Can nothing go right with this project? Well, okay, it just feels that way recently. After researching turbos for a long time I decided to put a TO4 ont he car. Much talking with TeamFC3S mailing list people, and Turbonetics, and it was decided: a 60-1 Hi-Fi 0.81 A/R P-trim. Cool. Should be good for about 400rwhp at 14psi, 500rwhp at 20psi... this is what they say.
So, I call up Turbonetics and try to order the turbo. Turns out they can't sell direct to people in California. We'd worked up a lot of the pricing and full retail on the turbo is $770. Unfortunate I can't buy direct. Oh well, off I go to Ray Lochhead at SR Motorsports since he's a Turbonetics dealer.
So, I call Ray and order the turbo, the wastegate, the blow off valve and the assorted bits and pieces that will be required. We're going to use the HKS manifold that I got from Maztech.
The wait begins. The turbo is, of course, late. During this time I decide to rip the old turbo and exhaust manifold off the car. Much work later, it's off. I try to test fit the manifold I have to Maztech. Crap. Doesn't fit. They sent me a 12A manifold!
Call Ray. The turbo is in and on it's way. Turbonetics delivered it with a dry housing originally and we wanted a wet housing. Turbo arrives, but I have no manifold. I order the HKS undivided manifold from Ray. $399. At this point I check the first bill from Ray. $360 for "miscellaneous". A very small handful of Aeroquip fittings, a flange, a few gaskets, and two short lengths of braided oil lines. Not itemized, no way to figure what cost me what. Oh well, the car will be done right and it'll all fit -- I'm paying for SRM's expertise here, right?
Rummage through the boxes. Wait a sec. I asked for a steel BOV flange. This is aluminum. Call Ray again. The steel flange will come with the manifold. Cool.
The wait begins anew. The manifold is, of course, late. HKS didn't ship them out right away. They're over a week late -- just like the turbo.
Manifold and turbo are on my garage floor. No steel BOV flange in the package. Oh well, I can work with what I have, I guess. I test fit the manifold. Yay! It fits! I try to test fit the turbo... doh! With the on-center housing, the turbo doesn't clear the right-side frame rail. What the hell? How did both Turbonetics and SR Motorsports let me get to this point? I could have got everything cheaper from somewhere other than SR Motorsports (ie. www.uprd.com, I found out later, has the same manifold for $250 instead of $399.). The whole reason for going with Ray was to make certain I had a turbo that would flow what I wanted and mount right up when I got it.
Okay. Call up Ray who's very understanding and more than willing to order me the right exhaust turbine housing. But he didn't sound like a could, or would, do much for me about ordering the wrong housing to begin with. Remember how we were swallowing the higher pricing in order to have this all work the first time based on SRM's expertise? Sigh.
Don't get me wrong. Ray is a great guy and knows his stuff. I'm not sure how we managed to get a turbo+manifold combination that doesn't fit my car, though. You'd think this would be something somebody as experienced as Ray would have spotted right from the get-go.
Further on this, the wastegate doesn't fit that manifold. It requires a adaptor to be fabricated. This wasn't mentioned to me, either. Also, all those Aeroquip bits, there were no water line fittings. I finally found those (3/8" pipe to hose barb).