Ok I've been reading alot about turbos on this forum, as well as a bunch of other places for about 2 months. I'm not the type to ask stupid questions without first looking for the answers myself, but I'm not having much luck with a few specific things.

First of all I have a basically stock maxima. Y pipe is pretty much the only performance mod I've got going right now. I want to prep for turbo-ing at the begining of next year. If I decide to continue, then I will be collecting parts while I continue to learn.

My planned prep for this summer is:

3" exhaust (if possible, if not than catback)

00vi swap with injectors + fuel rail

Pathy TB

Some kind of piggy back fuel management

My questions are:

1. Am I correct in thinking that the Y pipe must be custom made and run to wherever I decide to place the turbo?

2. Is the same true for one of the headers?

3. Is it best to get a piggyback A/F controller or get the car tuned by a performance shop?

4. Will a nonrestrictive 2.5" exhaust really not work or is 3" just optimal? (planning on running about 8-9 pounds of boost)

1 yes you have to connect front and back exhaust to one pipe and the to the turbo then make the down pipe

2 idk what you mean

3 actualy what i did is i used a fuel timing control made buy spit second but you have to have a show that can tune it

4 and yes the 2.5" is enough you have to have sone restriction to it

(i'm only running 8 lbs)

example mine

You can use a afc or eb,eu. I am using SAFCII's in both my supercharged and turbo cars. If you plan to stay low boost go for a afc,but if you plan to get the most out of your setup go eb or eu. Also if you need pics on how things are ran on my car let me know i can help ya out.

thanks alot, I was starting to think the budget and learning curve for turbos was too much, but I'm taking it back into consideration now

how much did it cost you guys for your custom piping?

my piping cost 3000 for the pipe work the injectors installed battery located and ftc hooked up you just need the tuner turbo intercooler and injectors it will run you abought 5000

1) Yes the piping would need to be custom made unless you buy one of the premade kits.

2) Same as above, you could use aftermarket headers and then modify them to make a custom setup if you wanted.

3) Any shop will need something to tune with, meaning you'll need to have a piggy back installed (or a standalone, which is complete overkill for a person just learning about boost). The only other option is an off the shelf ECU tune by JWT which makes things simple, but doesn't allow for user changes. Any changes you need, you'd need to ship the ECU back to JWT, wait for them to make the changes, then send it back. Meanwhile your car is sitting there.

4) 2.5" will work ok, 3" will work better. On a turbo car, after the turbo, there is no such thing as too large of an exhaust. Anyone that says otherwise does not know what they're talking about. You want as little backpressure as possible after the turbine on a turbo vehicle. Obviously the larger and more free flowing the exhaust, the less backpressure you'll have.

Bzzzzz.... I disagree with you. Neal said it best. Backpressure is never a good thing.

thanks for the help, there are just a couple more things I'm not sure on (well more than a couple, but a couple for right now)

1. does the compressed air run into the midpipe of the intake?

2. Are the '00 injectors and fuel rail big enough? or do I need 300zx injectors?

1. Not sure if you understand the fundamentals, if you do ignore my post but a Turbo charger has 2 sides your intake side and your exhaust side.

The exhaust side takes hot air into it and spins a turbine wheel which is connected to a shaft leading into the intake side (where your compressor is). The spinning of the turbine wheel allows the compressor to take air into it and compress the air (to the amount of Boost or PSI) which is then feed through the compressor housing out to the intercooler then up through the intake (charge) piping into your engine.

The best setup is to have the exhaust gas that is going to be pushing through the exhaust housing of the turbo to be as hot as possible and to have some pressure to it. The heat is transfered into energy along with the pressure / speed of the exhaust gases, you want the largest downpipe / exhaust as possible so that the air coming out of the exhaust housing can get out as fast as possible to allow for faster spool etc etc...

here is a good picture to relate to the above terms...



Btw, I am not an expert at this stuff, so if I used the wrong term of wrong reasoning correct me but I feel my information is correct.

So I was right, the compressed air from the turbo enters the engine via the intake piping. (which makes sense because otherwise how would it pass through the MAF ) Just wanted to be sure so I can have a clear picture in my mind.

Are the 5th gen injectors going to be big enough or should I get 300zx injectors?

I'd go with the 370's once you go FI. The difference between 5th gen injectors and 4th gen injectors is small, and the 370's will accommodate you in the future as you seek more power. When you install the 00VI, I'd just go the route where you keep the stock injectors intact.

thanks Wizard!

that's what I was hoping to hear



So I need:

Least restrictive exhaust possible,

Walbro Fuel pump,

300zx injectors and MAF,

SAFC II,

and wideband o2 sensors?

