1.6 DOHC Turbo Install Questions

tjd2oo6 · Post by **tjd2oo6** » November 29th, 2006, 7:46 pm

Hi had my MX-3 for a while and i feel its time to start modding it. Im more into power mods over style mods as i like the it might not look fast but it is approach.

My MX-3 is a 1997 1.6 DOHC. Im not really intrested in doing an engine swap for the main reason of cost as at the moment i dont have a mega budget to work with. So i figured the next best thing i could do is stick a turbo on the engine i already have. I have done a few searches and browsed through the forum looking for information about putting a turbo on a 1.6 DOHC and well to be honest came away pretty confused as the information seemed pretty broken up all over the place, cut a long story short i only really came out knowing what manifold and turbo i can use which i worked out to be the manifold off a 323 GTX and the turbo off a MX-6/Ford Probe. So i have a few questions left that i was hoping someone here wouldnt mind answering.

1. Is this an easy enough job to do?
2. What other parts other than a manifold and turbo will i need?
3. Will i need to make any changes to the fuel system?
4. What would be a reliable psi to run at?
5. How much does a turbo effect mpg?

I read "The Bolt On Turbo Project" i found a link to on the forum it sort of answers a few of those questions above but i would like to hear from a few people who have put a turbo on their 1.6 DOHC MX-3 to make sure i fully understand whats involved.

I dont have any experience with turbos which is why when it comes to being installed i will be letting a professional do it but to keep costs down i would like to get all the parts and as much information as i can for him before i let him loose on the car since i cant afford any delays during the installation.

Thanks in advance looking forward to any replys

Tony

*edit*
A thought just come to mind which is would a 1.6 MX-5 Turbo kit fit on my car?

facko · Post by **facko** » December 4th, 2006, 2:53 pm

well for starters no the mx-5 turbo kit wont work. since miatas are FR not FF cars the manifold and what not is all different. Also both the turbo off of the mx-6/probe as well as the one that comes on the 323 will work. The turbo off the mx-6 is a little larger however the wastegate will not fit w.o some modification. I think you can just get the wastegate off of a vj-14(323 turbo) and it will fit but im not 100% on that. So if you want to just avoid that problem stick w/ the 323 turbo! That is the only problem i can think of that i ran into when i installed my turbo set up...and i did it in my garage w/ my dad lol so im sure if u get it sent to a professional there shouldnt be any really big problems if they understand how turbo setups work.

Boris · Post by **Boris** » December 4th, 2006, 9:09 pm

damn I posted a reply to this a few days ago, I guess it didn't work though.

Anyways, a 323 mani will work, and I have a brand new one that I'll be putting for sale as soon as I can get pictures, and measurements etc. Thsi tuesday I should be going home and will bring it back to my new place. You will need a fuel management system, you can go with a piggyback or a standalone. I would recomend the piggyback unless you want to spend lots of money. I don't know what will plug and play with your car, because it's different than the 1994 B6 dohc engines (yours is OBDII while the older models are OBDI)

around 7psi is a good starting point if you want more power but don't want a high risk of breaking anything. The B6 engines hold up to boost pretty damn well though. JWMotorsports will vouche for that. Check this out http://www.mx-3.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.ph ... +internals

You'll need an intercooler. I might be selling one of those too.

As for turbos, buy a brand new one off of ebay. You can get a garrett turbo brand new with a one year warantee for like $300-400 which blows my mind. If you don't like ebay, I might be selling a saab turbo (known for their reliability) too.

As for how much a turbo effects gas consumption, that's the great thing about them. Yes your car will obviously use quite a bit more gas when racing, but turbos generally kick in at around 2500rpm (depending on the size of the turbo) which means if you are driving your car nicely, your gas mileage won't be effected very much.

Turbo projects aren't easy, or cheap by any means. If you want to learn more about turbos, buy the book maximum boost by corky bell. Great book that will tell you just about everything there is to know about turbos.

I'm sure there's stuff I'm forgetting, but i hope this kind of basically answers ur questions!

tjd2oo6 · Post by **tjd2oo6** » December 5th, 2006, 11:43 am

Thanks for the replys, think im going to go with a turbo off a 323 along with the manifold because it just sounds easier, one question though is it possible to buy these new from mazda? or will it be expencive?

One thing i forgot to ask before is how much extra power would a 323 turbo add to my mx-3? like what kind of bhp will i be looking at after the installation?

Thanks in advance

Boris · Post by **Boris** » December 6th, 2006, 2:26 am

tjd2oo6 wrote:Thanks for the replys, think im going to go with a turbo off a 323 along with the manifold because it just sounds easier, one question though is it possible to buy these new from mazda? or will it be expencive?

One thing i forgot to ask before is how much extra power would a 323 turbo add to my mx-3? like what kind of bhp will i be looking at after the installation?

Thanks in advance

Don't buy a turbo from the mazda dealership, that's extremely expensive. I got quoted something like $310 for a manifold from Mazda. I'm selling mine for $250 Canadian + shipping. Picked up the mani today and will take pictures within the next few days.

that turbo will add anywhere between 5-100 hp ha. It's all about boost, and how you set up your turbo, man! Seriously, buy that book I recomended in the earlier post and read it cover to cover... it'll save you money in the end as you won't waste money on shitty parts. It'll even show you equations that will help you determine how much hp gain you will see with your engine and amount of boost

ModMX3 - (Carmaster2005) · December 7th, 2006, 11:00 pm

Dont forget you might want to upgrade your stock clutch to somthing a little stornger. I use to have the setup you want, and stock clutch will slip around 4 + PSI. I have just reverted back to almost stock setup besides genie headers, exhaust and intake. Boost really kicked in around 2,800 RPM with the VJ-11 Turbo. note the VJ-11 turbo youll have to modify the wastegate/bar to make it fit, where as the VJ-14 is almost the same, and fits perfactly. im also selling my lightly used 323 mani also FMU, injectors ect. So PM me if intreasted. I recommend you use some kind of Fuel computer Safc 1 or 2 maybe. Good luck with the setup.

94blaze1.6 · Post by **94blaze1.6** » December 13th, 2006, 10:39 am

Boris the engine in that thread you linked to is a rebuilt b6t. i am just making a note of that because the b6t has beefier rods and a lower compresion pistons. I am thinking of boosting the b6 and there is no way I would just slap a turbo on it, at 160k I would at least change the piston rings and get ss valves. I am really hoping to do more then that and actually rebuild the b6 with b6t internals then boost it.

Boris · Post by **Boris** » December 13th, 2006, 11:27 am

oh yeah, my bad. I didn't notice it was a capri engine... still JW posted that:

JWMotorsports wrote:Stock B6 rods will not hold 400WHP for a really long time even with the rod bolts swaped out for ARP's. I'd say 300-350WHP they'd hold for a decent while.

monty73741 · Post by **monty73741** » December 13th, 2006, 4:01 pm

Boris wrote:oh yeah, my bad. I didn't notice it was a capri engine... still JW posted that:

JWMotorsports wrote:Stock B6 rods will not hold 400WHP for a really long time even with the rod bolts swaped out for ARP's. I'd say 300-350WHP they'd hold for a decent while.

any how someone was selling a "kit" for a turbo in the forsale sectioon...