Updated "how to turbo your 5sfe camry" info

[Rdizzle]

Since it has been many many years since the original sticky was made, and many things have been learned, i figured i could start a nice fresh thread so the info could be close at hand.

While many people think that the 2.2L camry engine is a poor candidate for power ( and they are right in a way) you can still make some fairly impressive power from this engine without too much effort.

The biggest difference between the 2.2L 5sfe and the 2.0L 3sgte is the head, design and the displacement. The 5s is obviously designed as an economy engine, with a fairly poor flowing head, cams that are only run with one cam gear and a slight bump in displacement for better low end torque for stop and go driving.
These seem like problems but there are actually some benefits to this design, the main one being displacement, allowing any turbo you choose to spool faster, along with greater torque in the turbos weak spot, down low.

Moving on to parts, it has already been proven that slapping on most of the parts from a 3sgte eg. the ct26 turbo and some supporting mods will make some decent power, decent being anywhere from 150-190hp. However, many people ask how they can bump that up to 220-250 or even 300hp. The long and short of it is that you can't (not safely anyway) The ct26 was a fairly poorly designed turbo meant for quick spool and low boost. On out aplication it quickly runs out of breath after 13psi and start blowing hot air.

The obvious better choice will be a nice t3/t4 hybrid, which will still spool quickly while alowing more effeciency and higher potential boost. The main problem here is that it wont bolt directly onto the manifold from the mr2, instead requiring an adapter. These can be had for under 100 dollars, with or without an external wastgate flange. Speaking of wastegates, an internal is fine on our engines up to about 10psi max, then an external become a good investment. We flow an awful lot of exhaust gas for an engine our size, and boost spikes and overboost mean death to us. Once is too many.

Downpipe is important, since our engines have an anoyying motor mount right in the way of the convinient route. So we have to make a sharp turn to make it down. Make sure that you get a nice smooth bend and preferably at least 3' since this will help your turbo spool faster and just keep you safer overall.

Another spot that is often overlooked on our engines is the fuel. Most problems with turbo 5s engines stemmed from lean condition due to poor fuel setups. Most people use supra green top injectors, 2jzge, which flow 360cc. This is fine for a low boost ct26 setup, but anything over that will require larger injectors. So far a good option has proven to be 450cc injectors from the 1989-1991 non turbo injectors from an RX7. These are drop in parts that will only require some fuel tuning to cover your needs up to almost 300hp.

Which brings us to engine managment. The 5s, with a 2 bar MAP sensor in place and on low boost, can easily handle the timing on boost, albeit not as effeciently as a EMS. Anything over 8 psi, it is recommended that some sort of timing control be introduced. The popular option in the past was the MSD BTM, but this has proven to be a band aid fix and not the best option for producing power. A better choice will be a EMS that can control both fuel ( so you can control the much larger injectors) and timing. Devices such as the emanage ultimate, SMT-6 perfect power and other midrange devices will do the job just fine. The other choice is to simply use a fuel control unit such as an Apexi AFC and let the fuel try to handle the tuning. This can work as you just have to run richer to prevent detonation, but as you might imagine, this is not nearly effecient as something that will control both timing and fuel.
The apexi AFC has been proven to be able to run 240+ hp with no timing management, so this is always an available choice if you cant afford the more complicated and expensive engine management systems.

But enough theory, lets get down to parts you will need:

- Turbo manifold of a MR2 turbo ( can be had for about 100 bucks)
- Turbo adapter for a t3/t4 (available from ATS racing with or without wastegate port)
- Turbo ( ct26 for cheap or a T3/T4 hybrid. Dont cheap out here, its the heart of your power)
- Downpipe ( your on your own here, it will have to be custom, the engine mounts prevent us from using MR2 or celica DP's)
- Full back exhaust ( get from your local shop, anywhere from 2.5" to 3" depending on your turbo and power goals)
- wastegate (either the internal that came with your turbo if internally gated, or a nice external gate. The external will be better for higher boost and will be much more accurate in controlling boost and spikes.)
-High flow fuel pump ( a walbro 190lph will do nicely)
- Fuel injectors (either 2jzge 360cc or RX7 450cc, send them off to witch hunter for cleaning if they are used)
- Fuel pressure regulator (whatever you want to use here)
- oil lines ( just get a t3 kit from online and supply your own braided hose)
- Tapped oil pan ( you need this for oil return from the turbo, i would recommend welding on a bung)
- Colder spark plugs ( get 1 or 2 steps coler, the iridium from NGK seem to work well)
- spark wires ( i just recommend stock replacement here, toyota is high quality)
- charge Piping to and from the intercooler (either get a kit from ebay and fab your won or go to a shop and get it custom welded. 2.5" seems to be the best size)
- intercooler ( get whatever fits your bumper and power level. You can find one that fits under your bumper support or you can get a larger one which will require cutting it, which is both illegal and unsafe. Get a larger bumper before you think about cutting your support)
- Blow off valve (release your between shift turbo boost. And style you want is fine, although blitz and HKS ones are both praised.)
- 2 Bar MAP sensor ( from an MR2 turbo or alltrac celica. Allows your car to read boost and not freak)
- ENGINE MANAGEMENT!! ( dont skimp here either, if the turbo is your heart, this is your brain. A good one will keep you safe, making effecient power and driving down the road boosted for years to come)
- various gaskets and bolts to get everything together properly
Air intake ( pick your poison)
-


