Turbo charged GA?

[invaderzim624]

Has anyone here, or does anyone know someone, who has put a turbocharger in a 92-95 GA?

What would be involved? I have been considering selling my GA for a Camaro, but if turbocharging the GA would be simple, I would probably keep it.

Thanks.

[Azrael]

95-GT had most of a turbocharger project planned out but decided to spend the money on a twin turbo for his mustang instead. Mechanically it's no harder to turbo a GA than any other car. It's just that the tuning is especailly difficult for the 94-95's. But certainly do-able with the right equipment.

Some things you'd need for a basic (low-boost) setup are: exhaust manifold for the turbo, fuel control (full engine management is best, but will only really work if you're a 5-speed), boost control, and a good dyno-tuner nearby. For higher boost you'll also want to look into bigger injectors, ignition retard, and an intercooler. There's probably a lot more but I can't think of it right now.

[Colin]

Originally posted by Azrael
There's probably a lot more but I can't think of it right now. Extra trannys , or a friend in the business ..... :lol:

[invaderzim624]

So, what do you think the total price would be for something like that?

[Azrael]

The price for boost is never pretty. It would depend on the rates of the custom work that will be needed in your area. I would say $2500 at a bare minimum up to $4000 or more. It might be worth looking into seeing if any J-bodies (sunfires/cavaliers) that use the same engine have any kits available.

[invaderzim624]

I was planning on getting a used turbo from ebay or a junkyard. I was hoping this wouldn't cost over $1000 with using mostly ebay.

[Mike94SE]

check qual4forums.com, our body and motor are more well-known there and there is a mod who is blown there.

P.S. Just checked, there is a dedicated section

[urweak]

turboquad has a turboed 95 GA, hes making around 315whp with his setup. hes on quad4forums.com

[invaderzim624]

315?!?!?! HOLY HELL!

[invaderzim624]

Alright, email sent. We'll see what he's got to say.

[Matt95GT]

A turbo setup will not be easy or cheap. Look around Quad4forums or at Chris's n-body list... Chris fabricated nearly every part on his car... from the charge piping, to the turbo manifold. The manifolds that will fit the J-bodies will not fit the N-bodies due to the steering rack... the compressor housing actually has to be oriented upwards... which will create clearance probs. (he has more room thanx to the hood he glassed himself)

http://www.n-body.net/registry/kunfuzed01/

I've looked into this route in my few years of research into how to get boost on the 95. He was very helpful when I spoke to him at a bunch of shows we were at. My conclusion was it would cost too much (I don't have the means to fab my own manifolds) and would take too long. It's simply not a viable option unless you can fab everything and have garage space to work on it throughout the year. (and other transportation)

Originally posted by invaderzim624
I was planning on getting a used turbo from ebay or a junkyard. I was hoping this wouldn't cost over $1000 with using mostly ebay.

There's no way. That would be a tight budget to spend on the necessary fuel mods and tuning alone.

In general, plan to spend at least $3000 to boost any car out there... and be ready to spend more when the unexpected problems pop up... cause they will.

[ChevelleSSLS6]

heres a 3.3v6 turbo... *giggles at the thought of v6 torque before boost kicks in*

note that the photo was posted here in the forums once before, and yea I saved it onto my pc since I thought it was cool. Credits go to it's rightful owner.

[urweak]

heres turboquad4's dyno chart for the hell of it http://www.boomspeed.com/turboquad4/316hp_dynosheet.jpg

[invaderzim624]

WOW! Thats crazy.

[Matt95GT]

Originally posted by urweak
heres turboquad4's dyno chart for the hell of it http://www.boomspeed.com/turboquad4/316hp_dynosheet.jpg

There's some vids of that run... Although it was much better to see in person.
http://www.ice8420.com/iceman/videos/chrisdyno1.AVI
http://www.ice8420.com/iceman/videos/chrisdyno2.AVI
http://www.ice8420.com/iceman/videos/chrisdyno3.AVI

[BrownRecluse]

Check out www.turbosaturns.net
They have lots of helpful articles for turboing saturns, but most of the information is pretty universal and can be applied any vehicle.

Also, check out www.cheapturbo.com for good quality parts at Great prices.

