Thinking of boost, need a hand.

[canadianae92]

I want is to give turbo a shot and do it cheap, leave room for error, and learn. My car is a 91 gt-s.

Now I don't want to turbo a old 10:1 compression engine... but I do know turboed stock usdm BLUETOP has been done. So I'm thinking, find a 4afe block use my 4age head and stock computer.

I'm going to start a list of what I need and check it off as I move along feel free to fill in what I didn't list and I'll add it. Whole reason I'm asking for help is I'm very ignorant when it comes to turbo , now I want to change that. The goal is to try and have everything collected by next spring at least, I'd love to have it done this summer but we'll see(doubtful but maybe).

I want to start with low boost and do it a low cost.

Needed:
Complete block
-Head Gasket
-Head Studs
Manifold
-Head to extractor Flange (check)....$50 Junkyard Pacesetter header
--Gasket
-Extractor to turbo flange
--Gasket
Turbo
-Turbo to down pipe gasket
-Wastegate
--Gasket if external WG
Downpipe
-Turbo to Downpipe flange
Intercooler
-Piping and clamps
-BOV
-AFM adapter
Oil feed and return
Boost Gauge(check)....Free
Adjustable FPR/Fuel Control

I'm going to be learning as I go along about both turbos and cars. My car has only been to the shop once in the nearly 4 years I've owned it(won a free toyota oil change!) and I'd like to keep it that way.

Like I said I'm learning so I'll appreciate any advise as this is something I'd like to try.

I have a few questions relating to the mating of 4age small port head and 4afe block and turboing in general.
Is there a particular 4afe I should look for?

Do 4afe's vary in compression ratio?

Are 4afe's flywheel 6 or 8 bolt?

How much boost do you think a 4afe block can handle?

How many revs is safe for a 4afe block?

Is there any major differences in a 4afe block from a 4age block?(It's my understanding they are essentially the same)

What common turbo should I search for and what cars came with it from the factory?

Should I need a boost controller and boost gauge right off the bat?

What materials would be good to use for oil feed and return lines?(hoping to stay away from braided $teel)

Is this a good idea? And will I enjoy boost?

Is there anything you think I should add to my list?

[Ghostyman]

I'm not very familiar with the 4A blocks so I won't attempt to answer those technical questions.

But you will enjoy boost. It's very fun. Get a manual boost controller and gauge right off the bat. The gauge, especially, is critical.

You could bend steel hardlines and use a flexible rubber couple at the pan to deal with flex.

With decent fab skills and a DIY attitude, you should be able to do a cheap turbo build.

One thing I'm not seeing any mention of is fuel management. You'll need bigger injectors and a way to control them.

[canadianae92]

I'll be thinking about fuel management(like if I see a cheap fuel controller I'll grab it and I might grab some bigger injectors along the way to filling out my list).

I've read that it is possible to turbo a 4age bluetop with the stock ecu and injectors, at low boost around 6-7 psi. The reason I'm considering 4af block is because of how common they are and it should give me a lower c/r so I can test low boost without fuel modification. That's pretty much why I didn't mention it, but maybe I should play it safe? Not sure. I might see if I can get the car running richer with the AFM trick. I'll play the fuel management by year though because I don't have a really high goal for power atm. My engine has 235cc injectors which should be alright for low boost on 94 octane. Just to give you an idea my engine from the factory is supposed to be 10.3:1, I'm hoping swapping to a 4afe block will lower me to around 9:1 c/r.

Also I found one of those cheap pacesetter headers in the junkyard($50) so I'll probably use the head to extractor flange from it..... maaaaybe some of the piping depending on the thickness. I'll try to fab my own manifold, something I've been researching on how to do it for a long time now. If it works out then I saved myself a fair chunk of cash, if it doesn't, well we'll see.

Actually I just remembered I just happen to have a boost gauge my friend gave me from his 4afte setup, free .

[4agetercel]

GZE pistons in smallport block, should lower it to 8.1ish, maybe a bit higher, but not over 9

[canadianae92]

I'm putting my red top 4age block aside for the future possibility of something like that . I'm going to try using a 4afe block and internals at first and test the waters of boost.

[4agetercel]

hmmm i see, guys have run low boost on their 4af bottom ends here without problems, but if you wanna do the GZE pistons in your block just do that, save yourself the trouble of doing the whole 4af thing

[canadianae92]

Well you see I'm not sure if I'll end up doing that. Never owned a turbo car. Plus there's a good chance of me blowing something up so I'd rather explode common cheap and disposable parts. It is a little tough finding even a 90-91 gt-s around here.

[Createdtoburn]

You know there's turbo manifolds for sale online for like $150 for FWD AE92 4AGE engines. I was just looking at one...

http://stores.channeladvisor.com/aut...temid=12749633

Does that help?

[canadianae92]

The idea is to keep the costs low by trying to diy as much as I can, I'll try to fabricate my own manifold before I go with ebay or other online manifolds.

Also from the looks of it I'll have to relocate my oil filter with those ebay manifolds.... Stainless steel sucks too...

Some things that can't be diy and I'll be trying to get these all out of the junkyard or write off auction sales...
Turbo
Wastegate
BOV
Intercooler
4afe block

[4doorGTS]

I would rather put gze pistons in instead of swapping out for a 4afe block. Same amount of work plus you have the benifits of the small port block, good rods, oil squiters, you already have it. Plus lets say that the 4afe bottom end with your smallport head on its yeilds around 9.5:1 cr thats too high still without running fuel/timing control or a wideband.

Other than what you mentioned already I would also go with an adjustable fpr as when boost hits your likely going to be lean at 6-7psi and leave the stock injectors. Retard timing at the distributor and hope for the best.

Biggest problem with doing it this way is you can really only tune it for a certain boost pressure and the rest of the time it will run pig rich. G/L with it though I'd like to see you go through with it. And I'll check around and see if I have anything yhat might help you.

[canadianae92]

What compression ratio are 4afe's? I'm thinking 7afe block might also be a good option they are plentiful as well.

I don't want to invest much money until I learn more about turbo and such and if I did go with the gze pistons and did mess up.... It would definitely be worse than blowing up a 7afe block. I'd also be out a lot more money if that did happen.

and thanks

adjustable fpr, good one

[4agetercel]

if you go 7af block thats a whole other creature, you need cutom timing belt stuff like that

[canadianae92]

Its a lot more work heh I read that porsche 944 belt works. Reading about a guy running 10-12 psi on a 7age with gze electronics. I don't think it would be the way to go... Especially not when I want to try turbo for the first time.

I'll set that idea aside lol!