TurboClunker (a.k.a. cheap-ass slaps a turbo on his LX)

[Heckraiser]

I'm just imagining a separate wastegate exhaust with a tiny cat and muffler OK, yeah connecting to the downpipe is probably easier.

 

[Heckraiser]

Intake done, turbo dressed up in a cute little sweater:

I added a port for the BOV to recirculate and also a vacuum port to go to the valve cover via a catch can (don't have a can yet, might use a PBR can or just run it straight until I order a proper can).

Welded a bung onto the exhaust for a fancy-pants UEGO gauge my buddy convinced me to buy. You could monitor air/fuel with your torque app or scanguage, but I plan to tinker with tuning a little bit (maybe), which will render the stock o2 output a pack of lies. My welding has improved a little bit

Been extremely busy at work and my wife is pretty much helpless after her surgery, so I have very little time to work on this. I'm SO CLOSE though! All I need to do is make a bracket to prop up the intercooler and extend the MAF wires to reach the new intake location and i *think* it should be ready to cobble together and fire up. So ready to be done

 

[Bella1992]

Okay I'm officially jealous. How much for a kit? I smell a group buy...

 

[Heckraiser]

Don't be jealous until it runs, lol. When I'm all done, I'll post up a shopping list

 

[scottryana]

You can't really monitor AFR with scan gauge or torque because stock O2's are narrow band. So they don't give you useful AFR's for anything outside NA stoich range.

 

[Heckraiser]

Well there you go.

 

[Heckraiser]

I made a bracket to hold up the front of the intercooler. The charge pipes actually do a decent job of propping up the back side, so I may leave it with just this one bracket. If the IC shakes around too much, I'll add another bracket to prop up the back too.

Here's the whole thing clamped together:

Still to do: extend MAF wires, change the oil (never did it after I drilled my hole), plumb up wastegate pressure reference to throttle port, plumb up the hooter valve to a vacuum source :edit: and install the UEGO gauge, or at least the o2 sensor to plug up the hole. I could potentially fire it up today if work stays slow

 

[scottryana]

Sweet, I am sure there will be some tweaking as you get even closer and even once you fire it up, but all the heavy lifting is done!

 

[Heckraiser]

wastegate and BOV boost/vacuum done. For the blow-off valve, I just teed off of the hose that goes between the intake manifold and the brake booster.

Extended the MAF wires about 6" to reach the new intake location, then wrapped the whole shebang in plastic loom.

 

[Douglas S]

Careful extending MAF wires as, in most cases, they are shielded from the factory. Using unshielded wire can result in MAF signal interference, but that won't necessarily be the case; just something to watch out for.

 

[alia176]

I'm learning quite a bit from this thread and will look for the mushroom cloud from down here in NM

 

[DARKNESS]

Careful extending MAF wires as, in most cases, they are shielded from the factory. Using unshielded wire can result in MAF signal interference, but that won't necessarily be the case; just something to watch out for.

I don't think the 80 uses shielded wire on those.

 

[pkelly72]

Post a video once it's up and running and hurry up!

 

[Heckraiser]

Well everything is buttoned up except the wideband wiring--I never really put any thought into where I want the gauge and I don't have a good way to mount it.

Bigger problem is that somehow in the process of welding together my downpipes, the flange where the two sections meet went cattywompus. I'm seriously about to shoot myself, so I'm going to see if I can fire it up and drive down to the exhaust shop.

 

[Heckraiser]

Started it up. My battery was surprisingly eager after 40 days of sitting and the dome light left on overnight at least once--I'm really impressed with the Wally-world Everstart MAXX batteries (used them on two rigs now). Pulled the distributor wire and cranked it for a bit to prime the oil feed.

The good: it moved under its own power. It sounds like a hopped up CTD complete with turbo spool-up whine/whsitle

The bad: gaping hole in exhaust, CEL most likely due to gaping hold in the exhause, smoke coming from turbo center section area, which persisted about 10 minutes after I shut it down. Is this maybe oil leaking out of my drain line? Don't want to take any more test drives until I get this sorted.

 

[scottryana]

The smoke from the center section could be a leak in the drain, a kink in the drain line backing up oil or unlikely but possibly too much supply over running the journal bearings. I would look very closely for any leaks on the return line, check it for kinks, possibly unscrew it from the sump with the engine running and check return and if all that checks out think about an oil restrictor but you usually don't need them on journal bearing turbos.

 

[2KCruiser]

May not be a leak, smoke is usually due to oil residue. Once you start driving a little more and get the turbo housing to around 1000 degrees, all oils will burn off and stop smoking.

 

[2KCruiser]

The smoke from the center section could be a leak in the drain, a kink in the drain line backing up oil or unlikely but possibly too much supply over running the journal bearings. I would look very closely for any leaks on the return line, check it for kinks, possibly unscrew it from the sump with the engine running and check return and if all that checks out think about an oil restrictor but you usually don't need them on journal bearing turbos.

A kink or restriction in the return line would cause a lot of smoke from the tail pipe, not necessarily at the turbo itself.

 

[Heckraiser]

 

[scottryana]

I have seen smoke pour out of the turbo housing on ball bearing turbos when people forget the restrictor. Oh I just watched the video, it doesn't look like a major problem, you are probably right, looks like residual maybe not much smoke.