[3100gagt]

using ebay is just asking for a blown engine.
i would check out www.mantapart.com and go the all motor way and me way more reliable.
pisons, rods, cam, valves you will be set. for under 2K and you can do it in stages.
plus eather way you you should build the motor.
for what you are going to get out of a ebay turbo a set of cams/springs will give you with no problems. while you have the head off get a full port and polish and the head shaved. So sick!!

[urweak]

screw mantapart, go with www.the-race-shop.com

[ChevelleSSLS6]

Originally posted by BrownRecluse
Check out www.turbosaturns.net
They have lots of helpful articles for turboing saturns, but most of the information is pretty universal and can be applied any vehicle.

Also, check out www.cheapturbo.com for good quality parts at Great prices.

www.qksltwo.com has some bad@$$ turbo vids, good info too.
click on the pic, click on media up top, scroll down and click on video archive, then click on general confusion, found under 1993 SL2 (you can download them all onto your hard drive like I did, too)
-matt

seriously, though, that is a bad@$$ vid!

[99blackSE]

ya that guy ate that SS...

[v6turbo48]

Originally posted by ChevelleSSLS6
heres a 3.3v6 turbo... *giggles at the thought of v6 torque before boost kicks in*

note that the photo was posted here in the forums once before, and yea I saved it onto my pc since I thought it was cool. Credits go to it's rightful owner.

This was an install that I did a while back for a friend of mine...

Additional pictures:
http://x11.putfile.com/12/33902141756-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=12/33902141756.jpg&s=x11)
http://x11.putfile.com/12/33901334381-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=12/33901334381.jpg&s=x11)
http://x10.putfile.com/12/34804130875-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=12/34804130875.jpg&s=x10)
http://x10.putfile.com/12/34804125720-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=12/34804125720.jpg&s=x10)
http://x10.putfile.com/12/34804124676-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=12/34804124676.jpg&s=x10)
http://x10.putfile.com/12/34804123426-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=12/34804123426.jpg&s=x10)
http://x11.putfile.com/12/33902134941-thumb.jpg (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=12/33902134941.jpg&s=x11)

Whole setup was around $1000 with eBay turbo, pipe from JC Whitney and a hose supply shop.

I didn't get much for the labor since it was a buddy.

Turbo was off of a mid 80's Dodge 4 cyl turbo mobile. The compressor housing was off of an audi, or saab if I remember right. It happened to have the right angle to mate with the MAF.


NO tuning required! This has a stock fuel pump, injectors, computer and chip. We did add an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, but it wasn't really necessary. This system ran about 10 psi non-intercooled on pump gas. All we did was go to a colder spark plug. AC Delco R42LTS if I remember right.

He ran it like that for a couple of years before selling it. No problems whatsoever. It was the only GA I've ever driven that smoked the tires through 1st gear, and barked them on the 1-2 shift.

Did I mention it was an automatic?

[v6turbo48]

Link to original thread:

Turbo GA Thread (http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15881&perpage=20&pagenumber=1)

[matt rupke]

im currently working on turboing my ga, i already have the hardest parts to get, the charge piping cause i have a 96 so there all custom. now i just need to get a t3/t4 garrett turbo and an 18x6x3 intercooler, anybody no were to get that size of an intercooler?

[NaturalKonc3pt]

I turboed my 97 3100 GAGT, i'm lovin it!!!

[tejohnson]

Originally posted by matt rupke
im currently working on turboing my ga, i already have the hardest parts to get, the charge piping cause i have a 96 so there all custom. now i just need to get a t3/t4 garrett turbo and an 18x6x3 intercooler, anybody no were to get that size of an intercooler?


Why so tiny?

[matt rupke]

the reason its that small of an intercooler is cause thats what the pipes were bent for, i dont have a pipe bender and im not experianced in pipe bending so i figured i would just go with what its ment for, but i have been thinking of getting a bigger intercooler.

[tejohnson]

I'd say do whatever makes sense for your setup. You oughta shop around a bit and see what size IC others with a similar setup use. See if you can get more info about what the air temps look like, and how much lag they experience. For example on mine, the passenger side of the IC is hotter than fire, but the driver side output is nice a "cool" to the touch. The IAT values I see are about ambient air temps, which tells me my JRC 8" is doing a great job ;)

As for the piping, don't let that hold you back from making critical decisions. Where there is will, theres a way ;)

I have no pipe bender either, yet I managed to do some pretty funky routing. See:

http://groomlakelabs.com/?q=gallery

Look at "Phase Two".