Turboing my tC

[08scion]

Hey my buddy is getting a new turbo for his 95 eclipse gst and he's selling me his stage 2 turbo for real cheap. I wanted to know if its a good idea to actually turbo my tC. I've heard mixed reviews about how it can blow my engine and stuff like that. I would only run about 8 lbs of boost, i just want it to be a little quicker. I would get a new manifold and a down pipe obviously to go along with it and after that pretty much enjoy the verrrttttttt! shhhhhh! I need to know from you who has a turbo what you did, if you thought it was a bad idea, good idea, everything and anything. The turbo and everything are so inexpensive that it seems hard for me to pass it up, and the turbo is still in pretty decent condition. Thanks everyone.

[Redneck4csa]

I plan to turbo my tC one of these days. 8psi is just fine. The only thing I would warn you against is buying a used turbo. I'm very picky on the used parts I will buy since I have been burned before (that's why one of my VRD's has a chip missing out of the glass lense). Our main tech is Navy and I'm sure he'll be finding his way to this post soon enough...

[08scion]

alright great thanks. yea i know your hesitation with the turbo, its just so inevpensive and becuase its a friend he's almost giving it away.

[navylife59]

Here I am.....

Buying a used turbo is bad. You are playing the odds on how long it is going to last. You will also have to find the parts and do alot of fabbing to make it work into tC. You have to think about larger fuel injectors, engine control (piggyback), and tuning. You would be much better off in the long run to just buy a kit specifically for the tC. Cost, labor time, fit, function, and performance will be much better.

Running just 5~6PSI on a Stage 2 kit will net big results that should keep you happy.

[08scion]

i am a bit worried about the used turbo, but i will have a boost controller and when i feel like chillin i'll turn it down to reduce the wear and tear on the turbo its self and the car. I do have a few questions that i need answered though.

1. How big do my injectors need to be?
2. Fuel pump? i dono much about it, what do i need and where can i get it?
3. SAFC... whats a good brand, what do i need there?
4. What to tC turbo kits have that this one could lack?
5. What can i do to make the turbo new again? (i know thats a stupid question, but what can i do to prolong the life of it?

Thats it for the questions for right now. thanks everyone.

[navylife59]

1. Here ya go, Injector Selection Guide . Just plug in the numbers. You will most likely need a minimum of 550cc injectors though you could run the 440cc.
2. OEM fuel pump should be sufficient. Can start to drop off when saturating 550cc injectors at WOT. Can install a Walbro fuel pump with some slight modification of the intake fuel pump cradle. At a certain point, the intank fuel pressure regulator and the fuel rail are going to be bottlenecks. Removal of the OEM pressure regulator, adding a boost referenced external regulator, running a return line to the tank and upgrading the fuel rail to support larger injectors.
3. The new Unichip PNP is getting good marks. Some prefer the old standards of Greddy Blue and AEM. They are all fairly good. It will boil down to price and who can tune it.
4. Warranty - DESCENDANT Turbo Kit - Complete Kit at Sparks Toyota-Scion, Myrtle Beach, SC
Kits include everything you need. All new parts. They have been tested. Install instructions/support. Ability to comparison shop between kits.
5. You can send off the turbo to the manufacturer to have it completely rebuilt with new seals/bearings (opt up for ceramic ball), fully balanced, and ceramic coat the turbine. You can also order the parts yourself but difficult to work on.

[illest_tC]

so the descendant kit is a good kit?
thats what ive been looking at.

[navylife59]

I suppose.

