Cost of rebuild and Turboing

[brad_kauz]

My question is this i would like to turbo my 95 gs and was wondering how much it would run me to have someone who knows what they are doing, since i haven't the slightest idea of what i need to do. I would prolly need to have my engine rebuilt to since i already have over 93 k miles to make sure it can handle the turbo. Also does anyone know of any place in iowa or western illiones that would be able to do this for me? Thanks for any info that u guys may be able to give.

 

[jimwross]

If you have to rebuild / turbo it... you may as well sell the car and buy a stock turbo dsm... fo rea. I'm a turbo'd 420a and I even say that :-\. First, if you were going to rebuild you'd want new rods + pistons to handel above 9psi (which is about all the stock engine can take), that plus rebuild labor... prob 1000 or up... since your spending that may as well just buy a 2.2l prebuilt. Then if you want to go with a kit it will run you 3000+ dollars. $4000 and up (if you do alot of hte work yourself), it just isnt worth it when you can buy an AWD 2G DSM (TSI AWD) for 4000 or a bit more (given prob have 100k plus miles), and the 4g63 will handle 2x the boost that the 420a can stock, plus you get a turbo (t-25) but easily upgradable etc.. etc.. etc..

Jim

 

[Turbo 420a]

Just for an estimate I quoted a regular mechanic for my bottom end rebuild labor and he said the labor alone would be $2,000!!! Thankfully I know a guy in my town who is an experienced tuner and has his own business doing engine work, forced induction, incredible paint jobs and bodywork, engine building, etc, etc.. Anyways he's a friend, and will charge me a mere fraction of that (dont have exact quote yet). My current rebuild costs are as follows:

Howellautomotive.com's 2.0 Performance Bottom end Kit (.2 over bore)
= $1,100.00

Head port & polishing, valve springs & retainers, polishing the intake plenum, portmatched, larger throttle body
= I estimate $600-$1000 give or taking rebuild parts.

HRC 500cc (maybe more) injectors (possibly more fuel components)
= $280.00 - $500 (if end up upgrading fuel rail)

Clutch upgrade to handle such power (still deciding)
= $300.00 roughly

Engine removal and rebuild is going to run me around $500 through this guy.

This is fairly rough, but you can see it's not cheap to rebuild unless you can get a good deal on labor (or have the tools/time/knowledge/confidence to do it yourself). It's going to be worth it though I think of this as the last straw in my performance goals. I pray to God for my poor tranny though and will be taking some steps to help insure it's life, getting the engine stuff out of the way first though.

 

[Kirby]

Don't worry about your tranny turbo, worry about your axles. Hahn ran that 10.87 on a stock tranny as far as gears go, trust me it will hold it. Your axles are what you need to upgrade. What do you plan to do to the tranny to insure it's life though? I'm curious because the only thing you can do is weld the diff pin so it won't pop out on you. Other than that there is nothing you can do. Now as for rebuilding there are several ways to do it. They all add up differently depending on which way you go. If you buy a prebuilt block and find a place to install it they could charge you anywhere from 500-1000 it all depends. The only way to get your answer is to call around in your area to get the prices. I bought a pre-built stroker and put it in my self. Replacing your engine is not "hard" it's just time consuming.

 

[Turbo 420a]

Originally posted by Kirby
What do you plan to do to the tranny to insure it's life though?

Well what I was planning to do to insure it's life was anything I could find to help that I find out about in the future.. nothing specific yet. I emailed John Shepherd a while back asking him about it, and the tranny man (albeit 4g63) said:

"On the trans. I have done 1 420a but there wasn't much I could do. To get the 2nd gear you have to buy the whole shaft assy. I can put a limited slip in it though."

I remember hearing about a high performance rebuild kit on the forums here for the N/T but it was a long time ago, and no longer here. If Hahn runs 10.87 on the 420a tranny than that's good enough for what I will need

What is the highest boost you have ran so far Kirby? Curious with your setup.