anyone here regret going turbo

[stangfreak]

This is a great thread. I also want to go turbo. But this is what I gathered. For the turbo to really shine you need an auto. The six speed is fun but it will be hard to control and drive a very high hp car. Too wild and you will just spin once the boost kicks and just blows the tires.

Blower is fun for the street. It's just if you want a crazy ride you have to roll around with race gas all the time. 19 lb vs 25 is huge. I use vp100 and to be honest it was cool at first but now it's annoying and expensive. Pump gas twin screw wasn't cutting it.

The turbo you can go from pump to race gas in a flash. With the auto my friends tt cobra at 14 lbs would piss all over my 22 lb 2.9 whipple setup. I have been in the car and it's retared. I refused the 20 lb round as he said the car gets silly.

So I guess IMO if you want an all out street brawler and track car go auto turbo. If you just want a fun fast street car with loads of tq and occasional strip use stay with the blower six speed.

 

[Elwood617]

I kept my swaybar even with the 4" downpipe

Did you buy a kit our make your own? I'm looking at the CPR kit, which keeps the sway bar.

 

[stangfreak]

CPR makes turbo kits for cobras?

 

[Elwood617]

Not a Cobra, sorry. Just trying to get some general info.

 

[stangfreak]

Oh ok. Would be cool to have another company make a kit for the cobra.

 

[spray'n mach 1]

My friend done a turbo on his camaro and it was fast the draw backs I saw was cost a nice kit is twice that of a ts/tvs. The under hood heat was insane on a cruise around town for a while and the weight of the kit. Turbos are the best power makers but I will go ts/TVs. Good luck

 

[Nightmare302]

My friend done a turbo on his camaro and it was fast the draw backs I saw was cost a nice kit is twice that of a ts/tvs. The under hood heat was insane on a cruise around town for a while and the weight of the kit. Turbos are the best power makers but I will go ts/TVs. Good luck

Turbo kits will be lighter than a TVS car. You have full tubular suspension and hardly any extra weight. The only reason it costs more is because of the tubular suspension, otherwise the costs are almost identical. Heat? Really? IAT's are normally cooler than PD cars. Please, don't talk about something you clearly have done zero research on. Also, 6 speed and turbo's work fine. However, the car would be much faster with an auto but that's the same as any car once you get up in the high hp cars.

 

[stangfreak]

Iat temps are cooler on turbo cars but turbos do produce much more heat.

 

[spray'n mach 1]

but turbos do produce much more heat.

this, all the exhaust ran into the engine bay gets really warm.

 

[spray'n mach 1]

Please, don't talk about something you clearly have done zero research on. .

engine heat chief, also my friends billet wheel 88mm T-6 weighed as much as a block, plus any car can run a new k-member.:banana:

 

[Nightmare302]

engine heat chief, also my friends billet wheel 88mm T-6 weighed as much as a block, plus any car can run a new k-member.:banana:

Engine bay heat does nothing, it's not a draw back and can be reduced in large amounts with a good setup and heat blanket. In terms of weight, I'd be shocked if a turbo car weighed any significant weight over a blower car. You complained about costs if you putting a tubular suspension under the blower car then you are at the same if not MORE cost depending if you decide to run quality long tubes and exhaust or not. If you prefer a TVS car for the "fun" factor of instant on torque that is fine, but you are not doing a good job of showing any TRUE drawback of going turbo.

 

[spray'n mach 1]

Engine bay heat does nothing, it's not a draw back and can be reduced in large amounts with a good setup and heat blanket. In terms of weight, I'd be shocked if a turbo car weighed any significant weight over a blower car. You complained about costs if you putting a tubular suspension under the blower car then you are at the same if not MORE cost depending if you decide to run quality long tubes and exhaust or not. If you prefer a TVS car for the "fun" factor of instant on torque that is fine, but you are not doing a good job of showing any TRUE drawback of going turbo.

That's cool you really love turbos but for the reasons I have listed I will be going ts/ TVs. If I was building a part-time track car or street terror then turbos are the ticket.

 

[Joyrider564]

Turbos can produce more heat in the engine bay. More exhaust running through there, plus you have pressurized exhaust between the turbo and the engine, which will also get very hot. You can cut back on it by having ceramic coating, header wrap, turbo blankets etc.

