I am debating boosting my 97 rs with 90,000 miles. I know theres no way to tell how long stock internals will last but how long have some of you boosted on a stock motor. If I did turbo it would be something on the smaller side of the spectrum with capabilities to make 300 horsepower or more, should i be considering a 16g? Oh and a buddy of mine has "forged" pistons for his 4g63 and is convinced they'll fit a 420a, any truth in that?

stock internals have been proven to be good to 10psi even ryan9514 has boosted to 12psi on them, how long they last is a different story

as far as the 4g63 pistons no the will NOT fit, tell your friend he is a jackass

I boosted 7 psi for 12k and then 10 psi for 42 seconds. :shrug

Take that how you want to.

Here is the deal...even though a lot of people will tell you to search because this has been posted more times then I can even remeber, I will fill you in, but you have to promise to search from now on!

OK...when you boost on a N/A platform you are playin a little game called weakest link. Our ringlands are known to go out first...that and our headgaskets are pretty famous parts as well. With that being said, 7psi is what is recommened, but nothing is a guaruntee when you boost the 420a.

I know a lot of people will check their compression first before boosting...you can rent a compression tester from most auto part stores if you don't feel like buying one. Most get around 150 to 190 ruffly across all 4 cyclinders. This is because some test it when the motor is cold and some check it hot. You want to have all 4 cyclinders within 10 of each other, but perferably closer is better.

So once you find out your compression its off to boost land, and I know some that boost 5psi and blow a ringland and some are still boosting 10psi all day long and are fine. Every car is differnt and it all depends on your supporting mods and not doing something stupid in the process of it all. You want to do everything right the first time and don't cut corners on certain things. People wonder why our cars our down a lot..this is the main reason, and the other is they are over 10 years old for some and some rapidly approaching that.

I could sit here and go on and on for hours, but if I were you I would read up for a while before you take on this project. I mean that is half the fun, and if you don't know what your doing...how will you trouble shoot all the problems you will encounter along the way?

Plus tell your friend to read up a little as well...and becareful who you take advice from...take everything with a grain of salt and research everything.

Good luck with your project!

Originally posted by Blizare
I boosted 7 psi for 12k and then 10 psi for 42 seconds. :shrug Take that how you want to.

I feel it's luck. My motor wasn't/isn't in the best condition based on a compression test, but it's taken the boost like a bitch. I've had it lean out ridiculous amounts on pulls from faulty fuel pump, problem with my sfmu, spiking to 12psi on stock injectors etc and yet it keeps running. I'm not saying I pulled all the way to redline in these conditions, I let off as soon as I noticed the problem, but it's still not good.

I started at 105k miles and am now at 119k+ I now have a big mysterious oil leak, but that was apparently free with a rebuilt head and a timing job, it leaked a little before hand, but now we're talking like a quart a week after getting it back and I haven't had time to figure out where it's coming from.

Not that I want it to, but I always have in the back of my mind that it can break down any day. If that happens I get a cheap beater and pay for a new bottom end as much as I don't want to yet.

My goal if it lasts till next summer is to put some slicks on and turn up the boost until either I break 13's or break my car

Now tonight when I go to bed I'm going to pray my car lives through graduation and possibly the summer.

Amen to ^^^ that brothar!

I agree, luck has everything to do with it. I've had numerous times when I spike 12psi on stock motor, feels good but scares the hell out of me. Even had one go to 16, God only knows how my engine held together. I only had 42k miles when I boosted now I'm at 49k and other than melting the wires because of the EGR tube and a bad oil leak I'd say go for it. I never figured 8psi would make that much difference, but it did.

