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Hey all! I finally got all my stuff from Bill (motofool), and we did the turbo install over the weekend. It was pretty rough at times, but in the end it came out ok. Here's a list of the parts:
Garret 60 Trim T3 Turbo
Unknown Manifold
Vortech SFMU
Billet Fuel Rail
All new fuel lines from the pump to the rail and back
30# Fuel Injectors
1G Side-Mount Intercooler
Walbro 255 LPH In-Tank Fuel Pump
Yadda yadda you get the picture.
Anyway, I will first say that Bill's kit left quite a bit to be desired. First thing we noticed was that the downpipe was not going to work very well. It hit about everything on the way down to the cat that it possibly could. I blame this on him changing manifolds at the last minute, and building up the downpipe on a different style of manifold. Still, it's no excuse for an improperly fitting piece. We had to cut out a large section of the downpipe, and replace it with flexible exhaust pipe, which is far from airtight, and leaks a lot. It was the only way we could use any of his downpipe. Secondly, he did not send me a lot of little odds and ends. I had to make about 10 runs to the hardware store to buy nuts and bolts. Also, the oil sender block where you hook up the oil feed line (it screws into the back of the engine block) would not fit. The threads were correct, but there was a part of the engine in the way, and it would not thread in nearly far enough. We had to go to Menards and dig through all the plumbing fittings to find an extension.
Next problem, the new manifold he uses places the turbo in a very high location, high enough so that my aerogear preditor hood will not close. This may not be an issue on factory hoods, but if they can shut, it would deffinately be touching the hood.
The fuel system installed fairly straightforward, but his home-made fuel rail brackets did not work very well, and we had to modify them so that the fuel rail would sit at the correct angle and allow the injectors to seal into the rail, otherwise they would leak fuel. The fuel lines he included, however, were very nice, utilizing hard aluminum line from the pump up to the firewall, transitioning to braided line, right into the fuel rail. From the other end of the fuel rail, was about a one foot length of braided line, into the SFMU. From the SFMU, 3 feet of braided line, connecting to a length of hardline, back to the tank on the return side of things.
He used a typical flange/nut system where you drill into the oil pan, slide the flange through the hole, spin a nut on the end, and hook up a rubber hose and run it to the turbo oil drain flange. He did not include any gasket material for the flange on the pan, so we crafted a makeshift gasket from cardboard and RTV sealent.
All in all, the value I got from Motofool's turbo kit was exceptional. I recieved extremely high quality parts, and a lot of them. However, Bill had my money for about 4 months. He never told me that I would have to wait that long, and insinuated that I would have a kit shortly after payment. I know he had lots of problems along the way, and I understand that, but that time should have been allocated to sorting out all the kits shortcomings. Instead, I spent 3/4 of the install time driving from store to store looking for parts. He should have done this for me, thats what a "kit" is supposed to be. We had to do so much work to make this turbo system fit onto the car, I don't think I can honestly call it a GotTude Turbo kit. It's more like an Eclipse2NR Custom Hybrid Turbosystem. Anyone want one? I could buy all the same parts and put my name on it. Hell, I'll even include an air filter, unlike the GotTude Kit.
Here's some pictures of the various parts...
1996 Eclipse RS / 5-Speed / Body Components by Aerogear / Coated in Magnetic Red Metallic v2 - More at http://home.insightbb.com/~mgalyan/
Mark Galyan - Greenwood, Indiana
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