Are you going to run the wideband n/a? Or do you have a turbo manifold from MVP? You can run it n/a with no issues, but if it involves drilling and welding, I would just wait till the turbo and down pipe is in place.

 

Okay I see your point. It makes sense to wait. I guess I'll tackle all the gte ecu conversion stuff first to get that at 100% before doing everything else

 

However, now is a good time to start a list of things to do in order. Being that wiring generally takes most of the time, it would be good to knock out the smaller wiring tasks like the wideband, boost gauge, etc. taking care of the power and ground for them and assuring they are powering on correctly.

 

I have decided to not turbo my car after all. Several reasons but the main two are time and money which I have none of as a full time pre-dental student. I am going to be selling all my parts and building an extreme gaming/work computer instead.

It's cheaper, my daily commute does not depend on it running, it wont break down or need maintenance or any of those pricey things...and in the end I can just get a lot more beneficial things done with it. Also get to just keep my girl running stock and happy with no worries of things breaking or leaking...thats another thing that makes this decision easier..I wont have to worry about things not working right. As a student I just can not handle it. Once I get a job I will turbo my car the right way and just throw money at it.

For now...Adios! I'll post picks up of my comp once she's done which should be within a month or a little more.

 

same decision i made, i'm graduating in a couple weeks and if i get a solid job, save up, move out, then it's some fun V8 mods. but for now, she's purring and sittin' (kinda) pretty lol. good luck with your schooling and your car. we all got lots of time lol.

 

A little word of advice I can give.......I have modded cars in my college time.....but your not able to do everything exactly right due to financial restraints

Just take your time once you get outta school and get a good job it makes it much easier to build up the car like you originally wished you would have from the beginning...

Take your time.....there is no rush.....take care of your schooling/job first....then mod cars second....Which is hard to do

 

Yeah straight up preaching it lol I just wanna get through school get a job/career going and then throw money at it haha it is VERY difficult to do it this way but its just wiser in the end. Building a monstrous computer should be fun too lol

 

Well that sucks, i guess we will see a "take 3" after school.

 

How do you go about setting up intercooler piping? The way I see it...I'd have to test fit my manifold and turbo to see how the turbo sits and from there what do I do? I can only find universal intercooler piping kits and not SC specific...even then I'd like to do something different from what the usual setup is. Pointers on where to start with intercooler piping set ups?

 

most start with the universal kit and cut and either clamp stuff together or get it welded after if you like where everything is. I usually get the cxracing stuff off ebay. it will also depend on the intercooler.
For the hotside, most of the turbo's in our cars are going to be clocked facing down/ at the passenger strut tower, from there it usually comes down by the large water pump/radiator hose on that side and then towards the front of the car, then left under the passenger frame and into the passenger fender area (where your side markers and fog lights are that area), from there its a simple curl around to the intercooler. you have to do this down and around curl cause you can't go through the frame or through the radiator. The good news is you can do all of this and all your piping still be above the crossmember. I hate setups where the piping is the lowest point on the car and its not the right way to be done.

The cold side will depend on the intercooler (standard or same side) and type of intake you have (stock or FFIM). this will decide the direction it must go. I have done both with the same kit before you just use different bends in different places to make it happen. I would plan out everything else and do that last as you said it changes a little. also once you remove the whole front bumper to do it you can much more easily visualize it.
If you are going to use the stock intake manifold for a long time I would suggest using the same side unless your area gets really hot all the time. its sort of hard to get the piping done well on the cold side if you have the stock intake manifold and a regular intercooler. the same side makes it much easier for the stock intake and will take much less piping.

 

I bought the Cxracing 3" universal kit for around $250 I think....I had to order an additional 90 and additional t-bolt/coupler....

This should give you an idea.......I cut the piping with a grinder but it can be done with a saw-zaw....

All you need to do is mock them up and mark them and cut to length....I did mine so the piping is touching each other inside the coupler....incase I decided to have it welded into hot and cold side as one piece....

Start on post #139

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/bui...-build-10.html

 

Thanks Ali and Catman.

My intercooler has a regular entrance on one end and on the other side that entrance/exit does a "U" wrap around the intercooler so it basically points the same way as the other one.

I'm unsure whether to get a piping kit with longer more obtuse angles or a kit with short tighter angles.

 

there is a kit that has a couple pieces of everything and the "free" u -bend on the auction. that is the one I got a while back and I was able to make both a same side and a FFIM setup out of the same piping.

 

Cool I'll look into that one. Are the supplied couplers good or should I look into better quality ones?

 

I used the same one Ali is talking about with that fmic you have. The 3 ply couplers are decent, and the t-bolt clamps werent bad, but they arent stainless steel, so be sure to spray them with something on occasion.