This is a write up I did originally on turbododge.com. I tried to be as accurate as i could but i am not perfect. Before you do anything, dont assume, ASK first shoot later. I dont mind people PMing me 24/7 if it prevents them from taking something i said wrong and blowing their motor!
Remember, most of what i have done here was my FIRST time doing it. I had never done headgaskets, tuned a car, installed a turbo, bla bla bla. This is just a good basis to go on. ASK FIRST SHOOT LATER! if you screw something up, NOT MY FAULT.
here we are
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Hey guys, Just a little something i typed up. It will help others and my self keep track of how i did things. I hope that after reading this thread, along with Shred's thread and even Ondontii's old threads that others will be more comfortable with turbo charging their 3.0. I try to be open with everything that i have done.. there are more Turbo 3.0s out there but most of those guys are rarely on the TD/TM forums. Hope you like it.
First things first, I got all my supporting mods taken care of.
- 52mm throttle body
- ditch stock air box setup
- 3inch exhaust w/ magnaflow
- ported intake plenum
- half inch spacers
- plenum flip
- msd blaster coil or equivalent
old install of my coil. cleaned it up alot with my megasquirt install
I Then got my tuning sorted out. This is the most important step and we are lucky to have the luxury of NO TURBO to start out with. This makes tuning easy to learn and is very safe to do on a N/A 3.0. While N/A you get to run lots of timing, go super lean and still be safe.
I installed Megasquirt II engine management. Once installed i ran a base map from another member on here to get me started. I quickly became familiar with tuning spark timing and fuel maps. I wont go into how I tune but feel free to pm me on anything megasquirt related.
87turbodance, along with the guys at diyautotune.com gave me so much info. i cannot thank them enough.
With the car tuned, i was ready to get my other required mods done before the turbo.
- wideband o2 sensor kit w/ gauge (installed with megasquirt, thats how you get the tune dialed in!)
- boost gauge
- 6puck "stage two" clutch kit from turbos unleashed
- walbro 255lph fuel pump
- solid bobble strut
- 36# injectors (tuned with megasquirt)
With all that taken care of, the car was ready to be boosted.
I ordered the following to build my self a "turbo kit"
- cx racing 63trim 8psi turbo (it works, and has not blown up yet ) CHEEP CHEEP, if you can afford a used holset, do it. Make sure you match the turbo to your setup.. 4cyl stock turbos do not work on v6 cars people!
- cx racing fmic kit. $200 shipped and had everything i needed
- oil lines. Make sure your oil return is big and the oil feed has the correct restrictor for your turbo. different turbos need different oil feed restrictors. My feed comes from the oil pressure sensor and the return goes into the oil pan
- Ed Kelly (kmperformance) turbo crossover manifold.
Now I was ready to install the turbo. I picked a good night where I did not work or have school the next day. I was able to get it done in one night.
this is the order i did things
- pull crossover
- install ed kelly crossover
- install turbo
- drop oil pan
- tap oil pan for return hose
- install oil pan and run oil lines
- run intercooler piping to turbo and throttle body
- install ngk gr7 spark plugs. These are two stages colder than the gr5 plugs that i had been running. Make sure to gap your plugs to .030- .040. My first set of plugs were like this and i did not have spark blow out. My new plugs were around .044-046 and i had spark blow out. I set the gr7s to .038 +- a little and was able to pull to 6300rpms in 4th gear at 10-13psi.
I had my intercooler mounted before hand and ran it for a while while naturally aspirated. this cut down on alot of time spent getting the turbo on and working. I like spacing out the work to make things easier.
Now that the turbo is installed, i drove it to my buddies shop to get the downipe fabbed up. Keep in mind my stock exhaust is still in place at this time so the turbo will not spool. here is a video clip of my drive to the shop.
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While it was at the shop, I had my friend cap off the rear exhaust manifold. This forces the flow to go to the turbo from both the front and rear heads. the proper way to do this would be to get a new rear manifold from ed kelly or build your own. Doing it like me works, but its not the best as far as flow goes.
The downpipe was custom bent 2.5inch pipe with a vband flange on it. Vband made it easy to bolt to the turbo. Also, the heater core lines were kept in their stock location. I heat wrapped both the heater lines and the downpipe to prevent any issues. It has not shown any issues yet.