rdrkt
20+ Year Contributor
- 1,540
- 3
- Apr 20, 2002
-
Baltimore,
Maryland
It seems as if we can never have a clean discussion about turbos in the other forums. I was hoping that we could create a dialogue here and maybe have it be a reference point for people asking questions. These are just my opinions but I would really like to get a few of your opinions on this.
For a guy on a limited budget I recommend a 16g even with limited supporting mods/tuning ability and a stock sidemount it should be sufficient for getting high/mid 12s. For fuel I would recommend a fuel pump I am partial to the Supra pump of Walbro if you are on a budget. You also need a SAFC. Upgraded injectors shouldnt be required until you really start upping the boost. That combo deppending on supporting mods should be good for between 250-330hp depending on gas type. For people want to run 11s on a 16g it is going to require 110 octane or higher gas and a lot more supporting mods.
For someone that had a larger budget I would recommend a 50trim t3/t4. I like Garrett turbos a bit more than bolt-ons but that is just my opinion. A Garret can be purchased for under 700 you would need a manifold that you can get from SFP for around $500. You need an external wastegate you can probably get away with a 35mm Tial You also need a different 02 housing. A 50 trim turbo should be able to make great power on pump gas. I would expect a 50trim depending on supporting mods to make a big over 400 to the wheels. I would expect very low 12s on pump gas with a pretty decent mph and high/mid 11s on c16. You will need a lot more supporting mods for this. I would recommend 650cc injectors, HKS cams either 264 272 or a pair of 272s for a FMIC I would recommend a Spearco 216 core from Diamond Star Motorsports or IRC. For fuel management this is where it starts to get tricky. This turbo will require a raised rev limit and a lot of people will have trouble with dropped counts when using a SAFC and hacked MAS. This is the point where most people use a SAFC/VPC combo. Everyone has an opinion on this personally I prefer a Haltech in a case like this if someone either knows how to do the tuning themselves or can find someone that can. The reason I prefer standalone is that a the VPC, SAFC, TMO, Datalogger combo is pretty expensive and you still run into tuning issues because you are fighting the stock ECU every step of the way. At this power level you may want to take your motor into consideration. Most people are going to have 100k miles+ on their DSM. Most motors that old either do not want to hold more than double the factory HP or have compression that is out of the service range. This is also a hotly debated topic. If it were me I would go with a 1g rod 2g piston motor because I wouldnt want to get into forged pistons.
The aforementioned two levels should be the level that most people should stop. Most people will run their car on pump gas and depending on turbo selection a larger turbo might not be able to beat a 50 trim on pump gas. This should still be a relatively driveable reliable DSM and you should be able to have fun with it. For people wanting more HP than that you start getting into a lot more options. Most people will have a hard enough properly tuning the 50 trim much less something much larger. When you start making 500+hp to the wheels you run into a lot more maintenance issues than you would at a lesser power level.
For a guy on a limited budget I recommend a 16g even with limited supporting mods/tuning ability and a stock sidemount it should be sufficient for getting high/mid 12s. For fuel I would recommend a fuel pump I am partial to the Supra pump of Walbro if you are on a budget. You also need a SAFC. Upgraded injectors shouldnt be required until you really start upping the boost. That combo deppending on supporting mods should be good for between 250-330hp depending on gas type. For people want to run 11s on a 16g it is going to require 110 octane or higher gas and a lot more supporting mods.
For someone that had a larger budget I would recommend a 50trim t3/t4. I like Garrett turbos a bit more than bolt-ons but that is just my opinion. A Garret can be purchased for under 700 you would need a manifold that you can get from SFP for around $500. You need an external wastegate you can probably get away with a 35mm Tial You also need a different 02 housing. A 50 trim turbo should be able to make great power on pump gas. I would expect a 50trim depending on supporting mods to make a big over 400 to the wheels. I would expect very low 12s on pump gas with a pretty decent mph and high/mid 11s on c16. You will need a lot more supporting mods for this. I would recommend 650cc injectors, HKS cams either 264 272 or a pair of 272s for a FMIC I would recommend a Spearco 216 core from Diamond Star Motorsports or IRC. For fuel management this is where it starts to get tricky. This turbo will require a raised rev limit and a lot of people will have trouble with dropped counts when using a SAFC and hacked MAS. This is the point where most people use a SAFC/VPC combo. Everyone has an opinion on this personally I prefer a Haltech in a case like this if someone either knows how to do the tuning themselves or can find someone that can. The reason I prefer standalone is that a the VPC, SAFC, TMO, Datalogger combo is pretty expensive and you still run into tuning issues because you are fighting the stock ECU every step of the way. At this power level you may want to take your motor into consideration. Most people are going to have 100k miles+ on their DSM. Most motors that old either do not want to hold more than double the factory HP or have compression that is out of the service range. This is also a hotly debated topic. If it were me I would go with a 1g rod 2g piston motor because I wouldnt want to get into forged pistons.
The aforementioned two levels should be the level that most people should stop. Most people will run their car on pump gas and depending on turbo selection a larger turbo might not be able to beat a 50 trim on pump gas. This should still be a relatively driveable reliable DSM and you should be able to have fun with it. For people wanting more HP than that you start getting into a lot more options. Most people will have a hard enough properly tuning the 50 trim much less something much larger. When you start making 500+hp to the wheels you run into a lot more maintenance issues than you would at a lesser power level.
