some questions on how far i can push it

[laserturbo91]

im new here but im getting a 91' laser turbo for dirt cheap, the one killer is the 188,000 miles on it. its a good friend of the family and its pretty much in good condition, hes selling it because its not as peppy as it used to be and also he just wants a new car(which he now has, wrx). my father also had a 92' turbo talon, and they both cut the air box up and did some stuff to the MAS, also a k&n is in there. the biggest thing is it idles kind of ruff. he said the fuel injectors have not ever been cleaned, so i plan on mailing them to rc engineering since i hear they do a good job. what are some other mods do you guys suggest i should do, or do you recomend not doing too much with an engine like that and stock turbo. i was thinking about getting a boost controller and rasing it to like 12 or 13, what do you guys think of that? any do's or dont's, thanks alot

 

[CBgst]

I think you can find the answer to your questions here
DSM Tuners tuning guide

 

[laserturbo91]

im asking though how far do you think i could push the car with 188,000 miles on it and also if it would be ok for the turbo/engine to push 12 or 13 psi?

 

[CBgst]

12-13psi yes. As far as the engine it depends on the condition of the engine. Do a compression test to see if it needs a rebuild.

 

[Enigma_Man]

If the car seems to have lost power lately, and is just feeling old, then I'd be easy on it, and put it through some tests first (compression check, etc) See if there's anybody in your area that can help you with all that, or a mechanic you know of that is good at general diagnostic stuff.

Otherwise, a lot of people drive their high-mileage DSMs like a bat out of hell. These cars seem to stand up to a lot of abuse when they're not modded to death.

If it's still on the original stock turbo, and everything else checks out OK, I'd suspect that. A lot of people seem to kill their 14b (the stock) at around 100k miles or so, so the mileage you're at on the stock turbo, I would guess that probably. If you want to, pull off the rubber intake to the turbo, push it aside as much as you can, reach into the turbo inlet (when the car is off of course) grab the turbo shaft that's there (there's a nut on it that you can feel just inside the inlet) and see if it can move around at all. It should spin freely, and have a little play side-to-side, but very little in-out play.

That would be my guess for the performance decrease, if the car was treated well its whole life (regular oil changes and preventative maintenance. PS, make sure the timing belt's been changed when it's supposed to have).

If it turns out the turbo is just getting old, a brand-spanking new 16g can be had for around 600 dollars or so (I wouldn't reccomend a used 14b). You can bolt one of those onto a 100% stock car without any problem at all, and you'll notice a little bit of performance increase, and later on down the road if you start modding, it's a pretty good turbo, and can handle a lot of power. I forget what times people have got on it in the quarter mile, but pretty damn fast, and it spools quick and is very much like stock.

My 92 Laser has over 100k miles on it now, and while it's far from 188k, it's still high-mileage, and I drive it pretty hard on occasion, and it saw a very very hard life before I got it.

But yeah, do follow the tuning guide on this site if you're going to upgrade. It's been well thought through, and proven many times to be a great upgrade path.

Hope that helps some.

-Jesse

 

[Enigma_Man]

Oh yeah, one more thing. If the turbo is just old, and has lots of play in it. Personally, I'd get a 16g immediately, rather than just ignoring it and letting it die. My 14b was iffy, and I turned up the boost, and it died within a few weeks. That wasn't fun, had to drive about 50 miles on the highway at about 40 mph, not knowing if metal shards were getting all up in the engine.

 

[Speed52257]

I am putting a 14B turbo on my 96 Eclipse GS Spyder...Its a 2.4 litre..has anyone put a turbo on a 2.4? Also im wondering how much estimated horsepower will it produce in a 2.4...If anyone knows please let me know..
Thanks

 

[laserturbo91]

Originally posted by Enigma_Man
I turned up the boost, and it died within a few weeks.

if you dont mind me asking, how many psi's were you running when you killed the 14b (with the boost controler)? also the timing belt was replaced around 35,000 miles ago and the clutch was replaced at 110,000 miles
thanks
--jeff