That covers most of my turbo prep right?

have I missed anything important?

Answers;

1. pending on the y-pipe and placement of the turbo you'll need to probably replace it with a custom forward y-pipe!
2. the headers can remain stock and be bolted up to a custom y-pipe!
3. car tuned by a performance shop is always the best way to go, but that doesn't mean its the only way, I have a afc-neo and a billet fmu 4:1 and a walbro fuel pump and it works well, but still needs to be tuned by a professional or at least someone with a wideband.
4. A nonrestictive 2.5" exhaust should be good till about 360whp at least and It will be a little more quite than 3", I have a 2.5" and it works great!
any questions that I can help u with u can PM me

but everyone goes there own way and the more upgrades done properly the better the car will be!

as for the forward facing Y-Pipe, does anyone have any pictures of the set up. I know the absound has a very ncie set up, but i am not finding any "pictures" or diagrams of the set up through the search. Correct me if im wrong. I am interested in seeing how this is put together.

Also, when creating such a setup does one weld a new pipe, or just modify an existing one, such as the aftermarket cattman?

Custom Forward Y like that will be needed. add the turbo of your choice, route the down pipe to the exhaust.

awesome, so basically what is going on is the y is obviously "facing front", and instead of, as with the cattman, outputting to the exhaust, the down pipe takes its place and is outputted to the exhaust.

Also, is this 3" piping?

No you can use 2.5" piping on the forward y pipe.

thanks nismo

I did this when i was doing my turbo prep.

very impressive looking set up MaxIP!

i mean these are just the basics u might want to start with. NOw being a bit experienced with all of this i would really recommend getting the emanage ultimate because it makes life a whole lot easier. Also you dont really need to get a modified ecu if your gonna keep it below 10lbs depending on turbo. Also i dont have an afpr which i am getting one in a couple days. My max has been outta of it for the last 10 months because of a accident but im starting to rebuild her right now and changing a couple things.

i see you went with a 60-1 also. I have a t3/60-1 with a 70 compressor and a 63 turbine. Mine spools very very fast and still has top end. i cant wait to see yours back on the road man.

with mine, a 2k 5spd SE, i dont need a new ecu and mevi correct? I have read the emanage get the work done with that?

you have the 00VI which is better than a MEVI. What you have to figure out is what your goals are from being boosted. if you plan to stay low boost then theres no need for the ecu. But if you want to rev higher and plan to run more boost i would deff do emu over jwt if you know how to tune.

I'd suggest using the Emanage Ultimate, it will handle all all your tuning needs. your 00vi is better than a mevi so no need to touch it. getting an ecu upgrade is fairly pointless now that the EU is very capable on our cars and will do a far better job.

not sure how many people have had success using the EU as a boost controller, but many get a seperate stand alone unit (if they dont want a manual boost controller) to limit/control boost.

that is what i planned on getting. I have heard nothing but good things about the EMU. Also am thinking about having a seperate boost controller.

I'd keep and eye on ebay. you can catch some good deals on a Boost controller. Saw some good ones at a decent price on their yesterday and today.

thats straight, i have been looking around, im goign to start with just gathering all the parts as i find them the cheapest! haha Hopefully by the end of july ill have almost everything so i can start installation. Really want to get all the piping taken care of first and then work to electronics unless as you stated i find some nasty deals somewhere! haha

For downpipe/exhaust piping is it more beneficial to buy SS or is Aluminum piping such as on http://intakehoses.com alright to use if wrapped?

You live in MA, so if this is your daily driver and you will be driving it in the winter time, I would try to go stainless if possible, but maybe someone can chime in about DEI silicone hi temp paint, if you coat the pipes with that if you will be okay.

Are you for real?

yes, and please do more research on how turbo chargers work

Thats what i was figuring.. Especially up here, even my dad told me if i am to use it, may be cheaper to start but wont last as long with the snowfall and salty roads! haha

Can anyone chime in about the DEI? Covering aluminum tubing for exhaust/downpipe?

Anyone have aluminum exhaust and downpipe piping? Such as the piping on intakehoses.com ? also have any of you used DEI Covering on their aluminum piping with heat wrap? as maxgtr2000 stated.

The DEI silicone hi temp paint will work. Its designed to keep the DEI exhaust wrap from being ruined by water and road salt so it will protect your piping. I really like how it looks on the piping as well.

NO. You cannot use aluminum piping for your exhaust.

Good god people, do a TINY bit of research. :

I was hoping he meant aluminized steel

yes, aluminized steel. I think my bottom would rot out in a matter of a week living here in Ma with aluminum.

thanks all.