[Blue04Scooby]

I have a Dezod S2 Kit For sale and also have an AEM Full EMS Standalone unit for sale as well. IMO used turbos can be good and some can be bad things to check for are shaft play, oil around the CHRA (Center Housing Rotating Assembly) and any oil on the exhaust turbine side that can be a very good indication that you just purchased a rather large and dirty paper weight unless you want to shell out the bucks to send it out and have it rebalanced and have new seals put in it. but if you can find a turbo with very little to no shaft play at all and no signs of oil leaks then your good to go. If your looking for a good turbo kit I highly recommend either Dezod Motorsports found at Dezod Motorsports Inc-We ARE performance. Scion tC turbo pros! Paul and I go back like four flats on a Cadillac. And another good company is PTuning found at Ptuning.com - Performance Auto Parts Warehouse, Installation, and Dyno Tuning Services very knowledgeable people they can point you in the right direction you need to go in hope this helps and good luck. A turbo tC is a fun car to drive but when your driving as much as I do the maintenance gets old quick. Also find a good tuner, as far as tuning units I recommend staying away from GReddy honestly some people love them some people dont im one of those donts a good unit for piggyback is the AEM F/IC and the ultimate in engine management and control is the AEM EMS Standalone unit.

my .02

[navylife59]

Already gave you my so now here is more so that you have :4: on the Greddy. I agree with you. So how much for the AEM standalone? I have a built race motor waiting for a brain.

[Blue04Scooby]

All my turbo parts, engine management, short block, built head are all posted in the classified sections of this forum

[Brokinarrow]

4. Warranty - DESCENDANT Turbo Kit - Complete Kit at Sparks Toyota-Scion, Myrtle Beach, SC
Kits include everything you need.

330 hp on this lil thing hmm, may have to start saving for a turbo....

[navylife59]

I say go for it. A turbo in the snow ought to be fun With it be the only warranted (as in does not kill factory powertrain warranty) turbo kit on the market makes it a sweet deal. If I wasn't so stuck on supercharging, I would be getting it. On second thought, I don't care about my powertrain warranty so I would be getting that HKS setup off the original Nitto tC from Jotech. That is if Kenny hasn't sold it yet.

[StreetBrawler89]

How do the AEM computers match up for turbos, I have always heard HKS had the market cornered but AEM seems to be popping up everywhere now.

[navylife59]

The Scion/Toyota ECM's give piggybacks alot of trouble. WOT is about the only area that has been repeatedly successful. AEM has become the market leader. Rightly so with powerful software, ease of use, and industry backing. In fact, Kenny Tran prefers it most out of all the piggybacks. There is an outfit in Puerto Rico that has claimed major success with numerous areas on the 2AZ-FE motor with the Greddy Ultimate beyond that of WOT with that being rev limiter and MAF clamping. So far my Ultimate has fallen flat on it's face even in the WOT segment.

You might have missed the fact that Greddy Ultimate gave Kenny fits when I up'd my boost from 9.5 to 15.0PSI and injectors from 440cc to 550cc. I actually lost WHP from 228.4 to 217WHP and a crazy idle. The collective minds at Jotech scratched their heads and mine for 3 days! With no USA side tech support and the non-intuitive software there was no hope.

In the hopes to find a bad pin/wire in the jumper harness I unplugged the Ultimate. I then decided to to see how she ran on just the ECM with the TRD tune. Man, was I blown away! My idle came back to near normal and the power! I had to be atleast pumping 240WHP but I gather it to be more like 250WHP+. I have been fighting the inevitable belt slippage on that small S/C pulley. Power comes on amazingly quick till about 5500RPM where it flattens off. A sure sign of belt slippage. Of course, the squeal is a dead giveaway. STP belt squeal stop works for a short time and the power continues to build past 5500RPM so it is definitely not a tuning issue. I am not running my meth injection setup so I have no intercooling. No wonder when it is below 50F that it feels like another 10~15WHP is there. Car runs great even at 80F on 93 Octane due to the fact that I am running rich with the 550cc injectors that the ECM knows nothing about. Once I get my ram air intake built like in my avatar, it should manually lean things out a bit.

Beyond the belt slippage problem, I quickly discovered that I am overpowering the OEM clutch. Even my Nitto Invos are loosing traction thanks to the open diff. When I come back from Detachment first order of business is to build my spare trans with all of the goodies that I have had on the shelf for the last 3+ years. Guess I also need to update my Member's Rides thread.