Making Your Car Turbo: What You Should Know Before You Begin

Turbo charging your car's engine can be a rewarding thing, but at the same time it can plague you with many questions and much frustration as to why it doesn't operate as you've planned. If you expect to turbo charge your vehicle in a single day you either are a magic mechanic or you've left some things out. Even with supposed bolt on turbo kits you can run into problems such as the body or frame getting in the way of the intercooler or piping, rusty or broken exhaust bolts, and vacuum line and wiring nightmares. In this article I'm going to outline some tips to making your turbo charging experience a little less troublesome.

Unless you already have a pre-designed turbo kit then you are going to need to choose a turbo; the best websites to go to for turbo selection are Garrett Turbo and Precision Turbo websites. If you're new to turbo charging I wouldn't even fool with trying to read compressor maps. All you need to know is your engines displacement and the amount of horsepower your looking to push. You need to be realistic about the amount of power you intend on having as this can greatly influence the spool characteristics of your turbo. To small a turbo and you'll be in boost all the time with little to no top end power and if you choose too large of a turbo then you'll have a very late spool and most likely have a very funky power band. Think about your engines compression when choosing a turbo; 8.3:1 is ideal whereas 10.0:1 is getting into the realm of detonation. You can turbo charge a high compression motor, but be warned you won't be able to run high boost levels unless you are using an elaborate alcohol injection kit. Don't be fooled when building a motor that running high compression pistons will increase your spool time; it's such a small amount that it is never worth it with the potential for detonation and the low amounts of boost you will be able to run. I suggest never going lower than 7.8:1 compression when building a turbo motor because this will make it lazy before boost; especially with a larger turbo.

If you're turbo charging a stock motor make sure you do your research to see that others are having success with it; one should never go lone wolf and try something new because you think it will work. If you want to have fun do tried and proven turbo charging methods. It's okay to be a copy cat when turbo charging as long as it's safe, reliable, and it works. Don't believe everything you read on the internet or car forums either. Someone may post a build in detail and say it made xxx horsepower and runs these times; when in reality they put it together and it doesn't work, but alas their ego won't allow them to accept that they have failed in their turbocharging deeds.

Pick the right intercooler for your setup, you don't need to have the biggest intercooler when your turbo charging with a small 60 trim T3 turbo, pick one of appropriate size that will fit in the dimensions under your bumper skin. Make sure that it has the correct inlet and outlet sizes on the end tanks that will mesh well with your size intercooler piping. Bigger is not better when it comes to turbos or intercoolers; the right size for your application is what matters.

Make sure that you install your engine management system before you begin trying to bolt on turbo charging parts. You want to make sure that your engine management works on a stock engine. Upgrades such as mass air sensor, map sensors, injectors, fuel pumps, and ecu's should always be done first before turbo charging. A wide band air/ fuel ratio gauge is a must even if you will be towing your car to a dyno to have it tuned. Always pay attention to your air/ fuel ratios when turbo charging.

Other things to consider when turbo charging are making sure that you have an oil restrictor either in-line to your turbo or built into a sport turbo; over oiling a turbo center cartridge is the leading cause of blowing oil seals and making a turbo smoke out the exhaust. In addition to this make sure that your oil return system is a free flowing design back to the pan. You want to make sure that your turbo oil return line dispenses the used oil above the oil fill line and not directly into the oil. If you make this mistake oil will back up into your turbo cartridge and cause the seals to blow out ( again over-oiling).