Innovate

My build I know will not be cheap when the time comes. The Turbo I want is over $5k. That and I do not want to cheap out on cheap things that I would have to go back and redo.

g23crawler

Yup... That was my biggest thing. I haven't drove my car in a year because I cheaped out on a lot of stuff and just ended up having to go back and redo it anyways. Alot of that was because my small budget.

0CK@UPPCOS

We see this alot with the imported Chinese kits because of the thickness/quality of the stainless, and that's if it even fits the first time w/o having to cut it up and redo it. And at the end of the day great customer service is truly priceless!

Shortpersonbk

104 sounds way big

but +1000 on a bullseye turbo i always recommend them when i have the opportunity to give them business there is no doubt in my mind they are the best package.

Innovate

I learned doing HCI on my car.

Planning on a big CI like 454 Tall Deck LSnext iron block with Brodix Br7's, Crower RR's, Hi-Ram, Fuel system, and shoot for over 2k. I may not go 104 but I plan on doing more research beforehand. I really want to stay single for packaging in the Vette.

Garrett Brooks

You nailed it! I am currently in the process of doing a cxracing kit on my grand sport and my budget of 8500$ to be running and driving is blown and I barely started.

Also for the AC you're going to have to completely customize all the lines and fab up new radiator and condenser mounts to make it work, the radiator has to stand straight up more than it does now so the condenser will fit. And bare minimum all the hot side absolutely HAS to be high temp ceramic coated, everything is so close in the corvettes anything less will melt the rubber lines.

I was going to keep AC in mine and do bumper or hood exit exhaust but have decided to delete the AC for the time being to get the car going. In a few months I will be doing ceramic coating and while that's being done everything will be adjusted and AC back in. Lots of wiring harnesses to be moved, steering rack cooler has to be relocated or deleted, trans cooler is a purchase and fab mounts, I think they are sensors for front impact they hit the radiator so they have to be moved, horn has to be adjusted as it hits the cold side piping, lots of bolts nuts and washer to buy as they dont ship hardware, if you have a ls3 then you need a new water pump as the ls3 inlets are in the wrong position for the cxracing cooling piping, that's just the basic stuff off the top of my head.

Like G23 said dont want to discourage you but it's way more work than cxracing puts on! My inbox is open give me a shout and I'll help with what I can. I'm currently doing some recording on the build to get this stuff out there but it's a slow process.

Shortpersonbk

I will note that someone mentioned headstuds above. If your on stock block your more then likely have enough clamping with $30 head bolts from napa.

Innovate

Holy moly, could you use a Procharger radiator support to hold the radiator and condensor up? The problem with going Turbo on these is that so much has to be done and centri-kits looks relatively simple. I guess out the hood is way easier.

I am doing ARP studs and I think it is a good idea regardless.

Garrett Brooks

@Innovate I would go headstuds I did right from the start with ls9 head gaskets copper coated.

And as far as the procharger bracket I am not sure. I was thinking of just drilling 2 more holes in the bottom bracket closer to the motor and itll stand up more, then use the factory cxracing radiator bracket holes for the condenser. I may look at this idea next week so I'll chime back in.

Innovate

Where can you grab copper coating for the gaskets?

Either way seems like they will work.

Garrett Brooks

I got it from autozone. I used 1 full can between 2 head gaskets.

kunta0908

CXRacing kit here.

Ceramic coating is NOT required. DEI Titanium wrap is more than capable of taking care of hot side parts.

A/C with fender exhaust requires a little bending of pressure tubes coming out of the condensor. Nothing extremely custom at all. Simply 30 minutes of your life.

Garrett Brooks

@kunta0908 can you pm me pics of how yours is setup? From what iv seen in my 2011 grand sport it has to be custom to a point or you have lines running right on the manifold & cross over. I dont feel DEI titanium wrap will be enough mines wrapped in that now but from the looks I will be coating mine.

kunta0908

I'll take some pics in the morning.

GaragedLS2

You can definitely do a turbo kit on the cheaper end but you MUST be able to use a little ingenuity and have some skills. I havent even calculated how much 'extra' ive spent on my On3 kit but I'm sure ive at least doubled the initial price of the kit. Given I have changed a lot of things that didnt necessarily need changing but for a street car I wanted the added assurance that things would work and work well. I also made things a little nicer with AN fittings and braided line, push-lok, etc. I still dont feel like you could do a turbo kit on one of these cars, keep all factory accessories, keep it reliable ( good driving temps, no leaks, etc. ) without spending in excess of that of a centri kit. Its probably been done but it most definitely is not the norm. I wanted a clean engine bay and to keep everything accessible for maintenance as well so there was some extra time, care and money put into that. You can just slop things together and save money.

So, in my opinion, its still not feasible to think you can turbo a C5/6 Corvette for less than it would cost to put a centri kit on one. It definitely wont come with less headaches and it will require more patience.

Also, if youre getting tunes for 150 bucks, i need your guys number lol - A good tune on a FI car is about 600 bucks on the cheaper end around me. Lots more to it than on an N/A car.

Customer Service is also important so that need to be kept in mind. As I said earlier.

jayyyw

I'm over $7k into mine and still don't have a hot side made, a fuel system, ceramic coating, and a lot of fittings/line. Getting real close to my $11k budget.