400hp build and other turbo questions.

[Ludacrits]

I've decided that my new goal is to turbocharge my FRS and pump out a good 400hp. I've never done any kind of tuning or forced induction before. I'm trying to learn as much as I can before I blow up my car. I'm new to FI so If I ask any stupid questions or really basic stuff forgive me.

Supposedly it's not a problem doing this on a stock engine. Some people prefer to change fuel pumps and injectors, other say it's not necessary.

I decided that I would prefer the AVO or FA20club turbo kits.
I like the AVO because of the turbo position. Hide it down low and no one will notice which can be fun. I also like what it comes with.

I like the fa20club because of the price and I like how it's setup in terms of choosing what you want with the kit. Right now I'm still looking into and considering what options I would need with this kit. I don't know too much about the Oilpan, thermal coating, powder coating options. I'm also unsure if I want a high flow cat or not.

Anyway, I was just wondering about a few things.

Turbo trim:
50/57/60

I know choosing a bigger turbo would mean more power but with power comes more lag. I heard all of these could hit the 400 bhp mark. How much lag am I looking at with the 60 on a good 400+ hp tune? OH I forgot to mention I'll be running E85 Only.

Oil cooler:
Is an Oil cooler needed? Most of the stuff I've read comes from other forums for different cars.

Tuning and ECU:

I've read a lot about this stuff but I want to make sure I'm not making any mistakes here. The clostest dyno tuners near me are Dynosty, which is my first choice. I heard a lot of good things about them and I know they have had several ft86 twins in and out of that place. Switzer is also very close. I wasn't too familiar with them until I seen that crazy GTR on the smoking tire web series with Matt Farah. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSfZt2ybmBk"]The 1,100 HP Switzer "Ultimate Street Edition" GTR - /TUNED - YouTube[/ame]
I'm still looking into them. I haven't heard of any BRZ or FRS getting tuned there but I'm sure they know what they are doing.

ECU stuff:
Ecutek: This one seems to be the most popular. I'm just confused about what I need. License? Tune is obvious, If I'm understand the tuning side of things I can ship it off to get a pre-existing tune or I can have someone dynotune my actual car. Cable? I'd imagine I'd need to cable to program a tune into the ECU. Do ecutek tuners already have these? IF they do is there a reason I should buy my own?

Unichip : Piggyback system. Piggybacks help when you have warranty issues correct? You will show no signs of tuning or modification in case of some kind of issue arises. If I'm wrong tell me. What are the advantages of a piggyback system? Also what exactly is a flux2 unit?

BRZedit/ecuedit: I was having a hard time time finding information on this. Any advantages this system has?

Hydra: Out of my budget.

Openflash Tablet: This is for naturally aspirated tuning from what I gathered. I like the idea of having the gauges and the tablet. Plus the cost is nice. I really liked the idea of using something like this but I've never seen or heard of anyone using something like this. Can it be used on turbo setups?

[pmccut]

Fueling: Injectors are absolutely necessary for 400whp, especially since you'll be running E85. 550cc are enough, but you should just go with whatever your tuner knows best. I'm not sure what the stock fuel pump maxes out @ but every high power kit so far seems to swap the fuel pump.

Kit choice: I don't know of anyone running 400whp on the AVO kit even on E85. They run a rather small turbo, which doesn't jive with your goals. FA20club, FullBlown, P&L, ptuning...and I'm forgetting many others should all be able to get you to that goal. I'd research each and pick the shop that is closest that can install & dyno tune..whole package.

Turbo lag: Everyone has different opinions on this. You really need to feel it first hand. I'd stick to the smallest turbo that will hit your goals. GT28 will max in the low 400s on E85.

Cooling: Oil cooler, not necessary for street driving. Even a stock 86 on the track gets pretty hot oil so the general consensus is to do it anyways. The front placement of the turbo directly in front of the radiator causes heat issues. Heat wrap everything and get a radiator if you like your AC.

Tuning: Every FI kit maker uses EcuTek right now. Maybe there will be enough demand to change that soon.

Good luck!

[Ludacrits]

Originally Posted by pmccut

Fueling: Injectors are absolutely necessary for 400whp, especially since you'll be running E85. 550cc are enough, but you should just go with whatever your tuner knows best. I'm not sure what the stock fuel pump maxes out @ but every high power kit so far seems to swap the fuel pump.

Kit choice: I don't know of anyone running 400whp on the AVO kit even on E85. They run a rather small turbo, which doesn't jive with your goals. FA20club, FullBlown, P&L, ptuning...and I'm forgetting many others should all be able to get you to that goal. I'd research each and pick the shop that is closest that can install & dyno tune..whole package.

Turbo lag: Everyone has different opinions on this. You really need to feel it first hand. I'd stick to the smallest turbo that will hit your goals. GT28 will max in the low 400s on E85.

Cooling: Oil cooler, not necessary for street driving. Even a stock 86 on the track gets pretty hot oil so the general consensus is to do it anyways. The front placement of the turbo directly in front of the radiator causes heat issues. Heat wrap everything and get a radiator if you like your AC.

Tuning: Every FI kit maker uses EcuTek right now. Maybe there will be enough demand to change that soon.

Good luck!

