Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Forced Induction Turboing my focus swap

If you blow-thru, you get a more acurate air intake temp, if your MAF has the temp sensor in it, than draw-thru. Also you can put a BOV in without having any stalling problems. You can get around the temp issue by just wiring an external temp sensor and putting it after after the intercooler. The stalling issue isn't fixable, but a little careful driving helps keep you from stalling.

Forget the HP, look at the TQ figure. Yeah, nitrous is weird with a turbo. Because it is cool and you're compressing the air, you get more power than if you juiced just NA.

OK good info everyone I moved my radiator forward a about 1.25 inches and I am going to install a slimmer fan for more room as well. I need to do this for my turbo to clear everything. I got my oil lines today and the rest of the fittings. I began work on the exhaust manifold then ran out of welding wire. I made the flange for the turbo as well. The rest of the turbo rebuild kit is on the way, courtesy of ebay. I made the flange by drawing it out first on my computer using Inventor. I got my oil return hose and heater hose since I am going to water cool this turbo. I took out the rest of my AC stuff minus the compressor for clearance issues. I read on Focus Fanatics that it was much more difficult to tune a blow through MAF then a suck through, details anyone? Yes the stall issue with a blow off valve can be fixed DSM turbos have the same problem and the SAFC2 has a DEC air function that is supposed to compensate.

As far as tuning, I have a MAF from a 460 V8 that is just over 3" in diameter. I also am using low impedence injectors from a 2.2 turbo, low impedence injectors work better for forced inductions applications and in general as the injector gets bigger. I am also running an SAFC2 which the cars computer hasn't relearned. I also have an aeromotive FPR with a 1:1 rising rate to add one pound of fuel pressure for every pund of boost. Th MAF should detect the extra incoming air. When I ran a data logger it only showed 3 volts max at WOT. As for the Intake temp sensor I am going to place that after the turbo and before the intercooler so the computer thinks the air is hotter then it is so that it will retard the timing some.

Hey could I relocate the battery to the trunk and use that area to mount my intercooler? It seams like the only place that would work because the front of the bumper won't work without serious hacking.

It sure makes a whole lotta room...



I also got rid of my A/C and re-routed the battery wiring. (Not in this pic.)

But I thought you had an air-air intercooler? Or are you going to get a hood scoop?

BP

Careful with messing with your MAFs and Injectors. You've already blown one engine NA by messing with MAFs and fuel. The room for error boosted is much slimmer.

How much bigger do you need? 42lb/hr high impedence have done 300whp with a little extra fuel pressure and you won't need to get a injector driver. They highest they sell, high impedence, is around 50-55lb/hr though.

What the heck is a 460 MAF? Do you mean a Mustang GT 4.6L V8 MAF? Read the FAQ. Bigger injectors and a bigger MAF = MORE TIMING. The ECU looks at the MAF volts as it's main load and timing calculator. I had 42s and a 70MM MAF calibrated for them and pulled a constant 30* spark advance. More timing = a blown engine as in exploded.

No way should you put the intercooler in the engine bay unless you have a scoop there and have the cooler facing up, kind of a side/top mount. I say hack away and put it in the bumper.

My nitrous run was done only once. We pulled 4.5* of timing across the board and hit the juice at around 4500rpms(a bit late but I was worried about a backfire). Only had a bit of a misfire and still got great numbers on arizona 91 octane and 9psi. My tuner felt the timing was still a bit conservative so after over 10 hrs on the dyno and tired as heck I thought why not. Added back the 4.5* and BOOM blew the motor on the next shot.

Be careful. Doing a turbo on the cheap is easy. But doing the fuel and timing on the cheap will cost you more in the long run.

A 460 is a 7.5liter V8 found in many ford trucks, thats what I got the MAF from. I don't need high impedenace injectors as I am have converted to low impedence injectors. Yes you are right about the timing issue with bigger MAF I noticed that with my buddies data logger. I plan on putting the IAT sensor before the intercooler and after the turbo so it reads higher intake temps then it really is getting in an attempt to retard the timing. If that doesn't prove effective on the data logger then I can always increase the resistance as well by adding a resistor in series with the IAT sensor. With the other hardware I already have there wouldn't be much to gain from a chip that I don't already have other then timing control. I hate the idea of hacking up the bumper but I don't think I have much choice, I just don't want it to look jimmy rigged.

Once upon a time I had my MAF tube in an awkward possition due to a boost leak and a rearanging of my intercooler piping to convert the car back to NA so I could limp home.

I saw 150F air intake temps cause the filter was right by the radiator fan and I got a check engine light for "Air Intake Temp too Hot" or something like that. Odds are you could see 200F+ temps before the intercooler and a resistor will probably make that worse.

At least go for a timing box like, or better yet exactly like the J&S Safeguard. It can retard your timing when under boost and/or at certain RPMs. It can also retard timing when it senses deto. Every Focus guy who has one swears by it.

EDIT: What a chip "gains" you is safety. Also the ability to be in total control of your ECU. You can move the rev limiter, the speed limiter, get rid of check enginelights for no CAT, EGR, etc... Up to 50hp more the Zetec is fairly sturdy. I just slapped my first turbo setup on with no tuning, a crappy intercooler(same as yours) and a lousy downpipe and still ran it for over 20000mi. More than 50hp and 5psi though, and you need serious tuning.

Well sounds like I will need to get a timing retard box of some kind instead. I don't have a cat and have no codes for it since I have a resistor inline with the downstream O2 and I have no EGR since I tricked the ecu there too. Speed limiter can be bypassed if it is setup like my neon was and just splits with one wire for the speedo and one for the ecu. I don't want a higher rev limiter with stock internals and turbo. The intercooler I got looks good but does anyone know what the specs are on it? I used a DSM side mount on my neon with no problems and it had smaller input and output tubes and less surface area then this one. Also on the neon I used exhaust tubing for the intercooler lines from the turbo to the intercooler and ABS pipe afterwards which to everyones amazement didn't melt. The car that my turbo came from didn't even have an intercooler so I wonder just how high these intake temps are going to be? I am going to look at hacking the bumper again but I still don't think there is room enough to make it look good. I might have to get an air to water intercooler which means more $$$. I got two new fans today, one is going to be mounted as a pusher fan in front of the radiator on the passenger side and the other is going to be mounted like normal on the drivers side. I got these fans because they are slimmer then factory. One appears to be a SLimline fan that sells in Summit Racing catalogs for over $150 and I got them both for $20 at the wrecking yard.