My (not so much) Turbo'd ZX2

[Shadowen925]

My ZX2 is a white 98 MTX. It doesn't have any power accessory's aside from one remote to unlock the driver door and cruse control.
I bought the car from a local dealership after I sold my 88 Jeep Wrangler.



CHECK MY PHOTO GALLERY AT http://photobucket.com/ShadowenTurboZX2






I've been driving the car for just over a year now, mostly to and from a local college.
Now, however, I have decided to start modding. First off mod was my MMI intake.



I was very pleased with the purchases. This was followed by the Knock sensor being removed. Some minor interior mod's include a generic leather shift boot and carbon fiber looking shift knob. Also autozone "racing pedals".

Now it has become the time for me to begin my turbo build.

Original Cluster

S/R Cluster


Installed ODP and UDP (6/5/09)



The Turbo and parts arrived. (6/16/09)





Interior Pieces... Most of them. (6/18/09)
http://s298.photobucket.com/albums/m...terior%20swap/


The Building Starts.(6/22/09)
Today I received my 22mm RSB. I need to paint it and then I will install it. At the Meet I picked up some parts for my rear disk conversion. I'll be needing some rotors and calipers still. I spent most of the morning cleaning and washing off all of the parts from my charcoal interior. I was too warm and humid to be outside in the sunshine, so I waited for it to cool down some. Then, Korndog and I set out to clean the garage. Then we started ripping apart my car. Boost is on the way.


Getting the bumper off.

That's my dog Baxter. He just got a Major hair cut.


Boost kicked in yo!


Bumper is off


Taking the radiator out to free up room.


Radiator and heat shield.


Room!!! And removed that blasted heat shield


Coolant


Turbo and parts (and Unicycle)


Oops, we made a little mess.



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DAY #2

Day: (6/23/2009)
Hours Spent: 5
Summary: Today we got out the header, and the remaining stock exhaust. We also had to rebuild the turbo because it had a little shaft play so we ripped it apart and looked at what was wrong. We also found a nice crack in the stock header!

Cracked Header! OHES NOES! I wonder how long I've been driving like this.


FINALLY got the header out. man that was a pain!


Heres me trying to get that blasted stock downpipe unbolted, man those bolts are rusty *grabs grinder*


Did I say grinder? i think i did


Grinding COMPLETE!


Rebuilding the turbo


Once we got the turbo put back together we bolted the turbo to the turbo manifold to get it ready. We had to make a custom gasket. I wonder how long that will work.


Test fitting the turbo manifold and turbo. "Like A Glove"


Seeing that the car was still incomplete, we decided to end the night with flaming Boost!



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DAY #3

Day: (6/24/2009)
Hours Spent: 3
Summary: Today I picked up the gaskets for the turbo header as well as some for the exhaust and the hot side of the turbo. Korn and I got the manifold mounted and tightened down. Just enough to hold it. We had to move a coolant tube, which will now need to be extended to take out a kink.
I ran into 2 more problems tonight. First is an easy fix. I need to reroute a brake line. Second, I have to make a plate to move the compressor down about 1 inch so it will clear the downpipe.

Bolted up


Clearance for Radiator. You can also see the Clutch line in the way.


Downpipe will line up


The downpipe is bent correctly


Here is the gap in the compressor mounting. I believe I will have to make some type of an adapter plate to move it down about 1 inch.
Clearance for Radiator. You can also see the brake line in the way.


The interior still needs to be swapped. (Game fuel box mentioned earlier)


The hood and Fender


My intake and my charge pipe in the trunk



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DAY #4

Day: (6/25/2009)
Hours Spent: 1.5
Summary: Spent some time re-examining the downpipe. If I get it rebent, I can do without moving my radiator. I will be going to an exhaust shop tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, I spent the rest of the day helping Korn install his Gauge Pods.



DAY #5

Day: (6/26/2009)
Hours Spent: 5
Summary: Today, I got my downpipe redone so it would fit without with the AC. I also got it connected to the turbo. I reinstalled many things I'd taken off over the time of the install. Fixed my clutch line and coolant line problem. Bleed the clutch. I also remounted my radiator and then tried to figure out where I wanted the fan. I ran the piping to the intercooler and then to the charge pipe up to the throttle body. (only test fitting. nothing is clamped in yet.) Need to figure out where I'm putting the MAF and the piping for it.


The newly made downpipe. It's a little ugly but it will work


Downpipe fits well


Fixed the clutch line


Everything bolted up for the manifold


Intercooler placement test (zip-ties FTW)


Turbo coupler


"Mounted" intercooler


Radiator in and possible fan placement


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DAY #6

Day: (6/27/2009)
Hours Spent: <1 hour
Summary: It was a busy day. I had to pick my friend up from a bus stop. She just came back from CO.
Threw together some brackets to hold the intercooler


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DAY #7

Day: (6/28/2009)
Hours Spent: 6
Summary: Put lots of things back together. attached wastegate. Attached a bung to the oil pan and ran oil lines to and from turbo. Filled car with oil, cleaned oil off floor, inserted bolt in oil pan, filled car with oil.
I was too tired to take pictures after cleaning up most of the oil. I'll post them later


DAY #8

Day: (6/29/2009)
Hours Spent: 5
Summary: Plugged things in. Dropped the car. At first I forgot to install the serpentine bealt. Only ran for a few seconds. Possible Problems..... Turbo is burning hydraulic oil from the turbo "rebuild". That wasn't a good idea. The Clutch needs to be bleed a bit more. I don't know what I'm running at boost wise. Few other things.

