[B_Real45]

Weekend of 9/13/08

Here's the initial tear-down:



I covered the exhaust ports so I wouldn't get any dirt and other foreign objects in there:



Here's the Mishimoto radiator... it's a beautiful unit:



A shot of the radiator in - with stock fans:



Here's a pic of the drill bit size you'll need to start a hole for tapping the manifold for EGT bung (Autometer EGT):



Pic of the manifold ready for drill and tap - sorry didn't get pics of right after:



Here's the heart of it all (for those not knowing - it's a T04E 50trim / T3 .48 AR Stage 2 Ball-Bearing):



Back side of turbo - notice the newer turbos have wet center-housings and a red backplate:



Water lines installed on turbo:



Turbo mounted for a mock-up:



More mock-ups:





Water lines installed to in/out of coolant lines using 5/8" T's supplied by Turbonetics.. very nice I might add. I had originally thought the lines would be too long, but they were just fine.



Here's what's needed to fit Mishimoto radiator with stock fans on a Turbonetics Kit.. you see there's a notch that needs to be made on the shroud:



Pic of the intercooler. Notice on the newer kits, the "Spearco" logo has been replaced with "Turbonetics". It's still a Spearco core.. I actually used some Acetone to remove the logo.



Here's the mock up of the boost solenoid from my Gizzmo MS-IBC boost controller:



Just to show you the wiring mess from the Innovate Lambda LC-1 wideband:



Here's a nice clean install of the supplied LED and Calibration button for the LC-1 wideband:



The kit's fitment was actually pretty good except for two areas. One was the down-pipe bracket (we'll get to that in a bit), and the other was the cold pipe fitting too close to the front body shell (as you can see I used some rubber to help.. and please excuse the blurry pic):



Here's a pic of the kit installed - before testing and whatnot:



Another pic (you can see the EGT bung and sensor installed):



Pic of TurboToyotas vac block and the Gizzmo solenoid both installed:



Mishimoto radiator cap and safety chain:



Pic of gauges and what not... sorry for the blurry pic again:



All done - but where's the intercooler, yo?!



There it is! I had reservations before about having my IC showing.. and I thought about painting it black. But after the install, I found out the stock grill fits perfectly.. so problem solved!



So there you have it.. my install weekend. Here is a list of a couple of problems with the kit in particular:

1.) MAF screws were kinda crappy - they're small and use a hex wrench... can easily be stripped so be careful!

2.) Down-pipe has a bracket that's supposed to bolt to the block where the stock bracket was. This couldn't happen for me.. so it's left there but it's tight against the block and not making any noise. I'll probably have the shop that's doing my exhaust modify it.

3.) Cold pipe too close to the frame/body shell. I used a rubber hose, split one end, and used it as a cushion with some zip-ties. All good now.

4.) Exahust manifold needed to be "altered" a little. The far left edge, closest to alternator, the manifold would get caught on there, making fitment an issue. A grinding stone on a Dremel worked out well. Sorry I forgot to take a pic of this. Wasn't too big of an issue.. just wished T'netics would've done it themselves.

5.) Tapping the oil pan was hard as a MOFO. There wasn't too much clearance between the lower support (holding radiator) and the pan.. so I couldn't get much momentum on my swing. It eventually happend and turned out great. I used JB Weld around the fitting just to be extra safe. I'll try and get pics of this later some time.

6.) For whatever reason, one of the injector harnesses had different butt-connectors on them.. and it was really hard to crimp. Sure enough, this crimp had failed and it caused the engine to throw a Cyl 3 Misfire code. I changed the butt-connector and everything was gravy.

7.) The O2 boss extender supplied is knocking against the frame - and it only happens when I'm slipping the clutch in 1st gear or reverse since those usually the only times the exhaust can shake a bit. This is probably the only issue that is kind of annoying.

Wow - so that looks like a lot of negatives. But in all honesty, none of those issues were a big deal. They made install a bit longer than expected, but none of the issues couldn't be resolved in a manner to which I was not pleased.

The Turbonetics Turbo Kit seems to be an excellent fitting kit with some minor issues. So far the car feels great, but I'm on stock exhaust. I'm on 8psi right now, and I won't turn up the boost until I get on a dyno. As of right now my LC-1 shows me at 11.5 - 11.7 at WOT, so I think I'll stay there. Who knows, maybe the LC-1 is off and needs another calibration.

So feel free to share your thoughts and comments.

[Robert]

Thank you very much for the feedback. I'll make sure this gets to the customer service manager as well.

[B_Real45]

Thanks Robert. Here are a couple of quick points for your CS and QA people:

-Unichip plug n' play was a snap! (+)
-"Universal" Water-line kit was near perfect (5/8") (+)
-Black Chrome piping with rolled lips (+)
-Fitment and alignment of Intercooler mounting brackets (+)
-Quality hardware included (+)
-Downpipe bracket does not align to stock mounting hole (-)
-O2 boss extender hits frame (probably due to above DP issue) (-)
-MAF mounting was iffy at best.. I would probably retap and use different fasteners (-)
-Rubber tube for oil drain (should be premeasured SS braided) (-)

Over all, and EXCELLENT product.

You guys may want to let your sales guys know that this kit works with a larger radiator like the Mishimoto unit and stock fans. That could be a selling point because I know some competitors' kits do not. Also, the IC fits in without the need to remove the lower front grill as recommended in the instructions.

As for the numbers, I know it's all in the tuning, and the only things I'll worry about are:

-True capability of Unichip. I'll find out once I get to Japtrix out in WPB, FL for a tune.

-The smallish .48 A/R exhaust housing with only a Stage 2 wheel.. I'm worried this will limit my hp in the higher rpms. Most other kits utilize a .63 A/R with a Stage 3 wheel... like in your Sentra Spec-V kits.

