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

[Heckraiser]

My buddy decided he was tired of looking at my hood scoop mold taking up space in his basement and moved forward on the scoop without me! I feel bad that he worked on it by himself with no free beer. Ended up going with sandable/paintable fiberglass rather than carbon fiber just to see how it works out. If I like the fit and I want to do CF, we can re-use the same mold. Should have a hood scoop this week.

 

[Rivman1243]

Is that foam or clay you used for a mold

 

[Heckraiser]

A few blocks of foam glued together and then sanded into a shape. Pretty easy to do, actually. The hardest part was getting the hole in the hood just the right size/shape. I lined the hole with that plastic edge stuff that people put on their car doors.

bad picture, but you can sort of see what's going on here.

 

[Heckraiser]

OK, this looks totally rediculous, but man, does it work! I think I gained 25-30 horses on the calibrated butt-dyno. Probably going to paint it white, but maybe a wood-grain vinyl wrap?

(haven't cleaned the truck in a loooong time)

 

[dogfishlake]

OK, this looks totally rediculous, but man, does it work! I think I gained 25-30 horses on the calibrated butt-dyno. Probably going to paint it white, but maybe a wood-grain vinyl wrap?

(haven't cleaned the truck in a loooong time)

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Very cool! I just put in/out temp guage on my top mount cooler and I'm seeing 20° drop accellerating hard. My cooler is smaller than that and my scoop needs a frame to direct air better so I imagine your temp drop could be even more. Nice work

 

[scottryana]

Ridiculously awesome!

OK, this looks totally rediculous, but man, does it work! I think I gained 25-30 horses on the calibrated butt-dyno. Probably going to paint it white, but maybe a wood-grain vinyl wrap?

(haven't cleaned the truck in a loooong time)

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[Heckraiser]

Temperature drop measured by my hand is very significant. Before both tanks were too hot to leave your hand on for more than a few seconds, now the cool side feels close to outdoor ambient temperature.

 

[Rivman1243]

Hell yeah!

 

[canman]

Nice. Scubby doo..

 

[scottryana]

Going to be awesome on those days it is misting or on a nice cold fall morning! Truck probably feels much better now I would imagine.

 

[FastCarGuy]

That is SWEET

 

[alia176]

So, this style of scoop is called a shaker style because it shakes with the engine running?

 

[scottryana]

Yep!

So, this style of scoop is called a shaker style because it shakes with the engine running?

 

[canman]

Shaker hood scoop is attached to engine. That scoop is attached to body. No?

 

[Jamahone]

Looks like it is attached to the IC or a bracket around the IC, and not to the body.

 

[Heckraiser]

The scoop is attached directly to the intercooler (or the intercooler mounting brackets, more accurately). It makes a nice, nearly air-tight seal to the IC core. It does shake a little when you start the truck up and rev it, but mostly it shakes when you drive over bumps, lol. I'm going to have to beef up my intercooler bracket a little bit I think.

For anyone looking to do a turbo setup on the 1fz, my recommendation is don't even bother unless you're getting an intercooler, and make sure your intercooler gets lots of air (if air/air). Additional cost over non-intercooled was only a couple hundred dollars and there are lots of different sizes and configurations to make it work for what you have in mind.

I have to say, this one little detail has made a huge difference in the way the truck drives. Up until now, its just felt like a revvier version of the 1fz and felt really healthy at altitude compared to stock. Now it actually feels fast (for a truck, lol), it wants to cruise at 80, doesn't care about hills, can speed past normal cars driving at normal speeds in case I need to squeeze into a turn lane or whatever. It even feels like the turbo is spooling faster. I'm going to have to move my fuzzbuster from the Volt to the 80. I'm ready to throw on some 35's now. The scoop has made all the difference. This is what I wanted the truck to feel like.

:edit: side note, I'm not used to putting this many miles on the truck and the gas is getting expensive!

 

[scottryana]

You should feel a lot more power and torque. Glad to hear you finally got it "finished"! Wait until winter. My truck is a monster when it is 30 degrees outside. haha.

 

[alia176]

The question I have is that the folks with turbo installs, are they always worried about EGT and whatever else? Seems that your driving habits needs to be adjusted for external factors that you didn't have to worry about when you were normally aspirated previously.

 

[scottryana]

Nope. I have zero concern with heat, EGT's, etc.

The question I have is that the folks with turbo installs, are they always worried about EGT and whatever else? Seems that your driving habits needs to be adjusted for external factors that you didn't have to worry about when you were normally aspirated previously.

 

[FastCarGuy]

I have a friend that races and he doesn't get too worried about EGT even at 30 psi of boost