guys/gals with turbo mustangs, i have a few ?'s

[mineralgrey01gt]

I finally am getting a car I wanted for years and have a few questions about turbo cars. This is my first turbo car and am curious as to if there is any extra maintenance over a normal n/a car or supercharged car? Is there any pointers as to what to look for or pay attention for when driving or running one? This particular one has a Hellion single kit on it so is there anything to be paying attention to on the kit that could potentially fail or anything? Im ready to get this thing in my possession and start tying up the few loose ends on it to get it back on the road, and i mean a very few. Is there any advice you guys could offer me since this is my first turbo mustang, if so please post up

 

[Weather Man]

Fuel quality matters, carry a spare band clamp, carry some spare tools. if you are on E85, carry a spare set of plugs. Check shit over on a regular basis. If you are buying a car with a turbo already installed, verify the tune is safe.

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

It needs a retune, it blew a head gasket and the guy parked it so im going through everything and making sure its all good before I put it back together fixed. Ill be traveling to fastlane more than likely to get it tuned when the time comes. Thanks for the advice, im new to these so I literally dont know anything about maintaining one. Its set up to run on 93 octane which we have around this area. No E85 here

 

[jbou91]

You already bought it? I wouldn't purchase it with known issues, only after they have been addressed along with the tune. Just my 2 cents

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

Im bying it from a friend that built the car. The price I am getting it at is really dumb to pass it up even if I had to do a new shortblock for some reason which we looked at it today and it all looked good and the classic symptoms of a blown head gasket on the passenger side, everything else looked good that we could tell so far. Its a project that hopefully will not take much to get going. Its a full MMR built turbo long block with their ported heads and turbo cams. It has a hellion single turbo kit, built transmission, built rear end, etc, literally no corners cut, 26,000 miles on the car originally on billet specialties street lites, super clean car

 

[2001sleeper]

A lot of extra heat under the hood, so pay attention to electrical.

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

Definitely am paying attention to that, id love to hide all the wires but really need to focus on getting it running before hiding everything like id like to. Who has it now never had any electrical issues and it is a really clean install, very impressed with Hellion for sure

 

[03cobra#694]

What year?

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

2004 gt

 

[Weather Man]

If you think heat is an issue under the hood, swaintech the hotside. You can even do the turbine section of the turbo if fitting a blanket is to tight. Would not be a bad idea to compression/leakdown test when you have it back together. It will alert you to any issue and give you a baseline to compare with down the road.

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

Yes we are definitely doing a compression and leak down on it when it's back together. Thanks for the info on the hot side and turbo. Very helpful

 

[LightningLou]

Check for exhaust smoke as that could be turbo seals going out and re-build needed soon... A dentist drill type sound in boost could indicate turbo failure is near. Definitely carry some spare clamps and tools to tighten them. Can't tell you how many times I've had an intercooler hose blow off on my s4 until I finally got some better clamps and hulk tightened them on there. Also check oil levels all the time and make sure and use a slightly heavier weight oil or whatever the turbo mfr recommends.

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

Thanks Lightning Lou, will definitely keep all that in mind. Glad you said something about the sound is to listen for, im sure when I get it together the only sound ill be worry about is the turbo itself lol

 

[thomas91169]

Everything. Especially a car that was originally na and is now, imo, extensively modded. Sounds like more headache than its worth.

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

It's worth every penny for what I'm gettin it for

 

[static74]

Turbo cars are never truly 100%. Its always going to leak something, burn something, or need something. Just a matter of fact.

Fluids will be your worst nightmare, heat second. If I ever bought a turbo car from someone that didn't originally have a turbo on it the very first thing I would do is get it re-tuned by someone I know and trust.

And always, always run good oil. Carry extra parts, be prepared for clamps blowing off, shit leaking, and paying attention to smells. Is something burning? Yes. Money.

 

[MachME]

it blew a head gasket and the guy parked it

If it has sat for a while, the coolant could be corroding things inside the engine.

 

[nxhappy]

And always, always run good oil. Carry extra parts, be prepared for clamps blowing off, shit leaking, and paying attention to smells. Is something burning? Yes. Money.

lmfao.

 

[Torch10th]

Im bying it from a friend that built the car. The price I am getting it at is really dumb to pass it up even if I had to do a new shortblock for some reason which we looked at it today and it all looked good and the classic symptoms of a blown head gasket on the passenger side, everything else looked good that we could tell so far. Its a project that hopefully will not take much to get going. Its a full MMR built turbo long block with their ported heads and turbo cams. It has a hellion single turbo kit, built transmission, built rear end, etc, literally no corners cut, 26,000 miles on the car originally on billet specialties street lites, super clean car

I would lay odds that if you opened up the engine completely you'd find the bearings have been pounded out of it. If you haven't already purchased this car, but are wanting it, put money in your budget to have the engine overhauled. Well tuned engines, even boosted applications don't pop head gaskets for no reason. I would bet the little men with hammers have had their way through the short block.

 

[mc01svt]

thanks guys, i am now afraid to own any turbo vehicles