Suggestions on Turbo Kits

Wolfstang79 · Jun 22, 2011

I have an 02 GT that is relatively stock. I have the usual bolt ons, cat back, shifter, K&N, and 3:73's. I am looking for a single turbo kit to put on that will give me good performance now and will be able to support future mods, say fresh short block with forged internals and TFS heads and cams. Any suggestions? I have been looking at the On3 Performance kit and it looks pretty complete, but it seems a lot cheaper than say the Hellion kit. Is the On3 kit not complete? This project is about 6 months out but I wanted get started on my research now.

robmac36067 · Jun 22, 2011

Wolfstang79 said:
I have an 02 GT that is relatively stock. I have the usual bolt ons, cat back, shifter, K&N, and 3:73's. I am looking for a single turbo kit to put on that will give me good performance now and will be able to support future mods, say fresh short block with forged internals and TFS heads and cams. Any suggestions? I have been looking at the On3 Performance kit and it looks pretty complete, but it seems a lot cheaper than say the Hellion kit. Is the On3 kit not complete? This project is about 6 months out but I wanted get started on my research now.

The on3 kit is everything you need to actually put the kit on your vehicle so it is a complete kit...............BUT...to put the kit on you will have to kit a tubular k-member, tubular a-arms and I thin you need coilovers on the front as well (not sure though) all that is gonna run you a bit more....plus as with any power adder, you are gonna need a new maf, fuel injectors and a fuel pump...so on3 is selling you the kit for 1850 but you need to add another 1000-1500 just to be able to run the turbo safely. it's still a couple hundred cheaper than a new supercharger kit though. Install is also a pain compared to a nice vortech or paxton though.

007 · Jun 22, 2011

Waste of time and money IMO. Better off selling your GT and buying an 03 or 04 Cobra. Much better car for your money, and much less hassle than modding the crap out of the GT. Just my opinion.

98COBRA281 · Jun 22, 2011

the on 3 kit is actually a very good, complete kit! thats what i will be going with soon!

SiahNyde · Jun 22, 2011

Check into hellion and STS turbo systems, both make great kits and have some impressive number! Hellion makes a kit that come with k-member etc (I seem to recall it coming with everything necessary to install and seemed pretty straight forward). STS only has a kit for the s197 style mustangs, but they make a universal kit that can be used on any year (I think) STS replaces the mufflers so some exhaust fandangling is necessary unless you go with a twin turbo setup. they looked extremely straightforward and makes your car sound like sex. Watch some youtube videos of the STS kit, and if nothing else enjoy some beautiful car fun! I watched their vid and instantly didn't like my procharger!

tank_567 · Jun 22, 2011

98COBRA281 said:
the on 3 kit is actually a very good, complete kit! thats what i will be going with soon!

Its far from a "complete" kit. Im listing the bare minimum needed to even use the kit.

Cost of kit $1,725.00 +$99.00 shipping

Cheapest prices new
K-member & coil overs $599.95
39lb Injectors $269.90
PRO-M MAF $330.00
Focus fuel pump $109.00
SCT Chip w/o tune $269.00
*tune on dyno $100-$500 just say $350 for it

Total w/o the cost of the kit, shipping of parts and miscellaneous parts.(oil, oil filter, plugs and so on...)
$1927.85

Your better getting something like the Hellion kit, comes with a warranty and its made right here in the US(I think) One last thing, with this kind of kit you know your getting name brand parts and not some el-cheapo knock off wastegate/bov/turbo that may fail under load.

Stumbaugh · Jun 22, 2011

If you buy an On 3 kit, be prepaired to spend a lot more money down the road. I know for a fact that the turbo's that come with the kit are junk, as are the V band clamps, along with the waste gate.

It doesnt matter what you do to a vehicle, if you are buying stuff new, you get what you pay for. Plain and simple.

Just like Tank said, you are spending $1800 on the kit new, but then you are spending another $1,500 for supporting mods. So you have $3,300 in a kit that I guarantee will need a new turbo in less than a year, along with a wastegate, and most people cannot get the V band clamps that come with the kit to work at all. It's better to spend more money now that way you can save later.

Betrayer00GT · Jun 22, 2011

You don't mention it, and you may already know...

