Turbo mustang owners, come in.

[Nuar]

This is not a thread to help me decide on a turbo kit or a supercharger kit.
I simply want to satisfy my curiosity here. I always loved turbo mustangs (never owned one) and i read about all the turbo systems available all the time. Trying to soak up as much info as I can. Just an odd hobby of mine.

I simply wanted to get some input from people that have any kind of turbo setup on their cars.
I just had an opportunity to see a hellion TT car in person at a local car show and i could not stop drooling.

Got to talk to the owner and he basically told me, its not worth the hassle. In his words the base kit was just a begining and by the time its all said and done you're 15grand in a hole with still the stock motor. He had to modify the inlet tube, move the maff.... On top of that, the tune is still not 100% there after 30ish hours of tuning??
He started it up and it idled like stock, perfect. With a closed hood, i wouldnt know the car had twins on it...

Needless to say that was hard to hear lol

So, to the turbo stang owners on here:

Which kit do you own?

Stock or built motor?

How was the fit, ease of instalation?

What else, if anything, did you have to do to the car/kit to make it run perfect and or fit properly?

Who did the tune and how tough was that process?

Finally, do you have ANY issues with the car/kit after it was instlled/tuned?

 

[UnleashedBeast]

Did you ask him who tuned his car?

 

[Weather Man]

1. Comtemplate buying turbocharger.
2. Place left hand on workbench.
3. Pick up hammer with right hand.
4. Smash left hand with hammer repeatedly.
5. Buy supercharger.

 

[CPRsm]

1. Comtemplate buying turbocharger.
2. BUY GOOD KIT And enjoy. If not, continue to step 3.


3. Place left hand on workbench.
4. Pick up hammer with right hand.
5. Smash left hand with hammer repeatedly.
6. Buy supercharger.

Fixt :-D

 

[Weather Man]

Fixt :-D

Lol! I'm working on the exhaust from the downpipe back to open it up. MOAR money!

 

[Nuar]

I did ask who the tuner was but i dont remember the name anymore. Its up in Mass somewhere. Not a name that comes up on here.

Weather Man, looking at the sig pic, you are confirming what the guy told me lol.

 

[Bud]

After seeing just about every turbo kit out there make stupid power, do it efficiently, and be able to go from 500hp to 1000+ on the same turbos at the push of some buttons I'd never suggest somebody go supercharger for any reason. I am spoiled as I had somebody who knows what they are doing helping me on the install. If I had attempted it myself it would have taken a very long time, but would still be very much worth it in the end. Nothing good is easy fits here pretty well.

My kit fit ok, but that won't directly relate to the production Fluid kits which will have cast manifolds and merge pipes where I have handmade prototype pieces. It's all speculation but I'd expect the fit of the production kit to be good with parts like the manifolds and merge pipe being cast to tight tolerances and it being test fitted on many cars before being released. Also the maker of the kit and the tuner are one in the same with the Fluid kit, that is a big + in my book. They know the kit inside and out and already have experience fine tuning the calibration before it ever gets installed on your car. Both tuner and kit maker being the same company means you won't run into any problems of the tuner pointing at the kit when problems arise or vice versa. Other kits out there have that same luxory like JPC who builds their own kit and tunes it themselves.

Whatever that dood you talked to did to get 15k in the hole before finishing a turbo kit on a stock motor...he was doing it wrong. Some of the cheaper kits may need some tweaks or upgraded parts to help them along, but those kits are so cheap it is easy to absorb the cost of those changes.

I have a built motor. I am running the kit in its stock form except for fuel components. I purchased upgraded injectors, fuel system, trunk ice tank, and a good boost controller to get the most out of the kit. Those aren't all necessary though and could be added later down the road if you wanted to push it further.

Every kit out there will put a blower to shame (except maybe the hellion single), you probably can't go wrong with any of them as long as you research and know what you are getting into with each kit. Hopefully some others with different kits give some feedback here.

tttfmf

 

[hoodley]

I prefer the crack(n20)!!!!CHEAP THHRILLS1 pill it till u kill it! fix and repeat, still a 3rd of the price of boost.
yea yea I know it cant keep up with the turdbos...........or can it?

 

[Quesplosive]

I have the hellion twin kit and did the install on stands and ramps. Everything lined up when it came down to it. Some things were tight but in the end it worked out. I am not a mechanic. I followed the directions and did just as they said. Dont know about that guys setup or his troubles. What I can say is mines went smoothly. I paid the price of the kit and would have been done if thats how i wanted to leave it. I coated my pipes and bought a elec. boost controller. Where the money he is talking about got spent who knows. Maybe he broke parts along the way. :shrug: Dont remember the prices but well under 1k. You get everything you need with the kit. Had blower cars and will be doing turbo from here out. After my gear swap i will get on the rollers and see where Im at. I NEVER had stall issues, that seems to be some peoples problem. Note: I had injectors and bap from cobra.

