Turboing FTO

Quattro · Post by **Quattro** » Sun Nov 23, 2003 5:55 pm

Just a curious question here would it be easier to turbo a GR non MIVEC with lower compression or the MIVEC engine GPX with a higher compression ratio????

D-TRAIN · Post by **D-TRAIN** » Sun Nov 23, 2003 6:00 pm

From what I've read, it's easier to turbo a non-Mivec that it is a Mivec. You basically said it yourself, the high compression of the Mivec engine is a hurdle in putting in a turbo without a lot of good tuning.

Quattro · Post by **Quattro** » Sun Nov 23, 2003 6:05 pm

At the moment i'm hunting for a FTO to buy but trying to decide on how far to go with mods. If i'm going to turbo i might as well buy a GR and save myself a hassle, or stay with MIVEC and enjoy free revving just try and get more torque out of it some how

D-TRAIN · Post by **D-TRAIN** » Sun Nov 23, 2003 6:53 pm

Don't worry, regardless of which way you go, if you're a fan of the FTO, you should be satisfied either way.

But if you're after turbo potential, buy a turbo car to begin with and you can tune it till your hearts content.

Biot · Post by **Biot** » Sun Nov 23, 2003 9:59 pm

about time...some words of wizdom...from D-Train

I couldnt agree more!

I thought part of the pride of owning a FTO is that it is a NA vehicle that is reasonable quick for its capacity!

GPXXX · Post by **GPXXX** » Mon Nov 24, 2003 2:03 pm

FYI, both GR and GPX share similar 10:1 compression ratio... However, the GPX is more complicated because it uses a different ECU to activate its MIVEC, so really when you are turboing a GPX, you will have to carefully sort out the fuel and ignition mapping before and after the MIVEC activation point.

having said that, a smallish turbo with give you plenty of low-mid range grunt, and as for the top end - well, let the MIVEC do its job...

Quattro · Post by **Quattro** » Mon Nov 24, 2003 4:54 pm

Hmmm thanks for the help and info, might just stick to the GPX (if i can find a manual version) and keep the revs up.

hnm738 · Post by **hnm738** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 12:32 am

is it possible to get a turbo fitted in tip gpx for $2000

im just looking for 10-15kws gain atw

cause it feels so sluggish at below 3500rpm?

GPXXX · Post by **GPXXX** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 1:28 am

hnm738 wrote:is it possible to get a turbo fitted in tip gpx for $2000

im just looking for 10-15kws gain atw

cause it feels so sluggish at below 3500rpm?

LOL... don't wanna rain on your parade mate but i'll be blunt - FORGET IT.

for $2K you can buy just the turbocharger itself and prob have some change left for a BOV or turbo timer... (and that excludes the cost of labor, intercooler, exhaust manifold, ECU, tuning etc)

for a decent turbo setup, be prepared to shell out at least 5x your budget!

for 10-15kw atw (assuming u already have exhaust/filter mods carried out), your best bet would prob be a set of extractors and a custom ECU or cams tuned to suit. other than that your option is an exhaust dump pipe mod available from Unique which gives about 10kw for an outlay of about $500. PM Steve (smorison) for more info...

Post by **smorison** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 10:01 pm

don't expect a decent turbo setup (read reliable that won't blow your engine) for much less than 10k.

the FTO engine has already been highly tuned by MITSU we've found. obvious mods like exahust, hig flow cat, RAM Intake, are all good things to do and shouldn't cost you too much.

beyond these the mods start to get pretty expensive. i have a few things i'm planning on doing over the next 4 months being.

* Electronic water pump (remove the mechanical one) hopefully worth 10% in power gain.

* Adjustable Exhaust CAMS - no idea if these will be worthwhile. they have proven to be a great mod on GST-T's with upto 17kW but if i get 5kW i'll be happy.

* Port and Polish - i'm considering this haven't decided on it yet, a lot of money for a mod that's performance decreases over time.

* New Exhuast system - i'm currently working on a new design that'll have few bends and should be able to be bolted on to every car (non-mivec included)

* MIVEC controller - looking at it but its a case of the law of diminishing returns where a MIVEC controller has less effect as the engine is modified to breath better.

what's this going to cost me? well 3-4k easy without the P&P. Once i've extracted everything i can from this engine then i might consider stroking it or putting on a turbo, but we'll see.

sxcfto · Post by **sxcfto** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 1:49 pm

Hi Guys,
Ive read the post regarding mods and turbo conversions, just wandering if anyone in Vic(melbourne) is good to do these types of mods as Im a little nervous just dropping it in to local mechanic as they never really seem to know what they are doing?
Has anyone had work done by specialists and if so where and who are they ?
thanks
Toni (SXCFTO)

GPXXX · Post by **GPXXX** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 3:56 pm

a couple of candidates that i can think of are:

1. Hypertech (Nunawading)
2. BMT (Heidelberg)
3. Technik Tuning (Northcote)
4. *added* Turboworx (Keilor)

I'll be taking my car to any one of these workshops next year for the turbo work, but if someone can gimme other suggestions it'd be much appreciated...

scracy · Post by **scracy** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 4:56 pm

Mikey and Toni try AVO they know their stuff! and were very helpfull (and in my case cheap) when it came to replacing my turbo last year. I paid $1800 for a t28bb cheapest in melbourne. Garret T28bb is a good size turbo for low boost street applications. AVO have built a number of kits for Mx5 and integra type r (which has a simular compression ratio to our cars) I dont think they would have too much trouble turbo charging fto's.Dont expect much change from $10000 though.

GPXXX · Post by **GPXXX** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 12:10 pm

yeah I know they're good (since they also build race cars) but the last time i approached them about turboing the MIVEC, they quoted me a silly figure in the vicinity of $15K mark for a bsic setup...
that's why it put me off and i was not so inclined to add their names to the list... LOL

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