Which turbo kit fits my needs?
 

Hi there,

I am looking for a turbo kit for my car and i'll keep things simple

-looking to spend the least $$$
-the turbo will be straight up just for looks
-230whp is the most I want
-exhaust? I cut out the 2nd cat, and aim to get UEL headers...
-trying to change the least amount of parts possible

the reason for all of these reasons is because I want the car to have the least amount of maintenance/greatest amount of reliability possible - and I don't mind less hp because of it.

SBD or JDL. Only thing is that you won't have the option of UEL with the SBD.

Only UEL turbo kits I know are AVO and JDL. AVO is not top mounted so it's not going to have the "straight up just for looks" factor you're going for.

The cheapest UEL turbo kit is the JDL ($3300 at the new price/new base turbo). The other options are AVO ($$ - $4500) and Ptuning with any UEL header ($$$$ - $5800 + the cost of the UEL header). You would just run it with the weakest wastegate spring possible for the least amount of boost and let your tuner know that you want it as conservative as possible.

From when I was looking for a turbo I was looking at the WORKS turbo kit, it's tuned and CARB compliant but compared to cars that come turbo from the factory it it just seems like there really isn't enough space anywhere in the engine bay besides in front of the engine for a turbo. Also keep in mind the cost of tuning for any of the other kits and you're gonna have to have a oil return line into the oil pan on the motor and turbos get hot. Ultimately in the end I personally REALLY wanted a turbo but since I like driving my FR-S daily I opted for a supercharger, less maintenance, don't have to worry about heat management and I don't have to worry as much about keeping the boost in check. Lastly I suggest you take a long hard read at some of the turbo kit owners threads to get a realistic idea of what it's going to be like installing the turbo and living with it on the day to day. Good luck in whatever you choose to do!

Why not just get an intercooler to put behind your bumper, and never pop the hood?

To add to @Cole 's answer:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_fG_b65WiU"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_fG_b65WiU[/ame]

If you are concerned about CARB being in CA, then dont remove any cats and run a SC.

If you want reliability run the JSRC. Dont run a turbo. It's more maintenance.

IF you want to change as little parts as possible plus make the car easily turned back to stock your power goal is very obtainable with a supercharger kit.

Perhaps consider that. Also the just for looks comment is really confusing...

@Cole with the real answers.

If you absolutely must have a turbo and you must have UEL sound, just get JDL V2 with no options and call this thread done.

I mean... by what measure? I don't have to worry about belts or an LTR cooling loop anymore, and I'm checking my oil regularly anyway. I always hear this argument and then wonder what the shit people are doing that requires so much "turbo maintenance".

Uhh, wut?

Edelbrock Supercharger and done.

Carb compliant, 240whp, 100000 mile maintenance interval, retain warranty

get a works stage 2...
 

Just get a works stage 2 and use any uel header you want, since it uses the stock header, you can use any header that mounts in the same location.

Hell you'll also get the power you're looking for with the standard tune and you can just use the tactrix for it which it comes with for no extra charge on the carb kit.

Jaden

Yeah, a turbo setup seems like less maintenance, if anything...

Add oil cooler, maybe big rad... thats a grand there

I still think the premise of this thread is silly so not entirely sure why I'm still here. Anyway...

Am I missing something? Why are people recommending shit based off of CARB when CA was never mentioned? CARB is either pricey, low performing, or has some weird design shit going on to meet CA's skewed views on... well, almost everything.

He already said he wanted a turbo. He already said he wanted UEL. Just get a JDL. Factor in $700-1000 for either ECUtek License, Cable, and Tune, or for an OFT and tune. I think we're done here.

In what world can you boost your car and retain your warranty?

What am I missing? Some massive loophole?

Or are you saying that the parts carry their own warranty?

SBD seems to meet all requirements except the UEL, which.... the kit comes with a manifold that makes proven power so... yeah. No need for UEL header, lol.

I mentioned the works because it allows for EVERYTHING he asked for. That it's also carb approved is just a bonus. That and they already include a tune and tactrix in the carb version that meets his hp requirements, so no need for ecutek...

Besides, the works uses the stock header placement so he can choose whatever uel header he wants. With the jdl, he's stuck using their header.

Jaden

The Edelbrock e-force kit with certain stipulations affords you a limited powertrain warranty and also a warranty on the supercharger system itself as long as its installed by an ASE mechanic. Its at the bottom of the description on most websites that sell the edelbrock kit.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....L._SL1002_.jpg

https://www.amazon.com/Turbo-Electro.../dp/B00QF84ZJ8

thanks for pointing me at the JDL!! I'm going to dig deeper into it.

thanks for the advice!!

i'll research that one too!


thanks for the valuable input y'all, i really appreciate it!

