EdwardNorth
15+ Year Contributor
- 292
- 1
- Dec 20, 2003
-
Waterford,
Michigan
Hey all,
This morning I finished the installation of the FP EVOIII 16G on my Talon. What a job! I was working by myself mostly but I started on Saturday and finished today. Props to those of you who managed to nail this bugger in 6 hours, I don't know how you did it but nice job! Hunker down for a few minutes why dontcha and have a look at my review...
As you might imagine, I was very nervous when it came time to prime the turbo and then fire it up. I worked slowly and took great care to be extremely detailed and alert with every little step, nut, bolt, and part involved. However, you always expect something to go wrong when it's GO-time.
I primed the turbo by running the starter for 20 seconds, then letting it rest for a couple minutes, then repeated that process 2 more times for a total of 1 full minute of priming. I had pulled the ground fuel pump relay under the center console while the car was running beforehand, this allowed it to stall and burn the extra fuel out of the system. During each break period for the starter I looked at the oil lines, coolant lines, and general picture to make sure nothing was leaking or amiss. So far so good! The priming process went without a hitch and it was time to move on to the big kahuna -- STARTING time!
Keeping my fingers crossed, I plugged the relay back in and fired it up. It cranked for just a couple of seconds but then fuel filled the system again and it fired right up! I listened -- everything sounded just as I had remembered it with the T-2slow. I uncovered my eyes and looked around
got out and inspected the engine bay, turbo, and lines above and beneath the car. Everything looked perfect! I felt around and checked all of my bolted-up areas for leaks and unfortunately I DID find that there was a slight leak at the Downpipe to 02 housing connection. Nothing major, just a tiny breeze. I decided it would be fine to drive though, and I'd fix it in the next day or so (maybe some RTV copper sealant around the edges? That downpipe connection has the new gasket that FP sent me and those bolts are freakin' tight!) But it didn't sound any different. I can't tell that there is any kind of leak just by listening to the car, idling OR on the road.
I backed it off the Rhino ramps it was on and after letting it idle for about 5-10 minutes, I went for my first drive in my EVOIII powered Talon! I crawled through our neghborhood and when I got to the road, I pulled out slowly and barely accelerated. Everything was as it should be, so I made a right at one of our major roads and accelerated normally (while still keeping it out of boost, around 4-5" of vacuum). Everything was great and my paranoia of an exploding DSM began to subside... :laugh:
I started pushing the pedal down a bit to test the boost out. Slowly and nervously I watched the needle on the boost gauge pass from vacuum to the first precious couple of lbs. of boost! No strange noises, nothing out of the ordinary, just good clean BOOST baby! Last night I had set my Hallman MBC back to what I hoped was 10 lbs, and during the test drive I went WOT a couple of times (once in 1st gear and once in 2nd) and it looks like I had almost pegged the boost I was going for. I got 11 PSI in 1st gear and 10-10.5 in second.
Upon returning home I examined the car while I let it idle to cool down. Success!! No leaks, no problems, and it was a successful drive. I decided to take it to work for some more testing and easy driving for my own imaginary "break-in" of my new E316G. To summarize my total daily experience with this turbo, here are a few points:
- Especially at around 10-11 PSI, from a slow roll (5-10 mpg) in 1st gear, going WOT is noticably SLOWER than the T-25. This is of course because the E316G spools around the 3500 RPM area, so it tends to lag quite a bit when doing this. I imagine when I go to actually launch it at 3500-4000 rpm (and turn the boost up to 15+), even If I gently slip the clutch this lag effect will be negated and I will notice much harder pull in 1st gear than the T-25 could ever dream of.
- When hitting the freeway on the way into work, I did a minor 3rd gear pull starting around 35 mph (at maybe 2500 rpm or so?) coming off the on-ramp. Once I got to 3000+ rpm boost held a solid 10psi. Even at 10psi the car pulled harder in 3rd from 3500 on up than the T-25 did at 15psi! It didn't have that "tired and sloppy" feeling that the T-25 usually has in this scenario.
