Ok, after I long time of contemplating of wether or not to turbo my maxima, I have decided to set the plan into motion. Naturally in my quest for horsepowerz im going to need advice from those who are experienced that can lead me in the right direction. For starters, before buying ANYTHING, I want to research until i'm abosuletely positive as to what I want for my specific application, and planned use.

I have a 5th gen max.
First off, I've already read all of the stickies on this thread, and all the turbo builds for 5th gens that I could find, and i'm starting to get small foot into the door of the turbo world. I NEED MORE INFO. If anyone has any links that they would consider helpful to turbo's in general or more 5th gen builds, they will be GLADLY appreciated.

I'm planning to tackle this project myself, along with a few other friends that are handy with cars as well as one who has instlaled a turbo himself on his car.

My specific questions are as follows (Feel free to answer them in form of links):
1.What is an FMU, and it's purpose, literally what does it stand for? I've seen it countless times but I cant tell what exactly it stands for. Also, the sizing of the "Disks?" it uses.

2. I've been searching all day for a thread that explains compresser MAPS and readings, all of them are no longer in exsistance.

3. Can anyone explain the sizing of the turbos? Like T1, T2, etc. And what the sizes that accompany them mean; such as .56 or like .81.

4. What do hotside and Coldside mean?

5. I've been reading that the injectors from the 300zx TT will fit into the Maxima of my gen. What exactly does the Cc on injectors mean in referance to their impact on the fueling of the engine? And does it indicate how much fuel that can push into the engine?

6.Kit vs. Custom Build. Obviously not any ***!ng ebay kit, but a legit one. Im guessing there's a lot of things that are customizable when turboing your car, and a kits tend to be generic and won't let you choose a lot of the specifics. I'm leaning towards custom build, this way I wont cut any corners, and in the long run it'll be worth it.

7. From the many build thread discussions and stickies i've read, i've been getting the vibe that, in choosing the size of turbo, injectors, placement, etc; they will all play an important role in like when you're getting max boost, and how much HP you're making.

8. By the end of this build I want to be around 275-300 horsepower to the wheels. So if anyone has specifc parts advice regarding this range of power, please chime in.

9. Are there any threads that specifically outline the differences in options that I have for manging my engine after I turbo it? I've heard that emange is a good option, but I dont have any knowledge on it vs. like SAFC II or VAFC II.

10. Will a boost controller be integrated into the emanage? Or is that a seperate piece I need all together?

11. I've been underneath my hood quite a few times, and I can see that the maxima is.... quite tightely packed under there. So space is an issue, i'm planning to relocate the battery to the trunk before I start mapping out my setup. My QUESTION is there a spot in the maxima bay that is best suited for the turbo without having to delete too many other parts.

12. Will I have to replace the motor mounts when turboing the car?

13. Can someone explain the specifics of a Blow Off valve and a wastegate. Where are they? I think the wastegate is on the turbo if i'm not mistaken? And the BOV is placed somewhere on the charge piping?

14. Also, the turbo requires oil to keep it from blowing up, how do people typically handle this? Run oil return lines from the turbo to the oil pan? Or do they get a stand alone oil cooler?

I know this is a lot of questions, but this is just the start, obviously Ill have more as I go on. This is just a start. I'm planning to order the book Maximum Boost and read it.

My plan is to save up all this year and turbo my maxima during the summer of next year when I have time. Or during the winter if I can get enough money by then. But for now, it's research time... So ENLIGHTEN ME.

 

I'm going to answer your questions but based on everything I just read in your post I think you need to seriously rethink this whole plan. Turboing a maxima is not a wise idea for you at this point. Hopefully after you read Maximum Boost you realize why I say this. Maximum Boost is a good beginner book and there are other good books on turbocharging out there that you should check out like Street Turbocharging - Design Fabrication and Tuning of High Performance Engines, and Turbocharging Performance Handbook by Motorbooks Workshop (which I haven't read but I really like this series of books so I assume this one is good also), HP Books' Turbochargers, a book called Forced Induction Performance Tuning, and a book simply called Turbo. Maximum Boost is a pretty good beginner book, but it is not sufficient to take you from novice to ready to install your own turbo setup, not by a long shot.


1) Fuel management unit. It raises the fuel pressure at X rate in reference to boost, supplying more fuel through your injectors because the fuel is under more pressure. Disks determine the rate at which fuel pressure rises with boost. Numerically larger disk raises fuel pressure more than a numerically smaller one does. FMUs are ok for very simple low power setups but are unwise to use for higher power setups.

2) I can't blame you for not having really gotten a grasp of this one. A rather advanced topic and beyond the scope of what I'm trying to do here. Probably the hardest question to answer and it'd take pages and pages to explain.

3) I think you're asking about T3 and T4 - those are basically generic frame sizes... T1 and T2 exist but they are so small that I doubt they've ever been mentioned before on this site. T25 is really too small for our cars in most people's opinions but a couple people have used them In general T3 is smaller and T4 is bigger and a T3/T4 is a hybrid of the two with a T3 hotside and a T4 cold side. That's the short answer. .81 is the A/R - A/R is the ratio of area to radius... it's a way to express size but it's not an absolute measurement. For instance a .81 A/R T3 and a .81 A/R T4 are not the same size... the T4 .81 would be larger than the T3 .81. In general for any given frame size (let's say a T3 for example) a smaller A/R will spool faster than a larger A/R - the flip side of this is that a smaller A/R on the hotside may choke and limit your power in higher RPM whereas a larger A/R would not. There's a lot more numbers and variations on turbos than this reply has gone into though. Maximum Boost and other turbo books touch on all i've said and more.

