Just wanted some ideas & opinions. Next year I want to add some power to my stock LT1. Wanted to know what everyone thinks is the better route to go and why for a daily driven car.

Here are the criteria:
Daily car, needs to be reliable and nice to drive on the street. Needs to pass smog in CA. Needs to not break the car

If I went STS it would be just 5 lbs so as to not (hopefully) break anything. I love the sound of that thing and like the "cool" factor of having a turbo. I also like the simplicity and short time to install (= less $$ I pay someone to do it ). What I don't want is to break the motor (about 15k miles on it).

If I went heads/cam can I? :
Add 100 rwhp like the STS (or more?)
Pass smog

And how would it drive?

Lastly, which one would be cheaper out the door including install labor?

 

I don't think the STS has a CARB EO# yet, so you legally couldn't put that on anyway. For immediate results, and remaining smog legal, you could put on a set of nicely ported LT4 heads with a CC305 (114* LSA). With tuning, you could see 325~335rwhp N/A and still be 100% smoggable. You can add the STS later and not change anything else internally. I realize the cam doesn't have an EO# either, but the technician can't see it, and the emissions are low enough that the state monitor will not detect it either.

That cam is mild, driveable, gets great mileage and will work with the STS relatively well.

 

Anybody else?

 

There are several people here in Utah that are running STS kits, that have passed emissions with them at full boar. Why wouldn't it be legal to put one on? It produces (roughly) the same volume of emissions before, and after one puts a turbo kit on, (which, by the way, is not nearly as drastic of a change as headers are, yet putting headers on your car is completely legal, even though the change in emissions they put out, might not be..) soo.. why wouldn't it be legal? ??? ???

 

He lives in Cali. It must have a CARB#.

 

Which I believe is in the works so it shouldn't be an issue anyway...

Any thoughts on the two different setups?

 

that turbo kit doesnt even look like a good idea on paper, much less under the gas tank behind the rear wheel. i dont care what anyone says, god put turbos near the intake for a reason!!!


HEADS and CAM are alot of fun, and a little n2o later, they really scream!

 

Heads/Cam all the way too much bs to worry about w/ FI on a stock engine...plus is a time bomb waiting to go off

 

Get the sts turbo, so somebody can find out where you live and get a hack saw and cut it off one night and sell it. ITs that easy. I made one for my car and before I sold it, my buddy and I tested that out. We decided to see how long it would take to steal. Well lets say I went food shopping with out him knowing I was there,but he did. I came out of the store after about 25min and the turbo to the muffler was gone. He cut the oil lines and used a chain cutter to cut the pipe. He said it was the easiest ever. He just stoled my $1500 turbo. This didnt really happen ,but we mocked it up and it can happen...Sounds like it can though. The turbo did work great under the back of the car,but it would work better under the hood and be safer,plus do you really want to run oil pressure to the back of your car.

 

I dont know...why wouldnt I? (serious question... I dont know)

 

I wanna know why more people just don't DIY a rear mount turbo.

3000-3500 is offensive to pay for .. what amounts to: a pretty inefficient setup. Also the dynos STS shows are offensivly rich.. like at some points the car is dipping int the high 9's / low 10's on AFR.. thats prolly 20-30 hp missed right there! So their whole FMU (like most) setup is just bunkbunkbunk.

I'm fabbing up my own rear mount setup (because I'm CHEAP) and using a Holset HX-35, which seems like a much better choice for a turbo IMO ... oh and mine will be intercooled as well All in all I'll have maybe a grand in the setup.

The only question I have now is which scavenge pump I wanna use..I have a couple choices, but I havn't decided. It should be noted one of the most expensive parts of the setup is the scavenge pump! The Holset I got for free... Dodge turbo-diesel owners basically throw them away when they step-up to a HX-40 or bigger.

I guess my only point is: If you're going to blow 3000+ on a FI setup (say you're not comfy DIY) why not spend it on a Vortech?

 

Just wondering , what would happen to your engine if the line broke or got caked up with the oil being so hot after you shut the engine off. I know they say that its cooler being back there, but I would still not shut it off after I drive it for while(turbo timer). Plus I have heard that the oil switch goes off at high rpm, meaning that the turbo is not getting oil. just my thoughts.

 

If the turbo ran AT ALL without oil, it would die. A turbo cannot be without oil for even a microsecond, so I don't believe that to be true rumor at all.

I'm not sure how STS accomplishes oil feed, but I'm doing it with a sandwich adapter to -> AN-4 stainless line. Having an SS feedline burst seems unlikely at best, and if it did oil pressure would go south real quick on the motor.

 

i would never even consider running a turbo on an 4th gen F body. and that kit that has the compressor back by the gas tank.....well......its your money. i can assure you, heads and cam are the easier route. it takes a lot to make a turbo car run good. pics of my car are on turbomustangs.com, so there you have my $.02

as far as the turbochargers durability goes, they last a long time. i had a 60-1 that i ran for 5 years before i sold it and precision turbo in dallas unspected the bearings for me and said they looked great. i dont think oil coking is an issue with the newer oils. its everthing else thats a pain in the ***, especially if you try to cram it all in the engine compartment of a 4th gen f body.

 

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