Thanks. Very useful information.

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by Ludacrits

Supposedly it's not a problem doing this on a stock engine. Some people prefer to change fuel pumps and injectors, other say it's not necessary.

I'm also unsure if I want a high flow cat or not.

Turbo trim:
50/57/60

Oil cooler:
Is an Oil cooler needed? Most of the stuff I've read comes from other forums for different cars.

Tuning and ECU:

I've read a lot about this stuff but I want to make sure I'm not making any mistakes here. The clostest dyno tuners near me are Dynosty, which is my first choice. I heard a lot of good things about them and I know they have had several ft86 twins in and out of that place. Switzer is also very close. I wasn't too familiar with them until I seen that crazy GTR on the smoking tire web series with Matt Farah. I'm still looking into them. I haven't heard of any BRZ or FRS getting tuned there but I'm sure they know what they are doing.

You will definitely need a fuel pump and injectors to reach your goal. I don't think the 50 trim will get you to your goal so stick with a 57 or 60 trim. The GT2871R kit is a faster spooling T3/T4 57 trim that will get you to your goal. An oil cooler is not needed. The car will survive just fine without one on the street. I would add one, but it should be lower on your list of priorities. Dynosty has put out some decently good numbers and has tuned multiple different turbo kits. If they are who you are going with, then I would contact them and get turbo kit recommendations and what they feel comfortable tuning. EcuTek, brzEdit, Open Flash, and soon to be EcuFlash will all get the job done in slightly different ways. They all just edit/flash the Subaru OEM ROM in different ways at different price points and with different features. Do not even consider Unichip for a forced induction tuning solution.

[pixel67]

Just adding to the above posts. If you are lucky enough to have exclusive e85 access then you can just pony up for an e85 tune when you purchase your turbo kit, otherwise you may want to consider a flex kit or at the very least dual maps with mapswitching (Ecutek). Depending on the kit you choose, you may also want to consider the cost of supporting mods (gauges, boost controller, front pipe/over pipe, etc). On cat choice, my suggestion would be only one hi flow in the entire system. Whether it is in the header or the front pipe may not matter (others can advise) , but i do know first hand that a hi flow header cat combined with the stock front pipe cat and over pipe is enough to lose 1-2 lbs of boost on a 7 psi spring and your going to need more boost than that to hit your goals. I am pretty close to 300whp on e-85 with about 5 psi. Good luck!

[Ludacrits]

PMed fa20club with questions about their turbo kit but they don't really seem too interested in my questions. I guess I'm going to look at the other kits again.

[lexusb3]

They tend to be very busy what other questions u have maybe I can help
U ?

[Dinko]

Ive personally went with PTuning due to their placement of the turbo. The low-mount turbo set-up offers better weight distribution and heat management than most front mount set-up but as you will find everyone has their opinion on whats best. So choose what will be best for you!

[lexusb3]

Originally Posted by Dinko

Ive personally went with PTuning due to their placement of the turbo. The low-mount turbo set-up offers better weight distribution and heat management than most front mount set-up but as you will find everyone has their opinion on whats best. So choose what will be best for you!

How is it running by chance I'm just curious ? Daily driver ? Thanks
I agree everyone has there opinion lol and they will all come out

[WHITE]

Originally Posted by Ludacrits

PMed fa20club with questions about their turbo kit but they don't really seem too interested in my questions. I guess I'm going to look at the other kits again.

Call them.

[Dinko]

Originally Posted by lexusb3

How is it running by chance I'm just curious ? Daily driver ? Thanks
I agree everyone has there opinion lol and they will all come out

Here see for yourself! This was at the meet taken a couple of weeks ago. Sadly im still waiting for the kit to be installed, which hopefully will be done here in the next couple of weeks!

[KevinBRZ]

Before you do anything to your car, know exactly what each part you are buying does. Research for months if you don't know what you are doing. I can already tell when you say 400 hp stock engine with no fuel upgrades that you are not ready to do it.

I did the same thing you want to do, years ago. I knew nothing about anything, just that I wanted a fast car. The more I read, the more I realized how much I didn't know and I thought I was getting way into where I shouldn't be going. I went ape shit on it and I did get a 500 hp car, but I had many problems along the way and ended up spending a lot of money.

I'm not telling you to not do it, in fact you should. You will remember it forever, like your first girlfriend. Just don't go buy the first thing you see, such as the AVO kit, because it might not be in line with what you want. You need to read more, or you will end up buying a bunch of stuff that doesn't work or someone will rip you off selling you things you have no idea about.

I recommend first learning how a naturally aspirated engine works, then learn about the turbo stuff. Learn what realistic power goals are for your car with your budget, or you can quickly spiral out of control with your money.

[Ludacrits]

They messaged me back today saying they are having problems with PMs. I now have their email and phone number. I'm glad they got back to me so quick this time.

[Mister Torgue Flexington]

I'm actually wondering about this as well. Is the FA20club turbo T3/T4 57 trim at maybe like 12 psi going to see me too around 350-400 whp on 93? Or is there another turbo with this kit that will? Also, will the FA20 UEL header work with the Perrin 3" exhaust?

I'm sorry for the questions, I'm just trying to get it all straight before I decide to invest anything.