hotshift13

Hello everyone, Ive been a member for years but I really haven't posted at all, until now. I want to do a twin-turbo set up on my car, but I want to use one of these ebay set ups. Id like to document everything and make a sticky out of this post on how to do this swap. I see a few posts started about my car, but they seem to die-out after a while. All the stickys are 9 years old and none of them relate to a ebay kit.

First off I have an 89 Trans-am, 305, tbi, 700r trans, the cars pretty much bone stock, except a repaint last year by me, and some ws6 wheels off a 2000 TA. The cars got 160isk on the clock, typical blue cloud on start up, just stock and slow.

Now my goal for the car is to use the stock 305. use an ebay turbo kit, or make everything else, I have some fab skills, and I turboed My Datsun 280z. The car will be a street car, maybe go to the track once in a while. So I want it to look stock, except when I open the hood.

My HP goals are in the 400-425 range, I have a $2000.00-ish budget. I'm still in the research phase now, and deciding if I should buy a all inclusive kit, or buy only what I need, because some kits come with stuff I wont need like an electric fan ect.... I plan to take nice pics of my project so other people can follow in my foot steps.

What do you guys think, wanna add to this, and help me out on my way?

skirkland1980

iTrader: (2)

are you going to use the tbi? seems like the air would deflect alot. I have a Dastun Z also....cool!

Badass355ciz28

iTrader: (17)

your probably better off peicing it together that way you know what you have and then can move onto installing it.also you will probably get better quality products if you peice it together

i think i have less than 2k into my build and its a single turbo setup

hotshift13

I plan to use the stock tbi unit....if possible. I want to keep this pretty simple and not hack up the car, too much. My wife has owned this car for almost 19 years, so it's not going anywhere. Im looking at the kits now and im seeing a lot of stuff i don't need, but some stuff I didn't think about, like an oil cooler....

Badass355ciz28

iTrader: (17)

i would think that the tbi unit itself will be a restriction........imo.......not to mention i dont see it having a good sealing area cor the carb hat due to the wiriing harness for the tbi injectors.....

skirkland1980

iTrader: (2)

the TBI wont let you reach the boost levels you need to get the power you want. i would swap the intake with and go carb. even with a carb you loose 3-4psi through it.

hotshift13

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevy...Q5fAccessories

joker0907

or u could go to the with a tpi setup would prob go over ur budget with getting a fuel system setup and will take more work in tuning. i wouldnt mind seeing it though haha. those are t3/t4 hybrids that should do pretty decent on a 305.

hotshift13

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevy...Q5fAccessories Just throwing this out there looking for opinions. I like the header design, keeps the turbo low.. easier for plumbing? just looks good to me, but a lot of other stuff I wouldnt need tho...

The tbi question... I really don't want to go carbed, change fuel pump, ses on in the dash, lock up converter wont work, lots of things, and driving up the cost.

hotshift13

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/86-92...5fAccessoriesI really like the intercooler in this kit, and not a bunch of extra garbage. the price is not too bad either...

joker0907

i dont like how the last one says it comes with 2 turbo.... id rather have the t3/t4s myself but i like that kit too

hotshift13

Still looking myself, anybody else have anything to add?

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

I would stick with doing your own kit. If you bought a kit, like those ebay ones, you may or may not get full use out of it. Probably alot of parts you may not need.

I would buy piping as you need it. That will keep excess pipe costs down. I bought bends as I needed them, 4-5 at a time and I still had a bunchof straight pieces left over since I really just needed bends. I didnt have any extra tho

Since you can fab, i'd build my own set of manifolds. Just order a flange for the heads, and go from there. Could start with a stubout kit from summit but they are 175 bucks or so if using Hooker headers. I used that on my build. i have probably 400-500 total in my twin manifolds including 120 bucks to finish tig/mig weld them from my buddy's shop. I just tacked them all together. It was rather easy to make although I made them sit up abit higher than i wanted.

t3/t4's will be awesome for 400hp. I think the bigger ones you find on ebay, the stage 3's or whatever have around 50mm compressors. Should be plenty for a mild 305. That will keep cost down.

Could easily get away with 2.5" downpipes so that will make it easy to route them in the car compared to my 3" pipes on my setup.

I'd convert to TPI if you can...but I dont know much about TBI and if they can be blown thru. If they can, then go for it. Can EBL handle boost?

TPI you can convert to 730 ecm and run code $59. Cheap and works fine. Just need to get a base map to work with. I started by copying the base VE table from a 350 8D code and tweaked the egr "fuel injector constant" in code $59 til it started and ran on its own, then had a lot of tweaking to do from there. Still not done but its very driveable at the moment.