You should not be able to pass SMOG and successfully register your car in California w/ any turbo kit that I know of. Unless it is a CARB (California Air Resource Board) certified modification, with an engine compartment mounted certificate sticker, you should fail the visual inspection.

Additionally, I believe it not possible for a single turbo setup to get a CARB certification due to exhaust temperature issues w/ extra piping length between the combustion chamber and the catalytic converters they require. Also, I do not know of a twin-turbo kit manufacturer who has spent the crazy amount of money it would cost to go through a certification attempt with CARB.

If you don't want the hassle of a non street-legal kit, you would need to stick to one of the CARB certified blower kits. Even those are only certified w/ a small level of boost, and the cert entry in the CARB database for testers will instruct them to measure your pulley diameter to ensure it corresponds to a legal boost level. That makes the quick pulley changes on a KB setup helpful at SMOG time.

Not sure how much of this you already know, but I didn't think it would hurt to mention it.

FYI:
I had issues trying to SMOG because of my K&N FIPK CAI. I had mounted the CARB sticker in the engine compartment when I installed it but had thought it was a funny joke at the time. However, during my next SMOG, the tester hadn't seen the sticker in the engine bay and came in to ask me about the FIPK before he just failed me. I showed him the sticker, he looked up the reference number in the CARB database, compared what was in my car to the description he found there, and only then passed me. All that for a CAI, not a turbo kit. Just sayin', gotta love government intervention.

SiahNyde · Jun 23, 2011

Betrayer00GT said:
You don't mention it, and you may already know...

You should not be able to pass SMOG and successfully register your car in California w/ any turbo kit that I know of. Unless it is a CARB (California Air Resource Board) certified modification, with an engine compartment mounted certificate sticker, you should fail the visual inspection.

Additionally, I believe it not possible for a single turbo setup to get a CARB certification due to exhaust temperature issues w/ extra piping length between the combustion chamber and the catalytic converters they require. Also, I do not know of a twin-turbo kit manufacturer who has spent the crazy amount of money it would cost to go through a certification attempt with CARB.

If you don't want the hassle of a non street-legal kit, you would need to stick to one of the CARB certified blower kits. Even those are only certified w/ a small level of boost, and the cert entry in the CARB database for testers will instruct them to measure your pulley diameter to ensure it corresponds to a legal boost level. That makes the quick pulley changes on a KB setup helpful at SMOG time.

Not sure how much of this you already know, but I didn't think it would hurt to mention it.

FYI:
I had issues trying to SMOG because of my K&N FIPK CAI. I had mounted the CARB sticker in the engine compartment when I installed it but had thought it was a funny joke at the time. However, during my next SMOG, the tester hadn't seen the sticker in the engine bay and came in to ask me about the FIPK before he just failed me. I showed him the sticker, he looked up the reference number in the CARB database, compared what was in my car to the description he found there, and only then passed me. All that for a CAI, not a turbo kit. Just sayin', gotta love government intervention.

That story make me love Oregon and my non-catted exhaust that much more!

Wolfstang79 · Jun 23, 2011

Yeah I was thinking about all of smog BS and i was thinking about "Selling" my car to my dad in Kansas and just running Kansas tags and insurance under his name out here. Fu!# this California Smog stuff. I haven't had a Mustang since I moved out here 9 years ago and the SMOG thing definitely limits your decisions. The whole K-Member and coilover thing sucks too. I just spent $ lowering the car and putting Eibach struts on the front. I still like the idea of a turbo over a supercharger though, but the turbo definitely seems like more work up front. I do know however that down the road i will have more potential with the turbo.

As far as the "Sell my GT and By a Cobra" comment. I say HELL NO! what fun is that. I know it' the "Easy" thing to do, but i have always had a knack for doing things the hard way.

Last question. Is the Hellion kit a forward facing Kit?

98COBRA281 · Jun 23, 2011

tank_567 said:
Its far from a "complete" kit. Im listing the bare minimum needed to even use the kit.

