Installing a Turbo Kit + other mods
 

Hey all, like many of you I plan to go FI this upcoming summer and have a few questions about installing a turbo kit with limited equipment.

I have absolutely no experience with forced induction. I do however have basic mechanic experience. I would love to install the kit myself and save a few grand to spend on upgrading other areas of the car. I have some pictures of a few of my previous projects and the equipment I have to work on my car. As for tools I have a 6ft tall tool chest (thanks to my dad). Do you think it would be a good idea to have a professional install a kit? Or have a 19 year old (me) install the kit with his semi-color blind father on a long weekend.

I don't know how to start working on my car. I would even someday like to tear apart my engine and add new rods, pistons, basically build my own motor and not have to fork out extra money for installation. I'm even considering buying an engine from a junk yard and tearing it apart for learning/practice purposes.

I think most of the turbo kits are fairly straightforward and bolt on for the most part, but depending on the kit there may be gotchas or small things you'll need to deal with or fix.

Most of the kits you need to drill/tap or weld a fitting onto your oil pan to install a return fitting. AVO and PTuning are the only ones that don't I believe.

Some of the kits you need to hack up your front bumper beam to make the intercooler fit, so you would need the tools to do that.

If you do not know what you are doing then I would not recommend espically if the install guide sucks. I would make it a fun project if it wasn't your daily! IMO but messing with the fuel system and oil lines if not done correctly can cause problems! What kit are you interested in if you don't mind me asking !

^ most likely not FA20Club, that's for sure :lol:

In theory it's really easy, however in practice shit doesn't fit, is missing, etc a lot of the time and, well, it can get tricky.

Only you know if you have the knowledge/competence to do it. I have met some people who think they are master mechanics that know jack shit, and others that are pretty humble about what they know and I would fully trust on my car..

I recently went with FA20Club's turbo kit, which was advertised as a bolt-on kit.. I even verified with him that it was bolt-on because I didn't want to be fabbing stuff. Long story short I had to do about 10 hours worth of cutting, measuring, welding, grinding, fabbing lines, etc just to make his "bolt-on" kit work. I would hate to be somebody who orders that kit thinking it is a "bolt on" and doesn't have more than hand tools and jackstands.

As far as working on cars (and anything, really).. organization will help more than anything. Try to keep stuff separated and labeled, bolts that go to bumper in one bag, bolts that go to crash beam in one bag, etc.
Nothing is more frustrating when finishing working on a newer car and being left over with a handful of nuts/bolts that you don't know where they came from.. lol

Oh, and I would recommend having a backup transportation means "just in case"
Edit: just noticed you have a porsche and motorcycles at 19 years old so I am sure you won't have problems with that.

If you have a fair amount of mechanical background and you've got a buddy or family member there to help out install, it shouldn't be too bad, but of course we wont know how knowledgeable you guys are with installing this kit. I know on average it takes us two full days to complete the install CORRECTLY. I'm sure if we were doing a speed run we could probably get it done in a day, but honestly this is something you don't want to speed up on, you'll want to cross all your t's and dot your i's to make sure that everything is done correctly the first time.

If you do it yourself, I would start on a Saturday night, call in sick Friday from work, and work on it throughout Saturday through Sunday to give you enough time to test it to make sure there are no issues on Sunday afternoon.

Or you can call us and schedule an appointment with us :) It would be a road trip down south to the Orange County/Los Angeles area, but we can do it if you're interested.

I think learning how to assemble the turbo kit on your own (with instructions) is a fantastic way to learn more about your own motor and setup. Its not "easy" by any means. The PTuning kit requires the basic automotive tool set. It took me 2 weekends and a handful of workday evenings in between. Not including clutch swap - add another full day for that. I did however have to spend a bit on an additional jack, some tools for hard to reach areas and other things like a rethreading tool when I messed up.

With any of the kits, you will need a second pair of hands from time to time.

