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

[2KCruiser]

This is so make it up as you go it's not even funny. Keep it up, it's entertaining to see the different directions it will take as you go along. I did the same thing not too long ago and I had these moments where you just think oh s***, then have an aha moment and just continue along.

 

[Heckraiser]

Nice, that looks like it should work. I think they make u-shaped silicone pipes, you could get one and cut it at 110.

Probably a dumb idea, but can the way the turbo be rotated where it connects to the manifold? That would point the intake backward (that's how the supercharger is). It looks like that may also line up the outlet with the intake manifold. Not sure if there's enough room for that though.

The problem with a 180* coupler is that it also has to reduce from 3" to 2.5" I don't know if anyone makes one of those.

The thought of turning the turbo around never even crossed my mind, but I guess that would be possible in theory. In in practice though, the intake side of the trurbo sticks out a lot farther from the flange than the exhaust side and it would probably butt up into the firewall in a big hurry. It will be hard enough to get my downpipe to squeeze in there as it is

 

[scottryana]

My concern and it might not be too bad at the low boost levels is that you will not keep that tube in the first 90* reducer it will blow out under boost. Maybe run straighter out of the elbow and just put a 90* tube in there?? I like that routing though and really like we talked about before you should be ok without an intercooler at the low boost levels you are going to run and this sized turbo, that is why we picked a turbo this size. haha.

That carbon fiber looks great!!!

I have an idea I need him to make me. I want to remove the passenger side turn signal and use that 11.5"x2.25" hole as a cold air intake but I need a duct made. haha.

Well I only picked it because you told me to, lol.

Not exactly what I had in mind, but this basic routing scheme should work with a shut hood (turbine housing will be wearing a blanket so the pipe doesn't heat up too much).

View attachment 1260599

 

[akarilo]

Add an inexpensive IC as suggested earlier. It will allow you to route the plumbing in a less confined area and drastically lower intake temps. No brainer IMO. Nice write up BTW.

 

[Heckraiser]

I have an idea I need him to make me. I want to remove the passenger side turn signal and use that 11.5"x2.25" hole as a cold air intake but I need a duct made. haha.

Honestly if you make a solidworks/autoCAD file or just a really good drawing of the shape you want, there is a good chance he will make it for you for the cost of materials plus beer

 

[Heckraiser]

Add an inexpensive IC as suggested earlier. It will allow you to route the plumbing in a less confined area and drastically lower intake temps. No brainer IMO. Nice write up BTW.

I know an intercooler is part of the final picture, but I was hoping to do a straight up comparison with the TRD SC (non intercooled 5-6psi) and dyno it just for posterity's sake. My buddy with the tundra recently put a FMIC on his and he said the performance is significantly improved and it's running a lot better too (mild ping has gone away). He wants me to go straight to IC too. Honestly it wouldn't take much to convince me to go straight to intercooled. *hint, hint*

 

[Heckraiser]

I think I'm gonna stick the coolant overflow bottle here:

To make way for the air box to go roughly here:

I was determined to use a paper filter and not K&N or other aftermarket mosquito net, but finding something that would mount on a tube with hose clamps was not easy. I knew the integra filter was the right type, but the displacement difference of 1.8L vs. 4.5L had me thinking it would be inadequate. Well I took some measurements (rough) and applied my 9th grade math and determined the honda filter to actually have about 85-90% of the surface area as the toyota filter (my math is still a little fuzzy), so I said "f*ckit" and picked up a filter and air box for $40. Bonus: the diameter of the filter elbow is the exact same diameter of the toyota MAF (3.25")!

I'm not sure if the air box will fit in there, but I'm gonna do what I can to make it fit. The way it's oriented in that picture will actually draw fresh air from behind the headlight/radiator support area, so should be a nice supply of cool air. The heavy duty plastic box should keep ambient engine bay temps from being a problem. I will need to figure out some sort of ducting arrangement for dust and/or water crossing. One thing I know for sure is that I will need to cut all the mounting arms off the box and possibly massage the wheel arch to mount it low enough to put an intercooler on top (if I go the top-mount route). Right now there is just about exactly 3" clearance from where I imagine the hood would land, but I'd like to get it a couple inches lower so 1) the air exiting the intercooler has a place to go and 2) make sure there is no incidental contact between IC/hood or IC/airbox.

 

[scottryana]

I really like the idea of an air box over an open element filter. If you have to go open element though go with Green Filter over K&N. Much better quality.

 

[Heckraiser]

removed some plastic:

I also bashed on a bump on the inner fender to help out the angles a little bit.

Intake now looks something like this:

Now I just need a 3" tube with a 90" bend to it and it should all clamp together.

 

[Heckraiser]

Did some "imagining" as to how things are going to fit together and realized I will literally need one extra pipe and 1 extra coupler (after returning another unused one) to make the intercooler happen. Total investment about $170?

I decided to just go for it. Thug life. I'll just scrap the idea of a non-intercooled "stage 1." I guess after all the trash talking, I couldn't end up without any CXracing products on this build. This is the intercooler I ordered: Amazon.com: CXRacing-Front Mount or V-Mount Turbo Intercooler 16.5"x11"x3": Automotive

I really wanted to make this one work ($50 cheaper), but it is just too long. ALUMINUM FRONT-MOUNT BOLT-ON TURBO INTERCOOLER V MOUNT SAME SIDE 19.75X13.75X3.5 I could chop an inch or two out of it and weld the end tanks back together (good to have friends in the bike industry), but I'm trying to keep this shade-tree friendly, and I don't think most Mudders have a TIG at their disposal That and there are only so many favors you want to call in for a single project.

