BANDITSBC

Here goes...

I've got a 90 white 305 GTA. I've always wanted an 89 TTA but this is as close as i can get on my budget. I figured with a bigger turbo and 2 extra cylinders i'm hoping to be faster!
I've been buying parts for about 3 years. Starting with ACCEL GEN 7 DFI to allow me to accomodate any changes that are needed. Last year I put the Stealth Ram on and got it tuned. I am doing a budget build so ebay is my friend. I bought some 30lb injectors and put those on about 3 months ago and tuned it.
My birthday is at the end of the month and there is a local festival car show. My goal is to have the car there, driven or towed! I started on labor day and made alot more progress than i thought i would.

here's what i've done so far:

Installed 2 bar map sensor- it came with a new harness and i didn't know why until i tried sticking the connector in. its KEYED. so i took a utility knife and a cut 2 key ways in the connector and one in my finger. works fine.

reprogramed dfi- after changing to 2 bar map it leaves all the original settings on the grid but half is naturally aspirated and half is up to 15psi. the car idled good but stalled with any pedal at all. so i had to print out the original grid and input it into the top half of the new 2 bar grid. after inputing vehicle ran great!

Removed a/c and hvac box- A/c needs to come out for this and i pulled the box out for cleaner look. I think if i had v-belt set up i could have kept the a/c but can't with the serp setup.

Manifold- i removed the exhaust manifold and put the BBS turbo manifold in place. with the turbo sitting in it's location i decided where to cut the a/c smog pump bracket to accomodate the turbo and wastegate. the a/c racket was cut about 2/3 of the way down the C. I just cut the lower bolt ears off the smog pump bracket.

Serp belt- i was worried about this but came up with a plan, it may be a work in progress though. ran the belt from the crank-under the water pump and down to the PS pump - up to the Alt over the top of the tensioner and down to the crank. I'm a little worried about the tensioner because its smooth and wide, there are 2 lips on it so i'm hoping it doesn't throw the belt. if it does i'm gonna have to find a ribbed idler pulley to install on it. I cut the original belt and ran it around the pulleys and got 82.5inches. Napa had one in stock MICRO V AT #060820. fit perfect lets hope it stays on!

Turbo- I bought it on ebay about 2 years ago and am not sure exactly what size. 4in ntake 2.5 outlet. i think it is a t61 but who really knows 70ar compressor and a 68 turbine i believe. i have 2.73 gears so i don't rev real high i'm hoping this works with my driving habits(30+w/kids)

Intake duct- go ebay! NO intercooler, probably meth this winter. I have it duct directly in turbo is clocked so the outlet is at the 7 oclock position with a 90, a short extension, a 90 going up towards the throttle body, blowoff valve pipe, and a 90 L going into the TB with a 4 to 2.5 reducer. My goal is to get this running and this was most direct and clean. After crawling under the vehicle i think an intercooler wouldn't be TO hard to but into it. I may do that this winter

Exhaust- I DON"T WELD! everything has been going so well so far(knock on wood) that i didn't want to mess with it but the exhaust shop in town Niles Pro Muffler is doing a great job working with me. I supplied flanges and some 3" 90 degree L's(4) 1.5" 90 degree L(2). they made the cross over pipe from the pass to drivers side, i'm going to try band clamps so it can be easily removed from the turbo manifold. we will weld the down pipe flange onto the long end of the 3" L and that seems to put the downpipe right where we want it. They are still working on the exhaust so i will update.

Wastegate pipe- I'm hoping to have the wastegate outlet pointed up at the 10 oclock position and put a 90 degree off of it and run it along the frame rail into the down pipe. hopefully in 2 pieces with a band clamp. again it's a work in progress but i'll keep up to date.

Oil Lines- i have a feed/return kit coming early next week. I didnt' think i had a mechanical fuel pump block of plate because it was Fuel Injected, but I DO! pulled it off and found a 3/8 hole going into the pan. My reading says that bigger than a 1/4 inch hole at the pan will be ok, you just need a larger hole right at the turbo, that hole gravity thing. we'll see!

well that's it for now, when i get the car back i'll put the oil lines on, do a tune up on it, run the vacuum lines, hook up the wideband, tightendown everything and cross my fingers!

looks like my pics are to big to post so i'll try to get them on later. Thanks to everyone that over the last 4-5 years have posted what they've learned it has made it easier for everyone else.