Having someone else install it for you can cost you 800-1500 (personal quotes I've had from local shops). This will not include tuning, that's another story. If this is your daily, I would suggest having a tuner shop do it for you.

If he decides to get the fa20club kit. He can always ask me for pictures and how it looks without the bumper on that's all. Either way good luck man and it's a blast boosted

If this is your daily (only vehicle) then I wouldn't do it at all.

Mate, I say go for it!

I'm in the same position as you. Had very little experience with cars a little over a year ago. Been slowly learning and picking things up ever since.

I saw a fantastic opportunity to "learn as I go" with the AVO kit install. It took me and a mate 3 full days to install, but at the end I came out with 2 things. A shitload more knowledge about how the engine works and the assurance that the install was done right!

If you do plan on doing it yourself, my biggest recommendation would be: Read & understand every detail of the install process. Read it again and again until you think you can do it without the guide. Then read it a few more times and of course use it during the actual install. If you don't understand parts of the guide, just ask even if you think it's a stupid question. I'm sure the vendor or the community will be able to help.

Also, be prepared to have your car out of action for a few weeks. This is all part of the risk.

Happy modding!

Yup,
Every 'DIY' kit I've ever seen (from other platforms) has ended up on one of my milling machines...unless exhaust leaks are OK.

Between a few companies! Just didn't want to start a turbo war as I've seen a few of those in other threads lol. It's between Full Blown, MAPerformance, even FA20 once things settle down, and P&L. I'm leaning more towards Full Blown or MAP.

There all nice kits! And smart that turbo war will never end lol what ever you go with I'm sure you will love! Just make sure you get tires lol advice

I saw your video of FBM installation on the red frs with SSR wheels with the GTX28 and it gave me some confidence to do the install myself. But I spoke with my dad and we wouldn't mind making the trip down if the task seems too daunting. Your shop is definitely the one
I would go to!

Thanks for all the replies! This information is gold. This is my daily but I have other ways of getting around. The thing that scares me the most is messing with the fuel lines and ECU tuning for e85 (new pump). I also plan on going with a new radiator, tranny cooler, and new pump (I think it's called DC 270 or 65c?). I remember I put in my front pipe and overpipe and it took me the entire day but the feeling of satisfaction was so worth it after I started her up.

If you can, take a nice vacation week off from work. Rest monday and go at it early morning tuesday. This will allow you to have it done thursday, and allow you to fix whatever thing that will get messed up/go wrong/break/ect and still give you a day to button it up and a day to relax and enjoy before going back to work.

I'm with you on that one hah. But he does have a bike and lives in perfect weather so he's got only a few weeks total of rain a year to get the car working ;-)

If you're doing it yourself, the best recommendation I can give would be to post up pictures of your progress, so that if you get caught up on something you can ask the forums and get a response fairly quick. This will help since most companies that sell turbo kits aren't usually open on the weekends which is likely when you're doing your install ;)

I would say go for it. The great part of this site is that if you run into any issues there are chances that someone on this site can help you or take pictures. I can't speak for the other turbo companies, but I know I was able to call or e-mail LJ @FullBlown at anytime of the day if I had questions during my install. He helped me through the fuel pump install and injectors install which are probably the hardest parts in my opinion.

I talked with FullBlown a few weeks ago for like an hour over the phone about my goals for the car and it was really helpful. I've also been keeping close with MAP thread with their precision turbo kit. The great thing is that I'm a full time student and since I'll be doing this in the summer, I have no restraints or deadlines to get the kit installed. I'll be able to take my time and take a lot of pictures. I think the challenging part will be taking out the headers and installing the manifold as I only have a few feet to lift the car with the steel ramps.

Nahh!! Headers are easy. Just have 2 people under the car. 1 to hold, 1 to bolt. The overpipe was a bit or a bitch, though.

hardest part of headers alone is keeping the gaskets in place, something like the borla is pretty light and isn't too terrible alone, oem was harder.

i used painters tape just over the edge of the gasket in a couple spots against the heads with enough excess to easily reach then removed once the header had the nuts on.