self built turbo kit??

[Warren]

hey guys just curious ...has anyone peiced togther their own turbo system instead of buying a kit from aa or another company
how much did you spend?
how much boost?
where did you get the pipes bent?
hows the reliability?
anyway i think the prices on some of these turbo kits are pretty inflated...someone could probably put togther their own kit for half the price of aa for example
there would be a whole bunch of crazy fast bimmers out there if someone could figure out a good basic setup for an m3....thats why im curious why havent poeple done their own turbos? is installing a turbo on a bmw really all that hard??

[Jason_M3]

No not at all.. Here is what I would do.

First figure out the turbo you want to run. Say a T3 or a GT30R. Get a M3 exhaust mani or 325 mani, cut off the stock runners and weld on new ones leading up to a T3 flange. If you are going to be running an external wastegate keep that in mind when you are welding. After that fab up a downpipe and make sure to use a flex section. Then take off your front bumper and look at the way its laid out, buy plumbing and the proper sized intercooler accordingly. You can buy pre-mandrel bent curves and then just cut them and re-weld it to fit your application. After fitment grind down the excess on the welds and then have the whole piping powdercoated and it will look damn good. Now that you have all your piping out of the way, source out a oil pan and tap it for the oil return, find a good location for an oil feed tap and do the same. Figure out what kind of power/boost you are aiming for and purchase fuel injectors accordingly. The next step would be getting a stand-alone fuel management like TEC 3 and wire it all up. The setup I just described would probably cost around 4-5k (plus a good amount of dyno tuning) and make a whole lot of power.

[328155]

Yeah I'm in the same boat as you, I want to piece a kit together but it is kind of a pain in the ass. If you end up putting one together tell me about it I'm CT so I'd like to check out what you piece together.

[Bassmaster]

Hey heres a custom turbo set up I happend to come across... Http://members.cardomain.com/bassmasterM3

[M50_328is]

My thought was to use a T3 turbo I have laying around, which has an internal wastegate. The catch is only use 1 bank from the manifold. I only want to develope low boost, say 5-7 psi. I was told my T3 was too small for a 6 cyl engine, but what if I am only powering it from 3 cyl? By only using 3 cyl. I should never hit the surge limit of the turbo and therefore be able to operate w/ in safe territory. I have already owned 2 turbo cars previously and miss boosting, alot. I know there is more involved, but any opinions would be kewl.
~Phil

[bmxcm]

bassmaster mad props for undertaking such a massive project...i read thru ur entire process on the cardomain page...i wish i had the know-how, time, money, and patience to do something like that myself!

[cop]

What can you say about the Dastek Unichip for the engine management?