Homemade Turbo stup

[PNSH3R]

Anyone else thought of doing it?
Minus the exhaust flanges - It does not seem as anything too hard.
I think that with some smart shopping & little home fabrication a good kit could be had for <$3K. Turbos are not that expensive. I would probably go single turbo. The only "hard" thing about it is the exhaust manifold/turbo placement, everything else seems pretty straightforward. It is not hard to fab up some pipes to intercooler, from intercooler to intake manifold (cheap on a junk yard). And then just get a good aftermarket fuel setup.
Turbos can be found pretty cheap on the net, intercooler cores as well, aluminum piping can't be that expensive and some good silicone hoses....
Anyone else thought of doing this and gave up? Why?
Anyone else thinking of doing this?
I am pullying my cobra for now, just until the winter and I think that over the winter I could make this turbo setup work. so, by the spring time it would be ready for a tune. With properly sized turbo spool should not be bad, and it would definitely put down more power than a TS which would cost almost twice as much to set up.
Thoughts?

:biggthump

Click to read more...

 

[PNSH3R]

rear mounted turbo should take care of having to upgrade k-member (read huge savings) and with some good heat-wrap around the exhaust - all the way back - spool should not be bad. Then all I would have to fab up is the charge side to the IC...

 

[Bigturbonotch]

If you have welding skills, its not hard at all. There are plenty of DIY turbo cars out there. Check out this site, it should help you out pretty well......

http://www.theturboforums.com/smf/index.php?board=32.0

 

[Bigturbonotch]

http://www.theturboforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=111287.0

 

[PNSH3R]

thanks for the link.

 

[Bigturbonotch]

No problem, do as much research as possible before you tackle something like this thats for sure! There is a TON of good information out there. Good luck!

 

[Rotzs99]

Rocket5979 made a custom kit for his Lincoln LS. He might be able to offer some info.

 

[PNSH3R]

all I really need to start is a good set of headers with turbo flanges...

 

[PNSH3R]

although.. rear mounted setup would be simplest imho. That would equate to a bit more lag, but some brakeboosting can take care of that

 

[rocket5979]

Rocket5979 made a custom kit for his Lincoln LS. He might be able to offer some info.

I have done a few custom turbo systems to date for myself and for other people. You are correct that you do save allot of money when you do your own system. Just make sure that you know how to weld real well so that you can make some pretty welds versus birdshit like allot of people do. A good machine and some practice will go a long way here. I personally use a Lincoln 140C MIG for now. It does Mild Carbon, SS, and Aluminum. I can do some real nice welds when I am not in a hurry; though not quite as pretty as a TIG obviously. TIG machines are big bucks though so I do not have one just yet.

To the OP, If I can offer any help just let me know.

 

[Bigturbonotch]

+1000000000000000 on the welds, make it looks nice or dont even do it IMO.

Here is a real nice weld on my exhaust

 

[PNSH3R]

yeah, I am no welding guru by any means - and that is why I am wanting to stay away from fabricating my own hotside parts. Now, cold side should not be hard at all - it does not matter to me if I spend twice as much time on grinding the welds down as it takes me to put them on there. lol

 

[PNSH3R]

+1000000000000000 on the welds, make it looks nice or dont even do it IMO.

Here is a real nice weld on my exhaust

damn... that is a nice looking weld.

 

[cap42]

Talk with 86merc (Pratt) on these forums his good friend Shaun is making a DIY kit for his car and his work is INCREDABLE! I had him weld my bypass flange on my s/c setup amazing welds and it's like 2nd nature to him. Shaun also did the setup for Shane (not sure of his screen name here) 97 red cobra and did another killer job.

He has a garage with a lift and all the welding equipment to do the job right. I can't speak for how much he will charge but he gave me a really good deal anytime I needed work done. Shaun and his friend can also get machine work done if needed as they have access to alot of that equipment also.

As for the DIY setup I'd do it in a heartbeat if I could live without my car being in one piece that long. Do your research pick the right turbo and wastegate, luckily enough people have done these turbo jobs so you can get ideas and specs from other people for your build. :cool2:

 

[LSX7]

if you build it they will come...... lol hahaha

 

[PNSH3R]

thanks for the info to all. I am still doing research, and my cobra is not my daily driver. I am planning on putting her into the garage starting November time.
I have already found a website selling the k-member that I want, found a place that sells piping (for cold side) mandrell bent at different angles and different radius. Now, one thing I do not want to take chances on is the exhaust manifold - I definitely want to make sure I get that made right & with the right materials. I would hate to set everything up and then have headers that will crack & so on. Then switching to a different style exhaust manifold would force me to redo everything else as well.

 

[rocket5979]

yeah, I am no welding guru by any means - and that is why I am wanting to stay away from fabricating my own hotside parts.

The hotside fabrication will be the hardest part and the one that takes the most money if you farm the work out. This is just my opinion but if you aren't doing your own hotside then it will probably not be worth it to even do the rest as a DIY project. The cold side is a total cake walk... You will save some money but not enough to offset the work put in by yourself at that point. Long story short...only do a DIY turbo setup if you can fabricate the hot as well as the cold side.

 

[rocket5979]

Hey Box did you TIG weld that?

 

[Pressure Ratio]

The hotside fabrication will be the hardest part and the one that takes the most money if you farm the work out. This is just my opinion but if you aren't doing your own hotside then it will probably not be worth it to even do the rest as a DIY project. The cold side is a total cake walk... You will save some money but not enough to offset the work put in by yourself at that point. Long story short...only do a DIY turbo setup if you can fabricate the hot as well as the cold side.

Exactly. Unless you have the tools, equipment, time, skill and knowledge to do the whole thing yourself you should forget about it. The cost to buy someone else's headers, have some one fab a cross over, etc. will ruin any savings you would have. And most likely cause you more headaches than it is worth.

And if you can't do the whole project yourself and don't need something that you can not buy from HP, Hellion, etc. there is no reason to have some one build you a kit. A shop will not even come close to a set up mass produced on jigs. I bet most shops will charge you $10K or more in labor to make a custom kit. So unless you want a under dash air to water intercooler, T6 frame turbo, etc. just buy a done kit.

Building a turbo kit is not as easy as it sounds. And if you can't build it all your self it really isn't worth it to try. There are plenty of nice kits out there. Save your self pain and money and just buy a done kit.

This is of course just my 2 cents from watching my home made kit being made. :biggthump