Want to learn more about a Turbo LT1
12-10-2013, 04:02 AM
#1
Drifting
Thread Starter
Want to learn more about a Turbo LT1
Hey guys! I'm looking into doing a 75mm turbo on my '93 6-speed next winter. I don't want this to be a horsepower monster, because I still plan on auto-x'ing the car so I'm going to shoot for about 450whp. I'm only planning on doing about 6psi due to the LT1's high compression, and I'm trying to run the car as close to stock as possible and not having to dump a ton of money into the car just yet. What would I need to upgrade on the car to handle the extra power? I'm reading all that I can on it and turbo's are a new thing to me. I've got a buddy that is going to help me out (he's working on an '87 355 with a 101mm currently).
Any advice from anyone more knowledgeable than myself are greatly welcomed.
Any advice from anyone more knowledgeable than myself are greatly welcomed.
12-11-2013, 02:18 PM
#2
Melting Slicks
Been there, done that. The one statement you made, "and not having to dump a ton of money into the car just yet." does not go with turbo charging. There's a few things to think about with your car.
1.) Fuel management: This is a speed density computer, what are you planning on doing to add more fuel? Are you planning on doing a stand alone computer that can read boost, a fuel pressure booster, swap to a MAF based system, swap to a 2 bar Map sensor. You also need to match fuel injectors for the solution and you may want to upgrade to a walbro 255 fuel pump.
2.) Intercooling: you should be able to get away with 8psi on a stock LT1 with a nice intercooler. You need to figure out how you want to route it. you can either put the piping in from under one headlight to under the other headlight or go over the top of the radiator. Piping will be tight either way. The other method would be to do some kind of meth injection. Or at 6psi you could do no intercooling and be ok.
3.) Where to place the turbo. The easiest place to put it in the engine compartment is where the power steering resevoir is at. Your other easy option is to do a rear mount setup(like the STS system), but that would take a special turbo oiling pump. If you have someone that can weld pretty well and can make up a new header then you should in good shape to put the turbo up front, otherwise you may want to go rear mount.
So let's hear more about your plan. As far as other things to upgrade, New colder spark plugs and making sure the engine is in good shape before you start should be all you really need. As long as your clutch is in good shape that is. The trans and rear end should be fine.
1.) Fuel management: This is a speed density computer, what are you planning on doing to add more fuel? Are you planning on doing a stand alone computer that can read boost, a fuel pressure booster, swap to a MAF based system, swap to a 2 bar Map sensor. You also need to match fuel injectors for the solution and you may want to upgrade to a walbro 255 fuel pump.
2.) Intercooling: you should be able to get away with 8psi on a stock LT1 with a nice intercooler. You need to figure out how you want to route it. you can either put the piping in from under one headlight to under the other headlight or go over the top of the radiator. Piping will be tight either way. The other method would be to do some kind of meth injection. Or at 6psi you could do no intercooling and be ok.
3.) Where to place the turbo. The easiest place to put it in the engine compartment is where the power steering resevoir is at. Your other easy option is to do a rear mount setup(like the STS system), but that would take a special turbo oiling pump. If you have someone that can weld pretty well and can make up a new header then you should in good shape to put the turbo up front, otherwise you may want to go rear mount.
So let's hear more about your plan. As far as other things to upgrade, New colder spark plugs and making sure the engine is in good shape before you start should be all you really need. As long as your clutch is in good shape that is. The trans and rear end should be fine.
12-12-2013, 02:09 AM
#3
Drifting
Thread Starter
Been there, done that. The one statement you made, "and not having to dump a ton of money into the car just yet." does not go with turbo charging. There's a few things to think about with your car.
1.) Fuel management: This is a speed density computer, what are you planning on doing to add more fuel? Are you planning on doing a stand alone computer that can read boost, a fuel pressure booster, swap to a MAF based system, swap to a 2 bar Map sensor. You also need to match fuel injectors for the solution and you may want to upgrade to a walbro 255 fuel pump.
