Sean: Turbo possibility...

[toastychicken]

Sean- found a guy in Orlando selling a full T3 turbo kit for the Grand Am. He's currently one of the fastest GA's on record, so I've got some faith in his GA decision making, and since he's nearby he may be able to throw in a hand of help too. Check out this thread and see if it sounds like the whole package is there...

http://www.grandamgt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25975

Sounds pretty damn cheap to me. T3 turbo, intercooler, and FMU for $970, plus a couple minor parts. Thoughts?


EDIT: 6-7psi boost is better than no boost, eh?

[TheSean]

No, i really wouldnot do that. First of all, the guy just says "T3" and "intercooler". I cant see pics nor attachments because im not logged in. D/L them and send em to kelly9b5@erau.edu


Get me some conatct info for the guy and ill get ahold of him and do a few inquiries. In any case, buyer beware; especially when dealing with turbos. They are in general a fixed price and so are most of the other components of that kit. The guy, if you said he knows what hes doing, isnt gonna take aany kind of price hit on this kit. Hence, you are gonna get what you pay for. a T3 in usable (read: usable) condition will fetch no less than $200. An HKS BOV is $200 VERY used! front mounts fetch minimum $500 new, maybe 200 used. Aluminum piping is EXPENSIVE! at least $200 for used, $500 new. Hes got all the flanges and whatnot, but as i total tha price of just the axilllary parts together, something seems wrong. That deal is too good to be true. If you wanna ride over some time and look at it, i will. If everything is legit (which i highly doubt), i will buy it and sell those parts for $1200 easy :rolleyes:

Also, you are gonna spend at minimum another $200 on install. That's with me working on it, too [with no labor, in other words]. Dont ever assume youre gonna get free power: in the slim chance that this kit is good, youre gonna have to address fuel supply issues, injectors if yous areent up to par, gauges are a must, running 93 ALL THE TIME, your tranny better be ready to handle 70 more HP, where to mount all the stuff.. etc etc. It's a long process that requires a skilled hand to think through. Also, this will decimate any warranty you have left, kill your gas mileage, and make the car generally not daily driver friendly. I also dont seem to gain any confidence in the seller just by reading that thread. Get me some more info and ill see what we can do. It would be really cool, though, but if you can budget $1300 and dont mind your car being down for a week, ill be happy to help out :) Good luck!


-Sean

[Grannynational]

You will need more fuel. Pump, injectors, regulator.

Putting a turbo on a N/A car usually kills drivability. If you want a quick cheap car, get a SRT-4, 10 year 100,000 mile warentee on powertrain, cant beat that.

Joe

[Grannynational]

do you have a 2.4 or a 3.1?

the 2.4 pops head gaskets and the 3.1 eats intake gaskets

Joe

[toastychicken]

Joe, neither- in 99 Grand Am now have a 3.4L, much sturdier than the older 3.1's.

I'm figuring I'm putting out about 185ish hp and 215ish torque after my exhaust, and I read somewhere that the stock tranny can only take about 240-250ft-lbs...definately the weak point on our drivetrain. There are a few options, but to really build up the tranny would take alot of custom work (=$$$).

Sean, you've got mail.

[Grannynational]

you could safely put a 50 or 75 dry shot of N20 before the MAF and not worry about anything, may want to consiter that, it wont affect driveability

Joe

[toastychicken]

Yeah a 75 shot has been used on a stock GA internals just fine before, and I've heard a 50-shot has no trouble whatsoever. But getting nitrous by the rents is quite a bit harder than a turbo...

[Ed]

How is nitrous harder to get by parents? You can hide a bottle and all the little plumbing. A turbo is a MUCH more troublesome procedure and is much more noticable.

Spray it!! :D

[toastychicken]

Well, technically their money bought the car in the first place, so there are moral issues at hand here. The SLP was fine because there was no downside at all. "Nitrous" to an adult means spraying a highly explosive and dangerous chemical into the unprepared engine, making you go insanely fast with devastating aftereffects on the motor (which we all know isn't true if done properly). "Turbo" means "ultra go fast, race people everywhere, and put strain on the engine it wasn't meant to handle" (which again isn't true if done properly). Turbo I just think will be easier to pass because it contains none of this "dangerous" nitro-glycerine or whatever they think it is.

But then again...2 years from now I could have enough money for a TA. Hmph. I'm too impatient :D

[TheSean]

done properly, a turbo will fuck your car badly :D


my reccomandation: take the bottle out when you go home! :cool:

But if you want to shove air into your cylinders, ill be happy to help.

Sean

[Grannynational]

spay it or trade it for a neon. I hate to say that but I got a ride in one and they are quick and cheap.

Joe

[toastychicken]

When they give the SRT-4 a body that doesn't make it look like a hampster on crack...then I'll consider it. But also consider I don't have anywhere NEAR that kind of money lying around. Gotta work with what you make, ya know?

I'm not really that partial to nitrous either...I prefer "power anytime" as opposed to "power on demand". Buuut I guess that means new car right? :rolleyes: The GA's gonna be my platform for the next couple years.

[Ed]

You've got a good thing going, though. The Grand Am is a reliable daily driver that already has a fair amount of pep. Going nuts with that turbo kit will cause more headaches than you can imagine. I'm usually against nitrous, too, but in your application it makes sense. It won't hurt reliability in the least and it makes for quite a good sleeper. :)

[Luke01GT]

when in doubt ... SPRAY IT

[HORSEpower]

spay it or trade it for a neon. I hate to say that but I got a ride in one and they are quick and cheap.

Joe

No matter how you look at it, you are still getting a dodge. We'll see how these cars stand the test of time. It's a strong engine and all, but it's in a Neon, which is one of the worst engineered cars of all time.

Kurt