[Lewisp]

Jff45, I'd be interested in seeing those pics, as I'm also in the process of bolting a turbo to my 4.5. I'd like to go a hi mount turbo manifold but I'm not sure if that will limit my options for running a top mount intercooler and/or retaining my factory air filter.

 

[Lewisp]

Another couple of questions for the tb turbo guys, what did you do for the exhaust? Does the turbo muffle it enough to run a straight through 2.5 - 3 inch pipe without having an annoying drone? How did you go about making up a dump pipe or did you get an exhaust place to make one? Where did you mount O2 sensors?

 

[Lewisp]

Jff45, how did you plumb the new fuel pressure reg to the fuel rail? Can't quite see it in the pics you posted.
Did you replace the standard reg with a blanking plate with a barb?

 

[Lewisp]

Thought I may as we'll post an update on my conversion to keep the thread going. I pulled the troll of the road last week as it ran out of rego and I thought it'd be the perfect time to get stuck into the turbo conversion that I've been wanting to do for ages now.
I've opted to try an eBay hi mount manifold, time will tell if it's any good. The XR6 GT3540 I managed to score for $400 of gumtree and seems to be in pretty good nick has a little play in the shaft but has no cracks in the rear housing and no signs of compressor or turbine wheels hitting the wall.
As you can see from the pic, the eBay manifold doesn't leave much room for a dump pipe between the turbo and the firewall. Being a Ti, there are also a couple of A/C lines for the rear a/c unit that will have to be re-routed but that shouldn't be a huge deal.
I'm in no rush to get the car back on the road at the moment so I'm just happy to by the parts as I get the money, the next step I think will be to get the oil and coolant lines sorted for the turbo and figure out a way to get the heater hoses back onto the barbs in the firewall without taking up to much more room.
On another note, I've been quoted $1500 supply and install for a full 3' turbo back exhaust does that sound reasonable?

 

[Lewisp]

I'd deffinantly be going an AFR guage as well to keep an eye on mixtures.

 

[Lewisp]

Shouldn't the standadard ecu pickup that it's running rich via the o2 senosor and compensate?

 

[Lewisp]

I'm running 1/2 inch drain and 1/4' feed with a .8mm restrictor. I had the same experience with Ebay hoses, advertised as 8-AN (1/2') but the hose I received would have been no more than 6-AN (3/8') ID. Ended up just going to my local autobarn and purchasing all the required hose and barbs for the drain.

 

[Lewisp]

Where I tapped into the sump.

 

[Lewisp]

Looks good mate, you did well to fit the w2a in there with the hi mount, looking quite similar to my setup at the moment.
Is there a barb on your ic to plumb your iacv into?

 

[Lewisp]

Yeah, Idle air control valve is the bit with 2 plugs that sits on top of the intake manifold, I don't think it matters where it's plumbed to (either before or after the turbo) just as long as it's got a metered air supply from after the maf sensor. Looks like you should still have enough room to reinstall your heater hoses to, I wrapped my heater hoses in some heat reflective tape and fiberglass wrapped the dump pipe for some extra shielding.

 

[Lewisp]

Still on standard afm and ecu, had to upgrade to the rb25 injectors to keep it from leaning out at 3000rpm 6psi though. Down side of that is that it runs ultra rich from take off until boos comes on, that combined with the retarded timing makes it pretty sluggish down low. hauls ass from around 2 grand though. Factory ecu definitely needs some assistance to make the most of it.

 

[Lewisp]

I had problems with leaning out at 6psi even at around 75psi fuel pressure with the standard injectors. AFR's would climb into the high 13's by 3000rpm. with the rb25 injectors fuel pressure is back down to 40psi with AFR's in high 11's - low 12's right through the rev range. I read that above thread before I put in the Tb42 rods and I can definitely confirm there is a sharp corner on the head in the combustion chamber, whether or not it would cause detonation I'm not sure but I filed a chamfer along the edge when I had the head off just to be sure.

 

[Lewisp]

I'm still cruising around on the standard ecu with a 7lb wasegate spring, running very rich down low but pulls like a train from 2000rpm, Will sit on 120kmh all day and rarely drops out of overdrive unless I hit a steep hill. Very happy with the increased driveability with the exception of a low rpm bog as soon as you stab the throttle from a stand still. Will still roast any other 4x4 pulling away from a set of lights. Will be looking into a piggyback soon enough so I can lean out the bottom end and reclaim some fuel economy. Afr's from 10.0 at 1500rpm peaking at 12.3 at around 3000rpm then dropping g back to mid 11's untill red line.