Finally Getting My Turbo Set Up Going

This is excellent progress. Brings me back to when I first installed a turbo kit :slight_smile: Good luck on the project.

Seems like a dumb design to me. I guess it’s just trial and error until I get the setting right? Kinda sketchy. I gotta find out if those springs inside are rated at any amount of psi. Seems like they would be since there are 3 different sizes in there. Idk I’ll get it figured out, thanks.

Thanks man, it’s coming along. It was kind of depressing yesterday though. I took the intercooler piping off and put my stock intake back on =[ Kinda sucks knowing that It’s not all complete yet. Oh well though. I’m just gonna keep going n/a till I get everything else. I’d rather do that then just seeing my car sit in the garage.

I’m kinda mad at Go-Autoworks right now though. I ordered my radiator on Saturday, saw the payment confirmed in my Paypal account, but have yet to get a conformation email from them or any email from them. I emailed them yesterday to ask what the status of my order is and haven’t gotten a response. I’m going to call them tomorrow and see what’s up…

So I called Go-Autoworks about my radiator on Friday and they said they’re going to ship it out on Monday >=\ It’s whatever though. I should have it maybe Wednesday, but Friday at the latest.

Some other news, my db1 fuel pump officially died so I’m going to pull the stock pump from my da, put in the db1, and order my Warbro pump =] I’m hoping to have both cars back on the road by the weekend. Right now I have no car so it kinda sucks

Ordered the Walbro pump =] I ordered it from a place in town (I know I could of just went down there and bought it…but I’ve got no car) so it should be here Friday

Got my radiator today =] I’m happy and bummed about it all at the same time. The radiator looks great. Go-Autoworks did a nice job on it. I’m bummed about the fact that neither of my fans will work on it.

This drain plug hits the lower cross member which is a bit of a problem. Once it’s installed I wont be able to use this to drain because of that reason =

-6an fitting for the water cooled part of the turbo

Fancy

So after a bit of thinking I think I’ve come up with a solution to get around the fact that it rests on the cross member. I’m gonna remove that drain plug and buy a standard plug for it. I’m gonna buy a cap for that 6an fitting since i’ll be using this radiator while i’m still n/a. I figure I’ll just use that 6an fitting as the drain since it’s on the side and isn’t interfered by that cross member. I still have to make some sort of bracket for the top and bottom to hold it in. I was gonna do that today, but after driving around for an hour looking for the store that sells the an fittings with no luck…I said fuck it and drove home. I’m just not in the mood to mess with it today

Get a traction bar and be done with it, worked for me by far.

I refuse to spend that much money on a metal bar with some holes and brackets on it. I’d much rather just make my own

That’s one thing I realized, going forced induction is not cheap. Looks like you will have to hack/modify the crossmember and buy a good slim fan.

So you would think. I went all Macgyver on this shit today lol

Alright so today’s update. I went out to find that Austin Performance place and after a friend gave me the secret treasure map directions I found it. I bought my -6an cap and the plug for the drain hole. Total came out to around $8 which I was happy with. Then when I got home I got to work…

So to solve the problem of my stock fans not lining up I took the old radiator brackets I had made and repurposed them into fan brackets.

It might look stupid and ghetto, but I feel it was a great solution to a problem. Not to mention it was free. (I WILL get a slim fan for when the turbo is on…this was just so I can get it back on the road n/a for now)

Bottom mount. Only did this one because the other one would of hit the water outlet. Again might look ghetto, but the fan does not move at all

Made a brand new mount for the top. I had to drill a new hole in the core support for it, but that wasn’t a big deal. It’s not visible in this shot, but I sanded all those brackets and this mount down to a shinny mirror finish. Just to make it look a bit better

How it sits in there. It’s perfectly level…even though the photo is not. I spilled some coolant which is why it’s wet down at the bottom…oops. Half size takes less than I thought it would

It’s weird to see an n/a engine bay in a turbo thread. I’m slowly getting there though and I can’t wait to just get in and drive it again, even though it will still be n/a for the time being

I tried my best to not have it look ghetto. I see soo many people with half size radiators all half assed and crooked. I’m happy with the way it came out

My Walbro pump will be here sometime tomorrow…well today now since it’s after midnight. Once I install that then I can drive her again =] She needs a very well deserved bath. I haven’t driven her in a month =[

Anyway, next step for me is to get another condenser and fix the ac system. After that I will get back to buying more turbo stuff…once I have some more money

Looks good…Yeh, I’ve seen half rads in strange configurations with uber gaps. I was lucky as well, I had to hack the original support to make it sit lower.

i literally just got the same radiator in the mail yesterday from go autoworks and once i put it in my bay, i came across the same issues with the crossmember. i was pissed, but figured it would screw me. i am doing the same bracket setup with my stock fan, so weird that i open up this thread and its an exact recap of night. lol. i’m debating whether or not to pull the trigger on the traction bar, but im in the same boat as you that its a lot of dough for a bar and some brackets. do you have any clearance issues with shutting your hood? i may have some issues on the side because of my 3" downpipe. but i guess we’ll see once i get the radiator installed.