BANDITSBC

here are some pics

BANDITSBC

another 1, when the car is back from exhaust shop i'll take some more

tylercamaro

iTrader: (1)

excellent work so far, id love to turbo out my 305

ZZ3Astro

Fantastic! Looks like you'll have it done in time for the show. I ran mine at 9.5 psi with no intercooler for quite a while (many months). The intercooler is totally worth the effort though and it is a different car now. In fact it took only two hours to get the transmission slipping after the intercooler install - during tuning as I was adding more timing an a bit more boost!

Good luck and keep those pictures coming!

BANDITSBC

I wasn't looking forward to installing an IC because i didn't think i could run it through with the pop up headlight brackets there, but i think i can bring it just under the frame rails and around. i'm also not looking forward to relying on meth because i used to have N2O and running out SUCKS! IC is cheaper(ebay) so i'll problably put it on during the winter.

noboostnogo

iTrader: (4)

if you havent relocated the battery to the trunk now is a great time to do so, then drill a hole through where the battery used to be and ta-dah its a direct line to the intercooler check out my thread i posted alot of pics and i can take more if you need i dont have fog lights so idk if it will clear them or not

fast82z

iTrader: (1)

If you use band clamps on an exhaust pipe that has pressure in it, I'd recommend bracing the connection some how. I usually weld on tabs to the pipe that the band clamp bolts grab onto.

I'd investigate using a water/air intercooler too. Probably end up spending more money with the additional water cooler and pump, but since you can use a small cooler it can be placed in many more locations and cut down on the length of pipe from the turbo to the cooler and motor. You also have the opportunity in this case to run iced water for the dragstrip. I've seen 1000hp water/air intercoolers and intercooler water pumps on ebay for pretty cheap too.

BANDITSBC

Well, here we are and i got it running!!! learned alot of things

CAN"T BE DONE CHEAP!!! i think i spent about $900 on misc stuff (wide band, pipes, plumbing for oil, exc)

DON"T buy oil lines off EBAY! I ended up buying everything from LANES AUTO that i got in the ebay kit, i'm much happier.

The turbo is working good for now, we'll see how she does on the road.


The Niles Pro Muffler did a great job with the pipes, the band clamps are working good except for the crossover pipe that i took off and didn't line up correctly. They were able to make the waste gate pipe go along the frame rail and into the down pipe, I"M REALLY HAPPY with it.

I had to do some grinding on the BBS manifold to get the bolts to sit flat because the welds were so close.

The worst part of this hole deal was the OIL LINES!!! the engine has a plug near the distributor but i couldn't get it out unless i took the manifold off and it's already cluttered back there so i decided to use the hole above the oil filter. I fought the oil SENDER for about 2hrs before i decided to hit it with a hammer and get a regular socket on it. I couldn't get a wrench on it and the body/frame was too close to get a deep socket on it. that cost me $35. I got a 2.5in 1/4 in npt extension and a T to hook into. that placed the sensor and the feed line out far enough to access it easily.
The DRAIN line was another mess. I got an aluminum bung with the ebay kit... can't weld to steel! I bought a steel bung and mounted it as high as possible on my FP block off plate, it didnt' clear the 45 AN fitting! I didn't want to use a 90 and it wouldn't have met up nicely with the line anyways so i went with the AEROQUIP tool-less hose and wrapped it. It fits perfect but we'll see how long it lasts.

Last night i got it up and running. One exhaust leak at the cross over and a little oil seeping from the block off plate. after running it outside for awhile i noticed oil all over the turbo and was afraid the EBAY TURBO failed... BUT it was just the pcv/breather blowing out because i hooked the breather into the throttle body and it probably didn't like me reving it up and closing the throttle plates quickly. well i think i got that fixed.

I got my wideband installed tonight and it seems to be working. tomorrow i'll drive it and see where i'm at with the tune

FINALLY- cleaned the car for it's maiden voyage tomorrow! LAST thing to do is install the gold "TURBO" decal under the firebird on the tail lights!

If everything blows up tomorrow.... at least i have my TTA!

thanks for all your help guys!

Doom86

nice man

get video i want to see/hear this thing.

Damon

Great job so far! Good luck with it.

FYI- don't be surprised if the oil return into the FP block off plate doesn't work so well. Tried that, it failed. Just can't flow much oil back through the FP area. Wanted it to work because it was so damned convenient, but it didn't. Blew out the seals in the turbo the second time we went into serious boost (big smoky mess). We even ran clear aquarium hose on the return line after the turbo (temporarily!!) to visually confirm oil return flow was unobstructed. It wasn't. Big oil flow traffic jam despite the big lines and all-downhill routing. Nuts! Finally bit the bullet and punched a hole in the side of the oil pan next to the #3 main cap.... problem completely fixed. Return flow from the turbo was RADICALLY improved. Wish we didn't have to resort to that, but we did.

