Turbo Optra - Now on tuned Haltech @ 225whp

[daewoomofo]

looks nice, but i future referance i HIGHLY recomend the cad plateing, im a plater and trust me it is well worth the $20 for it

[exist3nce]

looks nice, but i future referance i HIGHLY recomend the cad plateing, im a plater and trust me it is well worth the $20 for it

I would have liked to, but right now money is tight and for $40 it didn't seem worth it just for aesthetics (preventing the rust).

You do that stuff as a profession?

[daewoomofo]

i plate aircraft parts. landing gear, pump gears hydrolic pistons, ect. its not any thing fancy like brake rotors but its the same thing really, lol. i do a lot of cadmium its a great rust preventative, and a good primer for paint. zinc is also really good

[exist3nce]

Just as I think everything is running good, my turbo seals have decided to crap out. The turbo starts smoking on idle, and it was getting worse by the day. So I've chosen to go the most cost effective route..... rebuild the turbo. I will be sending it to Blaast Performance in Montreal, Quebec. I had my shop make a blockoff plate for the exhaust housing so that I could leave it bolted in place and still drive my car around in the meantime.

Exhaust housing still bolted in place with CHRA removed


Blockoff plate with gasket sealant applied


Blockoff plate installed in T04 0.58AR housing, oil drain blocked, and mini K&N filter installed



Lastly, I couldn't resist taking it for a dyno to see how much power I would get with the missing turbo!!



With all the charge pipes and intercooler connected, it made 90whp. Next, we disconnected the piping at the throttle body and it made 107 whp and 117 ft lbs!!!! WOOT

[Nubira2.2]

Thats a good choice when going turbo to N/A hehe
I guess that sealant will make a mess when it's time to remove the block off plate

Amazing how much a turbo can make for an engine

[Nemasys]

Hey Jason, do you think your boostgate setup cause your turbo seals to fail faster like that? Hasnt been that long since you installed the t-04b

[exist3nce]

Hey Jason, do you think your boostgate setup cause your turbo seals to fail faster like that? Hasnt been that long since you installed the t-04b

I won't say its impossible, but I don't think its the reason considering that my shop has several of their own cars running the same setup.

One thing I didn't realize until recently is that my CHRA was installed on a slant (oil feed/drain were not vertical), I have corrected this since I got the rebuilt unit back and so far no burnt oil. We shall see how long it lasts this time....... unless I get a better turbo *mmmm dreaming of garrett GT3076R*

[exist3nce]

I just got the car corner weighted for interest.

With 1/3 tank of gas:

Front Driver: 916 lb / 32.5%
Front Pass: 912 lb / 32.3%
Rear Driver: 521 lb / 18.5%
Rear Pass: 466 lb / 16.5%

TOTAL WEIGHT: 2815 lb

On the factory spec sheet it says 2750 lb, so with adding the 6spd F28 which is quite a bit heavier than the D20, stainless charge pipes, manifold and turbo, the 65 lb increase is not so bad.

[exist3nce]

Well the rebuilt turbo didn't last too long....... kind of disappointing I could smell it starting to burn oil again, only 2 months after the rebuild.

Lucky for me, it was my birthday and my best friend and girlfriend bought me a new Garrett T04B which bolts right into my existing P-trim 0.58 exhaust housing. Hopefully thats the end of it until I can afford a really nice turbo....

[exist3nce]

Over the next while these are some of the things I would like to do:

GT Series Turbo (probably GT3076R)
Standalone ECU (considering Haltech, AEM, Megasquirt)
Built bottom end with ARP everything
Head (P&P, valvejob, cams)
A Spare F28 Gearbox
Rims/Tires

Someday I would like to see 400whp+

[Nemasys]

Glad to hear your still going man, the u20sed swap in my Aveo is now complete and it runs pretty well, i had to change both crank seal tho (scrap yard engines you know how it is) but it was covered under their warranty so im not complaining too much, gm says its a new type of seal too, suposedly the old ones had toubles.

During the winter im gonna try to get some parts together for a basic turbo kit, im having problems with the manifold tho, i wonder if your shop could copy yours for me.

Anyways keep going and good luck!

[PrecisionBoost]

Over the next while these are some of the things I would like to do:

GT Series Turbo (probably GT3076R)
Standalone ECU (considering Haltech, AEM, Megasquirt)
Built bottom end with ARP everything
Head (P&P, valvejob, cams)
A Spare F28 Gearbox
Rims/Tires

Someday I would like to see 400whp+

Well.... Megasquirt is by far the cheapest option and I'm getting one right away so I don't mind sharing info.

It's worked extremely well on the project super swift 2.0L 8V turbo.... I believe he was recently running 18psi before the clutch broke on him ( yet again )

He managed to tune/make multiple maps for different levels of boost and even has one for "economy" which allows him to get nearly the same mileage he was getting with his original 1.6L 16V

Over all he's been very happy with it, and that is the reason I'm going that way at this point.... I'm tired of trying to make the Emanage and Nubira ECU co-operate.... the car would be perfect if all I did was drive during boost at WOT.... but the Nubira ECU fights the Emanage every step of the way during idle and throttle let off.

[Lamborgini112]

i thought the megasquirt didn't work with many new features on newer cars like DBW and such.

I dk a whole lot about the megasquirt so i'm just going on what i've heard in conversations.

[PrecisionBoost]

DBW ...... is it "Dumb Blond Waiter".... or "drive by wire"?

Drive by wire is not complex.... a signal comes from the pedal and it goes to the controller on the throttle body.... I could make an adapter in about an hour.

Having said that.... we don't have drive by wire so it's not an issue with the Megasquirt.


The megasquirt can't control automatic transmissions and it doesn't have anything set up for emissions, so one may have to reinstall the factory ECU for emissions tests.

I do not belive there are any aftermarket standalones which can help with emissions ( EVAP control, EGR control )

One could always consider leaving the stock ECU in the background ( disconnect ignition and fuel ) to control those functions for emission purposes.

Once could also leave the stock ECU in there for control of the auto tranny, but I'm not sure if there would be any glitches in driveability.


On a standard transmission there is virtually nothing that would stand in the way of a megasquirt.

[PrecisionBoost]

Oh... just as an update... I've been talking with the only authorized Megasquirt retailer in Canada and he's willing to give some discounts because I used my "precision boost systems ltd" company as contact.... he's an Electronics Eng Tech like me and he teaches at a technical college in Quebec.... decent guy to talk to... seems very excited about the Megasquirts as he started his company as a hobby.

I'm just waiting to hear back on his 4 BAR MAP system.... going with a MS2 V3.57.... let me know if your interested... probably end up in the $400 to $500 range which is half the price of a stand alone that is half as good.