That’s crazy man. I don’t have any issues with the hood closing. It sits low enough even though it might not look like it. A traction bar would make life a lot easier, but it’s just so expensive for what it is. Glad to hear i’m not the only one who still wants to make the stock fan work lol. Post some photos somehwere when you get yours done. I’m curious to see how you make it work. Maybe you’ll come up with a better solution than I did

Thanks. I didn’t wanna hack the support up…mainly cause I don’t think a dremel could do it lol. That’s the only tool I had that might of been able to do it

Ok so got the Walbro pump earlier

Installed it into the pump bracket

How I did the wiring

How the sock fits

I put the pump in last week and then ran into a problem when I went to start it. For some reason during all of this my igniter died so I went to the junkyard and snagged another one, put it in and it started right up. I drove it around this past weekend and everything was good. The temp didn’t creep up or anything. It hasn’t been very hot here so I’ll wait until June when it’s above 100 to see if it starts to overheat. I’m broke right now, but as soon as I get some more money I’m gonna start buying more parts. This is what I have left to get. Wastegate, oil return, coolant feed and return, gaskets, breather/catch can stuff, downpipe, slim fan, and tune. I think that is everything…

Anyway here is a shot of the engine bay with the half size installed. Sucks that it’s still n/a though =[

Looking really good man. I got mine all mocked up and in the bay. Had to make a couple custom brackets and had to notch my hood skeleton a little bit but not too bad (didn’t really want to but Its a spare and got it for free. I can email you pics or maybe throw one up but don’t wanna thread jack. I like the drain plug plug. What is the thread and pitch of that? I may do that as well!

Thanks. Yea man send me some photos ska8rdude1413@aol.com. What drain plug are you referring to?

So nothing to really update. I should be picking up a 38mm tial wastegate in the next couple weeks, other than that nothing else going on with it. The car has been down due to a bad o2 sensor causing it to run extremely rich. So my money has been going to getting that and some other little things fixed

Wow…well this sucks. I woke up to a text today from my friend who gave me the turbo, intercooler, and piping saying…he wants it all back. His car has been sitting at my house since december when he blew the motor (280z rb20 swap). He was just gonna buy another motor and build the blown one on the side which is why he said I could have all that stuff…that and I’m letting him store his car in my driveway. Well now all of a sudden he said he’s just gonna put new bearings in the blown motor and he wants to put the old turbo and stuff back on it. This sucks =[ This is why I like to just straight up buy things because shit like this always happens. I told him I would buy it, but no he insisted I just take it. I’m pissed, bummed, and depressed. This project just took a huge step backwards. Guess I’ve gotta start saving up for another turbo…=[

Ok well I did a bit of research and came up with a new plan. (I make up my mind very quick lol). I know i’m gonna get some or a lot of flack for saying I want to run a Godspeed turbo. It’s ebay, it’s junk, it wont last, I’ve heard it all. I’ve also got friends who have been running them for years without issues. I know it’s a hit or miss thing, and i’m willing to take a chance…cause it’s all I can afford and I don’t want to buy a used one. If I’m buying something like that I want it new. Anyway the one i’m looking at is a 50 trim gt30. That’s bigger than the rb20 one, but not by a whole lot. http://www.ebay.com/itm/GODSPEED-GT30-turbo-50-compressor-48-trim-t3-flange-2-5-v-band-exhaust-400hp-/280948786269?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4169da445d&vxp=mtr

I did a pro and con list in my head and I think this is work out for me in the end. PROS - If I run ^that gt30 turbo. I wont have to mess with buying and making custom coolant feed and return hoses (sucks though that I bought a radiator meant for it, but oh well), I wont have to get a custom 6 bolt flange for the downpipe made for the other turbo, it doesn’t max out at 250hp. CONS - It’s ebay, I don’t have the money for it right now, it’s bigger which means no ac. That’s the biggest con for me is I wont be able to fit the ac with it on my manifold set up…but, oh well. I can always change manifolds in the future and make it work for the ac.

There is more I thought of but I’m typing this in a hurry. I’ve gotta get meet a friend that’s getting his evo tuned.

Look what I finally got =]