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Street Class Unlimited Class
DOHC SOHC Ion Updated 1/05 For the most recent list of the fastest five cars click here. |
Budget Turboby: ttLtrSl2I had to plan everything to the "T" to cut
down on downtime since my Saturn is my daily driver. I installed
the turbo in two major steps and did
Update:
I have installed a 2 1/2 exhaust and Catco high flow catalytic converter to help free up all that back pressure. Turbo has been rebuilt. I will do a separate write up about that after the break in period is over. |
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a couple small things in between. Step one consisted of hooking
up the turbo to the exhaust and oil lines. I started out by connecting
the oil line from the oil galley at the back of the block to the
turbo. The oil galley consists of three pressurized ports. One is
taken up by the oil pressure sensor and the other two are plugged.
At first I thought I could get to the plug from the top side. After
lots or cursing I realized the only way to get to the plug was to
remove the starter. So I jacked up the car. From there I continued
to remove the starter (including disconnecting the battery). Once
the starter was removed the plug was easy to get to. I then connected
the oil line to the galley port. While under the car I disconnected
the header down pipe from the cat and then I finished disconnecting
the header from the head. I could now install the manifold and turbo
to the head and connect the oil feed to the turbo. Back under the
car I had to remove the oil pan. This is a pretty tricky thing if
you have never removed one from a Saturn. You have to remove the
passenger side front wheel, inner fender well, crank pulley, and
cover for the flywheel. Once all that is removed you can take out
all the bolts that hold the pan in place. You have to pry and twist
a little to get the pan completely off the car. I drilled a hole
in the pan then welded a fitting to the pan that would attach to
the return oil line from the turbo. I then cleaned all the old RTV
sealant from the bottom of the block and the oil pan and applied
new RTV sealant and reinstalled it. After the pan was back on I
was able to connect the return oil line from the turbo to the pan.
Once that was done I connected the down pipe from the turbo to the
exhaust. I was now ready to connect the coolant lines to the turbo.
I cut the coolant line between the coolant reservoir and the water
pump. Then I connected the reservoir side to the water inlet side
of the turbo then connected the return side to the water pump. What
I was left with was a turbo that was blowing into the air. This
was pretty cool, because it sounded like a jet. I drove like this
for a couple weeks. The hard part of the install was now done. I
did this 1st step over a weekend. 
Now
I had to wait for the IC and FMU to arrive. The FMU arrived first.
The FMU works by increasing the fuel pressure as the boost rises.
This was a pretty straight forward install. I had to cut the return
fuel line from the fuel rail just beyond the FPR. The FMU gets connected
to both sides of the cut fuel line. The FMU had to also be connected
to the intake manifold so it would work under boost. I connected
vacuum line from the FMU to where the PCV valve used to connect
to the intake manifold. I was able to do this because the PCV valve
was now connected to the intake side of the turbo. This was done
so that the PCV valve would have constant vacuum. If I were to let
it stay were in was it would not work properly under boost, and
not let pressure vent from the valve cover. I also hooked up the
other port (that used to go to the OEM intake) of the valve cover
to the intake side of the turbo, to aid in venting pressure. While
waiting for the IC to arrive I had a flange welded to one of the
IC pipes. This flange is where the BOV is connected to the IC piping.
The BOV is designed to release built up pressure that is created
when you let of the throttle. The BOV also uses a vacuum line to
determine when the pressure needs to be released. I connected the
vacuum line from the BOV to the same place as the FMU and PCV valve.
After the IC arrived I was able to mount it to the bumper support
using some lag bolts. Once that was done I was able to cut and connect
all the IC pipes from the turbo through the IC and to the intake
manifold. 
Walla,
that's my turbo install in a nut shell. The total turbo project
cost about $800. Budget was the intent of this project and I saved
over $1000 compared to the cheapest turbo kit on the market, which
I might add doesn't come with half the stuff included in this install.
So far I am pretty please with the results. I haven't had to do
any tuning. I have the SPS FPR just in case the car would run lean,
but I haven't had to use it. I DON'T plan on using a boost controller.
I don't want to be temped to add more boost and if it's not there
I can't use it. I am thankful my clutch is still holding up. This
is the largest thing I have ever done to my car. I am pretty proud
to say that I designed the entire system myself. For the most part
I did the entire install myself, but I would like to thank Rob and
PJ for the help and most of all I would like to thank Tommy Hoppy
for doing all my welding for free. I hope this will help someone
with their own install of convince someone that it can be done on
a budget. 
I
found out the hooking up the PCV valve to the intake side of the
turbo was not the way to go. At idle the PCV valve couldn't work
properly. What was happening is that the intake side of the turbo
wasn't creating enough vacuum at idle to let the PCV valve vent
the pressure build-up inside the block and oil pan. This created
pressure in the return oil line to the turbo and the oil couldn't
flow through the turbo. Basically the pressure was building up in
the turbo and causing the oil to blow by the seals of the turbo.
This created a ton of smoke when I was stopped at a light of whatever.
The solution was to hook the PCV valve back to the intake manifold
where is originally was and leave the other port(that used to go
to the OEM intake) connected to the
intake of the turbo. Now the PCV valve will still work properly
under N/A conditions. The other port will vent pressure continuously
and increase ventilation as the boost increases.
