Well, my asshole friend decided to fully boost his WRX for me the other day, made me jealous as a motherfucker, so I'm officially fed up with N/T performance. I've always wanted a turbo, but now I REALLY want one, and since my insurance went down quite a bit this year (3 year driving experience), I might be able to afford it within a year.

I know the basics of how a turbo works etc (turbine spins based on exhaust pressure). I plan on getting a hahn stage1, with support mods. I need to find somebody to install it for me (I'm not a DIYer, especially with such a huge project that has such a potential to break my car).

However, my car is a 100k 97 RS, daily driven. It needs to stay in drivable condition year-round, and I can't afford downtime fixing it (obviously I will be able to set aside a week for the install, I'm referring to unexpected breakdowns). The car is overall in good condition, a lot of stuff has been replaced on it, including clutch, headgasket, radiator, belts, etc etc. The engine runs good now, change oil with non-synthetic every 3000 miles. No leaks at all (though about 1/4 of a quart or so of oil dissapears in an oil change period, which isn't exactly bad).

What risks do I entail by using a turbo? Obviously blowing the engine, but what else? I wouldn't mind having part of the engine rebuilt here and there, as long as I have enough time in advance to know about it and be able to schedule it, but I wouldn't be doing it unless I had to. What else besides the engine is put under pressure and might prematurely fail with a turbo?

I'm not exactly the most "sane" driver, so I'm just worried about blowing shit up, because I need this car to be at least somewhat reliable.

(almost) lastly, how does this effect emissions? Am I going to have to make a friend to pass with a turbo or what?

Finally, how much can I expect to spend altogether for the turbo kit, including labor cost for install (like I said, I'm not DIYing it). Turbo kit, a couple of gauges, a loud BOV (yes one of the main reasons I want turbo is for a BOV, so it will be going on same time as the turbo). What else is necessary from the start? Can I keep stock headers/pipes for a while? Can I do this under $3500 to start?

I would recommend doing the install yourself in steps. First read all the information you can on here about the install for the next year until your ready. Install the fuel system 1 weekend (I've heard this is the hardest part of the install, but also one you can do yourself with a little time). Then after you have your fuel system worked out, then install the turbo. It seems a stage 1 should be pretty easy after the fuel system, you won't have to cut anything to mount an intercooler. As far as reliability, with an SFMU, Walboro 255 fuel pump, and maybe bigger injectors you should be okay as long as you have good compression, stay around 4-5 psi (w/no intercooler) and keep an eye on your EGT's, A/F ratio's and fuel pressures. I purchased my car w/ a hahn stage 2 already installed and I have driven the car for over a year (w/no EGT or electric fuel pressure gauge) and I haven't had any problems. I wouldn't recommend going without those items though, I was just too busy to install them till now.

DIY install is basically not an option, I don't have the time/tools/skill/knowledge to do so, and have no intention to learn, I just want to go fast.

lol.

so taking labor into account, along with gauges, boost controller, and a turbo timer, could I get this done under $3500?

Also, would running stage2 possibly be safer with the introduction of an intercooler? would 6-7psi intercooled be safer than 5psi non-intercooled?

What is the diff between stage1 and stage2 besides that? How much of a pain would it be to do stage1, then a little down the line add an intercooler?

Well let's add it up:

Hahn Kit: 2,295.00
SFMU: 300.00
Missing Link: ~50.00
EGT Gauge ~150.00
Fuel Pressure Gauge ~150.00
Apexi Turbo Timer/A/F : 120.00
Total: 3,065.00

I really don't think you'll be able to find a shop to install & tune everything for $450. If you stick with hahn's FPR then you could do it for under $3500. But as I've read on the boards, it may cost you in the long run, most people recommend getting the SFMU. As far as upgrading goes, I know with Hahn, to upgrade just take the difference in price between the Stage 1 & 2 and that's how much it'll cost to upgrade, or you could just get an intercooler & piping yourself down the road.

As far as reliability. I know running 5psi intercooled is safer then 5psi non-intercooled. Not sure how 8psi intercooled compares to 5. I guess it all comes down to what your EGT's are.

Another thing to think about....if you don't want to take the time to learn, even if you do get a shop to install it, then any little thing that happens down the road you'll have to run to a shop to have it fixed. I say if you don't want to learn the in's & out's of turboing your car...then sell it and buy a factory turbo car.

well it's not that I don't want to learn about the turbo, it's just that I don't want to do the install. I also don't know if I want to get a SFMU, since this is just daily driver speed, I don't need to tweak this for every ounce of hp it's worth.

just research the topic cause this has been asked a BILLION times and you'll get your answer. you can read when some of the people have blown there engines and what not. the point is, when you turbo your car, your putting extra stress on it. each car is different, you may have great problems, your may not. point is you are taking a risk, especially the more where there is already on your engine. do a compression test and the results will tell you where to go. you may want to just get turboed factory since you will run into some issues, and down time will occur. right not, i am having a little issues with my map sensor seeing boost but i fixed that. if you don't work on the kit yourself, you will spenf more cause each problem will send you running to the place your got your installation done=more money then the $4000. having a turbo kit on a nonturbo car takes special care and attention. you just can't slap a kit and and be on your way.

i installed my kit just this august. i spent 7 months learning about it till one day i just started to install things, little things at a time. first vortech sfmu, two months prior to august, took me couple of days, then high flow fuel pump, a week later, all my gauges one month later, then inline pump. the kit, actually putting on the turbo was four days. when i finally had everything done, oil was gushing out of the feedline!!!! i didn't know what was happening so i tracked that down, and tightened it. then days later, i though my engine blew cause my car kept stalling, my dp actually fell off so the 02 wasn't reading anything.

just to put this inperspective, 9 months ago, i was learning how to change my oil.

TO SUM IT UP, if you think you can pay someone and not expect anymore problems, DONT GET AN AFTERMARKET KIT_get a turbo factory car.

If you think 4000 is all you'll spend, YOU WILL BE SPENDING MORE!!!!! that's why you gotta learn how to work on the car cause you'll save money and learn soo much more.

-------jezreel
hrc stage 1, sfmu, ml, prokits, egt, boost gauge, apexi tt, costum dp, dynotune fp gauge. gst muff, turbo spoiler


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just install it yourself. corbin and i had mine done in less than two days. if you dont install it yourself, how are you gonna know what to do when your car starts freaking out on the road and you have to pull over. you are gonna be clueless.

can you drive a dsm and not be a DIY? haha, anyways, i would suggest doing what he said^^^^ just buy a turbo car....if you dont have the money to be fixing/uprgrading stuff, sell your car, put the 3500 towards a turbo, and youre in good shape..... but its up to you....just take some time and think ahead
doug

Well guys thanks for the help. I thought that I might be able to get away with doing a non-maximized turbo setup and not really have to worry about problems. I need this car to reliable, and I don't have a lot of time to screw around with it.

I guess I'll just hold on to it as it is now and start saving up for my sti when I get out of college.

What do you mean by he fully boosted his wrx? Did he turn the boost up?

I mean he actually ran it hard. His car is still like brand new (a 2004), so he's taking it easy on it, since it has like 2000 miles on it only, and he's trying to break it in gradually. He hardly ever spools the turbo when he's driving..

2000 miles, and still not running it yet, i was beating the piss out of my srt-4 when it hit 500 miles heh