Originally posted by Bigtymr1021
because of the EGR tube and a bad oil leak I'd say go for it. I never figured 8psi would make that much difference, but it did.

x 1000 8psi is by no means fast, but 0 psi is like watching paint dry in comparison

Originally posted by cs82685

Originally posted by Bigtymr1021 because of the EGR tube and a bad oil leak I'd say go for it. I never figured 8psi would make that much difference, but it did.

x 1000 8psi is by no means fast, but 0 psi is like watching paint dry in comparison

Is there really that much of a difference? roughly how much more horsepower are we talking about with 8 psi?? 30 ish??

Originally posted by ThePerfectShift

Originally posted by cs82685

Originally posted by Bigtymr1021 because of the EGR tube and a bad oil leak I'd say go for it. I never figured 8psi would make that much difference, but it did.

x 1000 8psi is by no means fast, but 0 psi is like watching paint dry in comparison

Is there really that much of a difference? roughly how much more horsepower are we talking about with 8 psi?? 30 ish??

I'd say most dyno results I've seen posted are between 185 and 230 whp. Most of those are on Evo316g's or turbonetics t3/t4 50 trim that comes with the star kit. 2 guys on tuners both dyno'd 193 @ 7psi on the star kit. Compared to stock whp which is usually between 110 and 120. You'd probably see about 75-80whp increase or 90-100 at the crank

now this is getting a bit too much like bench racing

like 70 more horses? holy turbo spool batman! I am not one to condone bench racing, I just was wondering if it would be worth it and apparently it is. now i just have to get my car in a reliable state. :(

iv been running 6-8psi on the stock block for 2 1/2 years now with no real problems . i guess im pretty lucky

Ive been boosting for almost 3 years now. Im at 5 psi at 108,000 miles. Its been boosted since probably around 70,000 miles. But I did get a new headgasket put in and had good compression.
-Todd

I've been boosted for about 8 months now on the stock bottom end, and I run 10psi daily, with no problems as of yet. The key is to get your fuel setup correct, a good tune, and get a reliable boost controller that wont spike on you. Oh and Megasquirt is the shit }(

Originally posted by GreenRicer
I've been boosted for about 8 months now on the stock bottom end, and I run 10psi daily, with no problems as of yet. The key is to get your fuel setup correct, a good tune, and get a reliable boost controller that wont spike on you. Oh and Megasquirt is the shit }(

10 psi huh? what turbo and have you been using megasquirt the entire time, what else does your fuel system consist of?

SOrry for all the questions, but as long as my car lasts till I'm out of school in May, I wanna turn the boost up some

Originally posted by cs82685

Originally posted by GreenRicer I've been boosted for about 8 months now on the stock bottom end, and I run 10psi daily, with no problems as of yet. The key is to get your fuel setup correct, a good tune, and get a reliable boost controller that wont spike on you. Oh and Megasquirt is the shit }(

10 psi huh? what turbo and have you been using megasquirt the entire time, what else does your fuel system consist of? SOrry for all the questions, but as long as my car lasts till I'm out of school in May, I wanna turn the boost up some

I'm pretty sure he's using the HRC 16g, aeromotive 1:1 regulator, 440's, and the mugasquirt has been running it the whole time.

Originally posted by cs82685

Originally posted by GreenRicer I've been boosted for about 8 months now on the stock bottom end, and I run 10psi daily, with no problems as of yet. The key is to get your fuel setup correct, a good tune, and get a reliable boost controller that wont spike on you. Oh and Megasquirt is the shit }(

10 psi huh? what turbo and have you been using megasquirt the entire time, what else does your fuel system consist of? SOrry for all the questions, but as long as my car lasts till I'm out of school in May, I wanna turn the boost up some

Pretty much what BlackMagic said, its basically the Hahn kit that I put together, with 330cc injectors, Walbro, Aero 1:1, wideband, and Megasquirt. Ive run Megasquirt since I started boosting, I've never used FMU's or any of that. I have a decent tune on it now, no lean spots, but places where its pretty rich (exhaust leak contributes to that). My bottom end is also fairly new, it has about 25K on stock internals of course. Day to day I generally go easy on my car, my commute to work isn't very far, so theres not a whole lot of room for play. But I do get on it hard once in a while and take it to the track when I can, so it does get a healthy dose of boost.

