Ideas for my 1995 Lebaron convertible 3.0 build

[nimoryan]

Ok this is my idea so far after having read a bunch of these threads and talked to other people. Let me know what you all think as I want to do this right and not waste a lot of money. Also keep in mind what I am trying to do with the car. Mild not wild street driven daily driver.

Right now I would like to do a mild build up would like to hit the 200-240 hp range not looking to race this just have some good seat of the pants regular driving fun. It is my every day daily driver so I need to get it up and running again in the next few days. The only way I would port the heads is if I had an extra set and could do it while driving and then do a weekend warrior head change.

Right now the list of mod being installed this next two weeks includes,

All new top end gaskets
DOHC head gaskets,(for future turbo addition)
Water pump
Rebuild front head
Timing belt
synthetic oil
52 mm throttle body, match ported and smoothed to intake and visa-versa
91 3.0 pre smpi fuel rail,
27pph fuel injectors
forward motions adjustable fuel regulator
forward motion underdrive pulley
phenolic intake spacer
NGK y-grove spark plugs
Magnacore 9mm wires,
high performance cap and rotor
255 LPH Walboro fuel pump (stock one is dying) any suggestions here??
Advance timing to 14 deg BTC
K&N filter (possible ram air)
MSD 6A ignition
move coil to front of plenum

Then in the very near future ie the next month

High flow catalytic converter and better exhaust ( lots of mixed advice on what works here still looking for ideas on what is a good combo)
New Shocks and possible springs ( suggestions anyone)
New convertible top
fix stereo


My semi soon idea (i.e. when I figure out what a good combo is and someone to help walk me through programming and wiring the e-manage) is to add the following
Garret t3 or Mitsubishi TD05H 16G turbo or some other good choice for mid performance stock 3.0 block, (what turbo has been used here anyone?? suggestions??)
intercooler ?? still figuring out what one
greddy emanage
Eds turbo manifold

Now dreams would be a
TT DOHC 3.0 mated to a A604 with AWD, oh how I love custom building, and lotsaboosts Omni build has me drooling, sleeper heaven!

A little history on the car, is I was given the car by a friend when one of the heads got chewed up when the cam seal went wacky and so I need to replace the front head assembly (or so I have been told by a mechanic shop). Going to look into that myself when I tear this thing down, I know the head is making a grinding noise and smoking from the front so we shall see. Was going to do the water pump etc while in there and then add the before mentioned mods that I currently have the parts for. It runs great minus the head noise, and it only has 52k miles on it and is in great shape mostly. However it sat for a long long time without being driven so has some minor issues from that.

[nimoryan]

Also what turbo, downpipe, wastegate combo is best??

[c2xejk]

With 27# injectors, you will have to turn down the base fuel pressure some. The ECU will turn down the fueling so they don't gain you anything.

I don't think the DOHC gasket buys you anything. I am running a stock SOHC gasket with 7+psi of boost.

Right now I am running a T3/T04B hybrid with a H-compressor wheel and a stage 3 exhaust turbine w/.82 A/R housing.

[nimoryan]

So no on the injectors?? that part is easy, how are you controlling it all though, if I use the e-manage won't that compensate for the ECU fuel issue?? I was told by someone else to go with the DOHC head gaskets to get more strength as the stock ones weren't made for turbo applications. Do you have / make a down-pipe adapter / flange for the turbo or?? do I need to try and find one from somewhere? i think this is the only piece I don't have any line on right now.

[c2xejk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nimoryan So no on the injectors?? that part is easy, how are you controlling it all though, if I use the e-manage won't that compensate for the ECU fuel issue??

Yes and no. e-Manage can pull fuel out but it doesn't work as well with a MAP based fuel system. Once you add a turbo what will work best is setting the base pressure lower and then raise it with a FMU. From there you can use the e-Manage to add more fuel and re-trim if you improve the volumetric efficiency curve.

Quote:

I was told by someone else to go with the DOHC head gaskets to get more strength as the stock ones weren't made for turbo applications. Do you have / make a down-pipe adapter / flange for the turbo or??

I need to get information out, but yes on the downpipe for the rear mount turbo setup.

[nimoryan]

Ok so what combo would you use then,

Turbo?
FMU??
injectors?
what pressure for the fuel?

[Ondonti]

Yes, I would suggest the Felpro headgaskets, only if you blow your stockers out, which probably just means something bad is happening that you should fix first. Better to have the headgasket leak.