Our setup runs no restrictor on the pressure side of the turbo- full flow through a -4 line. Maybe something with a restriction on the feed side wouldn't have that problem but we were advised against it so there was no choice but to make the retrurn flow like Niagara Falls.

BANDITSBC

thanks for the info!!! i was worried about it. A buddy of mine is a huge GN fan and has been doing some turbo installs and said he had good luck with it so i did it. I do have a restrictor in mine so maybe that will help, but i will keep an eye on it!

BANDITSBC

well, ITs ALL WORTH IT!!!

took it out around the block- all good.

drove it to home depot like a grandma listening for its last breath- all good

coming home from home depot **** MUSTANG**** - ALL GOOD!!!!!
got on it a bit with a mustang and pulled ahead slightly about 5-7psi
got on it again and heard alot of noise but no speed- cold pipe came off

last drive of the evening, no traffic, open road - came home SMILING!

everything is working like i wanted it to. I have 2.73 in the back so i don't spin her too hard. I wanted something to come in around the 3k rpm area and it is right where i want her! I need to play with the tune ALOT but it's hard to tune and drive at the same time and all my friends live over an hour away(loser )

I had about 7psi, which is what my wastegate is set for. I have a regulator but want to get it tuned first. No knocking- timing is at 28 with boost i think it can use some more any input would be apreciated. the AFR is set to 12.6 with boost. I think it's conservative- it didn't blow up!

I have a lot of noise when the turbo kicks in. I thought it was my blow off valve, but now i'm thinking its just my air cleaner. open element right off the turbo(i know not good for cool air, i'll fix that later). Kinda hard to check when i'm going down the road. ANY IDEAS?

SO MANY NEW VARIABLES ALL AT THE SAME TIME.. GONNA TAKE ME A BIT TO GET USED TO IT AND ISOLATE THEM.

my buddy asked me when it started to kick in i said "hell i don't know i'm just making sure i'm not LEAN!"

??? anyone have a good strategy to setting a BOV?
I can't find a good explanation as to how they work. i have the top signal going to the intake manifold so i think that will see vacuum first and help suck/lift the diaphram to open the valve when the throttle is closed. the bottom signal is to atmosphere. I didn't get a BOV for the noise, i got it to function and when i get my intake plumbed i will recirc it.

made a nice vacuum manifold out of brass (explains the home depot run)

slight leak around the return line bung, i'll have to have it welded some more.

over all COMPLETELY SATISFIED with the install. it WASN"T CHEAP! even with all the ebay stuff

quick calc: (ignore me if i cry)
bbs manifold $500, ebay turbo $375, Exhaust work $250 exh pipes $120, BOV $40, Wastegate $80, WB O2 $199, Intake pipe $100, Oil feed/return EBAY $89 **** DO NOT USE****, USABLE Oil feed return lines $150, 2 bar map $65, Gaskets $45, Misc(fittings, bolts, hoses) $120, Belt $35, 30# injectors used $80

total $2250
that doesn't include DFI (add $1500)

I use to look at the procharger kit, that was about $3k so i guess the turbo can be done cheaper especially if you can weld! could have saved $250 at exhaust shop and manifolds can be found/done cheaper.

I spent alot of time researching compressor maps(i know i got lucky buying the ebay one) to determin what would benefit me and my driving habits.

Some good reading MAXIMUM BOOST by corky bell!

Now we need to tune it and see how long everything lasts! I may need some help but I appreciate all the help i've gotten from you guys!

BANDITSBC

DO IT!

RSFreak

Me too! Cool when you guys do all the leg work, makes a bit easier for those of us that follow in your footsteps!

Tony89GTA

iTrader: (7)

For little over 2k i think it's pretty cheap

You might want to drop your AFR and timming down some for safety sake. Maybe shoot for 12.0 AFR with 22-24* timming with the 7Ibs of boost.

Hell I would even put back your TPI intake if your going to leave it a 5.0L, probably work better with your combo if your still running the stock stuff.

ZZ3Astro

Great job and shows you *can* do this without being a welder yourself. Sounds like a great exhaust shop you found that was willing to help in that way.

You costs are definitely in line with my Ebay build. I figured up about $3200 to duplicate my current setup (not including my megasquirt or current transmission build). That would put me around $2700 without the intercooler. So to anyone planning to do this, figure around $3000 will cover you if you use Ebay for the moving parts. Seems comparable to a belt blow until you realize with a turbo you won't be dealing with belt problems, the boost is limited only by your engine's ability to stay together and there is just no feeling like that turbo coming in to boost!