First start


Wastegate configuration


Wastegate configuration angle 2


Oil tap


MAF position (stock with stock injectors till i take to tune)


Car "done"





DONE!!!
I with the build that is. Time to tune.


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Few problems

Day: (7/5/2009)
Summary: The gasket I has used for the turbo manifold has melted and caused there to be a gap. The turbo vibrated from the engine and caused me to lose 2 bolts and jiggled the other 2 halfway out. Car is parked for the time being. The exhaust is scheduled to be here tomorrow. Car is parked again....

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Removal of Turbo

Day: (7/6/2009)
Hours Spent: 5
Summary: My Exhaust came in today. I spent most of the day after work removing the turbo, manifold and downpipe. I installed my Exhaust. It is just hanging waiting to be bolted up.

Turbo/DP removed


Slight Oops when removing


Old Exhaust


Damage


Shiny


Clean for now


18" resonator



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RSB, Charcoal swap, and gauges

Day: (7/7/2009)
Hours Spent: 6
Summary: My gauges came today. I wanted to install them, so I decided I would after I installed my 22mm RSB. I figured I'd swap my charcoal too while I'm at it.

The friends


RSB compare


The gauges


Guttation


More guttation


Say ahh


Clean me


Take your shoes off please


Getting there


Yup.... It happened


Gauge temp


Gonna call it a night for now



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New Car Audio

Day: (7/31/2009)
Hours Spent: 4-5 hours
Summary: Installed my new deck and speakers

Got:
Infinity 6.5" speakers for the doors


Infinity 6x8" speakers for the rear


Jensen VM9312HD Headunit


Will get pics of inside car


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Byron Dragway, Test and Tune

Day: (8/1/2009)
Summary: Took a trip to the Byron, IL Dragway do to some number crunching. Korndog in his Tiburon and my friend Ben in his Toyota Camry joined me for racing as well as 2 friends came to watch.
I was car #38. Korndog was car #37(sometimes labeled car#31 on time slips because the chalk numbers smeared.) and my friend Ben was car #39. Here are my time slips.

Run #1
Bogged down at start and then I missed second gear.
Raced against some white project car... would have won.


Run #2
Spun starting in first so I shifted to second early, spun in second so I shifted into third, spun in third so I let off clutch in neutral, coasted then back into third and finally caught and finished the last half of the track.
Raced against Korndog's Tiburon


Run #3
Did not try to launch so I bogged down again. was good on shifting but I lost traction part of the way through second gear. Shifted well but sightly early on 4th.
Raced against Korndog's Tiburon


Run #4
Tried to launch without spinning, ruined my reaction time. had a decent launch and then shifting slightly before reline. I had a passenger this run.
Raced a "10.5 second" 70's style muscle car.


Run #5
Tried to launch again, tires spun slightly but was able to get some traction.
I had a different passenger. was late shifting into 3rd and 4th hitting redline.
Raced against Ben's Toyota Camry.


Run #6
Let air out of tires from 35ish to about 29 (give or take).
Had a good launch. Bounced redline again in 3rd, shifted early to 4th.
Raced against Korndog's Tiburon


Run #7
Got excited about breaking into 14's and ran again. Had a good launch but shifted early on 2nd and 4th. Engine was hot after previous run in a row.
Raced against Ben's Toyota Camry.


Run #8
Sat out a run to cool down. Had to clean up oil that popped my dip stick out of the tube and sprayed everywhere in my engine. Then Had a good launch, sifted all gears right at 7k.
Raced against Ben's Toyota Camry.


Run #9
Cooled off a bit more then ran one final time. Didn't get off the line as fast but had good shifts and ended up with a higher trap speed.
Raced against Ben's Toyota Camry.


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Aftermath of the Drag strip

Pressure shot the dipstick out when I was dragging a while back, I figured I'd zip tie it.
Then it just dripped out of the breather.


Ziptie Dipstick


Mess from where Oil shot up dragging. Wiped down a bit


Oil out of breather valve


Oil on tranny from Breather valve


Oil spray on hood from breather valve


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Car got lowered

Installed Tokico struts with Eibach springs

Old struts and goodies


Few more night shots













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Oil Catch Can

I made it myself for $9 in parts.
This is installed. I need to get different hoses, but It works.




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Current interior

Some current shots of the interior. My charcoal swap, redone ceiling, head unit, S/R steering wheel and cluster. Then some pictures of my catch can in the engine bay.
Note: The door panels are the not replaced in the pictures, but have been replace on the car as of now and are the same color as the dash.



