo_Joe]

Well, that's good news, and bad news. On one hand, it seems there isn't a lot more needed before going turbo... the other hand, there's not a lot more I can DO before turbo... I was hoping to boost the performance a lil bit more before doing any kind of turbo setup... but that's cool! I guess I can start searching and REsearching turbo setups and look into Megasquirt after exhaust and wheels/tires... I'm glad I brought this up before ordering any of those other parts. Still a total newbie, but learning as I go! Thanks you guys! All that helps a LOT.