I have a question.. what other parts would be needed to keep the car running correctly? I know there were mentions of oil catch cans and such.. Turbos are so interesting

Catch can, oil cooler, radiator upgrades not necessarily required. Where I live is rather warm, but looking at things big picture, I don't really push my car at all and my temps stay well within my personal comfort zone.

You do need a tune however and need to start looking into ECUtek and OpenFlash Tablet which will add another $700-1000(ish) to your overall cost. This is not optional.

Of course a lot of this depends on the Supercharger kit.

I'll list some examples,

For a turbo kit from what I've read you will almost always need

1. Boost controller
2. Boost gauges
3. Oil Pan
4. Sometimes you may need to port the waste gate


When compared to lets say the Edelbrock SC.

You install the kit, thats it. Don't need controller, don't need gauges to monitor if you overboots (because you can't), don't need an oil pan and don't need to port a waste gate.

Its more points of failure.

Now i'm not saying SC are better than turbo's by any means. I myself sold my Edelbrock so that i can start my turbo build. but thats just been my experience thus far.

You're doing the same thing that I did actually. My Edelbrock had a lot of issues though.

Anyway, wastegate controls boost by definition, and if it's ported correctly in the first place there's no issue. I have an opinion that most people with an 86 don't even need a boost controller. For user-controllable ones, it's just temptation to dial it up from wastegate pressure. For EBCS, it's next to useless on a stock motor because it can't hold much higher boost than what most manufacturers have their IWGs set to.

Yes, there is the possibility that the boost reference could pop off of the wastegate and it doesn't open, but if it's hooked it up right in the first place, it's not an issue. Personally, I undersize the hose a bit and double zip it in place. Is the chance it could come off non-zero? No. Is it something I worry about? Nope. On top of that, your tuner should be implementing software overboost protection.

A dedicated boost gauge isn't necessarily required in my opinion. You can get away with the Torque app and an OBD reader as the factory reading is quite accurate compared to a standalone gauge.

The oil pan thing is real though unless you go with AVO's weird system of using the rear cam plate for return. It's a bitch to remove the factory pan, but honestly once it's done, it's done. Mine has never leaked.

Yeah i'm not saying this will apply to everyone. But i find these tend to be the most common issues or points of concern for a lot of people.

I'm surprised you had issues with your Edelbrock. Mine ran perfect for about 10k miles. However i did hear that sometimes the tune can negatively effect that kit as some people had really bad luck with Delicious tuning.

This is far from my first rodeo, so I did the install myself as per my personal rule of not letting anyone else touch anything but software. Everything went together great, but the idle would always droop, and if it wasn't warm it would stall. There were random misfires at high load too. I even went through the lengths of ripping everything back out, verifying it would drive in stock form again, then putting everything back together with a friend checking my work on every step, and had the same exact problems. I also had two different tunes. Anyway, I don't think the hardware was the problem and still think it's one of the best kits.

Hard to go wrong with Delicious Tunings work with the Edelbrock Kit as long as all of the existing mods on the car's been mentioned.

I'm sitting 12,500 boosted miles with my Edelbrock on a 2017 with Delicious Tunings flash implemented.

Of course, when it comes to any forced induction application, installing hardware is one thing, tuning it; however, is one of the most crucial final steps to making sure it works 100%.

I hope the OP not only finds the kit he wants, but gets it properly tuned as it'll be the final challenge in his goal.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Install is equally as important as a tune. I can safely say Delicious were not one of the two tuners that I had problems with, but I have heard they can be a mixed bag so I stayed away. Who knows, maybe theirs would have been better.

I tune through James at HRI these days and will never use anyone else for this platform.

I see. I'll try to find a kit that comes with those... Any thread recommendations for me as far as learning about turbo kit usage.

Just read through the forums for a while and don't be lazy about it. Kits don't come with those.

1. You don't need a boost controller.
2. A gauge is recommended, and you can find them cheap.
3. Pan can be welded, but sometimes they are offered with a kit. JDL and SBD both offer them for a charge.
4. If you need to port the wastegate on a complete kit, the kit isn't built right.

:thanks:

thanks again yall, time to get studying !

if anyone has any other input please post here, I always appreciate advice

If maintenance is ever a concern for anyone then please buy a Telsa and get out of the internal combustion scene. In fact stay away from anything with too many moving parts that wear and need maintenance in all aspects of life such as humans, freeways, airplanes, home ownership or anything with an existence that goes against entropy. lol

Ive heard really good things about HRI.

Unfortunately i live out in NorCal and we dont have many tuners out here who specialize in the 86 platform. Delicious Tuning is super common up here as is OFT for the SBD kit.

Theres always Snail Performance but those guys specialize in the EcoBoost platform.