2.) Intercooling: you should be able to get away with 8psi on a stock LT1 with a nice intercooler. You need to figure out how you want to route it. you can either put the piping in from under one headlight to under the other headlight or go over the top of the radiator. Piping will be tight either way. The other method would be to do some kind of meth injection. Or at 6psi you could do no intercooling and be ok.
3.) Where to place the turbo. The easiest place to put it in the engine compartment is where the power steering resevoir is at. Your other easy option is to do a rear mount setup(like the STS system), but that would take a special turbo oiling pump. If you have someone that can weld pretty well and can make up a new header then you should in good shape to put the turbo up front, otherwise you may want to go rear mount.
So let's hear more about your plan. As far as other things to upgrade, New colder spark plugs and making sure the engine is in good shape before you start should be all you really need. As long as your clutch is in good shape that is. The trans and rear end should be fine.
1.) Fuel management: This is a speed density computer, what are you planning on doing to add more fuel? Are you planning on doing a stand alone computer that can read boost, a fuel pressure booster, swap to a MAF based system, swap to a 2 bar Map sensor. You also need to match fuel injectors for the solution and you may want to upgrade to a walbro 255 fuel pump.
2.) Intercooling: you should be able to get away with 8psi on a stock LT1 with a nice intercooler. You need to figure out how you want to route it. you can either put the piping in from under one headlight to under the other headlight or go over the top of the radiator. Piping will be tight either way. The other method would be to do some kind of meth injection. Or at 6psi you could do no intercooling and be ok.
3.) Where to place the turbo. The easiest place to put it in the engine compartment is where the power steering resevoir is at. Your other easy option is to do a rear mount setup(like the STS system), but that would take a special turbo oiling pump. If you have someone that can weld pretty well and can make up a new header then you should in good shape to put the turbo up front, otherwise you may want to go rear mount.
So let's hear more about your plan. As far as other things to upgrade, New colder spark plugs and making sure the engine is in good shape before you start should be all you really need. As long as your clutch is in good shape that is. The trans and rear end should be fine.
And yes of course, I'm upgrading the fuel pump and the injectors. To be honest though, I have no idea of what to do for the computer.
12-12-2013, 10:31 AM
#4
Melting Slicks
The additional piping for the rear mount system isn't all that much. You already have an exhaust system that goes out to the back of the car, its just the new piping going back to the front of the car. I'm guessing you are planning on loosing the spare tire?
Since you are going with a remote mount turbo you should read up on scavaging pumps. Here is a good place to get started http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/oilsystems.htm These guys seem to know what they are doing. I tried a low mount system with a tilton scavaging pump and I could never get the pump to flow enough and ended up destroying the turbo with too much oil restriction to keep the pump happy.
As far as an intercooler goes I would pass at 6 psi. I would definately coat the exhaust pipes, but not the intake pipes. The air in the pipes will be hotter than the outside air, so you want the heat transfer to go out through the pipes and this will work like an intercooler, just efficient enough for high boost levels. You may want to use aluminum pipes to help with the corrosion if you don't coat them and it saves weight. Some kind of meth/water injection would also be an option and would be much easier to package. You could do a rear flat mount intercooler with fans, but I would wait and see how the setup goes. Adding an intercooler is fairly easy compared to doing the exhaust setup for the turbo. The worst case you can do it with a hack saw and some hose clamps.
I would start thinking of the computer/fuel solution. This one piece could add thousands of dollars to the turbo setup. I ended up going with a stand alone system that was pretty pricey, but there are other ways.
Since you are going with a remote mount turbo you should read up on scavaging pumps. Here is a good place to get started http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/oilsystems.htm These guys seem to know what they are doing. I tried a low mount system with a tilton scavaging pump and I could never get the pump to flow enough and ended up destroying the turbo with too much oil restriction to keep the pump happy.