Would definitely do over again instead of blower. .02 cents

 

[CPRsm]

I prefer the crack(n20)!!!!CHEAP THHRILLS1 pill it till u kill it! fix and repeat,....

I've been sayin' hookers 'N blo for some time now!!! Lol

 

[Bud]

I've been sayin' hookers 'N blo for some time now!!! Lol

Hrmm, upside to the ON3 kit. Money left over for hookers and blow. Just throwing that out there

 

[Sick_Mustang]

Hrmm, upside to the ON3 kit. Money left over for hookers and blow. Just throwing that out there

LMFAO literally.

 

[OG_]

Nitrous is fun until you run out. A centrifugal s/c can have adj. boost on the fly like a turbo too. Just thought I'd put that out there. If you're on a budget and still want turbos, On3 kit.

 

[Eric@jpc]

After seeing just about every turbo kit out there make stupid power, do it efficiently, and be able to go from 500hp to 1000+ on the same turbos at the push of some buttons I'd never suggest somebody go supercharger for any reason. I am spoiled as I had somebody who knows what they are doing helping me on the install. If I had attempted it myself it would have taken a very long time, but would still be very much worth it in the end. Nothing good is easy fits here pretty well.

My kit fit ok, but that won't directly relate to the production Fluid kits which will have cast manifolds and merge pipes where I have handmade prototype pieces. It's all speculation but I'd expect the fit of the production kit to be good with parts like the manifolds and merge pipe being cast to tight tolerances and it being test fitted on many cars before being released. Also the maker of the kit and the tuner are one in the same with the Fluid kit, that is a big + in my book. They know the kit inside and out and already have experience fine tuning the calibration before it ever gets installed on your car. Both tuner and kit maker being the same company means you won't run into any problems of the tuner pointing at the kit when problems arise or vice versa. Other kits out there have that same luxory like JPC who builds their own kit and tunes it themselves.

Whatever that dood you talked to did to get 15k in the hole before finishing a turbo kit on a stock motor...he was doing it wrong. Some of the cheaper kits may need some tweaks or upgraded parts to help them along, but those kits are so cheap it is easy to absorb the cost of those changes.

I have a built motor. I am running the kit in its stock form except for fuel components. I purchased upgraded injectors, fuel system, trunk ice tank, and a good boost controller to get the most out of the kit. Those aren't all necessary though and could be added later down the road if you wanted to push it further.

Every kit out there will put a blower to shame (except maybe the hellion single), you probably can't go wrong with any of them as long as you research and know what you are getting into with each kit. Hopefully some others with different kits give some feedback here.

tttfmf

Nice Post Bud and thanks for the kind words.

Also i would be awesome if we can make this constructive and not turn it into a war

 

[CSG]

One of the problems with these threads is everyone wants to lump all the "turbo kits" together like they all are the same. They certainly are not. I had the Hellion twin kit. To get the car to run and drive at an acceptable level it required removing the Hellion twin kit. Maybe my tuner and myself are also "donkey's" but I don't believe that to be the case. Some of our other respected tuners were involved in trying to sort out my car with no luck. They can speak up or remain silent as they wish. This is no reflection at all of the other kits out there.

 

[Weather Man]

Turbo kits are just not at the same level of product maturity as supercharger kits. It took a very big pile of money for kenne bell, vortec and the rest to be where they are at.

 

[Eric@jpc]

One of the problems with these threads is everyone wants to lump all the "turbo kits" together like they all are the same. They certainly are not. I had the Hellion twin kit. To get the car to run and drive at an acceptable level it required removing the Hellion twin kit. Maybe my tuner and myself are also "donkey's" but I don't believe that to be the case. Some of our other respected tuners were involved in trying to sort out my car with no luck. They can speak up or remain silent as they wish. This is no reflection at all of the other kits out there.

i personally have limited experience with hellion twin kits. so i cant comment, we have 3 here right now waiting to get on the dyno.

I think there are tricks to any system and as you figure it out you can fine tune problems like you were having.

 

[Nuar]

I am by no means trying to compare the kits as if they are all the same. Quite the opposite. I want to get an idea on all.of their differences. The good the bad and the terribly ugly(hellion single lol)

CSG what issues did you have with the twins?

 

[badbiach]

I have the Hellion twin kit. I purchased mine when really nothing else was available. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't hesitate doing it again. I also wouldn't hesitate putting my hand into a hat and coming out with a JPC or CPR kit. They are all good forms of boost! You are going to get great customer support from all of them. It is going to come down to which you think looks the best under your hood. Some people think the twins clutter things up, some think the twins look like they are meant to be there from the factory. You won't go wrong with any of them.

