turbocvette

Looking for opinions on my97 vette A4. Either looking to turbo it or just go with nitrous?
As far as the turbo goes I already have a lot of parts that should work??
I have a gt45 turbo, 50mm wastegate, bov, oil scavenge pump, water meth kit and a few other small items like couplers clamps 8an hose etc.
I figure to do the turbo on the cheap I would need need 60lbs injectors $300-$400, bosch 044 fuel pump $130, rising rate regulator if I need one? $100, oil feed line $100 with the fittings, got a quote from a friend at an exhaust shop and he says $300-$400 to do the exhaust mount the turbo and run a stainless pipe from the back to the front intake. Said its mostly labor and minimal materials. Waiting to hear back about a tune price but I am going to guess at $500.
So total cost to do it with the parts I already have should be $1500-$2000 Did talk to a guy at speed inc and said at 7-8lb boost rear mount turbos they usually see 550 whp.

And now for nitrous the way I would want it. KIt $600 bottle warmer $75 And gotta have a purge kit! I already have the machine gun purge laying around but would still need purge solenoid and fitting etc So another $100 Also upgrade fuel pump again bosch 044 $130
needless to say this will likely cost me $1000-$1500 after I am sure I will want a progressive controller. Was told a lot of people bone stock say 200 shot is pretty safe as long as the fuel system is up to par?


And last a question about the turbo install and parts do I need a different map sensor? 3 bar or do most you guys just bleed off the boost with a check valve? or can it be flashed in the tune some how?

Dcollins3208

If the car is just a cruiser id say turbo. If you're taking it down the strip, either/or depending on your goals

turbocvette

Yes it will likely see 4-8 track days a year and then a dd in the summer months. The cost is really about the same because of all the parts I already have for the turbo. Any pros or cons to either on this motor? Besides turbo takes maintenance and the bottle needs to be filled almost weekly if not more. Also anyone running a single gt45 on these cars? Might be a little small?

Mattie Num Nums

Sell the parts and buy a Supercharger kit.

MVP'S ZO6

First things first if you are going to supercharge it or turbo charge it, you should remove the early PCM in the car and re-pin the harness for a later model. It's not a difficult task just time consuming.

turbocvette

Haha just got off the phone with the tuner hea said he wouldn't even tune it without the upgrade

Smoove

He can't now,..look at his name.

Mattie Num Nums

This post just screams kaboom. Turbo on the cheap and expecting $1000-$1500 in parts. Add another zero to that and you are starting on the lower end of many FI projects.

Also a single GT45? Thats a pretty large turbo I think in the 1000HP range. That will have a nice amount of lag I'd assume. You will want all the secondary modifications to go with the kit too:

* Clutch/Flywheel
* Fuel System
* Trunion Upgrade
* Upgraded PS Rack
* A4 you will want to get that thing upgraded
* Gauges
* Tuning
* Radiator and Fans

Just giving you the entire picture. I bought my kit for $4500 expecting to pay another $1500 for installation and tuning and about $8500 later came away with a car that could actually support the Supercharger. Its more than just slapping a snail on and going, especially when you roast clutches on the dyno and run out of fuel while tuning.

Edit: Turbo and Nitrous???? You better be buying an ERL motor too!

turbocvette

Please don't take offence but this is a budget build. If you tag along I will show you that it will work. Now I do agree that the trans and rear end will not live a long life in this car. Planning on running street tires no hard launches etc until I upgrade those parts down the road. When I did my busa for less than $1500 people on the busa forum could not believe it when it went from stock to mid 8's for less than $1500 also was drove to the track and back home. I am a big fan of ebay parts like bov wastegates and even turbos. Out of 5 builds I only had 1 ebay turbo take a crap quickly and that was my own fault.

And just to give you a run down on the kit so far after talking with the tuner.
340lph fuel pump aeromotive $150 ebay
Ebay gt45 turbo kit with bov and 50mm e3 wastegate again have not seen one fail yet! $350
Got speedy metals 20ft 21/2" pipe Is cheap stainless thin wall $100 might be on the high side and I don't need 20 feet.
Ebay intercooler kit comes with a bunch of piping, clamps, intercooler, etc $200-$250 depending on what I buy tuner advised against my w/m for my goal
oil feed and drain lines with scavenge pump $200 there are nice brass geared pumps out now for around $100 I have one and has worked GR8!!
MAP 3 bar $40 ebay
Injectors 80lb $270 ebay
junkyard pcm swap $40
all that is still under $1400 Tuner charge is $450 includes flashing the new pcm So I think for a grand total of $2500 it can be done and running driving good. Also the ebay gt45 have small turbines like 70mm and smaller plenty of guys have proven these on ls1tech

turbocvette

Do you know of any good threads that go over the swap? Tuner said he wouldn't even touch it without the later pcm

MVP'S ZO6

Step 1: get a PCM out of a 99 to 02 corvette. If your a manual trans car, try and find one out of a manual car. If it's an auto find one out of an auto.

