Custom Turbos: Who's done it?

[///Samson]

Who has put together their own custom turbo for their BMW?
I am tired of looking at the over-priced turbo options - I want to put one together myself and not burn my wallet.

Who has done it? for how much? what parts did you use?

YOU KNOW YOU ALL WOULD LIKE TO KNOW!

[///Samson]

To make it clear - my BMW is a 1993 325i.

I would like to know how to go about setting up a turbo charger on my engine.

[Polo M3]

a lot of that stuff is expensive becaues there is a LOT of stuff involved... you need the turbo itself, a turbo manifold, all the custom piping, a wastegate, intercooler, blowoff valve, the custom exhaust attatchments... and thats just the actual forced air part... you will also need to get software so the car can drive with the turbo, and need to get different Injectors... i am currently in the process of acquiring parts for a turbo kit myself, and so far im at 3500 in the bag, and i still dont have the manifold or the piping... and plus im doing the installation myself... if you have someone do it for you.. thats $$$

[PortalBMW]

You can probably put together a turbo kit yourself pretty easy. Installation is easy, finding the parts is easy, making it work isnt. Who is going to tune your car? Thats the most important question.

[TURBOCAR]

ive got a lot of other things to do to my car before i go through with it but im acquiring parts for the custom turbo setup i plan to do...

no way im gonna pay the prices that some of you guys are paying for these kits. no offense but were not all loaded and cant pay the prices that others pay

i plan to make quite a bit of power with my setup

some of the parts i had planned to get havent worked out like i had planned and some have changed

first of all i bought a haltech e6k for engine tuning cost me $850 shipped for a new one with 3 bar map sensor, trim control and 4 wire oxygen sensor.

i bought a freshly rebuilt turbonetics to4b ball bearing turbo and racegate for 550 shipped

i bought a set of 8 accel 36lb/hr injectors (yes 2 are spare) new for 260 shipped (im gonna crank up the fuel pressure to 60psi)

i bought a new walbro in tank high pressure 255lph fuel pump for 90 plus shipping

i bought a overbored 3.2l throttle body for 100 shipped

the intercooler is a bar and plate air to air that im having custom built for 350 shipped by a spearco employee on the side.

now i dont have a rising rate fuel regulator yet but im in the market im sure i can get one for about 150 shipped if i was betting.

im gonna buy all the j bends and what not and make my own manifold/header but thats a good thing because i plan to have the turbo under the hood so people can see it i dont want any of this under the car stuff. plus i want a really free flowing setup. emissions dont mean much to me where i live.

i dont know the total price of all of this im sure one of you will add it up but no way im gonna save 5k+ and give it to someone halfway across the country. you see i have built twin turbo domestic race cars with hella power and this is a step backwards for me but i plan to represent bmw in my area and be different.

at this time i plan to install the haltech and get it tuned up on my stock 2.5L engine.. but then im gonna build the manifold and get the turbo up and going on the 2.5 liter with stock internals..

but of course im ALSO accumulating parts for a 3.2 liter shortblock.
ive located a lot of pats but not all of them are bought and paid for. by taking my time and finding the deals ive bought a 3.2 l crankshaft and a 3.2liter m3 head and cams. after i find the block and get it bought and in my possession im gonna o ring the block, buy je pistons and pauter rods, and then get the rotating assembly balanced and assemble the short block..

when its all said and done i will have a full 3.2+ engine in there setup to take all the boost i plan to throw at it.. im gonna run water injection and also spray co2 or nitrous onto the intercooler.

im not starting with a m3 this is true but i got my car as an insurance theft recovery so i got it cheap and can do all this and still have less than a market priced stock m3. mostly because im doing most all the work myself.

oh i know its not part of the turbo system but i bought full autometer gauges for my car and this is a must to monitor a race style engine to its fullest. boost/egt/fuel pressure/oil pressure/water temp/air fuel/tach

i havent bought the piping obviously im gonna piece it together too..


i want to make tha power... and i just wanna do it myself.. i may not be loaded but i can piece together a system for the same or less cash myself. i reccomend people researching and gaining the knowledge to do this too.. even ricers can figure out how to make their cars fast with turbos why leave it to the loaded ones of our bunch to represent for us? i say try it. who said bmw's arent made for drag racing/??? if everyone thought like that then how do guys with civic wagons stuff in turbochargers? they arent exactly built for drag racing either! dont tell me ricers have more balls than us. money isnt a substitute for balls, so lets get the knowledge public to make bmws fast like they should be. on every level.

push the limits

[littlelee1]

Ummmm. i think id rather buy a turbo...lol

[///Samson]

Wow. It is almost one of those - Thanks But No Thanks - situations. There is a lot of work to just GET the parts then comes the install.