So we'll see after I get the tuning done.. stay tuned for updates..

[Robert]

Originally Posted by B_Real45

Thanks Robert. Here are a couple of quick points for your CS and QA people:

-Unichip plug n' play was a snap! (+)
-"Universal" Water-line kit was near perfect (5/8") (+)
-Black Chrome piping with rolled lips (+)
-Fitment and alignment of Intercooler mounting brackets (+)
-Quality hardware included (+)
-Downpipe bracket does not align to stock mounting hole (-)
-O2 boss extender hits frame (probably due to above DP issue) (-)
-MAF mounting was iffy at best.. I would probably retap and use different fasteners (-)
-Rubber tube for oil drain (should be premeasured SS braided) (-)

Over all, and EXCELLENT product.

You guys may want to let your sales guys know that this kit works with a larger radiator like the Mishimoto unit and stock fans. That could be a selling point because I know some competitors' kits do not. Also, the IC fits in without the need to remove the lower front grill as recommended in the instructions.

As for the numbers, I know it's all in the tuning, and the only things I'll worry about are:

-True capability of Unichip. I'll find out once I get to Japtrix out in WPB, FL for a tune.

-The smallish .48 A/R exhaust housing with only a Stage 2 wheel.. I'm worried this will limit my hp in the higher rpms. Most other kits utilize a .63 A/R with a Stage 3 wheel... like in your Sentra Spec-V kits.

So we'll see after I get the tuning done.. stay tuned for updates..

Thanks! In regards to your final point there was a post in the General Discussion forum here of a tC with this exact same turbo making 450 WHP at 25 PSI. Not bad from a T3 Stage 2 wheel.

[B_Real45]

Very true.. but I believe he had headwork, a Motec EMS, and also a modified downpipe - but I'm not too sure about the downpipe.

I just hope I'm on target with the other kits..

Other kits with an AEM F/IC, 50 trim .63 Stage 3 at 8-10 psi make somewhere between 260-300whp with a 2.5" exhaust.

I just hope I'm in that range. I do know there's someone with this kit at 10psi making 310whp (Dynojet) but he's on a Hydra EMS.. so I'm hopeful.

[Robert]

Originally Posted by B_Real45

Very true.. but I believe he had headwork, a Motec EMS, and also a modified downpipe - but I'm not too sure about the downpipe.

I just hope I'm on target with the other kits..

Other kits with an AEM F/IC, 50 trim .63 Stage 3 at 8-10 psi make somewhere between 260-300whp with a 2.5" exhaust.

I just hope I'm in that range. I do know there's someone with this kit at 10psi making 310whp (Dynojet) but he's on a Hydra EMS.. so I'm hopeful.

Well the car should make in the 244 WHP 260 tq range at 8 PSI or very close to it with the out of box tune. Granted those are Dynojet numbers and the Mustang dyno that Japtrix has won't read the same but you get where i'm going with this. With some tuning of the Unichip I'm sure you can get where you want to be and 360-300 WHP is easily within realm of this turbo system design. You are in a unique position in that you have an authorized Unichip tuner close by. Most of the other cars with this kit weren't so lucky which spawned their change to Hydra, etc.

[B_Real45]

Here's some more pics for you guys.

T'netics kit @ 8psi w/ stock exhaust:



As you can see, the tune looks pretty lean! I spoke with T'netics about this and they sent me a new Unichip. It's the same deal, still lean. More on this later..

So I've been itching to put an exhaust on - I now have a 3" mandrel bent S-pipe, and 3" mandrel bent cat-back with a 18" Vibrant resonator and a 18"x5" Magnaflow 3" muffler.

T'netics kit @ 9ish psi w/ 3" exhaust (Psi increased due to exhaust):



Not bad.. but look at how lean it is! I'm trying to stay off boost until I can get this figured out. I'm going to try to replace my primary O2 sensor to see if that helps..

Anyhow, here are pics of the exhaust.. I love this exhaust and I love the tip.. it's near perfect IMO.









So I have a few issues - why was HP and TQ so low on the stock setup with 93 oct fuel and 8.5psi? And why was it so lean?

Obviously my lean condition has gotten worse with the exhaust.. but I would love to figure out this issue. Any thoughts?

[Robert]

Stupid question but the O2 sensor extender. You put that on your secondary O2 right? Not the one closer to the turbo. I've seen a lean condition just like this when that happened. Only reason I ask.

[B_Real45]

Robert,

haha, yes it's on the 2nd O2 sensor. I know - it's always good to ask the obvious first. I used to trouble-shoot IT issues and the first thing we'd ask: "Ma'am, is the computer plugged in?"

But anyhow. The car runs great - just lean. And it was like this from the get go. I've tried two Unichip chips and both are the same. Could it be the injectors?

According to my Innovate LC-1, the car idles at 14.2-14.8 which is fine. It cruises at the same.. and at WOT, it'll dip down to 11.5 then quickly go up to as high as 13 then come back down to 12.5 by redline.

[Robert]

Originally Posted by B_Real45

Robert,

haha, yes it's on the 2nd O2 sensor. I know - it's always good to ask the obvious first. I used to trouble-shoot IT issues and the first thing we'd ask: "Ma'am, is the computer plugged in?"

But anyhow. The car runs great - just lean. And it was like this from the get go. I've tried two Unichip chips and both are the same. Could it be the injectors?

According to my Innovate LC-1, the car idles at 14.2-14.8 which is fine. It cruises at the same.. and at WOT, it'll dip down to 11.5 then quickly go up to as high as 13 then come back down to 12.5 by redline.

I doubt its the injectors unless the fuel pressure is somehow really low. Have you checked that yet BTW?