Id like for the Greddy turbo owners and custom setup owners to chime in on this one.

Exactly how much money have you spent on your setup? Are you satisfied with your car as of now? How much more will it take before you can finally say, "I have all the power i originally set out to get, now i can concentrate on another aspect of the car"?

Im curious to know the 'true' cost of an aftermarket turbo setup. Obviously the kit itself is roughly only half the cost, you still have installation, guages, clutch, brakes. How much money do people spend typically on tuning alone? This is all assuming the turbo process is similar to that in a piston-equipped car.

The question in the thread title is something im ultimately trying to determine for myself.

 

OH HELL YES ITS WORTH IT!!....

...if you are mechanically inclined and can do the fine tuning/diagnosis yourself.
The key is tuning. If you can either get it tuned, or better still, do it yourself, I think you'll be happy. There is no plug-and-play solution for this car. Even the Interceptor MUST be tuned. As far as I can tell, you won't like the results no matter what EMS you have if you can't tune it. Being able to tune it yourself probably means that you can diagnose other issues as well. This will be essential as things are going to come up! You've changed the car significantly. It takes a little hudspah (Yiddish sp?) to be able to feel in control, despite the car yelling at you that things are going bad (CEL). Even if you've never done this type of thing beore, but are generally good at mechanical things, you can probably handle it if you don't freak out.... unless of course you have the R flash and plan to use the emanage. We haven't yet figured that one out. MM and I still have the M flash and seem to be some of the most successful at integrating a turbo.

I bought my kit used a while back and paid ~2500. Thats not too far off retail now, though.
Profec e-01 for data logging and boost control ~$500.
Innovate LC-1 WB02 ~$200.

I added an oil cooler, colder plugs and went to Royal Purple oil. These are probably not necessary, though. In fact, I went back to the stock plugs for the winter.

All in all, the power is awesome! My car feels like it came from the factory with at least 300HP at the crank. I've let 3 other forum members drive it and they have all said the same thing "WOW!". They also say it feels seemless.

If you feel you can handle the issues, do it! You'll never look back once you get a taste of an 8 with some *****!

 

I agree, i would never wany my 8 unturboed even though i feel in love with it before it had a turbo. When everything with the turbo is in sync, the car feels wonderful.

I spent tons of money, i am a crazy fanatic and a newbie, probably could have saved money if i did it again:

3 Defi BF Gauges - approx 600-750 2 used one new
2 Defi D Gauges- approx 200
A pillar pod 200
PTP center pod - 400
Profec e-01 - 400
greddy turbo kit - 3000
bulleyespower custom greddy kit upgrade (turbo) - 1100
BOV 150

moving on to getting the interceptor which tops out close to another 1800 and i need to get a wideband 02 sensor, another 200-300

so tons of money and like i said, i could have skipped on a gauge here or there but i like to be overly careful, don't want to pop the engine.


I did the install myself which saved maybe 500-1000 too.

I had some issues with the first turbo, seals went out, still not sure what happened, upgrade to the custom turbo and of course there are a few issues mostly fitment that had to be worked out, its big!

A vacuum leak here or there but so far, knocking on wood, no huge problems that i know of yet.

Nikki will instantly slamm you to the back of the seat with the new turbo, goes from a vacuum to 7 psi in a second, super response and quiet a ride. i am waiting till i get the interceptor to running turn up the boost, hoping for 12-15 psi, 300-350 rwh and i will be happy with performance mod and move on to a body kit maybe.

But i recommend it, but you should have something to drive in case your 8 hiccups at first until you get the bugs out cause like mad dog says, you have changed the car dramatically!

 

hey how is the custom turbo ? you had to use parts of the greddy or what ?

 

The car won't be a daily driver, i've got another rotary for that job. I am somewhat mechanically inclined, but im no mechanical engineer. I should be able to work out bugs once it's on, but getting it on might be a challenge. I don't have many tools in my shed.

Also, I have no experience in tuning and this is my main area of concern. You can give me all the e-manage, microtech, and fcon jargon you want but it doesn't make much sense to me. I've been reading up on the board for a couple months and i've learned a lot. Obviously there is much more i need to understand. Id actually like to learn about it more than hand my car over to someone and let them do it.

Thanks for replying. Keep em coming.