4) Hotside = turbine = the side that gets hot because the exhaust is flowing through it. Cold side = compressor = the side that stays "cold" because it doesn't have hot exhaust going through it, it has your intake air going through it.

5) You read something wrong. 300zx TT injectors won't work for your car. They are not at all the same shape. They work for 4th gens, not 5th gens like yours.

6) I'm not sure that there are really any kits being produced anymore. The PFI kit might be but I haven't heard of anyone installing a PFI kit in a long long time (years). There was some other kit out there that some guy installed a few years ago but if I recall that used a little tiny T25 and he made just about the power you stated you are hoping to make. I've got a negative opinion of "kits" for the most part.

7) The turbo choice and placement are two main things that determine when you make boost, yes. Injectors don't have anything to do with it.

8) That's pretty low power, and if that's all you're going for I'm going to recommend you SC your car instead. If you insist on turboing then a small turbo will do the trick for you.

9) There's a ton of them. I'm not going to search them for you. They exist. Both EB and SAFC/VAFC are viable options.

10) No. It is not part of Emanage (though it could be made to be if you know what you're doing, but that's WAYYYY beyond the scope of this reply). It is a separate part, and you don't *need* one at all. A boost controller is an optional part.

11) Not much to say here. Most people put it where the battery sits. Some people do a rear mount in the back of the car where the muffler is (would be). A couple people put them in front of the motor. Battery location is what I recommend most of the time though a rear mounted setup can be easier to get all put together in some ways and might be worth in to if you don't have anyone who can fabricate well.

12) If your current mounts are not new in the last few years, it's likely that they need replacement or will fairly soon especially with the added engine movement resulting from the increased torque of a turbo.

13) I'll explain the very very basics, I'm not going to write you a novel to explain everything there is to explain about them. A blow off valve vents boost air from the intake piping so that a pressure wave does not flow back through your turbo and damage it when you close the throttle. it goes between the turbo and the throttle body. A wastegate allows exhaust gasses to bypass the turbo so that it doesn't keep increasing boost past a predetermined level. A wastegate can either be built into the turbo (called an internal wastegate) or an external part between the exhaust manifolds and the turbo.

14) You have an oil line feeding the turbo from some pressurized location on the motor (usually the stock oil pressure sender port or a sandwich plate installed as an oil filter adapter). The return line takes oil from the turbo back to your oil pan usually just via gravity unless you do a low mount or rear mount turbo, in which case a separate scavenge pump might be required to send the oil back to the oil pan. An oil cooler doesn't have anything to do with *providing* oil - an oil cooler just cools the oil. An oil cooler is a good idea but not required.

 

I have boosted my max and still there are alot of things I dont know .

good Qs and usefull As .

 

Having a turbo can be a huge burden on the motor. Especially if it wasn't meant to have one.

I would highly recommend this to help keep everything under control.

http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main...&products_id=8

 

.....

Turbos are not easy i will tell you that much. If you want i have a PFI kit sitting here that im trying to get rid of.

 

Ok, ty for the answers to my questions, espeacially with such quickness. I know I may be a novice, but I still have ~10 months to learn everything I need to know to do it. And, all of the questions I asked, I had a grasp on, I just didnt know the full details. I just went to barnes n nobles yesterday and bought Maximum Boost, as well as Street TurboCharging. And I am planning on reading both of those before I ask anymore questions on specifics. Ok, I will be back for moar enlightenment later.

Alex, you're a genius. But get ur faggy bimmer sigs outta here.

 

are you completely against the idea of superchargers? as mentioned before, a supercharger with the right sized pulley could easily meet your horsepower goals, and more. theyre also easier to get in a complete kit. not to mention i think they are more forgiving and "simpler". plus i can help you install it in like 4 hours. lol

 

Yea, the more I read, it looks easier than I previously thought to attain higher than 275 hp. Im adjusting my goals to 350-375 hp. With the majority of my boost occuring in mid range RPMS, so around 3k-3.5k is when it hits, tapering off at the redline

 

S/C would be a lot easier. im still working on getting my turbo'd car up and running.

 

See that's the part of the reason i'm turboing it. Because a supercharger just isnt going to fit my power needs. Also, that's what this research is for so I dont run into problems. And lot's of people have supercharged their maximas.. so why don't I be one of the few who turbos their car?

 

Alot of the questions you asked can be typed into google so you are not limited to this forum. Also just reading the stickies even though some of the links don't work any more, there is still a ton of information. You will have to be able to make decisions and put your car together unless you just drop it off at a shop and tell them to do it. If you make these decisions after gaining the knowledge you will be able to actually fix your car and diagnose it when/if something goes wrong. Corky Bell's book on turbocharging is a good place to start.

 

Ok, thanks for the info, yea I thought these questions could just be answered relativley easily and quicker on the forums. And, I'm reading that as we speak. Things are definitely coming together as far as general knowledge is concerned. Once I get the generalities, I can move onto specifics.

 

Excellent response Nealoc187. Very well written.

I was going to recommend those books as well, but you beat me too it.

 

Al of the advice above is spot on. My little tid bit of advice is dont turbo, or supercharge a maxima. Save a LOT of cash, and buy a RWD car instead. When I think about all the $$$ I put in my car it makes me