I have a few new projects in store for the next year or two that I'm going to do and thought it would be good to get some ideas from the community on how they might go about doing them. I do a lot of "theory crafting", as video gamers say, in my head about how I might do a certain project but I’ve learned from other projects that I’ve done like the a/c cooled water to air intercooler and variable valve timing setup that it saves me time and gives me a lot of alternatives if I post ideas before I jump in and start doing them myself. So to start this off I’m going to list a couple of things that I have to do this summer to my wife’s car and I will list what the finished product has to be capable of then maybe you all can chime in and let me know what ways you might go about achieving the necessary end goal. If this goes well then I have a couple more ideas that are really far out there even for me that I will need input on.


First up is the wife’s car. Since I have been working on the Omni for the last two years she has been after me to build her a car that in her words “has some passing power”. We have ridiculously few passing straights here and they are short to boot. So if you want to get around a car or two with a normally powered car you must use the “sling shot maneuver” by getting a run in the curve before the straight and hope nothing is coming in order to pass someone that is content to run 40 or 45 mph the whole 30 miles of back roads that she travels each day to work.

A few parameters that I must work within are-
1. It HAS to be dependable.
2. The car must be near stock looking and sounding.
3. She loves her 01 2.4 Sebring and wanted one just like that but with more power so I bought an 05 2.4 Sebring cheap from ebay so that’s what I have to work with.
4. All mods have to be cheap and something that I am capable of doing. No just buying a SRT4 motor and harness and dropping it in. I have lots of time but not money lol.

Ok so as I mentioned I have the car already. I have decided to turbo charge it for the extra power it needs. I have bought a Mexican exhaust manifold and turbocharger so that will simplify the install some. I figure an extra 40 or 50 hp will be enough so I plan on using a low boost (7 or 8 psi) non-intercooled setup. I also want it to have built-in torque limiting so little if any boost under 4000 rpm to save the A604 transmission. I prefer to keep the motor as stock as possible too and not install any aftermarket fuel control system. I’m thinking a fmu with a map clamp setup and a high pressure pump and return line. Feel free to ask any questions or suggest any ideas that will help me to get this setup done as cheaply and dependably as possible.