P&L Motorsports NEW HP Record! see inside

[gmookher]

Man, I wanna drive this car! this is the only other turbo/FI kit that has my interest, but not for daily driving, this could be a fun track setup..

I just dont think I am ready to ginea pig this in the pHX heat but we do have supermassive, who is getting this kit, and I am eager to see what that feels like out on Firebird...

and EBC or a way to limit oost for daily drive duty would be a neat add on to this kit! subbing

[Visconti]

Originally Posted by gmookher

Man, I wanna drive this car! this is the only other turbo/FI kit that has my interest, but not for daily driving, this could be a fun track setup..

I just dont think I am ready to ginea pig this in the pHX heat but we do have supermassive, who is getting this kit, and I am eager to see what that feels like out on Firebird...

and EBC or a way to limit oost for daily drive duty would be a neat add on to this kit! subbing

Well there's Already one in phx

[Pure Automotive]

PMd you guys about a kit, is anyone still on here?

[Hawaiian]

Originally Posted by Pure Automotive

PMd you guys about a kit, is anyone still on here?

I suggest call them at the shop paul is usually there from 10am-7pm 8476784311.

[Supermassive]

Started pulling stuff apart and decided to mount the intercooler...should be receiving the rest of my kit tomorrow!!!

[DriftEightSix]

Originally Posted by Supermassive

Started pulling stuff apart and decided to mount the intercooler...should be receiving the rest of my kit tomorrow!!!

Is is required to take that much off?

could you have left some stuff on like the lights and what not?

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by Supermassive

Started pulling stuff apart and decided to mount the intercooler...should be receiving the rest of my kit tomorrow!!!

Looks good. Let us know how the install goes. I can't wait to start mine.

[Supermassive]

Originally Posted by DriftEightSix

Is is required to take that much off?

could you have left some stuff on like the lights and what not?

I'm sure you could leave the right side light on, but the left one no way. Besides once you take the bumper off the lights are super easy to remove, maybe 5 minutes total per side.

[Supermassive]

Ok so a little update, mostly stuff you need to know when you jump into the P&L kit.

1) I have no instructions so i am completely flying blind here, I have been calling P&L and Prime Motoring for pointers but it's really annoying...guess that's the price of having one of the first kits.

2) The quality is amazing for "almost" everything. Everything that's coated is flawless. My gripes are with the fact that the new wiper fluid bottle comes with no mounting hardware so i gotta go find some nuts and bolts to use. The hose clamps for the oil return line are pure garbage and are too small. I cant even get the damn things to tighten off the line...so to the trash bin they go. Also no wire for the turbine heat shield...I used simple lock wire but it's not all that common in normal people's garages.

3) The fuel pump upgrade sucks, you have to chop the stock bucket up for the new filter to fit, and wiring the damn thing is kind of a scary affair, an actual harness would have been nice instead of having to cut and splice lines that are in your gas tank...

4) I have no idea what springs to use in my wastegate and bov, so hopefully someone from Prime Motoring or even P&L can chime in and give me a heads up so I use the right ones...this would be alleviated with instructions but they haven't finalized theirs yet.

5) Not enough air line is supplied so i have to get some more.

Other than that I should have the car up and running again this weekend unless i have any catastrophic failures or something...

[King Tut]

The instruction manuals for the BOV and the wastegate should tell you what each spring does. The setting for the BOV is based off of the vacuum you see at idle while the wastegate is set based on how much boost you plan to run. If you are using a manual or electronic boost controller than pick a spring lower than the amount of boost you want to run. I think that D3PE was the only company I saw that mentioned their turbo kit coming with an instruction manual.

[Supermassive]

Ok another heads up, talked with P&L and they prebuild the BOV and wastegate with the required springs and since I am using an electronic boost control solenoid, spring pressure is not too huge of an issue. P&L is working on a nice detailed instruction manual I talked with their photographer today and he said they were close to having it complete. I want to give a shout out to Mike @PrimeMotoring. He's been nice enough to help me by answering all my stupid questions for my first ever turbo conversion...plus he's hand crafting my gauge cluster!

So after getting most things fitted for this kit, let me just say "holy freaking tight clearances Batman!" The IC piping "just" fits, it's tight and that makes some of the stuff a pain to install. Just clamping the turbo to the manifold is a 2 person job due to how cramped it is in the engine bay...not to mention that v-bands are nice but a serious pain in the ass when you're trying to hold a 20lb turbo in place, hold the v-band in place, and tighten it with a wrench.

The stock oil pan is a serious pain in the ass to remove, I destroyed the stock pan in order to not mar the sealing surface of the block. I assume it would be easier to do with a warm engine block or with a heat gun, but I couldn't do either. I am working on figuring out how to mount my boost control solenoid now since it hooks up to a connector that's behind the manifold...i think zip ties will be the answer, or some 3M double sided tape, we'll see. I have installed the new 700CC port injectors and I will say that the drivers side bank is extremely tight, while the passenger side is easy but the bottom bolt for the injector controller is tough to get at with man sized hands.

As someone who isn't afraid to work on cars, this install has been kind of daunting at times. I have pulled the transmission on this car in my garage and replaced my clutch and never felt overwhelmed, but this turbo install has been a little trying at times. But now that i am almost done with the install and can see the light I know that if I ever do another turbo conversion it will be a cake walk now that i know how everything interacts.

Here's a list of the pros and cons that i have found with this kit, from the perspective of a non professional.

Pros:

- Entire install can be completed with a basic tool kit, no special tools required.
- Amazing parts quality.
- Great support from P&L (they have been really patient with my constant calling)
- Installation is pretty straight forward, there's been only a few instances where I was stumped.
- Everything you need is included

Cons:

- No instruction manual as of yet (they are making one!).
- Hose clamps for oil drain line are garbage. (I needed to go to ACE to buy some replacements).
- No mounting hardware for the new washer fluid bottle. (needs 4 nuts and bolts)
- No wire for the DEI heat blanket for the exhaust turbine supplied. (used some lock wire I had laying around).
- Having to splice the fuel pump wires is not ideal, an actual replacement harness would be much better.

Other than that I don't have any real hardcore gripes. Once I finish installation and get it running I'll make sure to post some pics up here and give some first time impressions. As a heads up to anyone wondering, I am starting with a simple base tune for the kit so i won't be pushing it to max boost right off the bat, figure I will give the turbo time to break in on mild boost and to make sure I have no boost leaks etc. Once i have the money for the full flex fuel conversion and the flex fuel tunes, that's when i intend to push this thing to it's upper limits...I am aiming for a minimum of 425HP.

Well that's it for now, I'll post more later.

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by King Tut

I think that D3PE was the only company I saw that mentioned their turbo kit coming with an instruction manual.

AVO too.

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by Supermassive

Well that's it for now, I'll post more later.

Thanks for the update. It is great to see other guys doing their own installs. I will definitely be hitting you up if I run into any problems when I install mine.

[Supermassive]

Almost done, just need to wire up the AEM Failsafe and put the wheels and bumper on. Going to bed a little early tonight so i can wake up early tomorrow and get this done. I think I have all the vacuum hoses situated properly, I'll have to go through later and make it pretty. Here's a few pics: