i just recently turboed my sunfire and got a few questions..
i have a ebay .42 intake .48 exhaust turbo. what would be the safe boost limit, i know its greater than 8 psi like everyone seems to think because that is how hahn advertises whats safe..
also the intercooler is side mounted with a fan, should i lower the boost a little lower than safe since its not as cool as a fmic
im currently running 9 pounds of boost tuned with hptuners by myself.
14,1 idle
12.5 cruising
11.5-12,0 under full boost
just got her done 2 weeks ago, put 1500 miles on it so far. dogging the hell out of it!!
im new to jbody!
running rich? turn the boost up
safe psi on that turbo would be zero.... ebay turbo's are junk surprised you made it 1500 miles already.
i was running 13psi stock motor with a good turbo.
not suprised to get that as my first one, what excatly makes the turbo unsafe on my motor, it is behing my moving parts so the worst it will plug up and shut my car down?? and i could be a lucky one and have one of the amazing handful of a hundred and have one that last over 10k. havent noticed a single single at all wrong with it, boosting great
running rich? turn the boost up
and how long did u run 13psi
running rich? turn the boost up
its not that they are unsafe, they are just junk. maybe you got in that .01 % that is ok. they have crappy seals and crappy internals.
i ran 13psi for almost a year. that motor was fine and still is, its sitting out in the garage. boosted it for about 50K miles so far. 1 year at 6.5, 2nd year at 13psi. zero problems. now i have a built motor with a solid turbo behind it.
kevin roskosky wrote:i just recently turboed my sunfire and got a few questions..
i have a ebay .42 intake .48 exhaust turbo. what would be the safe boost limit, i know its greater than 8 psi like everyone seems to think because that is how hahn advertises whats safe..
also the intercooler is side mounted with a fan, should i lower the boost a little lower than safe since its not as cool as a fmic
im currently running 9 pounds of boost tuned with hptuners by myself.
14,1 idle
12.5 cruising
11.5-12,0 under full boost
just got her done 2 weeks ago, put 1500 miles on it so far. dogging the hell out of it!!
im new to jbody!
Boost numbers are not what you should be worrying about. The kind of Horsepower you make is the killer, not PSI. So, i suggest finding a similar, more common turbo by a well known manufactuer (Garret, Mitsu, Turbonetics etc.) and asking those who own one on their Jbody what they have been running. 8 PSI is what Hahn advertises as safe with their turbokits. Keep in mind that no matter what you buy, the producer will rarely if ever tell you that pushing the limit is "safe". There was a big discussion about it where Bill Hahn said that stock Ecotec motors can be run at pretty high boost levels/HP numbers without issues.
As far as expecting the first response to be negative about your ebay turbo? Cmon, that just says even you know they have a notorious reputation for being not so good. I for one am not a fan, but I will not say there aren't good ones out there. However, these days you get what you pay for, especially in this economy and similar sized turbos that cost more are probably going to be more efficient, that's all.
Street-Legal 2003 Sunfire 10.58 @ 139 MPH
With that turbo you're probably barely hiting 200hp...that is, if you did a good tune. Garrett makes that same turbo for about $500-600. Does your turbo even have a brand name on it??? If not, take it off immediately!!!
"You can only feed them semen for so long before their legs fall off."
Adam Hahn wrote:kevin roskosky wrote:i just recently turboed my sunfire and got a few questions..
i have a ebay .42 intake .48 exhaust turbo. what would be the safe boost limit, i know its greater than 8 psi like everyone seems to think because that is how hahn advertises whats safe..
also the intercooler is side mounted with a fan, should i lower the boost a little lower than safe since its not as cool as a fmic
im currently running 9 pounds of boost tuned with hptuners by myself.
14,1 idle
12.5 cruising
11.5-12,0 under full boost
just got her done 2 weeks ago, put 1500 miles on it so far. dogging the hell out of it!!
im new to jbody!
Boost numbers are not what you should be worrying about. The kind of Horsepower you make is the killer, not PSI. So, i suggest finding a similar, more common turbo by a well known manufactuer (Garret, Mitsu, Turbonetics etc.) and asking those who own one on their Jbody what they have been running. 8 PSI is what Hahn advertises as safe with their turbokits. Keep in mind that no matter what you buy, the producer will rarely if ever tell you that pushing the limit is "safe". There was a big discussion about it where Bill Hahn said that stock Ecotec motors can be run at pretty high boost levels/HP numbers without issues.
As far as expecting the first response to be negative about your ebay turbo? Cmon, that just says even you know they have a notorious reputation for being not so good. I for one am not a fan, but I will not say there aren't good ones out there. However, these days you get what you pay for, especially in this economy and similar sized turbos that cost more are probably going to be more efficient, that's all.
adam, glad to have you back. very good info put forth too. id even go as far to say get a turbo with a warranty as well. And like stated, you get what you pay for...
no it doesnt have a brand on it.. like stated it is a ebay turbo... and i understand its hp not psi thats why i was hoping one of the godly jbody guys would be able to round up a ball park number for how many hp im on at 9 and how many psi would be as quick as possible without blowin it, and its not going to hurt anything so why not wait until it goes, i have no oil leakage whatsoever and no shaft play! i originally bought an ebay turbo because i am 17, never turboed a car ever and like hell i was going t buy a garret or a badass turbo and not know if i have a oil clog and then blow my turbo. this turbo was solely purchased as a gunea pig turbo and when it blows, yes, i will buy a new one but i dont see why i should fork over 800 bucks when its doing a great job
running rich? turn the boost up
with that small a turbo on 8 psi i'd say neighborhood of 200... not gonna wreck your motor, if your tune is as good as you say it is, your doing good
LE61T PTE6262 Powered 
That .42/.48 turbo is really on the small side for the Ecotecs. The nice thing though is you probably have little, if any turbo lag.
As Adam Hahn said, you'll have more problems with efficiency than anything else. That turbo, while it may end up being reliable, isn't the best design for the ecotecs. Me personally, I'm a fan of Mitsubishi turbos, people like Vince prefer Garrett or Borg Warner turbos. Its basically personal preference and what you are aiming for power and driveability wise.
If it were me, id say tune the car to the max with the turbo you got. You'll just have to watch knock and air temperatures, because you'll max out the turbo before you reach the limits of the stock Ecotec engine.
As a side note, not everything from Ebay is junk. I'm running the RFL knockoff blow off valve, and have since I turbocharged my car 3 years ago, and I have never had any problems with it. And my friends Focus SVT that we turbocharged is at 306 horsepower and 242 ft/lbs torque running 16psi on an ebay .60/.58 T3/T4, and he's using a Tial knockoff wastegate too. On the other hand, I've seen them go bad soon after installation, or even right out of the box as well.
Currently #4 in Ecotec Forced Induction horsepower ratings. 505.8 WHP 414WTQ!!!
Currently 3rd quickest Ecotec on the .org - 10.949 @ 131.50 MPH!!!
I got a ebay wastegate also and its doing great also. I can't really do to much to my tune to max it out as that's about as I'm gonna get her because I have no 3 bar map. Just stock 2. And none of my o2 sensors. The turbo spools in 2nd at 2000rpm and at 1900 in 5th. I love it haha. My brothers srt4 doesn't spool till 2900
running rich? turn the boost up
I had a 52 trim turbo and ran into clearance issues with my firewall
running rich? turn the boost up
Im actually running the same size turbo, but it's a garrett. Its capable of hitting 13's if you're a great driver. But yes, it runs out of breath extremely quickly.
"You can only feed them semen for so long before their legs fall off."
How many psi you running and what times you reach? I'm going tomorrow and shooting for a 13.8 on 12 lbs (I just upped it and retuned
)
running rich? turn the boost up
I was only able to reach a 14.6 1/4 mile...That's mainly because the guy I bought it from had his speed limiter removed and the rev limiter upped to 7000rpm. He was able to hit a 13.7 I believe on 195 tires from walmart. haha! I suck at drag though.....
"You can only feed them semen for so long before their legs fall off."
I gotcha. Its completely different. Its hard to get used to. I can't wait to see my times
running rich? turn the boost up
may not be a bad idea to invest in a EGT sensor to keep an eye on things as well
1989 Turbo Trans Am #82, 2007 Cobalt SS G85
