At 02:46 AM 4/15/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Jon,
> are you still gonna do the turbo conversion? or is it out of the
>question? If it brings me into the 14s with my v6er.. I'll gladly be first
>in line for it. (as long as it's under lower 2,000 bucks.)
>-Dester
Yep, I'm definitely planning on it. I'm hoping to be able to do the
conversion over the winter; we'll see... I'm not sure about the cost
though; I don't think you're going to be able to do it for under
$2,000. The biggest cost will probably be the turbos; you may be able to
keep it under $2K if you use rebuilds rather than new.
Right now, my biggest dilemma is wether to go to aftermarket EFI before
or after the turbo install. It would definitely be easiest for me to
convert the EFI first, but that will add another ~2K to the cost (depending
on the particular system used), so I *really* would like to get the turbos
working with the stock (or MP) computer; not for myself, but for you
guys... Right now, I see a couple of ways of doing this... There's the
custom computer re-program (maybe $400-800, depending on who you get to do
it), and then there's the "band aid" approach. (i.e. boosting fuel
pressure or adding injectors to increase fuel, using aftermarket ignition
modules to retard the timing, etc.) Seems to me that the best approach for
anyone considering this would be to bite the bullet and get their computer
re-programmed. (I believe Kuk said he had a contact who could do
this.) However, since I'm just a private individual and the only reason I
am considering offering a kit is to help out my fellow DMLers, I can't
really justify the expense of a computer re-program or buying a bunch of
aftermarket stuff for a band-aid approach, since I know I will be going
with aftermarket EFI. What I *might* do is to just convert to aftermarket
EFI, dial in my engine with the turbos, then use the info gathered from the
tuned fuel/spark maps to give the computer reprogrammers something to work
with. If I had a sponsor or financial backing to R&D all the possible
alternatives, I would certainly do that, but being "way to far in debt" me,
I can't justify that. (Note: that was not an offhand request for cash or
sponsors, just a statement of the truth.) :-)
Anyway, beyond the computer, the next major "hurdle" as I see it are
the headers. I am fairly certain headers will need to be fabricated. If
need be, I can weld each individual set up myself in my garage, but you can
imagine what that will do to the price of the kit, and my free
time. :-) It would be really nice if once the design is locked in, we
could find somebody with a CNC tubing bender to churn out the pipes, or
better yet, completely job it out to some place like Borla or JBA. On a
related note, does anyone know of a source for header flanges? Summit has
a "weld up your own headers" kit but of course like 99% of the aftermarket
parts out there, its chevy only. I can get a machine shop to spit 'em out
if need be, but if someone already makes them, it would probably be cheaper
to get 'em from them. Another issue is that I have a V8, so that's sort've
a problem for you V6 folks. Depending on the mounting conditions, I could
probably just design a set of V6 headers to attach to the turbo at the same
point that the V8 ones do; that may be difficult without a V6 to measure
things up on though.
So anyway, yep, I'm still planning to turbocharge, and yep, if at all
possible, I will offer a kit to you guys which will hopefully make it a lot
easier for you to do it than it will be for me. I've got bills to pay
first though, and plenty of research to do in the meantime! :-)
-Jon-
.--- jon@dakota-truck.net -- or -- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ------------.
| Jon Steiger * AOPA, DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA * RP-SEL |
| '92 Ram 150 4x4 V8, '96 Dakota V8, '96 Intruder 1400, '96 FireFly 447 |
`---------------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'
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