To top it off you have to get it to run correctly. PLUS all the while trying to keep the rest of life rolling (work, school, play).

Hmm

[TURBOCAR]

it is a lot of work and thats why the costs are so high if u have it done.

they know most of these guys with large pocketbooks arent gonna get their hands dirty doing this kind of modding so its worth a premium.

gathering the parts is not all that hard i just did it over a period of time..

if youve got some cash just buy the turbo and wastegate same time same place. turn around and buy fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator and injectors same place.

how you tune is up to you but skip the bullcrap and get a management system if your area doesnt cry about emissions.

that way you can skip all the running cat converters and junk.. get the ol restrictive hfm out of the equation too while your at it.

you can do it cheaper this way and custom makes more power! the bolt on kits or someone building and tuning your car will be conservative . they dont wanna see you in on a warranty issue.

it dont hurt the world to learn a lil something about what it is that interests them. it kinda depends on how serious you are as to the road you take. remember that.

you want it done right you gotta do it yourself is my motto

[JCM3]

You could piece one for about 4000 but it will not perform like a AA. What you would need is to buy their manifold (1000). Then you would need to buy a mitsubishi turbo w/ the wastegate hole welded shut (mitsu 16g) (800). Then a wastegate (300). Bypass valve (greddy types s) 200). Then you would need a front mount w/ inlet/ outlet on opposite sides (500-800), Then you would need a lot of custom piping done (500). Then you would need a 8:1 or 10:1 Vortech FMU (250) and an inline fuel pump (250). And pay to put all that in unless you are mechanically inclined. This system is also untuned so you would need to run to a dyno and have a wide band o2 put on to see how your a/f looks which will run you another 300-400 and boost would have to be limited to 4-6 psi tops. Its a risky adventure but id rather shell the extra money to have a system thats tuned properly.

[k2fattyti]

I think that Turbocar is right. There are Hondas out there that are doing low 13's, high 12's naturally aspirated. With the turbos in and built bottom ends and top ends, they hit 11 seconds no problem and are still suitable for the street and they'll handle better than a viper. And they do all this with four cylinders, NOT SIX. They spend a total of 15,000 - 20,000 on a car and make it faster than a ferrari. And they all do it themselves. It's not that hard to sit down and learn all of the stuff. Yeah some people just don't have the time, but if you really want to do it, you're gonna do it.

[jderry]

I don't have money rolling out my ass either; and, I try to learn as much as possible from my mechanic, from other people, etc. But, it's hard to custom-build your own setup without the right tools, right connections, and previous knowledge.

I have some knowledge from the MKIII and MKIV; but, after working every day, I spend "some" time on the weekend playing with the car; but, I don't want to take the entire weekend doing R&D and installing things. I think your priorities change as you grow older. Plus, there's little league games, soccer practice, etc...

So, I think it's different .... my goal is just to have a daily driver that puts down 400 rwhp ... and can hang with most vehicles.

The stand alone TEC, or fuel management system, to me, it's a little difficult without proper training on how to use it....

I think some people feel more secure being conservative -- I mean, M3turboCA is pushing the envelope...and mcubed is too, 17 lbs on stock internals, etc...

[E34Biturbo]

http://www.dtmpower.net/forum/showth...798#post572798

http://members.cardomain.com/pphilpot06
http://members.cardomain.com/pphilpot02

as custom and home grown as you can get........and will run
with any Dinan/RMS/Active cars out there pound for pound

[jderry]

LOL...figures it would be a FL person as well...hehhe...amazing cars that guy has....

[Matt]

Turbocar: your plan seems good and well-thought-out. good luck with it.

JCM3: you could pay a machine shop to make you a custom tubular manifold for less than a g, and it would flow better and cause fewer heat problems. (the AA manifold is ugly, too!). oh, and AA uses a mitsu 20g, last i checked. (i dont mean that sarcasticly, i may be wrong.)

I'm just starting a turbo project now. i'm waiting to get a few donor motors from a bunch of different people, i already have 30lb injectors. I'm looking for a small turbo now, and will probably use a modified stock exhaust and intake manifold. this is an M10 motor, btw.

[Hammer of Thor]

I wanted to do twin turbos for Baby back before the VAC Motorsports/One Lap of America project. I couldn't find anyone in the "BMW tuning" community that had anything available. I found someone that had experience doing turbos & SCs for marine engines. He quoted me 35-40k depending on the difficulty in cramming the plumbing around the motor & chassis.

Had this been a renown tuner expereinced with BMW motors & tuning, I would have, but I chickened out because I didn't want to be the lab test dummy and have this guy grenade my motor.

If Dinan or AA ever does come up with a TT for the BMW V8 w/ OBDll, I'm in.




Just think..............



a 700 hp 740....................."Nucking Futz"



Gives me a woody just thinking about it.