I was wondering to those that have any idea on turbos. first of all, i am doing a turbo project and i was wondering if anyone know how much boost you can add to a VE30DE motor without doing any major internal changes to the motor itself. Another question is that what size intercooler do you think would work best.I found a couple on ebay but after looking at the front side of my car very closely i dont have space for a large intercooler. Reason i am asking is that i dont want to spend too much money and just kill my motor i still like my MAX. any response is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

check the boost forum.
lots of good info and people there

 

thanks a lot!!

 

i recommend you don't plan on boost what do ever. turbo is NOT cheap...this is not a kit you slap on.

 

....

 

I got you. Well right now i am in the process of buying all the material tha ti need. i already purchased the manifolds that were custom made by one the guys just think of his name right now. all the piping will be custom made and fabricated to fit . the only reason i was really asking was because i see a lot of intercoolers that might be a potential but dont want one that is enourmous that i am forced to buy a front lip because i like my car looking stock and clean as possible and neither do i want to get an intercooler that will not serve the purpose. thanks.

 

Pull out your AC condensor and you have plenty of room between the bumper and radiator to fit a 3" thick intercooler... you wont even be able to see it making as "clean" as you could possibly get. No front lip required.

 

that's a bit inefficient..no?

 

How's it ineffcient? You're dropping a power hog of an AC system. I've been pondering over the idea of getting rid of mine as well. Of course, I'm not doing the turbo set up either.

 

I fit a 2.75" thick intercooler in, without removing anything except the power steering "cooler". I think 12 psi is the given "safe" level for daily driving, as long as you can provide the fuel.

 

well if the AC is NOT on how is it a power hog? it's just another pulley spinning free wheeling. but the inefficiency is more directed to the location of the IC.

for an air to air IC to work efficiently it should be right up front with direct contact with the cooler outside air. not behind a radiator or behind a bumper cover/radiator/radiator support...next to a hot exhaust manifold.

 

well how much boost to run is not the question. you could get a crappy turbo that will not make anymore than 250hp and run 20psi. Or you could get a good large turbo to make 400hp as low as 10psi. THe stock internals should hold about 350hp on a good tune. Some of the z31 guys are running as much as 450whp on stock internals.

 

How much boost you can add is directly porportional to your ability to tune correctly + the amount of proper equipment you have. You can toast your engine at 5psi or run for many years at 10psi.

Power = $ + equipment + ability.

 

I thought it was pretty clear, but I said BETWEEN the front bumper and radiator. Its still out in the front and recieves unrestricted airflow (maybe 5%-10% less than if it was INFRONT of the bumper)

In addition, the intake charge is going to be hotter than the ambient temperture under the hood, and even an intercooler behind the radiatior, radiator support, A/C condersor, bumper cover, etc... is still better than none at all, as proven by the Grand National (comes with its intercooler right behind the radiator)

 

missed the condensor part...for some reason i read compressor.

right...i never said it wouldn't work. i just said it's not efficient (your turn not reading).
we don't drive buicks...so it's agreeded that the IC on the GN is NOT efficient from GM's design.

 

also grand nationals run 8.4:1 compression which is much lower and safer than the VEs 10:1 so they have some leway in how efficient the intercooler is

 

well compression does play a part in it...but it's really air flow.

more hot air you cram into the motor means more cooling the IC needs to do....but huge ICs mean pressure loss/drop and small ICs won't cool enough.

more pressure (PSI) you run the hotter the air gets...so you need a better/bigger IC to cool the charge down.

going back to the point...if you run a IC in a bad place it's going to have a hard time cooling the charge since the outside cold air is not hitting it directly. so what you would have to resort to is a bigger IC to have more surface area to cool the charge..but then as discussed bigger IC means pressure drop..so there's a trade off.

so going back to your statement...the GN would boost more pressure due to the lower compression and higher boost pressure compared to a higher compression motor which can't tolerate higher boost pressures.

yes the 3.8 can run a hotter charge w/o detonating since it is going into a lower compression motor...but we know that hot air is not good for power.

it's 4am EST...some of that may not make sense.

 

So how much did you actually spend on the whole turbo kit? and do you think i could do it on a VE engine?