Without flash


With flash



I have to swap the doors over still.


Also missing driver side a pillar till I get gauge pods


From driver's seat


Rear seats


Ceiling matches well


Catch can installed


Don't mind the zip ties... they are all temporary. Also the clear hoes does not like much heat. Will be replaced soon.


As she sits.... in the rain



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Carbon fiber hood and pictures of the car

This is all the really updating I've done. I've been tweaking and fixing little things. Also I've been having problems with cold starts and misfiring. I'm going to be checking spark plugs tomorrow.

The picture doesn't do justices


Another couple shots




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Went to the track yesterday (10/18/09)

I am on the Right (Car #103)



Remember, you can check out ALL of my Photo's at http://photobucket.com/ShadowenTurboZX2

[Shadowen925]

PARTS ON THE WAY
N/A

Turbo build:
Turbo: Garrett T3
Throttle Body: Will Probably pick up a ported one here soon
Manifold: Custom
Intercooler: Intercooled, not sure of dimentions
MAF: Stock
BOV: HKS BOV
Wastegate: Tial wastegate
Injectors: 38# injectors
Chip: STC X-2
Gauge Pod/Gauges: 3 pod from Nike I hope.

To be ordered still:
Buddy Club kit with Combat rear
CF hood?

[Shadowen925]

Place holder #2

[00EscortZx2]

I couldn't really tell by the picture but judging by the mud flaps, I'm guessing your Z is either a 98 or 99(-.5).

IIRC, you can use a Mustang TB with modification and of course you would want to port the intake mani or go with custom or a FRIM if you've got $700+ to fork out.

As for the exhaust manifold, a good old Fuckus stocker will do just fine, or an aftermarket ebay header will do good too, plus it's prettier to look at lol.

Any old intercooler will do as long as it's sealed up and the fins aren't all bent up.

This is where the 98/99(-.5) thing comes in to play. If you do have a 98/99(-.5), then you will need to go with a 4-wire MAF. If it's a 98(+.5) or 00, you will need to get a 6-wire. With tuning however, you can use your stock Zx2 MAF electronics and fit it in a larger MAF. Mine for example is being transplanted to a 90mm lightning housing.

BOV is key if you want your turbo to live. The better ones to get are any SSQV type BOV as they cut down on compressor surge better. But any properly functioning BOV will do, hell the ones off of 1G talons are great.

Injectors will make the car fall on it's face if they can't flow enough. Go with 42 and don't look back.

Chips are dead technology! SCT makes flashers now. You plug in to the DLC and listen to a few beeps and you're good to go. SCT would be probably one of the first things to buy as it will improve gas mileage and power while you're piecing it together.

As for gauges, a boost gauge is a must. That's obvious. But a wide-band AFR will do wonders for your tuner and you! Other then those 2 it's all up to you.

Don't forget the small stuff. Oil feed and return lines, charge pipes (ebay FTW!), a external wastegate if you plan on running high boost later on down the road, etc.

Turboing a Z is a long bumpy road. Don't get discouraged though. These engines are great when boosted. 10psi will easily get you in the low 200 for hp and tq. Fuckus zetecs on 29psi are getting in the 500hp range. But don't expect that on stock anything haha.

Hope I helped and not discouraged! Sorry for the book. I've been working on turboing mine for about a year now. Should be done this summer! GL HF DD!!

[Shadowen925]

It's a 98, you are correct. It has a 4 wire MAF. Any thoughts on a Probe turbo? Has anyone used this with our cars, Would it work well?

[00EscortZx2]

Any turbo will work. A good friend of mine has a super clean 1st gen probe 2.2t and with 160k the turbo still spools up fine. Check ebay for a MAF. I got my 90mm for $65ish shipped. SCT wants over $200 IIRC for their 90mm. I'm not 100% sure but I think the exhaust manifold on the probe is the same bolt pattern. If you could find one in the junkyard you could possible score the turbo manifold, turbo, and down pipe for under $80 give or take.

Keep us updated man. You seem to be asking all the right questions for somebody that really wants to turbo their Z lol.

[Korndog517]

Cant wait till your parts come in. its going to be a fun week of installing and learning.

[Shadowen925]

Cant wait till your parts come in. its going to be a fun week of installing and learning.

You're going to have to take pictures.

[Korndog517]

yeah LOTS of picutres, then we have to setup your car domain

[Shadowen925]

I'm adding some pics now of the UDP install

[Korndog517]

hmm ive seen that silver round thing before

[Shadowen925]

Updated OP.... Pics of turbo

[00EscortZx2]

Can't wait to see this thing on the car!!!!!

Edit:

Damn Baxter is huge!!!

[Shadowen925]

BUMP. Updated OP!

[mellowness65]

lucky bastard. you have chrome headlights stock. in a more related comment, you may as well take the header panel off so you wont damage it, and it improves the bumper's purpose as a tool bench