Upgrades for turbo cars

[sweefu]

Hey,
i am planning on buying a 200sx with the SR20DET motor, just wondering if anyone knows if a front mount intercooler, new exhaust, air filter etc the small stuff will make any more difference on a turbo car compared to an N/A car? (i know n/a cars dont have intercoolers)

Or does anyone know good upgrades for turbos for a bit more go?

Cheers.

[Nackerz]

a nice cam to suit the turbo man

[sweefu]

tempting!.. but would that hinder the fuel economy? it will be my daily so wanting to keep it good on petrol

[Nackerz]

yes and no the fuel economy depends on how you drive the car...

if you give it a flogging well then yes you will chew through the juice

however if you only give it shit here and there it shouldn't use much more than the stock na withouth the turbo


so upgrades you could do would be

Cam
Port and polish head
Get everything flowed IE, intake manifold, head

theres just a little list

more power = $$$$$$$$$

[Nackerz]

im getting a cam for my vlt and hope to get a little more power and stuff

[sweefu]

ah alright thankyou mate.
do you think i'd notice much of a difference with an enclosed pod filter and front mount intercooler compared to the stock air box and small intercooler?
Cheers.

[soop]

Riiight.
Do the simple stuff first.
Decent intercooler = colder air - more efficient burn.
Make sure all the ignition components are good, high underbonnet temps kill coils. Most Japanese turbo engines have independant coils like the LS1. They tend to die in the arse.

Common Exhaust upgrade is a 3" turbo back exhaust.
Cams are WAY to expensive to bother with on most DOHC japanese heads, and just unneeded.

Pods still do jack on them, the only reason i would ever use one, would be to make room for larger intercooler pipework.

Make sure your fuel pump and injectors are healthy, if not its pretty common for the engine to lean out under load/high boost and melt a piston.

Something people often miss is the timing belt, i've seen a few times guys are driving cars with timing belts that have slipped a tooth or two, and they run strange. Its not enough to cause the valve to hit but it still causes issues.

Other then that, wind the boost up and have fun.

[sweefu]

Thanks for the help mate. i think once i get it all working 110% and serviced, i'll go with the front mount and make up some sort of enclosed pod, and then look at an exhuast.
Do the 3inches drone at high speeds? I do alot of highway driving, dont want it to drone

[soop]

It all depends on the muffler.
Looking into an Xforce Varex muffler. Fairly certain they make one for the 200sx. They have a remote controled valve in them. They're quieter then standard closed, and loud as hell when they're open.

Word of warning, turn the boost down with them closed, they exhaust has to be re-routed through another chamber of the muffler, so it restrics the crap out of the exhaust. But who cares, you dont want to be going fast when you want it that quiet anyway.

[sweefu]

Thanks mate thats a good idea. i might just buy the nomral 3inch turbo back, and weld in a high flow cat and 2 mufflers

[soop]

Good luck getting two mufflers under them. Most japanese cars are built and designed with ONE rear muffler. And there is only space enough in the floor plan for such a setup. Most of the time, they all bolt together in a few sections. so changing the muffler is easy enough.

[sweefu]

oh okay. my mate has an r33 skyline and another mate a sss pulsar all designed stock with 2 mufflers?

[southy]

I probably wouldnt go with 2 mufflers, maybe just a fairly beefy hot dog and a good muffler should be good.

And if you dont wanna go crazy just do the simple things, like better spark, better intake piping, better exhaust (obvious) etc.. All the small things add up!

[Escape-The-Fate]

my mates has a r34 skyline, hes got a K&N pod filter on it, jap speed front mount intercooler (wants to replace with a HKS), HKS atmospheric blow off valve (illegal i know) and a HKS cat back exhaust and it goes pretty good..gives SS and XR8 a run for there money. The exhaust is a 3inch with a 3 1/2 in tip on it and no drone what so ever sounds pretty nice..his next step is to get his mate at the shop to build a custom turbo to cat pipe and then get it tuned, which it needs badly..spits above 5500rpm at the moment. like has been said though..bigger intercooler, exhaust and wind the boost up and go have some fun..