- I am VERY impressed by how well boost is holding. I was almost expecting a little creep, but wherever boost goes to it gets pegged at. I've only run 10 or so PSI and taken RPMS up to just a hair over 5000 so far with this turbo, but so far boost creep is NOT an issue. I got FP's EVO package #3 (comes with EVO O2 housing) and the porting job they did on both turbo and housing was AWESOME! I imagine this combined with my 3" exhaust (well, okay, 2.5" in and out of the Hi-flow cat) has smacked down any potential creep issue. I guess I'll have to see what happens at higher boost settings and RPM but I imagine everything will be fine.
- Since my Talon is my daily driver, I was looking forward to the later spool to help me save a little gas. It was pretty easy to get into boost with the T-25 during normal city driving, due to the insanely quick spool. Now I can gas it a little more without leaving vacuum. This will also be a plus when winter comes. Even though I have AWD, later spool can only help for the slippery stuff.
- All in all, the new powerband and it's associate RPM range will take some getting used to. I got very used to the instant spool of the T-25 and loved it but hated the feeling when it ran out of juice at around 5000 rpm. Now I have to teach myself to shift much closer to or right at redline, but also to be more careful because this baby will zip right up TO redline! It's a different animal though, and requires a different technique to be sure. But I haven't even had an INTRO to the power of the E316G at this lowly 10 PSI. I will install my fuel pump tomorrow and then crank it up to 15-16 PSI and see what she can do! Then someday will come injectors, AFC, and 18 PSI on Sunoco 94 for daily driving use. 
I'm excited to have gotten this installation completed. I did have a couple of final questions though for you guys, so here goes:
1) I put the bottom/turbo heat shield back on, but I have to cut part of the top/exhaust manifold shield to get it to fit over/around the J-pipe. Will leaving the top heat shield off for just a couple more trips in the car cause any problems under the hood (like melting plastic, wires, paint problems on the hood, etc)? Actually, I will only be driving it one more time without the shield, and that will be to go home from work tonight! I will take it easy and try to keep my EGT down by not boosting hardly at all. You guys think that everything should be okay?
2) Would the copper RTV sealant be fine to put around the flange/gasket of the downpipe to 02 housing connection to eliminate this leak? If not, what do I need to do to seal it, remove the DP from the cat or maybe that bracket that holds the DP to the underside of the car?
3) Any last minute tips for a new E316G jockey?
I hope this review is as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to write. I love my new turbo, and I can't wait to take it to the next level. Thanks for all of your help everyone, I owe ya!
This morning I finished the installation of the FP EVOIII 16G on my Talon. What a job! I was working by myself mostly but I started on Saturday and finished today. Props to those of you who managed to nail this bugger in 6 hours, I don't know how you did it but nice job! Hunker down for a few minutes why dontcha and have a look at my review...
As you might imagine, I was very nervous when it came time to prime the turbo and then fire it up. I worked slowly and took great care to be extremely detailed and alert with every little step, nut, bolt, and part involved. However, you always expect something to go wrong when it's GO-time.
I primed the turbo by running the starter for 20 seconds, then letting it rest for a couple minutes, then repeated that process 2 more times for a total of 1 full minute of priming. I had pulled the ground fuel pump relay under the center console while the car was running beforehand, this allowed it to stall and burn the extra fuel out of the system. During each break period for the starter I looked at the oil lines, coolant lines, and general picture to make sure nothing was leaking or amiss. So far so good! The priming process went without a hitch and it was time to move on to the big kahuna -- STARTING time!
Keeping my fingers crossed, I plugged the relay back in and fired it up. It cranked for just a couple of seconds but then fuel filled the system again and it fired right up! I listened -- everything sounded just as I had remembered it with the T-2slow. I uncovered my eyes and looked around
got out and inspected the engine bay, turbo, and lines above and beneath the car. Everything looked perfect! I felt around and checked all of my bolted-up areas for leaks and unfortunately I DID find that there was a slight leak at the Downpipe to 02 housing connection. Nothing major, just a tiny breeze. I decided it would be fine to drive though, and I'd fix it in the next day or so (maybe some RTV copper sealant around the edges? That downpipe connection has the new gasket that FP sent me and those bolts are freakin' tight!) But it didn't sound any different. I can't tell that there is any kind of leak just by listening to the car, idling OR on the road.I backed it off the Rhino ramps it was on and after letting it idle for about 5-10 minutes, I went for my first drive in my EVOIII powered Talon! I crawled through our neghborhood and when I got to the road, I pulled out slowly and barely accelerated. Everything was as it should be, so I made a right at one of our major roads and accelerated normally (while still keeping it out of boost, around 4-5" of vacuum). Everything was great and my paranoia of an exploding DSM began to subside... :laugh:
I started pushing the pedal down a bit to test the boost out. Slowly and nervously I watched the needle on the boost gauge pass from vacuum to the first precious couple of lbs. of boost! No strange noises, nothing out of the ordinary, just good clean BOOST baby! Last night I had set my Hallman MBC back to what I hoped was 10 lbs, and during the test drive I went WOT a couple of times (once in 1st gear and once in 2nd) and it looks like I had almost pegged the boost I was going for. I got 11 PSI in 1st gear and 10-10.5 in second.