 

[scottryana]

A dyno pull before you cut your hood and route any air to the intercooler would basically be about the same as no intercooler if you still wanted to collect the data...

 

[427060]

Practice run with my buddy's 3.4 V6 5-speed Tundra. Been driving it all week and it hasn't blown up yet!

Tip for your buddy.. The inlets and outlets on that ebay catch can are only 1/4". You can pull the fittings off and drill a couple holes with a 7/16" then reinstall just the brass barb fittings for way more flow. I stuffed mine with steel wool too.

 

[Heckraiser]

I'll have to talk to the dyno operator and see if he has the patience to let me swap it out between pulls. I honestly think it would only take about 5 minutes to make the change. You get 3 pulls for $120, so maybe one pull non-intercooled, then install the intercooler and two more pulls? Their literature is pretty clear on the "no screwing around if you're just paying for a baseline" topic, so we'll see.

 

[scottryana]

I wouldn't even bother with that. If you do end up cutting your hood, just throw something over the vent, piece of cardboard, etc so you don't have air flow and really that intercooler isn't going to do much without air. If you want to I would do

Pull 1 with IC opening open and fan blowing front of truck
Pull 2 with IC opening open and fan blowing front of truck
Pull 3 covering the IC opening.

This would ensure the IC is hot, there is no air and you are about in the worst conditions possible.

I don't think you will notice much of a difference on your setup between IC and no-IC on the dyno. Make sure you have a very very weak spring in the wastegate!! You will have cooler intake temps with the IC when you need them, driving. You shouldn't get any pinging with 93 octane, and the stock computer going open loop as long as you stay in that 5-7psi range, but the intercooler is insurance. Usually the fans most dyno places use move no where near as much air as driving.

 

[Heckraiser]

I got the small red spring (5.8psi) and I was just planning on using wastegate pressure with no boost controller or anything. Do you think that would be OK?

:edit: we only get 91 here, but at high altitude, there is a natural detonation resistance built into our atmosphere

 

[scottryana]

You should be ok with the 5.8lb spring, the thing with the springs are that they really do not give you a realistic boost number. So a 5.8lb spring should be about 5.8lbs of boost but it really depends on a lot of things, the size of the wastegate opening, the size of the engine it is bolted to (a big motor can produce so much exhaust gas volume it spins the turbo up before blowing the gate open creating overboost situations)

The rule of thumb is:
Big Turbo/Low Boost = Bigger Wastegate
Big Turbo/High Boost = Smaller Wastegate
Small Turbo/High Boost = Smaller Wastegate
Small Turbo/Low Boost = Bigger Wastegate

Before you get it to the dyno though I would take the truck and find a hill and roll into it slowly and watch the boost levels if they start to get above that 5-7lbs you will need a lighter spring.

*And the turbo will make up for your atmosphere

You're going to get one of the biggest gains possible! You will get back the 15% that you have lost to elevation and then you will gain another whatever with the 5-7psi of boost.

 

[Heckraiser]

Yet another problem with the treadstone manifold. There is not enough room on the inboard sides of runners 1, 2 and 5 for a nut to fit onto the stud (see my sharpie marks). Looks like I'll have to spend some quality time with the grinder :/

 

[Heckraiser]

You should be ok with the 5.8lb spring, the thing with the springs are that they really do not give you a realistic boost number. So a 5.8lb spring should be about 5.8lbs of boost but it really depends on a lot of things, the size of the wastegate opening, the size of the engine it is bolted to (a big motor can produce so much exhaust gas volume it spins the turbo up before blowing the gate open creating overboost situations)

The rule of thumb is:
Big Turbo/Low Boost = Bigger Wastegate
Big Turbo/High Boost = Smaller Wastegate
Small Turbo/High Boost = Smaller Wastegate
Small Turbo/Low Boost = Bigger Wastegate

Before you get it to the dyno though I would take the truck and find a hill and roll into it slowly and watch the boost levels if they start to get above that 5-7lbs you will need a lighter spring.

*And the turbo will make up for your atmosphere

You're going to get one of the biggest gains possible! You will get back the 15% that you have lost to elevation and then you will gain another whatever with the 5-7psi of boost.

I'm using a Tial 38mm. Pretty much that or a turbonetics 35mm are the only choices for this manifold I think. I don't really know if that qualifies as big or small?

 

[Rivman1243]

Seams odd that there's no room for the nuts. Are they thinking you would use a bolt? Doesn't look like you could fit a bolt in.

 

[Heckraiser]

I honestly think they just slapped a mold together as quickly as possible and didn't bother with QC. I'm sure these issues have been brought to their intention before, but the manifolds were probably mass-produced in China or Taiwan many years ago and they have no incentive to correct and make a new product. That would be my guess anyway.

Again, it's a minor problem and fixable at home, it's just a little disappointing that this is the most expensive piece of the whole system with the exception of the turbo itself. I actually bought the turbo, WG & BOV many months ago and waited around to start this project because I couldn't stomach the cost of the manifold. I finally relent, and the product needs to be "finished" at home