Agree with Tony89GTA, the TPI intake would be worth a try with this setup. The torque is amazing with it!

BANDITSBC

after doing that tpi manifold twice, i vowed never ever to put that manifold on again. sorry! stealthram is supper easy

ZZ3Astro

Oh I can definitely understand that reasoning! TPI is a chore and the ram looks clean as heck.

BANDITSBC

i had an exhaust leak at the crossover that i fixed today, I have a car show sunday then i start my tuning.

I have a good amount of turbo lag. I think i took my timing down to 28 degrees at 0 vac/boost up to 10psi. i was going to set it to 32 degrees at 0, then 28 degrees from 1-10psi. what are you guys running for timing under boost?

I'm also running real rich, gonna log some runs with my wife and see where i'm at.

UR50SLO

iTrader: (1)

I'm not too far from you if your around the 31 (Roseland area)

I can help you with the tune and problem solving. I'd start your AFR's in the mid 11's

at WOT and timing down to 18deg under full boost. Then move a few deg. higher untill

you hit knock.

My place is on (Day) road... Head out Day road in Mishawaka till you come to County

line road.... go across that and I'm 1/4mi down on the Right hand side.

30446 County Road 12 (same as day rd)

Or give me a call anytime. 574 329-6390

It's raining today.. not sure if any show's will be going on.
~Scott

BANDITSBC

i sent you a message.

what are u running for a computer?

ZZ3Astro

For my stock 87 tpi 350 at about 10.5 psi I have a total of 18 degrees timing at 5500 rpm. With the stock converter in it, the 2800-3200 rpm range would only tolerate 12-13 degrees at 8-10 psi. I haven't tried increasing timing there since going to the new stall converter, but I suspect it will take a couple more degrees now since it doesn't hang around in that rpm range for long now!

BANDITSBC

i got some tuning time in today and had the same problem 3-3.4k had some rattle. took the timing back and then gave her some more fuel and she's ok now. it was worse in 3rd than any other gear but it's gone now. i'm pretty happy with it.

I drove it to work thursday and after talking it up for 2 weeks at work, it ran like crap when i took people for a ride. knocking, pinging all over running rough. I got 93 oct at a marathon on the way to work and i bet they don't sell alot of 93 there. think i got some bad gas. put some octane booster in it and ran the tank low. a tank of SHELL 93 and it was running GREAT TODAY!

I put in a new afr and timing map that i converted from preloaded file on DFI- 377twinturbo. it was a 3 bar but i cut it down to 2bar and it ran real smooth except for around 3k rpm but thats fixed now. dropped the afr down to about 12 like you said and a bit richer at 3k due to pinging.

she runs real smooth and quick now. VERY HAPPY.

ur50slo... was gonna give you a buz today but had to do some things with the fam. maybe one night this week if its nice

UR50SLO

iTrader: (1)

No problem.. I sure hope next week is good weather again. I loved driving my car all week
If it rain's it's not a big deal.. just hate washing the car every day if it rains. Get's filthy everywhere....
Glad it's getting better!
~Scott

RSFreak

I would think the stock TPI would be preferrable since it makes more low end torque than the Stealth Ram. With boost coming on later in the RPM range, acceleration would not suffer because of "turbo lag". The Stealth Ram does look better though, and yeah, changing injectors is a bitch with the stock setup.

BANDITSBC

i put the stealth ram on about a year ago before i put the turbo on so i had alot of driving time on it. I didn't notice any real loss on the low end, but i definetly felt the gain on the upper end.

I thought the same thing, especially with the 305. but i'd recommend it to anyone!

musclecar70sfan

iTrader: (1)

Nice to see a project done through! What kind of numbers are you running now? In terms of 0-60 mph, 1/4 mile, etc.

BANDITSBC

i haven't been to the track yet but a few guys from work and i are going to Martin in kalamazoo on the 23rd for test and tune. I should have some numbers after that. i expect my 60' to suck because its a stick and i rather not blow out my drivetrain yet. but hopefully it'll do ok. my fathers sending me his Gtech, so i'm sure i'll use that for some base numbers it was pretty accurate with my old car.

UR50SLO

iTrader: (1)

Nice meeting you the other night... glad we got a chance to chat.

Hope you get to the track before it snows... winter is coming

~Scott

noboostnogo

iTrader: (4)

did you ever get to the track? im curious to see what this setup runs