Well, for those of you who saw my thread about 2 months ago, i decided i was going to make my own turbo kit and fab everything. well last thursday i finally got it running. its not complete by far but im boosting atleast. i bypassed the intercooler because i wanted to atleast get boosting. the manifold i made turned out great. i got a major exhaust leak between the turbo and the manifold(for some reason my t3 has a hump on the top and bottom of the flange which leaves a gap for exhaust to leak). im taking off the turbo tonight to bring to the shop so i can cut out a plate from sheet metal that will block off those humps. should help me boost a lot faster and sooner. the spring mod i did to the wastegate worked perfectly, so im only boosting 3-5 psi. i will raise it to 6-7 when i get the intercooler hooked up. just thought i would let you guys know it was a success, and i will be doing a write up on tuners on how to do your own. i havent totalled everything up yet but i know it was under $1000 and i dont have any more parts to buy to make it intercooled, so it was under $1000 for a stage 2. wish me luck on the rest of it, i just thought id let you know :D

Welcome to the "I made it myself club", lol.

Originally posted by DJ420a
Welcome to the "I made it myself club", lol.

haha im pretty proud of myself. its the first time ive ever worked on anything haveing to do with a turbo, and the first time ive fabbed anything significant(apart from like basic exhaust pipes or whatever) id say it turned out quite well for what little turbo experience i had before

way ta go man thats awesome you put it all together yourself! :thumbsup

Man, I wished I didn't buy my Hahn kit. I could have used your advise to build my own turbo kit... bah. haha

Good stuff though.

Awesome job man:thumbsup I hope to be turbo pretty soon with a custom kit also

thanks guys.... well i found another reason why i was boosting so slow... me and my friend forgot to tighten down the EGT probe... so it was kinda just sitting there with the nut screwed on enough to hold it on, but definatly not seal. taking the turbo off was such a god damn pain, i had to take off the entire manifold with it because one of the bolts and nut seized and wont budge for the life of me. it was a little hard with it all on the car, but even with it off it wouldnt budge and i stripped the head of the bolt pretty good... so i gotta wizer wheel it off tomarrow, and throw another one on there. but tonight really really sucked, it was all such a pain. oh well, it will all be worth it in the end right?

Originally posted by GSGoinFast
it was all such a pain. oh well, it will all be worth it in the end right?

You will find yourself saying this a lot...I have found this out and I have only been turbo'd a little over 2 months now!

BTW good job on doing it all yourself!

I'm proud of ya man

Makes me feel good knowing that a custom kit DOES work out

I am so close to having my kit done I can almost taste it.

could you send my some info about the wastegate spring mod?

my aim is Scottah112

Originally posted by ScreaminE
I'm proud of ya man Makes me feel good knowing that a custom kit DOES work out I am so close to having my kit done I can almost taste it. could you send my some info about the wastegate spring mod? my aim is Scottah112

i actually wrote a pretty detailed description on a tuners thread... ill find if for you later tonight

Originally posted by ScreaminE
I'm proud of ya man Makes me feel good knowing that a custom kit DOES work out I am so close to having my kit done I can almost taste it. could you send my some info about the wastegate spring mod? my aim is Scottah112

heres the thread i posted in http://dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177334

Originally posted by GSGoinFast

Originally posted by ScreaminE I'm proud of ya man Makes me feel good knowing that a custom kit DOES work out I am so close to having my kit done I can almost taste it. could you send my some info about the wastegate spring mod? my aim is Scottah112

heres the thread i posted in http://dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177334

Good job on the custom kit :thumbsup

Bad job on linking to toooners :thumbsdown

make me a 3" downpipe for my star kit :)

Originally posted by Malenko
make me a 3" downpipe for my star kit :)

pfff my 2.5" is only held on by 2 bolts lol. i just got the o2 sensor bung welded onto the dp today, and i gotta say there is more weld then bung lol. but, if you saw my other thread, i fixed the manifold > turbo leak and the thing is 1000% better then before.

heres my write up for making your own turbo kit... let me know what you think: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181134

good write up, i bet a lot of people are going to be doing that now, the price is very appealing :thumbsup

Good stuff bro, I'm hooked. I can't shell out $3000.00 on a turbo kit either.

Tony

good write up....answers alot of questions....i can't wait til i'm boostin this summer

That is a great write up. I was surprised at all the information you put into this... points for you!

congratswith the turbo setup. but one problem i see with these "$1000" turbo kits, is that they are all made for low boost, cause most of them skimp on parts that will allow good boost levels : ie> ic pipes bent right, d/p's, small turbo's. just a thought i had.


then again, not alot of people want drag 420a's. props

Originally posted by grain
congratswith the turbo setup. but one problem i see with these "$1000" turbo kits, is that they are all made for low boost, cause most of them skimp on parts that will allow good boost levels : ie> ic pipes bent right, d/p's, small turbo's. just a thought i had. then again, not alot of people want drag 420a's. props

I see what your saying. but the thing is I bought all these parts used, and im not paying for the convenience of having the kit put together, so its gonna be a lot cheaper. granted it is pretty much for low boost. my only weakness is really the turbo, IC and IC pipes. its a fairly small turbo. But since it is a T3 flange i have a huge array of upgrade options, whether it be internally or externally gated since i can always just cut the manifold and weld a wastegate flange to it. and the IC pipes are complete shit lol. ill get good ones bent and made when i get a good FMIC. the downpipe is solid, bigger then the hahn one. the manifold is solid too.

Also another thing is if these people are going to want to build a 420a drag car, they are going to have to spend over $1000 anyway lol. this is basicallly just to help some of the poorer people(like me) get boosted.

thanks for the comments, keep them coming :thumbsup