Cost of kit $1,725.00 +$99.00 shipping

Cheapest prices new
K-member & coil overs $599.95
39lb Injectors $269.90
PRO-M MAF $330.00
Focus fuel pump $109.00
SCT Chip w/o tune $269.00
*tune on dyno $100-$500 just say $350 for it

Total w/o the cost of the kit, shipping of parts and miscellaneous parts.(oil, oil filter, plugs and so on...)
$1927.85

Your better getting something like the Hellion kit, comes with a warranty and its made right here in the US(I think) One last thing, with this kind of kit you know your getting name brand parts and not some el-cheapo knock off wastegate/bov/turbo that may fail under load.

it is a complete "turbo kit", i already have full suspension, ect. and with selling my long tubes, o/r h pipe, 4.56 gears, jlt intake, id have to sell my cams because they wont work with boost, i will make over $1000 dollars toward the kit, and i would go with the master power turbo, not the cheap on3 turbo and they make the on 3 kit in Ohio, there is a real good thread i started on modularrevolution.com about this kit, and a guy currently installing the new forward facing kit.

this is what i have noticed, everyone that has installed one say its a good kit, and just need some adjusting. which im sure most turbo kit's do. but then everyone who has never seen one, or installed one, talks bad about them...

Wolfstang79 · Jun 23, 2011

thanks. I'll have to check out that thread. The more I dig into it the Turbo is a lot of work. I just hope the payoff is worth all the work up front. Any of you guys running Turbos right now? From what I've read it sounds like the 4.6 really responds well to boost and the dyno sheets i have seen seem to support that. Once you get past the week the bottom end the sky's the limit really and now the TFS makes a set of killer heads i think 550 to 600 should be a sinchy with forced induction. Really in the end that's what i want, just a good solid street car that can pounce on Z06 vettes and all the italian junk that is running around out here in LA.

slayerripkdc · Jun 23, 2011

550-600 should be easy . A member on here TANK 567 was pushing around 550 with 14 lbs of boost on I believe a bone stock motor!

Stumbaugh · Jun 23, 2011

I have had 1st hand experience with the On 3 Kit's. So the info I am giving is my experience with it, not someone else's.

tank_567 · Jun 24, 2011

Stumbaugh said:
I have had 1st hand experience with the On 3 Kit's. So the info I am giving is my experience with it, not someone else's.

My buddy got this kit for his s197 and had a ton of fitment issues when installing.

WWW.S197FORUM.COM

98COBRA281 said:
it is a complete "turbo kit", i already have full suspension, ect. and with selling my long tubes, o/r h pipe, 4.56 gears, jlt intake, id have to sell my cams because they wont work with boost, i will make over $1000 dollars toward the kit, and i would go with the master power turbo, not the cheap on3 turbo and they make the on 3 kit in Ohio, there is a real good thread i started on modularrevolution.com about this kit, and a guy currently installing the new forward facing kit.

this is what i have noticed, everyone that has installed one say its a good kit, and just need some adjusting. which im sure most turbo kit's do. but then everyone who has never seen one, or installed one, talks bad about them...

I understand where your coming from, I was just saying for a stock mustang would need all of that stuff above. I think your car + 10 of boost = nasty If you do get this kit make sure to get a name brand wastegate as well, if that fails so does your engine when 20lbs of boost comes in..

Wolfstang79 · Jun 24, 2011

So Stumbaugh, you saying to go with a better kit like the Hellion? I can see where spending the extra money up front makes sense. What are some "Name Brand" waste gates and turbos? What typically comes with the Hellion kit and what upgrades are worth the money? thanks again for the help.

tank_567 · Jun 27, 2011

Wolfstang79 said:
So Stumbaugh, you saying to go with a better kit like the Hellion? I can see where spending the extra money up front makes sense. What are some "Name Brand" waste gates and turbos? What typically comes with the Hellion kit and what upgrades are worth the money? thanks again for the help.

Turbos:
Garrett
Precision
Borg Warner
Turbonetics
Master Power (kinda cheap turbo)

Wastegates:
Garrett
Tial
Turbo Smart
Precision

http://www.precisionturbo.net/boost-control/wastegates/details/Precision-Turbo-and-Engine-PW39-External-Wastegate--39mm-/24

or you can buy a Chinese made one from ebay and cross your fingers...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/38MM-VR-STYLE-TURBO-EXTERNAL-MANIFOLD-WASTEGATE-8PSI-CH-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem3a613beb2dQQitemZ250739419949QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

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