SMALL single turbo project, thoughts welcome!

[ZephTheChef]

Disclaimer: Don't try this at home. This will be a very low budget build. This is not designed to hold up to daily driving, and I DO know what I'm doing. With that said:

Thought I'd start a thread to get my thoughts organized since I'll be getting started on the SVX within a couple weeks hopefully. I'll be going with a very small single turbo, capable of only about 8-10psi to redline. 1st choice is a single TD05H E316G. "oh noes, don't do that, Zeph...it'll choke the car's exhaust" I personally don't believe it will choke the car, as that's about the same spot the stock turbos run out of air on the other love of my life (Mitsubishi 3000GT)...but it will indeed put a fairly modest 340HP cap in place. The plus sides of course are that it won't cost very much, and it should hit full boost by 2200RPM

The compressor flow map lines up beatifully with the VE requirements of the SVX. Even though it's a far smaller turbo than most people would consider, I think it will make it impossible not to grin when driving this car. It should be comparable spool-wise to driving an automatic DSM with the stock 13G turbo...which if you've never done it, is virtually lag-free and a ton of fun. If Subaru had put a turbo on the SVX from the factory, it would probably have been this one.

The plan is to start off at 8psi across the board and see how things go, if all goes well I may unplug the wastegate for a few track runs...like I said, it will only flow enough for 8-10psi at top end, but should spike to as much as 25psi in the earlier RPM ranges, which I can say with confidence and past experience (on other platforms) will give me a very fat powerband and make this car all kinds of fun on the street.

Fuel management I'm keeping a surprise at this point, let's just say it's going to be different, cheap, and if my past experiences are any indication, very effective.

Yes, I'm well aware of the supposed ring-land issues (which I believe were likely a result of knock, and not boost). I'll be running E98, so knock is of zero concern. Yes, it's a completely stock engine. The car has a dying auto in it, and will be getting a 5-speed swap immediately before the turbo project begins. The turbo may well increase in size in the future, but for now a relatively tiny one should be a very fun way to add about 100hp across nearly the entire powerband.

Budget is $500. Comments, positive negative or otherwise, quite welcome. Thanks for looking!

[svxfiles]

Good luck with your project.

[cruisen_15]

500$ seems impossible but hey if you get hookups like i did, then your golden
good luck!

[subeman90]

sounds cool. good luck and keep us posted on here

[ZephTheChef]

Originally Posted by cruisen_15

500$ seems impossible but hey if you get hookups like i did, then your golden
good luck!

Yeah, I know that's a tight budget, but that's the goal anyway. I've got a source for the turbo, that's going to eat half the budget right there. I already have the injectors laying around off one of my other cars I've upgraded. I'll be running my own version of a boost-a-pump, probably at 18V to make sure the fuel pump keeps up. I already have a lot of stuff laying around leftover from other projects that I'll be using for fabbing, so the $500 number is a bit skewed. The total cost would probably be double that (which I realize is still very low) if I didn't have stuff already just sitting around.

[ZephTheChef]

I'm going out of town this weekend, but I'll get some "before" pictures of the car up sometime next week.

[siceclipse]

Better be external gated for anything below 10psi.
using the stock wastegate hooked up to an immediate pressure source and not using a boost controller on my GSX netted 23psi falling to 17 at redline on a 2.0L motor.

[ZephTheChef]

Originally Posted by siceclipse

Better be external gated for anything below 10psi.
using the stock wastegate hooked up to an immediate pressure source and not using a boost controller on my GSX netted 23psi falling to 17 at redline on a 2.0L motor.

I expect that. And the more I've been thinking it over I'm not even going to bother trying to control that. It'll be at the limits of the turbo in the higher RPM ranges anyway...if the car can handle 580cfm, I don't see any reason I should be trying to avoid the 330cfm @ 25psi earlier in the powerband. I'll just run the turbo all-out. It's so small I shouldn't have any overboost issues the engine can't handle, but I may well fry the turbo pretty fast from overspeed issues.

Don't really care, I'm going with a China-bay turbo anyway...so when it fries itself then it'll just be time to upgrade to a bigger, better turbo. I'm more or less doing this as a cheap way to learn about how the SVX is going to respond to forced induction and to get a feel for tuning it. If stuff breaks, great, I can learn from that.

[Nevin]

Originally Posted by ZephTheChef

If stuff breaks, great, I can learn from that.

I like your attitude there, sir.

I'm up here in Iowa City, Iowa and plan on doing some kind of turbocharging madness probably next summer. I'd love to be in touch as to how your project goes.

[sd2649]

I am really excited to hear how this goes. What is your super secret engine management setup? Please, do tell!

[ZephTheChef]

Originally Posted by sd2649

I am really excited to hear how this goes. What is your super secret engine management setup? Please, do tell!

Let's just say that simplicity is the name of the game. My solution is not fancy by any means, but it is different. It may or may not have been done before...the built-in forum search sucks, and I can't search the site with because it hides threads unless you're logged in...and is apparently not logged in, lol.

I'm probably at least a couple weeks out from getting serious about this, as I have my VR-4 and my Q45 (yes, yes, I'm well aware I have too many projects) torn apart right now, and I really need to get those together first or I'll be hopelessly overwhelmed by the projects piling up.

Pictures of the car as it is here sometime in the next few days. It's stock with the exception of a powdercoated plenum. It's got just shy of 50,000 miles on it, so I almost hate to mod it. Lol.

[ZephTheChef]

Well...my dad "borrowed" the camera and I haven't seen it since...so that's why the pics aren't up yet. I'll upload some once I find or replace it.

[sd2649]

Come on! Hurry! Lol

[siceclipse]

If I cant see it, it doesnt exist.

[ZephTheChef]

Originally Posted by siceclipse

If I cant see it, it doesnt exist.

Lol, ok fine. Cell-phone pics later today.