Upon returning home I examined the car while I let it idle to cool down. Success!! No leaks, no problems, and it was a successful drive. I decided to take it to work for some more testing and easy driving for my own imaginary "break-in" of my new E316G. To summarize my total daily experience with this turbo, here are a few points:
- Especially at around 10-11 PSI, from a slow roll (5-10 mpg) in 1st gear, going WOT is noticably SLOWER than the T-25. This is of course because the E316G spools around the 3500 RPM area, so it tends to lag quite a bit when doing this. I imagine when I go to actually launch it at 3500-4000 rpm (and turn the boost up to 15+), even If I gently slip the clutch this lag effect will be negated and I will notice much harder pull in 1st gear than the T-25 could ever dream of.
- When hitting the freeway on the way into work, I did a minor 3rd gear pull starting around 35 mph (at maybe 2500 rpm or so?) coming off the on-ramp. Once I got to 3000+ rpm boost held a solid 10psi. Even at 10psi the car pulled harder in 3rd from 3500 on up than the T-25 did at 15psi! It didn't have that "tired and sloppy" feeling that the T-25 usually has in this scenario.
- I am VERY impressed by how well boost is holding. I was almost expecting a little creep, but wherever boost goes to it gets pegged at. I've only run 10 or so PSI and taken RPMS up to just a hair over 5000 so far with this turbo, but so far boost creep is NOT an issue. I got FP's EVO package #3 (comes with EVO O2 housing) and the porting job they did on both turbo and housing was AWESOME! I imagine this combined with my 3" exhaust (well, okay, 2.5" in and out of the Hi-flow cat) has smacked down any potential creep issue. I guess I'll have to see what happens at higher boost settings and RPM but I imagine everything will be fine.
- Since my Talon is my daily driver, I was looking forward to the later spool to help me save a little gas. It was pretty easy to get into boost with the T-25 during normal city driving, due to the insanely quick spool. Now I can gas it a little more without leaving vacuum. This will also be a plus when winter comes. Even though I have AWD, later spool can only help for the slippery stuff.
- All in all, the new powerband and it's associate RPM range will take some getting used to. I got very used to the instant spool of the T-25 and loved it but hated the feeling when it ran out of juice at around 5000 rpm. Now I have to teach myself to shift much closer to or right at redline, but also to be more careful because this baby will zip right up TO redline!
It's a different animal though, and requires a different technique to be sure. But I haven't even had an INTRO to the power of the E316G at this lowly 10 PSI. I will install my fuel pump tomorrow and then crank it up to 15-16 PSI and see what she can do! Then someday will come injectors, AFC, and 18 PSI on Sunoco 94 for daily driving use. I'm excited to have gotten this installation completed. I did have a couple of final questions though for you guys, so here goes:
1) I put the bottom/turbo heat shield back on, but I have to cut part of the top/exhaust manifold shield to get it to fit over/around the J-pipe. Will leaving the top heat shield off for just a couple more trips in the car cause any problems under the hood (like melting plastic, wires, paint problems on the hood, etc)? Actually, I will only be driving it one more time without the shield, and that will be to go home from work tonight!
I will take it easy and try to keep my EGT down by not boosting hardly at all. You guys think that everything should be okay?2) Would the copper RTV sealant be fine to put around the flange/gasket of the downpipe to 02 housing connection to eliminate this leak? If not, what do I need to do to seal it, remove the DP from the cat or maybe that bracket that holds the DP to the underside of the car?
3) Any last minute tips for a new E316G jockey?
I hope this review is as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to write. I love my new turbo, and I can't wait to take it to the next level. Thanks for all of your help everyone, I owe ya!
