I may be looking to do a turbo kit(or custom if it isnt too hard), and the FMAX kit has caught my attention. I noticed that it comes with an intercooler. Is there any cutting or welding required? How does the IC fit?? Anyone got links or pics for someone who has done one?? Best price online for this kit??
well i just got it and partially installed it. HAd the trubo on for a week then took it off until i had the money for the tuning. Anyways, the piping's still in place.
The intercooler fits like a dream really. But there is cutting involved. First you have to relocate the power steering cooler, you just move it up like to the next screw hole 2 inches higher. You relocate the PS lines to the hole adjacent to it, i had to cut it cause it had metal pipes. I cut it and attached fuel hosing here and clamped it off. I works fine and it's flexable to a point you can relocate the lines.
The intercooler return pipes fit fine, the turbo->intercooler pipes are a little more tricky. The outlet to the intercooler, where the PS lines used to be has to be cut a little. You have a 2.0 inch pipe and the hole is like a triangle that's 1/2 in too small... so dremel that.
You have to squeeze the nudge the AC lines, PS lines and soem other lines that i can't remember right now, aside to get that 2.0 inch pipe down from the manifold to the hole. There's a fine u-ish bend pipe that connects the turbo (fresh charge side (turbine or compressor ???) fresh air side) to the previous pipe... There's a little cutting here cause when i close the hood, it would bump against it... I just cut 1/2 inch from both ends and it seems fine.
The final thing i cut was the motor mount... This is a thick mo-fo... it's like 1/8 inch steel. I went through 8 dremel heavy duty saws. But you need to do this otherwise your turbo won't fit onto the manifold correctly.
There's a final problem i had. The passenger side fan had to come out. The housing and the turbo don't all fit in the limited space... Currently it's off. Here's the catch. With the turbo, your engine runs extremely hot, more so than stock. Minus one fan, and on a hot day, in gridlock traffic (So Cal =) ), you're engine begins to overheat. I'm thinking either new radiator, more efficient fans... or the ghetto turn up the heat to cool engine trick... but considering it's winter now... it's ok.
I was going to do a new writeup, but i don't have a dig. camera.... sorry. Hit me up if you have a question though. Lots of people on this board are nice enough to help me, so i feel like i should help someone else... =)
Thanks for that great response! Here is another question. Can I just mix and match turbo parts together and get a unit built where nothing has to be cut etc?? I dont mind doing a relocation if it can look somewhat factory or purposeful/clean if you get my drift. I just dont want a hack job looking install. Something I am 100% against. I dont mind buying the parts seperatly if I can get it done so the car looks like it came that way factory. Since I bought the car outright, it plans on staying in the family for a very long time. But if I ever want to return it to 100% stock, I have the option. SOmething thats very important to me.
Don't get fmax if you plan to make more than 250whp...the manifold will not allow a turbo larger than a t3/t04B. I'm surprised no one has mentioned this.
that's true, if you want to go over 250 hp, get something else. Though i think somebody did manage to get a T04e into their car... do a search. The reason i got the kit was cause it was complete, and seemed like most people thought it was a good overall kit.
Not cutting? That what i thought at first... but from just my experience... (not much of it), my kit needed to have the motor mount cut.... and the wall between the bumper and engine bay had to be cut a little. With an intercooler that has the inlet and outlet on opposite sides, you have to have the pipes either come from opposite ends like the Fmax, in which case you need to cut cause there are no holes bid enough for the piping. Or secondly, you can have two pipes go down the air box resonator hole... in which case i still think you need to cut that hole cause i don't think it can accomodate 2 pipes...I think they all need some cutting, just reember to smooth out the cuts and add touch up paint... or else it'll rust
No, I have both. I have 2 motors, the original motor has the JRSC, a 2nd block and head I bought is going to be built up, possibly with a Turbo, but I still havent made up my mind, Im in the planning stages. I still may go the JRSC route, who knows....
Originally posted by smoothludey Don't get fmax if you plan to make more than 250whp...the manifold will not allow a turbo larger than a t3/t04B. I'm surprised no one has mentioned this.
I have the FMax manifold and am using a 60-1 turbo on it. It's not imposiible at all. The only problem i had is fabricating the engine mount in the front!
__________________
"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed." PASCAL
00 Base Model BIG Turbo Equipped
01 Base Model Daily Driver
00 SH Mom Drives It
I have the FMax manifold and am using a 60-1 turbo on it. It's not imposiible at all. The only problem i had is fabricating the engine mount in the front!
Last 2 motors in the car went south. The first was a 9.5:1 motor, where the block was warped from the machine shop. The second was supposed to be an 11.0:1 motor that belonged to a friend of mine, it turned out to be much higher compression than that, when it blew and everything was taked apart to be rebuilt it had 12.5:1 pistons in it.
Now I am going with a 10.0:1 motor, that has a JG head on it...
Wish me luck
__________________
"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed." PASCAL
00 Base Model BIG Turbo Equipped
01 Base Model Daily Driver
00 SH Mom Drives It
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