Am thinking of building a turbo setup for my 88 automatic GT. What turbo units should I steer clear of and which have you all on the board had good luck with? The engine is getting on in years and before I put a new motor in I want to get the bugs worked out. Thanks!
Hmmm...You have to rebuild or replace the motor anyway, why not just throw in a low mileage 3800 S/C sell the supercharger and turbo the engine to 7 - 9 PSI? I suggest the 3800 because it's already built for boost, and you'll be less likely to have trouble, and there are people on this forum getting great mileage with the 3800. I believe all the information and parts you need to do this are on this forum. Check how much a 2.8 rebuild with turbo or 3.4 swap with turbo costs and then check how much a 3.8 swap costs, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
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07:56 PM
PaulJK Member
Posts: 6638 From: Los Angeles Registered: Oct 2001
If you do a SEARCH in the Technical section and Technical archives, you'll probably turn up all the info you wanna read on turbos. Quite a bit of technical info has been posted in the past. The hard part is Not installing the turbo and getting it working - thet hard part IS getting the car to run right because you need to have the ECU chip re-programmed ....
[This message has been edited by PaulJK (edited 12-28-2007).]
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08:08 PM
darkhorizon Member
Posts: 12279 From: Flint Michigan Registered: Jan 2006
I have to agree with darkhorizon. A swap is quite a bit of work, but a engine rebuild and then adding a turbo is much simpler. At least this is what I did. Of course you are not going to have the performance of a 3800, but again it what is in the realm of your ability and resources.
Yup, do a search. start with "turbos for dummies" as well as 2.8 turbo and 3.4 turbo for search terms. in short a Tbird T3 super60 trim is decent for the 2.8 (It's actually undersized but good for that motor) a T3/T4 hybrid is good for a 3.1 or 3.4..
Installing a turbo is the brain-dead easy part.. programming the ECM to use the turbo is the hard part. you need to approach your project very carefully so you can answer the chip tuners like darth with all the info to give you a kinda-working Chip tune. then get some dyno time with a tuner to get it working perfect.
Or you can learn how and buy all the stuff to tune. Eventually when I get mine done I'll be giving away my Chip contents for free so others have a good starting point but until then nobody is willing to give up a .bin of a turbo setup.
Guys (me included) will tell you you can do low boost without a aftercooler. you CAN.(3-7PSI boost MAX).. but I strongly suggest planning for one from step-1 so you have a better chance of running pump gas. you will hate having to run 108 octane all the time ($4.34 a gallon around here)
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10:03 PM
Dec 29th, 2007
darkhorizon Member
Posts: 12279 From: Flint Michigan Registered: Jan 2006
Guys (me included) will tell you you can do low boost without a aftercooler. you CAN.(3-7PSI boost MAX).. but I strongly suggest planning for one from step-1 so you have a better chance of running pump gas. you will hate having to run 108 octane all the time ($4.34 a gallon around here)
your narrowband o2 sensor will hate it more than you do....
Intercooling is the only option when it comes to turbos IMO, its easy, and the the benifits are huge.
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03:27 AM
Firefighter Member
Posts: 1407 From: Southold, New York, USA Registered: Nov 2004
If you are sticking with the 2.8 stock or built up unit; Design 1 is the only Fiero turbo kit out there with a totally satisfied audience. I have the now discontinued KFG kit which uses the Garrett T/3 turbo (photo). Leave the stock 10* timing alone, use 93 octane gas, use the MSD 6a ignition box and although an increasingly popular but not widespread alternative to a "plumbers intercooler" I use a water / alcohol injection unit. I have no detonation issues, a 6.5 to 6.8 sec. 0-60 time and no cooling or oil issues what so ever. I have the turbo set to a max. of 8 lbs. of boost. Your narrowband 02 sensor is just fine. Jegs and Summit racing sell an air fuel ratio gauge which is perfect for low boost operations. The chip as noted above is the tricky part. Just contact Darth Fiero (Ryan) and he will solve all of your problems, he did for me. Ed
[This message has been edited by Firefighter (edited 12-30-2007).]
Originally posted by timgray: Installing a turbo is the brain-dead easy part.. programming the ECM to use the turbo is the hard part.
Amen.
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Originally posted by timgray: Eventually when I get mine done I'll be giving away my Chip contents for free so others have a good starting point but until then nobody is willing to give up a .bin of a turbo setup.
For many of us, I think that information will be well worth the wait.
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Originally posted by timgray: Guys (me included) will tell you you can do low boost without a aftercooler. you CAN.(3-7PSI boost MAX).. but I strongly suggest planning for one from step-1 so you have a better chance of running pump gas.
How much boost and compression do you plan to be running with your turbo set-up when it's done?
