Help with intercooler/turbo, afew questions

[MoparFan1]

Alright, I've got some decent plans for upgrading this winter. So far, I've spent over $1000 on tires, an intercooler, iridium spark plugs, Accel plug wires, Accel ignition coil, K&N air filter, 2 3/4" exhaust (straightpipe with glasspack), 255 L/Hr fuel pump, and +40% injectors.

Now, I have a Mitsubishi Turbo though, and its an '88 TI block. I want to run a stage 4 or 5 calibration from FWD performance, but I don't know if the intercooled Mitsu turbo could handle the levels of boost that I want to run. I don't want to have to pull the motor...

I would also need a cal that utilizes the +40 injectors, because I can't return them.

One more thing, is it safe to wire brush an intercooler and paint it with high heat paint? I want to paint it with black high heat paint and have "Shelby" in Flash red (colour of car) in the centre of the intercooler.

Thanks for any help.

[GLHNSLHT2]

Well I'll be a bit blunt and say you've wasted your money on a couple things. The coil and the iridium plugs aren't needed and I'm not sure I'd run the plugs in a turbo engine. Any intercooler is a good thing, what kind did you get? Never seen 2 3/4" exhaust. 3" or 2.5" yes.

Ok, now onto the car. The 88T1 motor is the weakest of all the TD motors. It has Lightweight rods and the tiny mitsu. If the rods don't bust the mitsu will trying to push boost levels much higher than 14psi. I'd find a cheap set of stock 2.5 or T2 injectors (same thing) 34lb'ers vs. your 27lb'ers and drop those in. Your stock computer will be able to handle them. The nice thing is you have a SMEC setup so you can drop in a 89 2.5 turbo shortblock and just swap the computer to run it.

1st things though I'd drop in the intercooler, and upgrade to the 2.5 injectors. After that I'd have the exhaust manifold ported (The Pope does awesome work) and upgrade to a 89 T2 garett turbo or a Super60 turbo. Next on the list would be to drop a 2.5 shortblock under the head. At that point you can have your computer converted to be flashable via a laptop and run D-cal on it which allows you to tune it yourself. Now this list should be done over the next few years so you have time to learn in stages what you're doing and how it affects the car. Also read the turbo basics over at thedodgegarage.com a couple times. Some of the info there is a little outdated but most of it is very important in learning about these cars.

[MoparFan1]

My bad, the exhaust is actually 2.5".

I've read thedodgegarage.com over and over again, getting the basics. How much upgrading is worth doing on this engine? If I get an air-fuel gauge, I can protect the rods from breaking, correct? I figured the coil wouldn't be needed, but it was just about as cheap as the regular coil at the NAPA in my town anyway. What type of plugs should I be using if not the Iridium, and why are they not great in Turbos? They seemed to be working great before I parked it for the winter.

I bought a regular TII used intercooler in good shape, brackets are rusting a bit/paint is flaking off, but other than that its good.

What would be wrong with upgrading to a stage 4/5 calibration instead of attempting to tune it myself with a D-Cal? Is there any possible way that this car could handle higher levels of boost, without switching the rods/pistons? I'm looking at something I can do over the winter and have a fast car when summer comes. I'm near 17 years old BTW, and I'm stuck driving my 2.5L N/A 1990 Daytona Automatic for the winter, and I would like the Turbo going again for the summer, to do partial racing and use as a driver.

If there is a possible way to get this car running higher levels of boost without doing an entire motor job, then I'd like to hear it. Buying a Garrett turbo isn't much of a problem, I've been saving my cash to upgrade this car.

[OmniGuy123]

If you have a reliable second car, just run what you have. With a TII cooler, and a mitsu you will be limited as to what boost you can run. However you will still be able to have a ton of fun in the car until you upgrade to a larger turbo. Even then it will be a while before you challenge the durability of the rods.

Even when one of the rods lets go, you could pick up a common block short block from the yard for cheap and run it. I say proceed as planned.

