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The ride: 2003 Lexus GS300. Well folks i just got the meager funds together to join the prestigious ranks of the NA-T crowd. Guess what? Contrary to popular opinion i will be mainly using eBay parts. The majority of my parts will come from the CXRacing kit off eBay! I desire 400-450hp. You know u want to see what happens lol. It’s a 1600 dollar kit YEEEHAWW!! Ok so before i but everything does anyone have some solid advice for me? Please don’t say things like BRAH GO GTE or OMG EBAY SUCKS. Here’s my list of what I’ll be using and i need your guys help to tell me what to stay away from and if this looks like enough: CXRacing turbo kit: https://www.cxracing.com/products-by...00-GT35-IC-KIT
Now the last thing I’m assuming i need to do is figure out what I’ll do with the tranny. I found this DIY video but i don’t k know how adequate it will be and I suppose I’ll need a tranny cooler as well? Here’s the video:
Also: Can i use stock exhaust with just a muffler delete or what would you guys do with the exhaust that’s relatively inexpensive? Thank you guys so much for any input!
Please give me some input as this is my first time ever doing this.
400-450hp on a $1600 EGAY budget? You just Graduated HS huh? Nice and Cherry.. FYI after your done with all that in the next 2 years or soo...youll be as fast as a 400/430...
With Stock Motor Internals with Proper Tuning, Running @ 6-8 PSI Makes 260-280 WHP. More than 8 PSI Needs to Upgrade Motor Internals.
So temper your expectations. But as long as that China Xpress turbo doesn't fail catastrophically, seems like a pretty safe setup, especially since you're doing injectors and a piggyback to control fuel and ignition (which will be key to not blowing it up). You stock compression ratio is what's going to limit how much air you can force into the cylinder. With everything correctly installed, and a good tune, this should be a fairly uneventful modification.
So temper your expectations. But as long as that China Xpress turbo doesn't fail catastrophically, seems like a pretty safe setup, especially since you're doing injectors and a piggyback to control fuel and ignition (which will be key to not blowing it up). You stock compression ratio is what's going to limit how much air you can force into the cylinder. With everything correctly installed, and a good tune, this should be a fairly uneventful modification.
thanks for the input. I’m on a 5k budget or so. I’m buying a boomslang harness as well to make it easier. The kit is 1600 and i may upgrade the turbo and BOV in very near future. I’ve heard eBay parts have gotten better. When it says upgrading internals is it referring to the pistons and rods? Also i will be doing a cheapy DIY valve body upgrade on my tranny too. Let me know
Also waiting to hear a response about the exhaust and if i need to go straight pipes or delete O2 sensors or anything to get it running right? Will this all hook up into stock exhaust?
It says right on the CX Racing site that the kit bolts to the factory exhaust. You need O2 sensors. In fact, you will need a wideband O2 sensor for your A/F monitoring. Do whatever you want for exhaust, straight pipes are super loud and sound like ***, so I recommend some sort of muffler. And yes, by internals they mean rods and pistons. Especially pistons, since the GE motor has higher compression pistons than the GTE. The factory rods are actually quite strong, which is (part of) why people can make so much power on a stock GTE bottom end.
The best advice I can give you is to go buy Corky Bell's Maximum Boost and read it cover to cover before you even pick up a wrench to start this project. If you aren't willing to do that, this project will take much longer and is far less likely to go well.
Appreciate the input. Just so you know I’m having a mechanic friend do the work so i won’t be reading any books but I’m sure it’s a solid read. So I’ll need wideband o2 sensors got it. I’ve read that my internals can take up to 400+ horsepower but perhaps I’d be on borrowed time? How cumbersome of a task is replacing the rods and pistons?
How cumbersome of a task is replacing the rods and pistons?
A complete engine tear down and reassembly. Honestly, if you're going to have someone do the work, let them do it and don't meddle. If you want to meddle, read up. The road to NA-T has been done so many times there are literal start to finish build threads about it. Anybody with a DIY turbocharged car should understand how turbocharging a car works, unless you want to be tethered to your mechanic for the duration of your ownership. And.. unless they want to keep fixing your problems for very little money. Maximum Boost is not just a good read, it's an essential read for anyone interested in turbocharging their vehicle.
I did a 2JZGTE swap on my GS430. Most of my build budget went towards the single turbo kit and drivetrain for the swap. The single turbo kit I used was from Driftmotion. Back then Driftmotion was talked about being as cheap as an eBay competitor. Mind you, this was about 10 years ago. The kit worked great. The motor put out about 400hp on the stock ECU. It idled like **** but it ran legit. The W58 I was using at the time broke before any of the single turbo components. The next thing to fail was the waste gate that comes with the kit. Everything else held up great until this day. I no longer own the vehicle but have kept up with the two owners after me. I drove the car daily and occaisionally got on it hard. The owners after me turned it into a weekend drift car and drove it a lot harder than I ever could have. The same parts are holding up. Some upgrades were added to support their driving style.
It is worth taking the time to learn what you can get away with in terms of quality parts vs value parts. I'd buy another DM turbo, I would NOT buy off-brand value coil packs. I would buy an HKS waste gate. I would NOT buy a "made in china" replica waste gate. The moral of the story is not to compromise quality on critical parts.
OP, take it from the elders that have been on here for quite some time. It may work for a little while but you're going to run into trouble far sooner than later. You'd be a lot better off saving and buying quality parts that will allow you to enjoy the car for a extended period of time. Now if you had a 240sx you'd be fine with that EBAY lovin! LOL!
So after doing a TON of research and continuously going back and forth between NA-t and gte swap I’m now back to an NA-T with a stand alone ECM of some sort. Surely this will be reliable right? I’ve tempered my HP expectations to down around 300-350hp and I’ll be doing a DIY VB upgrade with a tranny cooler. My question now is WILL THIS LAST at least 4-5 years with a good tune from Sound Perfomance in Chicago? They want 750 bucks to do it but they WILL do it. I want this to be a daily and not fail me when the weather changes and i can not be stuck on the side of the road.
07-01-18, 04:38 PM
Schreezy’s eBay Bomber!
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