[matty88]

Boost controller too, get your turbo high flowed and rebuilt, new seals and whatnot

[sweefu]

my mates has a r34 skyline, hes got a K&N pod filter on it, jap speed front mount intercooler (wants to replace with a HKS), HKS atmospheric blow off valve (illegal i know) and a HKS cat back exhaust and it goes pretty good..gives SS and XR8 a run for there money. The exhaust is a 3inch with a 3 1/2 in tip on it and no drone what so ever sounds pretty nice..his next step is to get his mate at the shop to build a custom turbo to cat pipe and then get it tuned, which it needs badly..spits above 5500rpm at the moment. like has been said though..bigger intercooler, exhaust and wind the boost up and go have some fun..

Shouldnt an r34gtst beat an xr8 or ss with a few mods?

[ashbox]

you'd be surprised how much $$$ you have to put into jap cars to get them going.

i'd send MR Plow on here a pm cos he used to have a 180sx with the sr20det, i know he rebuilt and was making some reasonable power

[Low_VX_Taxi]

If your keeping the stock turbo you could always have it rebuilt steel wheeled and high flowed, this will give a little bit of a power increase and ensure reliability, especially considering the car is second hand.

But if you want a guaranteed power increase there is one tried and tested method: Bigger turbo.

Me personally I prefer two faster spooling small turbos for daily applications.... but I havent heard of many people doing this with the sr20.

[Maxxiz]

You might get some better info somewhere like here.

[Escape-The-Fate]

Shouldnt an r34gtst beat an xr8 or ss with a few mods?

yeh mate, like i said it needs a tune bad..meaning he needs to buy a boost controller and he only want HKS which is 450 bucks or something then its a grand to tune..R34's get detuned when imported and only run the claimed 8 pound stock boost at 6000rpm so realistically (sp?) he only gets 4-5 pound at 4-5000rpm and it doesnt start boosting till 3200 or something.

[ryno_vrx]

upgrade the injectors 740cc about $650
upgraded in tank fuel pump (gtr) $180
upgraded to a t25/t28 flanged turbo around $2000
new plug n play ecu $1200-1800
upgrade the airflow meter to a z32 item or similar as it chokes around 190rwkws
last area to look out for is the standard valve train as the rocker arms are known to break or begin to float at high rpm.
then enjoy

[cameron20020]

for gods sake. please dont set it up to suck in hot air from the engine bay, from a pod filter, like the dumb bastards did on my brothers VL before he bought it. perhaps a good cool air intake will do you good.

but yeah cams for the turbo will give it more top end grunt i think

[soop]

Cams are the least of your worry...

Now i understand the theory behind Cold air induction. But honestly the turbo is spinning at what? 250000rpm?
They get to about 600c.
The intake charge is going to be freaking hot regardless of where the air is pulled from. Thats the why people use intercoolers. The only benifit I can see in a CAI is they generally flow better then the standard setup. (CAI doesn't necissarily mean a fuggin god awefull pod filter.)

[Low_VX_Taxi]

Cams are the least of your worry...

Now i understand the theory behind Cold air induction. But honestly the turbo is spinning at what? 250000rpm?
They get to about 600c.
The intake charge is going to be freaking hot regardless of where the air is pulled from. Thats the why people use intercoolers. The only benifit I can see in a CAI is they generally flow better then the standard setup. (CAI doesn't necissarily mean a fuggin god awefull pod filter.)

I have a CAI: large flexible tube mounted on the lower extremities of the front bar running to a standard air box with a bigger opening (and a higher flowing filter of course) on my car. I beleive keeping down operating temps is a good thing, even if its only a little and not going to make a huge difference like an intercoolder will (I also have a nice cooler too).

[greenfoam]

My mate has a Silvia and messes around with them a fair bit. He's got a CA18 in his and it's fair mental, still running a stock ecu (retuned). Must have near 200rwkw, very quick little car. He runs the NA cams or at least one of them, a good roller bearing turbo, bigger maf and a big cooler, also better injectors. Apart from that it's all stock