Thats pretty much the basics but you will also probably need:
- Boost gauge ( know what you are boosting)
- exhaust gas temp gauge ( early warning of lean conditions)
- oil pressure gauge (for obvious reasons, keep that oil pressure kids)
- New clutch ( get something to hold the torque you think you will be making. I prefer full face organic for its smooth engagment, but you can also get 3 and 6 puck clutches)
- Wideband O2 ( if you are tuning yourself)
- Water injection ( adds a measure of safety and lets you run a bit higher boost or fudge on octane levels or engine managment issues)
- Boost controler ( allows you to spool up a bit quicker and adjust boost, sometimes on the fly. Available in manual or electric, the choice is yours.)
- Metal headgasket ( if you dont have one, available on 98 and up camrys or from cosmetic as a replacement)
- Turbo timer (allow the turbo to cool down to prevent oil cokink, or just let your car idle for a few minutes before you shut down)
- Turbo heatshield ( keep all that heat where it belongs, in your exhaust)

Then you can go up to hardcore things like a port and polish, forged internals and standalone management. At that point you would be good for the 300+ hp mark.

Feel free to add anything i have missed.

[bigbird]

very nice man alot of good info there.

[ELL]

Good read, even though I didn't understand much of that!

[Venom_5]

a few things i might argue, but pretty much spot on!

good work, Drew ... nice to see some older members doing full write-ups

[DAMON]

I know you didnt actually turbo the car, but still some good info none the less. Stickied

[Rdizzle]

Probably not done, just delayed for awhile. Thanks for the good words guys!

[LazyAccent]

Good work drew =]. many ppl will find this also helpful.

[Spitfire]

exactly what i was looking for!! THANK YOU! this is going to be my bible when i turbo my camry

[Rdizzle]

good to know this is helpful

[Kenyan01]

Does anyone of you know a store into which I can buy as many of these things listed here, not immediately but in a matter of months, who'd be ready to ship to Kenya?
Kenyan01

[Rdizzle]

wow. Kenya is a new one for me.

You can find most of this stuff online, but you would have to see who would ship out there.

[CBC90]

Sounds on the money

I am having a set back from my turbo conversion now, I have done the pistons and just ordered a new set of pistons, rings and big end bearings, costing just under $600 AUD for the lot, not looking at forged internals for now, only running 8psi boost, so standard internals will do the trick. Should have her up and running within the next 2 weeks.

[Camryshowoff97]

My problems lied in the fact that i have a 97 with the returnless fuel system and all of the other problems that the 3rd gens arent faced with. I was in the process of picking up all the parts years back and then when i realized how much i would have to change as far as running my own return line for the fuel system and everything i decided it was better to just sell everything i had. I would kind of like to do this still but im not sure itd be worth it.

[camry96]

Guys,

Thats a very good and details write up of 5sgte...

I am thinking to convert my 5sfe to turbo as well but with low boost of 0.5-0.6bar....

Can the original Automatic gearbox with all stocks internal able to handle this??

I already have some parts in my garage:

-STock 3S manifold and ct26 turbine
-2 bar 3s map sensor
-3S stock wastegate
-3S stock blowoff
-1Gte intercooler
-Small oil cooler for automatic fluid
-Normal version of Emanage

Can I put in 4AGZE injector which is about 360cc as well?
Can I use RX7 fuel pump?

I have some stuff from 4AGZE laying around coz I used to mod with 4agze...

Anything else I forget over here...

By the way, I am owner of Gen 3 year 96...The only stuff I worried about is the auto gearbox.. Can it handle the power or low boost of about 0.5-0.6 bar...

Thanks in advance

[94camguy]

Yea I liek the idea of not having just a plain stock 5sfe with no power. Of course I cant afford this right now, but if I end up having this car for a while, I definitely wanna do this.