The BlueBaru CX Racing Turbo Rebuild

[TurboBRZ]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum and wanted to share what I am doing as I browse around learning from others on this great site. I haven't been able to find anyone who installed the CX Racing Turbo kit yet, so I thought I would post mine.

I didn't have the $$$ to buy a new or even a used BRZ, so I bought a Salvaged one at auction with 19k miles that I thought would fix up rather easily. I am working on it in my home garage.



When it arrived I found out there was some pretty heavy frame damage - which is hard to discern when all you have are 8-10 images sized like the one above for reference (I didn't buy the car on-site). Here is what the new frame rail looks like next to the one from the wreck:



It took a lot of drilling and about $30 worth of bits to get the first frame rail removed:








After replacing the passenger frame rail I noticed the driver rail was off by about 1" (the core support didn't match up). The impact from the other side had pushed the engine into the alternate rail, bending it inward to a degree. I don't have a frame puller, so I just ordered another rail from the dealer. I spent another day and $30 on drill bits to remove the second frame rail. The new one is supposed to arrive at Subaru this afternoon which will allow me to get the entire front end welded back together so I can put the motor back in! Thankfully the parts from Subaru are priced reasonably - and I get cost + 10%. For all you FR-S owners you're best off buying your parts from Subaru as their list is about 15-30% lower on almost everything.

[TurboBRZ]

While I have been waiting on the frame rail I've also been working on the engine. The first thing I did was install some lightweight pulleys which cost about $80 shipped on ebay:




I then took my CX Racing turbo kit out of the box to inspect the quality, as it's literally the cheapest turbo kit you can buy for the BRZ and I'm almost positive CX means "China Express" lol. But when you're on a budget, it is what it is... I spent $1999 on the turbo kit shipped which includes the intercooler kit, downpipe, and BOV.





The quality of the manifold and 3" pipes is very good in my opinion. The design is almost identical to the Greddy manifold and the weld quality is good, as well as the internal finishing on the runners. The bolts they give you for the kit however, are crap. They're grade 4.8, when most bolts on the engine are at least grade 8. I bought some grade 10.9 bolts from the auto parts store to assemble the kit.

First I installed the turbo manifold with the included gaskets (resemble stock) and noticed there seemed to be a small gap in the gasket in some areas. I went ahead and put some silicone exhaust gasket maker on both sides of the crush gasket and re-assembled it. This did the trick:



Next I installed the turbo and found the same small gap, so I applied the exhaust silicon to the side that didn't have the additional metal gasket and everything looked great. The oil feed line comes off the oil pressure sending unit (I believe) and I wrapped it where it comes to the turbo from the same direction as the intake piping:



Since the engine was out of the car I went ahead and removed the valve cover gaskets, replaced them, and also replaced the spark plugs with brand new iridium's from the dealer. The engine was so clean inside it looked brand new. After this I removed the oil pan and installed the oil drain fitting for the turbo line:









Here it is complete and ready to be re-installed into the car after I apply some header wrap and a turbo heat shield:

[Vroomin86]

Takes guts to do something like this. Love it bro. Subbed

[D_Thissen]

2000 bucks for a turbo kit?! You can spend more on a header and cat back lol. Keep up the good work! It takes guts to attempt a rebuild.

[TurboBRZ]

My frame rail just arrived! Time to get this beast rebuilt! For what it's worth, this is the 3rd one of these I have rebuilt. Well the first was a FR-S, then a BRZ, and this BRZ is the one I am doing for myself. The other two gave me some additional income that allowed me to buy the turbo kit + accessories and pay for the tune when it's done.

[raven1231]

Originally Posted by TurboBRZ

My frame rail just arrived! Time to get this beast rebuilt! For what it's worth, this is the 3rd one of these I have rebuilt. Well the first was a FR-S, then a BRZ, and this BRZ is the one I am doing for myself. The other two gave me some additional income that allowed me to buy the turbo kit + accessories and pay for the tune when it's done.

There is one member on her named Amir who was running this kit. He has since went to an ls1 swap however. Good luck man.

[WhiteFRS69]

you cant afford a brand new vehicle, yet you buy a wrecked one, put good money into fixing it and then turbo it.....


good job bring it back to life man! in for updates

[TurboBRZ]

Yeah, by the time I am done with this car after the full turbo build, paint, licensing, etc... I should be right around $17k. Last I checked there wasn't a single BRZ listed within 500 miles of me that was under $20k (even rebuilt), so I think I am still coming out on top I wanted to own the car outright rather than financing. Plus, I love bringing these cars back to life. Thanks for all the support!

[TurboBRZ]

So today I spent some time playing around with aligning the frame and putting a few tack welds on it so I could test the fitment of the body panels before testing the fitment of the suspension pieces and then completing the welding. Here are some pictures of the car coming back to life - albeit the heart is still removed.







Yes, that's a FR-S bumper on my BR-Z. I think it looks more aggressive

[Joshwahhhs]

very nice thread. goodluck with the rebuild man!

[TurboBRZ]

Today I fit the suspension and engine cross member, then it's a TON of welding and grinding! I really got my work cut out for me with this car - a much bigger job than I anticipated. The other two I did before this one were much simpler rebuilds, but it never hurts to test the limits of what you're capable of

[erbaker67]

Subbed. Looks intriguing as hell!

[WhiteFRS69]

why you going with an FRS bumper over the BRZ????

[raven1231]

Originally Posted by WhiteFRS69

why you going with an FRS bumper over the BRZ????

He stated this in that same post:
Yes, that's a FR-S bumper on my BR-Z. I think it looks more aggressive