 

[poof100]

Here are my thoughts on my personal experience with both blowers and turbos. I hope not to turn it into a shit thread and hopefully I won't have to break out my Cheerleader outfit again as I've been told before. lol

I've been around the Mod motor scene for a long time. I took a break for a few years to get married, buy a house and start a family, but here's a little background on my experience with blowers and now Turbos.

I had a 99 Cobra, fully built, whole 9 yards. I went from a bolt on Procharger P1-SC kit (one of the first of it's kind back in 2000 with the SC units) to one of the very first D1-SC units in 2001. These were some of the first Self contained oiling units back then and some of the first kits to be put on a "returnless" style fuel system. 99 was the first year the cars went to a returnless system. Fast forward, I switched to a Return style system with the big D1-SC, built motor, cams, you name it. Jimmy Larocca tuned it back then and I went with Procharger due to its domination in NMRA racing and of course Jimmy's relationships with Procharger. For those that don't know Larocca, he's gone 7's long before most of us knew what a 5.0 was. Back then, Prochargers were the baddest out there, they came with Intercooler setups but were more expensive than the Vortech/Paxton units because of the intercooler etc.

I wanted to make 700 if not more back then, which was high for a mod motor. The Procharger moved some air, but we had all kinds of constant belt slippage issues. 8 rib conversions etc. Would I still buy a Procharger, sure if I wanted a blower. That is until I moved to a Turbo setup. The blowers were fun, but wanting to make more power, meant swapping pulleys, changing belts that would constantly get torn up etc, got old etc. It worked back then and made power, but the blower definitely had it's own issues. Also, back then the MAF was a disaster to tune, we got a custom "Uni lever" from Pro-M, that was high tech back then from those guys. lol. In the end, I was happy, but if I had known what I know now about Turbos, no way would I pick a blower again.

Currently, I have a Boss 302 (still stock shortblock) with JPC's Single Turbo kit. I went with JPC's Turbo kit for a few reasons:

1) Justin's and JPC's racing background heavily swayed me to buy their Turbo kit. As I had Larocca in the past, I wanted a well known and well respected Shop doing the install/tuning.
2) The first 4 or 5 kits before mine made some outstanding power, Al Davis' car, Clinton's car etc. I knew 700rwhp and up was going to be easy
3) Seeing the kit installed on other cars, it is a VERY Clean install, looks almost factory for a Turbo kit. I get tons of comments constantly about how clean it looks, etc. Even Mark from UPR, who has another Turbo kit on their 2011, commented on how much he liked the setup and how clean it looks etc.

What I added on to the kit to make the power I'm making:

Full return Fuel system, but if you goal is 600rwhp, good ID injectors and a BAP will suffice, all depends on how much power you want.

Billet Oil pump gears and Livernois Valve springs- I did these for piece of mind and also knowing I wanted to run 12+lbs of boost, so wanted a stiffer spring and the oil gears for safety and longevity etc. These aren't REQUIRED, but highly recommend them. I'd recommend the Oil gears for any Blower car too, so that's a wash.

AMS 1000 Boost Controller- Trick setup to run boost by gear with the Magnum XL, scramble boost function etc. I'd recommend any good Boost controller if you want to instantly control how much boost you make, tune it for the track etc. The kit will work fine though with the manual controller and whatever wastegate spring you choose to run.

Am I happy with the kit, impressions etc?

I love the kit, it's very easy to change boost both on the street and at the track. I can quickly flip the scramble button and run a higher boost level on the street. The kit makes power at 3500rpms and is a very flat Torque curve. Having had Prochargers, the curve is no comparison from the blower to the Turbo. Having 500+ hp/tq at 4000rpms and up brings the power on so much faster than a comparable blower.

The car starts, idles and drives like stock. My Boss was in 5.0 Mustang's KOTS competition back in NMRA bowling green in 2013. The writeup is in the May 2014 5.0 Magazine for reference. On the ride and drive part, Michael Johnson (5.0 tech editor) drove the car for a good 20-30 mins around Bowling green. He loved how the car started, drove etc and very smooth on power etc. In fact he loved it so much, we pulled up along side a crotch rocket (750) I think and we roll raced it! lol. He said the car set the bar for Driveability and loved how easy it was to drive fast etc.

Having a good tuner is always helpful but in terms of the JPC Single Turbo kit, it makes power easily, drives like stock and looks sharp under the hood. I have infinite possibilities for making different boost levels and I have 2 tunes, 1 for 93 pump and 1 for E85, easily switchable. I run the car mostly on E85 for more power and safer etc, but 93 would be fine as well.

I'd highly recommend the JPC Single Turbo kit as it comes with a lot of nice parts, Precision Billet wheel Turbo, Precision Wastegates, Tial BOV, etc.

Hope this helps. The car has also been in Race Pages for their Turbo edition and StangTV did a feature on the car. The car was also featured in American Muscle's Dyno shootout at their 2013 Show last August.

Just my 2 cents here.