I ran 11.99 on a stock gasket. Didnt have problems with it until I had massive detonation with a high boost 24psi tune with STOCK ignition timing (way too high for that much boost).

Stock old gasket can run 11's if you have a good tune. I didnt back then.
BTW I didnt see Ported plenum with divider removed on your list! Its a lot of work but very very worth it on the top end.

[Tim_K]

Getting the plenum ported and the divider removed is actually pretty easy. I started to work on mine with a Dremel grinder and soon found out how much work it would be. So I went to see a guy I know who is a machinist and I told him what I wanted. He put both halves of the plenum in an end mill and carved all the bumps out, and I had a nice flat smooth inside on both halves when he was done. Cost me $40 but was VERY worth it. Then I took my Dremel grinder and did a little contouring and reshaping of the 6 intake port runner entrances.

[irocelectric93]

Hey ed with the .82 housing when are you seeing boost rpm wise?

[c2xejk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by irocelectric93 Hey ed with the .82 housing when are you seeing boost rpm wise?

Boost is 4-5psi until 3-3.5K. After that it will zing to 9psi and then settle to 7psi.

[c2xejk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nimoryan Ok so what combo would you use then, Turbo? FMU?? injectors? what pressure for the fuel?

Until you turbo, I would stick with the stock injectors. From there, if you are looking for ~240 whp

-27# injectors.
-FMU aka Fuel Management Unit. aka Rising rate of gain fuel pressure regulator.
-This will be dependent of the engine configuration. I emailed you a link to a turbo calculator to consider the multitude of options.
-I would set base fuel pressure fairly low so the injectors don't appear too big to the controller.

This should be good for ~6 psi depending on the engine VE (Volumetric Efficiency). Add in the e-Manage and you can extend the fuel pulsewidth for even more boost.

Let me clarify something. The ecu will correct for bigger injectors everywhere _accept_ at start. So with big injectors the engine will require extended cranks to start. You can get around this by cracking the throttle open during the crank to lean out the mixture. So you can probably get by without FMU and set the base pressure high, but the engine will start/run better with one.

[nimoryan]

Awesome, the pieces are coming together. This is my first major turbo application (since a Mercur XR4TI ten years ago). I have done mostly big block rear wheel drive stuff and this is my fist real foray into the world of FWD Turbo's.

What FMU do you recommend? I think this is the main thing in all of this that has me a bit at a loss. I want to stay away from detonation issues so I want to know a good safe range to set this.

What is the base PSI of the stock factory regulator?? I have seen two different styles of FMU so far and unless I am confused some go in tandem after the factory(or adjustable aftermarket regulator) like the cartech unit and others are stand alone.

Which is best?? I am assuming stand alone like the BEGi units. I like the BEGi units but is there a better one?

[c2xejk]

I have one that looks like this one NEW 12:1 FMU FUEL MANAGEMENT UNIT IMPREZA WRX STI TURBO:eBay Motors (item 200399672371 end time Nov-04-09 16:41:42 PST)

[omec]

cool thred. good luck on the project nimoryan! prob gonna start mine in the spring. gotta work out the bugs and break in the motor over the winter. FYI, Ed makes a nice turbo header . Now if we could just get that e-managment write up ;).

[nimoryan]

Ok so I think I will go with a quick spooling smaller T3 / T4 turbo for quick low RPM response don't need it much in the high rpm because of the way I drive it. I have a Garret T3/ T4 48/.42AR turbo that I think I will use. Any ideas on different turbines to use for it or mods to pull it up a bit in the RPM range?? thought about a .50 Ar or .60ar as well but i have the other so.... Should spool real fast and early don't want it to snappy on the throttle though. And I know it is small and I am ok with that for now I think.

I will also go with the BEGi 2022 or 2025 FMU and 27# injectors for now.
and hold off on the e-manage for now unless it is absolutely necessary. I don't think so with that small of a turbo and not a lot else schmancy done to it. What are your thoughts. I am going to smooth the ports on the heads and intake myself. not a true port job just a knock down smooth out job.

any ideas on where i can get an underdrive pulley as they aren't being made by Forward Motion any more and how about better aftermarket fuel rails.

Also I have read a lot of mixed data about the FMU do I put it on after the stock Fuel pressure regulator or do I just run it solo?? Kinda confused as to why I would need to leave the factory on in there.