[GLHNSLHT2]

I wouldn't push it till it blows a rod. The resuliting carnage could ruin the head and the turbo. The car will be pretty quick at 14psi intercooled. High 14's shouldn't be hard at that boost.
An a/f gauge will not protect you from busting a rod. It will offer some protection against nuking a piston though. What kind of car is this? Shadow? Daytona? Lebaron?
Would you rather tune it yourself or have someone guess at what your car needs. Think of the looks on your buddies faces when you whip out a laptop and tune the car at the track or races. It's not that expensive. And it gives you the ability to control just about everything on your car. A nice thing is that you can switch cals so fast. Run a 3bar huge boost cal in the summer and a 2 bar low boost in the winter. Or just turn the boost level down on your 3 bar calibration. Whatever you fancy. No need to ever send your computer back for a recalibration.
The coil's cool if it's the same price. The stock coil puts out lots of voltage and you can run up to 30psi before it starts to not have enough power. The platinum plugs had a tendency to break apart under boost. Iridium is expensive and just not needed for performance in these cars. If you want to run a good plug try an Autolight AR51. The heat range matches an RN6YC champion which is pretty cold (helps reduce detonation) but they've been working great in my daytona for years now. They're also cheap.
Don't take a wire wheel to the intercooler, you'll bend all the cooling fins and then no air will flow through the core. Don't paint it with high temp paint as that will keep the heat in the i/c and you want to let it out. Paint the brackets but leave the i/c alone. The problem with using a chemical paint stripper is it usually just leaves chunks of paint inside the fins again limiting airflow through the core and reducing their efficiency. Ok this is long enough for now.

[turbovanman]

Iridium plugs aren't expensive, but it depends which ones you buy. In Canadian funds, the Denso's are roughly $25 each and are crap, I blew out 2 sets one summer. I have tried everything over the years and I go thru reg type plugs every 5000 km's, Champions seem to wear out the fastest. I am now running the NGK Iridiums, there $6 a plug and so far, so good. It smoothed out a pretty smooth idle. I checked the Power Kv and Spark Kv vs the NGK BPR9ES's and there a few 1000 lower for power and the spark is a bit lower also so that means using less voltage to fire. The spark time is lower and smoother. I figure these will last longer by far over the reg plugs and there only $3 more, big whoop. Also, using the Iridium version of the BPR9ES plugs, just add IX to the end. I also like these recessed tip plugs, there less detonation resistant, worked on my van and my friends Mitsu powered van.

[MoparFan1]

This car is an '89 Daytona Shelby. 5spd tranny.

Where would I be able to pick up a D-cal? We've already got a laptop here at home, which would work nicely for tuning. Are the D-cals fairly user friendly too?

So if I don't paint the intercooler, is there anything I can do to clean it up a bit and make it last longer instead of bare metal? The paint on it is flaking pretty bad, and I'd like it to last me a little while.

Yeah, I have the NGK Iridiums, and they were $7 CDN/Plug.

[turbovanman]

Oh, the Accel wires are junk. There just regular wires, carbon core. You need to pick up some Aurora's, MSD, Magnacore or Taylors-they have a spiro metal core.

[GLHNSLHT2]

Look for D-cal on yahoo groups,

[MoparFan1]

Alright, membership to the D-Cal group is pending.

Hmm, so the Accel plug wires are no good? Maybe I'll just toss 'em into the 2.5L and pick up some Magnacore's.

[tryingbe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoparFan1 This car is an '89 Daytona Shelby. 5spd tranny.

Who stole the TII common block + garret and put a 88TI + mitsu in there? Is the tranny still A555?

[GLHNSLHT2]

it's called a 2.5 T1 motor and it was an option

[MoparFan1]

Actually, the previous owner did the swap, little did I know before I bought the car. It used to have an '89 2.2L turbo II, and now it has an '88 2.2L TI.
Transmission is still A555.

[tryingbe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GLHNSLHT2 it's called a 2.5 T1 motor and it was an option

Only with automatic daytona shelbys.

[GLHNSLHT2]

Not sure about 89's but 90+ you could get a 2.5T1 with a 523 Shelby.