As far as an intercooler goes I would pass at 6 psi. I would definately coat the exhaust pipes, but not the intake pipes. The air in the pipes will be hotter than the outside air, so you want the heat transfer to go out through the pipes and this will work like an intercooler, just efficient enough for high boost levels. You may want to use aluminum pipes to help with the corrosion if you don't coat them and it saves weight. Some kind of meth/water injection would also be an option and would be much easier to package. You could do a rear flat mount intercooler with fans, but I would wait and see how the setup goes. Adding an intercooler is fairly easy compared to doing the exhaust setup for the turbo. The worst case you can do it with a hack saw and some hose clamps.
I would start thinking of the computer/fuel solution. This one piece could add thousands of dollars to the turbo setup. I ended up going with a stand alone system that was pretty pricey, but there are other ways.
12-13-2013, 10:11 AM
#5
Drifting
Thread Starter
The additional piping for the rear mount system isn't all that much. You already have an exhaust system that goes out to the back of the car, its just the new piping going back to the front of the car. I'm guessing you are planning on loosing the spare tire?
Since you are going with a remote mount turbo you should read up on scavaging pumps. Here is a good place to get started http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/oilsystems.htm These guys seem to know what they are doing. I tried a low mount system with a tilton scavaging pump and I could never get the pump to flow enough and ended up destroying the turbo with too much oil restriction to keep the pump happy.
As far as an intercooler goes I would pass at 6 psi. I would definately coat the exhaust pipes, but not the intake pipes. The air in the pipes will be hotter than the outside air, so you want the heat transfer to go out through the pipes and this will work like an intercooler, just efficient enough for high boost levels. You may want to use aluminum pipes to help with the corrosion if you don't coat them and it saves weight. Some kind of meth/water injection would also be an option and would be much easier to package. You could do a rear flat mount intercooler with fans, but I would wait and see how the setup goes. Adding an intercooler is fairly easy compared to doing the exhaust setup for the turbo. The worst case you can do it with a hack saw and some hose clamps.
I would start thinking of the computer/fuel solution. This one piece could add thousands of dollars to the turbo setup. I ended up going with a stand alone system that was pretty pricey, but there are other ways.
Since you are going with a remote mount turbo you should read up on scavaging pumps. Here is a good place to get started http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/oilsystems.htm These guys seem to know what they are doing. I tried a low mount system with a tilton scavaging pump and I could never get the pump to flow enough and ended up destroying the turbo with too much oil restriction to keep the pump happy.
As far as an intercooler goes I would pass at 6 psi. I would definately coat the exhaust pipes, but not the intake pipes. The air in the pipes will be hotter than the outside air, so you want the heat transfer to go out through the pipes and this will work like an intercooler, just efficient enough for high boost levels. You may want to use aluminum pipes to help with the corrosion if you don't coat them and it saves weight. Some kind of meth/water injection would also be an option and would be much easier to package. You could do a rear flat mount intercooler with fans, but I would wait and see how the setup goes. Adding an intercooler is fairly easy compared to doing the exhaust setup for the turbo. The worst case you can do it with a hack saw and some hose clamps.
I would start thinking of the computer/fuel solution. This one piece could add thousands of dollars to the turbo setup. I ended up going with a stand alone system that was pretty pricey, but there are other ways.
I'm going to wait and see how my friend who's pretty experienced in turbo'ing cars figures out how he's doing his and then I'll decide whether or not to do this. I plan on autocrossing the car, so I want there to be as little lag as possible. I still want the car to be capable still and not just be a straight line warrior. If I wanted that, I would have saved the money and kept my old Z28.
Based on the cost, complexity of the turbo system, and streetability of the setup will decided if I just want to do a heads/cam/intake/exhaust or if I want to go to for turbocharging. I was thinking about getting a blower but the price is really keeping me away from that.
05-05-2014, 07:29 PM
#7
Drifting
Thread Starter