 

Did you put the upgrade turbo in the same spot as the GReddy?

 

Hey, zoomzoom8. Can you post a thread on what you had to change to get it to fit in there. I remember you had issues getting it in. The bullseyepower site says "it'll drop right in" .

 

yea, i will start that thread tonight, i am still working through a couple small issues, namely, i just changed the front housing to get a 2.5" inlet instead of a 3" inlet, the 3" was just too big.

The turbo uses the same back housing, new center section and new compressor cover. It bolts straight to the greddy manifold but it is longer (so it is a very tight fit.)

They do say it is a direct bolt on, but they computer designed the turbo to work and fit from just a couple of pics of my 8 and the turbo area, so all in all they did a good job I think. They have been very helpful with the small issues i had.

A Quick list:
Oil drain - snout had to be bent slightly to clear housing and manifold
Compressor pipe -custom elbow and pipe made
turbo inlet was sized down from 3" to 2.5"
had to cut the air inlet greddy pipe that used to bolt to the greddy turbo (the flange was cut off)
had to use a custom acutator kit, and doing a little bending of the bracket with the hammer and torch

I think that was about it.

Like i said once i get it all finish and all the bugs out, i will report hopefully tonight.

I think the upgrade is worth it though. The turbo is so more responsive that the greddy one, honestly when boost hits, it feels like the nightrider when he used to press the turbo boost button, full boost at most any rpm over 3000, (best I remember)

They designed the turbo to give enough flow to give a renesis 300-350 with no problem, that was my goal. Looks like maybe the stock injectors will give that with the interceptor so I think it is very achievable, if not, upgrade the injectors and i am there.

 

The biggest concern for me is:

Would you turbo guys feel 100% comfortable flogging your car at varying degrees of WOT for 20-30 solid minutes per session, 3-4 sessions in a day, during a track day, or lapping event?

I mean, honestly, 100% comfortable?

 

To be honest, absolutely not. I would really like to get into racing but I don't for that very reason. With a stock 8, I would feel comfortable, but with the FI I don't feel confident that the motor would last a reasonable amount of time with that kind of abuse. For autocrossing I don't think you need a ton of power to do well since its largely about handling so you could always manually open up the wastegate flap which will reduce your boost to less then a couple psi. If I do decide to start racing I would definitely spend some money on upgrading the radiator, oil coolers, and oil metering pump.

 

I think it can handle it, but at the same time, I'm not willing to experiment.

 

Thanks for your honesty folks...that's why I'll remain N/A, and close to stock.

 

Bah - just give it sometime, as the 'experimenters' learn how to tweak more power, and find out what the motor can handle.

They didnt make RX-7's reach over 1000hp for how many years after their release?

 

I was thinking about the worth of the turbos, too. It's difficult, especially when the 8 is your daily driver. It's not like I'll be racing (there's no tracks around Dallas anyway), and I get a hell of an adrenaline rush when I redline through gears anyway. You know you're faster than 95% of the cars on the road. All these factors will keep me from going into something like the Greddy. If something comes out, like a bolt-on supercharger, that is found to be promising by everyone and shows no signs of potentially wearing out the car, I'd start thinking about it again.

 

The car feels very good with the GReddy turbo - perfect for the street because it comes on early.

As far as rotary longevity, avoid detonation and it will love you back.

However, the ECU is a pain in the ***, and the GReddy e-manage sucks - you can't pull fuel past 0.

 

I'd be curious to hear feeback from a turbo owner that tracks their car. What worries me is that the FMIC will be blocking air that needs to be going to the radiator.

Some of the SC's, like Hymee and Pettit and Axial have expressed not needing an intercooler - Axial - or using air to water IC's - Hymee and Pettit. In these cases, no obstruction to the radiator and much safer track running, I think.

 

Cretinx - I have had the exact same problems with the Emanage even after going to KDR Performance in PA - whom Benny of Greedy recommended. I have spoken to Dave of KDR about getting the interceptor installed after New Years - I believe it is the only way to go, especially after R flash.

 

^ Thats what im banking on. Considering the comments made already about the Greddy vs Greddy upgrade, im still leaning towards saving some more money and waiting for some better solutions. Might even think of S/C given the right power curves.

So far it looks like blown engines are not a problem because everyone understands the importance of tuning.