I'm a firm believer that if everything is tuned correctly, and you take care of it with regular maintenance, you shouldn't have any problems.

Originally posted by boosted60trimrst
iv been running 6-8psi on the stock block for 2 1/2 years now with no real problems . i guess im pretty lucky

Luck has alot to do with it, but im sure alot has to do with if you give your car much hell. I tend to give mine alot of hell but i'm sure to keep the maintenance up on it.

Originally posted by Bigtymr1021

Originally posted by boosted60trimrst iv been running 6-8psi on the stock block for 2 1/2 years now with no real problems . i guess im pretty lucky

Luck has alot to do with it, but im sure alot has to do with if you give your car much hell. I tend to give mine alot of hell but i'm sure to keep the maintenance up on it.

I personally beat on it much more than I did prior to being turbo'd but still usually keep it under 5k rpms

When all of you said 8psi, is it 8psi to the motor or 8psi + pressure drop = 6 psi ?. Im boosted since 2 months now, 8psi set at wastegate but with pressure drop my gauge see 6 psi. For now im on stock injectors so ill not play more now but im planning 30lbs and sfmu next summer and was thinking to connect my wastegate vacuum to intake instead of turbo.

Originally posted by ChloRure
When all of you said 8psi, is it 8psi to the motor or 8psi + pressure drop = 6 psi ?. Im boosted since 2 months now, 8psi set at wastegate but with pressure drop my gauge see 6 psi. For now im on stock injectors so ill not play more now but im planning 30lbs and sfmu next summer and was thinking to connect my wastegate vacuum to intake instead of turbo.

you can do that and run 8psi to the motor, personally I wouldn't on stock injectors but that's just me and you don't seem to be planning on it either. I can't speak for others, but I run a .5 bar (7.25psi) spring and see 6psi. I wanna turn it up but I need to figure out my giant oil leak first.

I run stock internals @8psi (Garrett GT28RS turbo) with stock injectors (for the moment). I have had the same lean conditions from FMU issues and bad fuel pumps like others with no horrific results, though I do have EGT warnings and such to tell me when to get off the gas. I've been running it for months now and even ran it for a few weeks @10psi. At the track I pulled a 14.4 with an auto tranny and it shifting into 4th on me at the 1/8th mile (bad TCU). Its a crapshoot with our motors. If you understand that you can kill the engine if you push its limit, you won't be surprised if it happens.

last october is when i first boosted my 420a. some of you might remember the issues i had but i was on 5psi for about 4 months then got 30#ers and stepped it up to 10psi. ran great til two months ago. i drove like a grampa on the streets but raced every weekend and didn't do too bad. the ring landings on piston-3 had 3 cracks, #4 had 4 cracks and the rings shifted till the openings wher right on eachother. smoked like hell from the oil catch tank. just got wiseco8;8/1 pistons and eagle h-beams in and breaking those and the new clutch in right now. oh, and my clutch slipped @ 10psi on a second consecutive run. every time.

I boosted on stock internals and wish I never did it. Bro. I wish I would of waited a few more months to afford a rebuild with forged internals. I ran 8psi for one month, deployed for 3, came back, and it blew within the first 2 weeks I was back.

Although I ran it a little hard (maybe real hard), I wouldnt of had that problem with a rebuild and a tune. Which is the direction I'm taking now.

Originally posted by biggnasty
I boosted on stock internals and wish I never did it. Bro. I wish I would of waited a few more months to afford a rebuild with forged internals. I ran 8psi for one month, deployed for 3, came back, and it blew within the first 2 weeks I was back. Although I ran it a little hard (maybe real hard), I wouldnt of had that problem with a rebuild and a tune. Which is the direction I'm taking now.

damn how many miles were on your motor and what kinda compression did your have? Also what were you using for fuel mangement?