Step 2: read the below two links. The first link is the pin outs themselves for each PCM. (Note you will have some extra wires when done just tape them up and tuck them away somewhere)

http://corvetteforum.shelor.net/Corv...ts/Default.asp

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-corvette.html

Forcedvert

all that is still under $1400 Tuner charge is $450 includes flashing the new pcm So I think for a grand total of $2500 it can be done and running driving good. Also the ebay gt45 have small turbines like 70mm and smaller plenty of guys have proven these on ls1tech[/QUOTE]

I'm not an expert unless you count breaking stuff, I started with an A&A si kit and took motor out in months (bearings). Put a forged motor in and took out trans all on stock wheels in just weeks, now I will admit I could not keep my foot out of it and read enough on here to kinda expect what happened but car only had 50000 mi. And I only drove it on weekends! The power adder is not what he is warning you about, I'm sure it will work, just plan on budget to continue to rise and maybe quicker than you'd expect, best of luck.

turbocvette

I'm not an expert unless you count breaking stuff, I started with an A&A si kit and took motor out in months (bearings). Put a forged motor in and took out trans all on stock wheels in just weeks, now I will admit I could not keep my foot out of it and read enough on here to kinda expect what happened but car only had 50000 mi. And I only drove it on weekends! The power adder is not what he is warning you about, I'm sure it will work, just plan on budget to continue to rise and maybe quicker than you'd expect, best of luck.
[/QUOTE]

Completely agree and understand. Lets just face it though even after a built trans etc. you will always need something else no matter what!
As for your bearings going out to me that sounds like a problem that may have already been there before and a ticking time bomb turbo or no turbo. Friend of mine does performance engine builds etc daily and tells me on the turbo/forced induction motors they build them loose on purpose. He advised me on a turbo fox body I did yrs ago to leave the bearings alone if they look good. That car still hauls *** to this day! Turbo busa a few guys said it wouldn't make it off the dyno well been about 2 yrs now multiple passes at the track and a few thousand road miles the bike runs just like it did before I built it! Now maybe I am just lucky or something? Only had 1 turbo bike let go but we only found detonation on the 2 outer pistons and we are almost %100 it was from the nitrous out of the gate not the turbo. Again that was a mistake that I personally made.
But trust me guys things will always break even in stock form. If these are just warnings I appreciate the input. What I want to know is how many people buy a bolt on kit only to have a trans last a month? And if you guys think 7lbs is going to take out the trans etc that fast would 5lbs be ok until I do some upgrades?
I own an automotive business manufacturing vette parts and get dealer price from a lot of other manufactures so cost of some things I trade or get dealer pricing. Due to rules on here and I am not a vendor I can not mention my business name.
Again any help is good on this one. Tired of seeing c5's at my local drag strip pull 14 sec passes. Just embarrassing. LOL Thanks for all the help! Please lmk if you guys think the 5lbs would be a better option?

Mattie Num Nums

So your going with a single GT65?

I still think you are better off selling everything and buying a used Supercharger kit, do the install yourself, then have it tuned.

I just saw a used Procharger setup go for $3500 bucks. I got an open box kit from A&A for under 5 grand. I am all about budget builds I just have never been a fan of a bought a bunch of stuff on ebay how can I make it work.

Mattie Num Nums

Thats why I think you should sell the stuff, save up so more cash, and do it right the first time. I've done plenty of budget builds and funny enough, in the end they ended up costing me more than buying a kit.

Milan

So true.

If you want to save money the only way to go is to buy quality parts used.

You can do the ebay turbo and everything but once you get done upgrading drivetrain and doing fuel there will be nothing budget about it anymore

Forcedvert

If these are just warnings I appreciate the input. What I want to know is how many people buy a bolt on kit only to have a trans last a month? And if you guys think 7lbs is going to take out the trans etc

Mine is just that, a warning to be prepared, but it sounds like you are in the know and have a lot more expertise than me. I figured my bottom end problem was from previous wear or poor maintenance prior to me, don't really know? But from what I read you push 500 hp to the wheels and drive like I did and the trans. will go sooner or later, I know my driving had much to do with how quick mine went. So if you are easy on it, and that is hard to do because these cars are fun to drive, I'm sure yours could outlast mine.
Good luck, sincerely!
Adam

MVP'S ZO6

Just build your car how you want it. No one here knows for sure if your stuff is or isn't going to break. Obviously the more money you spend on better parts the more resilient your combo will be. If it's a money thing do what you can afford. If it's not a money thing then quit being so cheap. no seriously though. There is really no way around it when it comes to making big power. cheap and reliable generally don't go together.

Mattie Num Nums

Everyone told me at 635 on a stock bottom my car wouldn't survive very long. I am closing in on 15,000 miles. It has seen road races and I daily drive the car.

Forcedvert

I was mostly talking about the auto trans, I was really hard on mine, I would race a Hyundai if he took off on me You obviously take good car of your car. I did not, I drove it like I stole it, but that being said I plan on taking it easy after trans is done as it has gotten really expensive for me!
Well at least that is the plan, I hope I got a lot of it out of my system.