Turbo: pros and cons

[75glnt]

Hey guys..

How reliable are turbo engines? Petrol turbo.

I'm talking fmic, bov, ext. gate, Gt35r, the lot! To make 300+ hp..

I don't want to know the costs (I know already), all I want to know is. An I gonna be replacing seals all the time and having vac leaks etc. or is that due to cheap parts. How reliable are they? For everyday use? Etc

[GB_BB4C]

its only going to be as reliable as the quality parts you put into it and how its built. having 300+hp is great, but is it going to be drivable or are you going to have to get the revs up for it to be able to move. things you need to consider before going ahead and building something like this.

[75glnt]

Yea I'm toying the idea of turbocharging the ute.. So it wouldn't be easy to keep on the ground.. I love the sound of a turbo and I have a few ideas I may do.. (Mock up turbo).. I'll get bagged out but it'll get some laughs not to mention the pigs... "That's a turbo!" But it's not hooked up.. Lol

[cheaterparts]

Lets assume you make the engine reliable, your going to need to upgrade the driveline because thats where the punishment coming from the engine is going. Things constantly break and your forever chasing your tail.

If you want to go fast on a daily basis, get yourself something with a bit of poke to start with and dont fiddle with it. Thats what I have done and I havent looked back. Keep the modified car for the weekends.

I tend to agree - in fact I go one step further if you wont to build a 300 hp make it as a track only car then you get to use all that power under controled conditions

as far as turbo street engines go Karls baby sh!t brown galant had a very nice street turbo astron ( not a race car to drive )

it was so simple a std Magna M6 head on flat top pistons ( std Magna comp ) running a 31/79 cam with 114 deg lobe sep and double valve springs
an early magna fuel inject manifold ( modded for RWD ) a std sigma turbo exhaust manifold and turbo

it made 138 Kw atw ( 184 hp ) @ 5800 rpm with only 6 lb of boost but no lag off the bottom - none of the low comp nonsence
with this hp and no lag makes quite a nice street engine and doesn't break things

[75glnt]

Yea I might just stay efi na

[Billsy]

i ran a stock astron1 bottom end with a magna head, megasquirt and a dirty cheap ebay t3/t4.
made 209kw at 18psi and did over 10000kms like that, it wasnt laggy at all with the small rear housing on the dirty turbo.

but when i upped it to 21psi, and raised the redline to 7k, it decided that the 1982 pistons didnt want to keep their rings in one piece.

so... take from that what you will, but id say a stock engine would be good and reliable with the right setup and tune to around 200kw, which is a LOT of power for a light tin can with skinny tires.
keep a full face clutch and skinny tyres to save the gearbox from breaking too.

[75glnt]

Yea? Well the one thing I'm not changing is the engine (dohc 4g63). So what I want to know is; how reliable are the dohc 4g63s after a standard spec turbo upgrade? Just a standard vr4 spec setup.. Maybe a larger turbo, boost controller and bov.. But the rest will be standard..

[Billsy]

NFI... but spend a little on them and you can have a very nice setup.

[rx22nv]

Your biggest trouble at 300hp will be the gearbox.

The previous owner of my car used to daily drive it with 330hp. It had a ford toploader gearbox though behind an astron. It also has a ford 9 inch with billet axles.

Engine wise, she runs fine and there is no hassle driving it around, even at 388hp now. Never had troubles with plugs, leads, seals etc.

Turbo motors are basically like stocker when cruising. It's only when the boost comes on that everything changes.

[75glnt]

yea plans changed anyway.. but! im still thinking turbo. but only something like a td03-td05 running 15psi at the most! all on a n/a 4g63. no forgies, no oil squirters, just oil/water to turbo, and the other small necessities that doesn't require any internal work except vr4 cams and maybe a thicker head gasket to lower compression?