Forced Induction on a budget

Bluesgeek · Post by **Bluesgeek** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 1:56 am

Ok guys, its time I got a little more power...

Please recommendations as to the best way to do this on a budget! Not neccesarily the cheapest but bearing in mind I have a wife and 8 guitars to support (and another on the way!)

Reconditioned Turbo? What will fit etc.... Although I'm a web programmer but I started out as a fitter/turner so I'm not frightened of getting my hands dirty

Where do I start? I presume Turbo as this would be the easiest option? This would have to be done piecemeal as I have other monetary commitments (guitars, lambretta restoration, expensive wife...)

Thanks for any advice you can give!

Shermio · Post by **Shermio** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 10:32 am

Hmmm forced induction and on a budget never seems to work in the same sentence

The thing is it's all good just dropping in a turbo, but the time and money it takes to get the car set up, tuned, and have everything working smoothly thats where all the money goes...

Getting a re-con Turbo has it's ups and downs... a good re-con job can make the turbo run like new, but a bad one can be worse than getting a new one in the first place, it's all a matter of luck (Unless you get it from a trusted source)

In my opinion, superchargers are the way to go, cost and performance-wise no lag, no cool down period etc...

Of course if you really wanted budget you can always strap a 12 volt DC computer fan to your intake (Seriously I saw someone with that at a petrol station when they were topping up their oil....)

Or go watch some of the videos from http://www.electricsupercharger.com/

(No connections with said company just out of interest)

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 3:33 pm

perhaps the biggest hurdle to overcome is the turbo manifold. you can buy a Greddy maifold off the net for US$150 that is designed to acommodate a Garret T25 turbo as fitted to the nissan 180sx/200sx. second hand garret turbos are expensive as every body wants them. to get a steampipe manifold made for any turbo you get will be about $600 but you can use cheaper turbos from any 2 liter car. im using a turbo from a subaru legacy which are readily available for $150 -$300.
throw in a cheap repco intercooler and either an adjustable fuel pressure regulator or greddy emanage computor and your away.....

My DIY turbo set up cost me a smidge over 3 grand including heavy duty clutch, full 2.5"exhaust and engine management,dyno tuning and certification and remember i fabricated EVERYTHING except welding the steampipe manifold so there is a HEAP of free labour there. maybe add a grand if your getting stuff like intercooler pipes fabbed by a shop etc.
If you went for a low pressure 5psi system with a junkyard turbo on a steampipe manifold and a afpr system you could probably do it for less than $2K
have a look here at what i did.
http://miata.cardomain.com/ride/264041/6

Miatamad · Post by **Miatamad** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 11:42 am

Hi Bluesgeek.

There are a ton of options available, depending on what you are wanting to get out of your car.

There are some supercharger kits available that are as close to bolt on as you will get. The do however have a limit on how far you can take them - should you want more than a mid-sized increase in oomph.

There are a ton of DYI options for turbo's, and you sill save a ton of $$ if you can fab things up yourself. Cost really depends on what you want to put in. I have been buying bits for a while now - and all I know is that the budget has been well and truly stuffed (and its not even in yet).

You can piecemeal it better then a supercharger so this is helpful. If you go to http://www.greddyturbofaqs.com/ you can see how you can build something up in stages (based of the greddy turbo kit - of which there are plenty secondhand available).

hopew that this helps.

Chris

zippy2 · Post by **zippy2** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:13 pm

Bluesgeek,

I did a supercharger for about $1,500, however that was because I got a second hand kit with almost all the parts for about $1,000.

The cheapest way could be the second hand road either turbo or sc. in fact I think the cheapest way is to get a car with FI on it already.

Building up from nothing I think a turbo would be the cheapest.

However once you start looking at more than 6lbs of boost it will start to get expensive.

You can get the greedy kit from the us on ebay - but it will still be about $2K.

Good luck..

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/668397/

Miatamad · Post by **Miatamad** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:30 pm

or for $3695 - a bolt on supercharger giving 190 rwhp http://www.fastforwardsuperchargers.com/

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:28 pm

theres a heap of stuff happeneing at the moment especially in the U.S. by the end of the year there will be many many kits to choose from, at least 3 new supercharger kits and 2 new and 1 redone turbo kits, on top of current options.

GEEMCB · Post by **GEEMCB** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:07 pm

Damn - got all excited about the fastforward kit - except the price above is in $US, plus shipping costs from the US. Worst of all it only suits 1994 - 2005 ! Damn !

Regards,

russellsmithies · Post by **russellsmithies** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:38 pm

The Jackson Racing kit is only US$2200 and you could add the boost upgrade for another US$400. That should give you 170 - 190 hp for a few dollars less.

Post by **zorruno** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 11:06 am

on 17/07/2006 10:38 p.m. russellsmithies wrote:

The Jackson Racing kit is only US$2200 and you could add the boost
upgrade for another US$400. That should give you 170 - 190 hp for a few
dollars less.

I think you'll find the shipping costs are pretty high though. Have you
asked how much shipping is?
--
(z)

[Posted via External Email]

zippy2 · Post by **zippy2** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 12:48 pm

if you are shipping this from the us, due to the weight you will most likely will end up paying for an import licence, airport tax / handling and clearance agent fee so add about $200, then add $500 odd for gst

all up the base sc kit will could cost you almost $5,000 nz.

Bluesgeek · Post by **Bluesgeek** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:52 am

Thanks for the replies guys, plenty to think about there.... I'm used to paying horrendous shipping, I'm restoring a couple of lambrettas and shipping from the UK usually costs more than the parts