As for the weight, you have to consider you have an NA intake manifold as opposed to a supercharger/lower/intercooler. Sure, a T6 turbo is heavy, but most people will run 2 t3 turbos, or a single t4 on their street cobra.

 

[SecondhandSnake]

Turbo kits will be lighter than a TVS car. You have full tubular suspension and hardly any extra weight. The only reason it costs more is because of the tubular suspension, otherwise the costs are almost identical. Heat? Really? IAT's are normally cooler than PD cars. Please, don't talk about something you clearly have done zero research on. Also, 6 speed and turbo's work fine. However, the car would be much faster with an auto but that's the same as any car once you get up in the high hp cars.

To be fair, you can go tubular suspension with either setup.

Costs are going to vary upon what you get. It isn't fair to compare an on3 kit to a 3.4 or 2.8, the same way it isn't fair to compare a Hellion TT to an old 2.2.

Your IATs may be cooler, but all that turbo piping and the turbine housing itself can throw quite a bit of heat in the engine bay, even if you wrap it.

As far as the transmission choice, auto does offer a huge advantage over manual. With manual, every time you shift, you lose some of that exhaust gas energy and boost. Worst case is a plain manual and you actually close the throttle plate, dumping boost out the BOV during a shift. If you have a 2-step/antilag installed, you can keep the TB open and ignition retard can keep some of the exhaust energy, but it still never keeps it quite as well as an auto. That's just something you have to deal with.

 

[ruthless]

OP with what everyone has said...If you go cheap you will hate your turbo car. These setups are an entire package not just a mess of bolted on parts.

Step #1: Determine what you will be using the car for. That way you can build the car to make power in the RPM area you will be using it at.

Most street cars need power in a lower RPM band so go with an intake that fits your needs. Anyone running a sullivan intake and complaining about no lowend power should be kicked square in the nuts!

Also size your down pipe to your power level. Larger is not always better and the reason for this is flow. A 3.5 inch smoothly bent pipe is going to flow better then a 4 inch pipe with 90* bends and flatened sections.

Over kill on a front mount intercooler in the best thing you can do. You are after the lowest presure drop with the best cooling.

Under hood temps are not an issue is you wrap your exhaust pipes and use cover on your turbo. I can drive all day and place my hand on my hot side and not get burnt. Not only is keeping the temps in the pipes better for spool times but it keeps your underhood temps down.

Those are just a few tips.

BTW If you think you can get a good turbo kit setup properly got the cost of a twin screw...just go twin screw because its not going to happen.

 

[Cobracrazee1]

Thx guys for sharing all the knowledge and the experience. Much appreciated

 

[Turbo98]

Just for the record, I have twin T3/T4 turbos and they weigh 20 lbs/ea. I haven't weighted my turbo pipes but they don't seem to weigh that much. For comparison purposes, all cars need exhaust manifolds so that equals out. The exhaust pipes from the headers back will be the same on both cars. So basically you have the added weight of the up-pipes and the down pipes and the cold side (which can be aluminum tubing).

 

[Turbo98]

Subscribing. Do most people buy a kit or piece one together? And does that have an effect on their overall satisfaction?

After having both, go custom. Find a decent shop to fab one up. Then you'll get exactly what you want the first time around.

 

[BMR Tech]

It all depends on what you want.

I gave up a turbo Cobra, for a TVS Cobra. I am keeping the TVS Cobra, and going to do another Turbo build soon, on a different car.

I will say this, there aren't many cars on the road that could "yank" my TVS Cobra from a 40. My car wants to rip the world in half when going WOT from 40 in 2nd gear. The feeling of a Turbo/s "coming on" is just amazing, but so is the instant hit from a TS/TVS car, assuming you can hook.

 

[stangfreak]

It all depends on what you want.

I gave up a turbo Cobra, for a TVS Cobra. I am keeping the TVS Cobra, and going to do another Turbo build soon, on a different car.

I will say this, there aren't many cars on the road that could "yank" my TVS Cobra from a 40. My car wants to rip the world in half when going WOT from 40 in 2nd gear. The feeling of a Turbo/s "coming on" is just amazing, but so is the instant hit from a TS/TVS car, assuming you can hook.

right on. I wanted to go turbo but I am keeping my cobra supercharged. Maybe down the line ill pick up a cheap 5.0 automatic and turbo that thing.