[riceboyler]

Hi all, my name is Jason and I'm a boostaholic. In July of last year I moved our family from White House, TN (20 miles N of Nashville) to Tallahassee, FL, and in the move, I had to sell my beloved 1989 Mitsubishi Starion (yes, a legit 89 Starion). I've been driving a 2003 BMW 330i since then, and it's a great car, but I admit I have missed having boost. To give you guys a little background, I've owned a turbo car (until last July) since 2002. They include:

- 1987 Volvo 740 Turbo Wagon (rare 5-speed car, used an MBC to get up to 17 psi, and it was scary)
- 1985 Dodge Omni GLH Turbo (25 psi + weak 505 tranny = hole in tranny)
- 2x 1987 Shelby CSX (one I drove, one my brother-in-law destroyed and I ended up with)
- 1984 Dodge Daytona Turbo
- 1988 Dodge Lancer Shelby Turbo
- 1984 Volvo 740 Turbo Wagon (23psi on the stock tranny, did fine)
- 1991 Volvo 760 Turbo Wagon (only ran 18psi on this one)
- 1989 Saab SPG Turbo (loved that car and still miss it)
- 1981 Volvo 242 Turbo (bought it with a near-death T3 but it was a fun car)
- 2002 Volvo XC70 LPT (light pressure turbos are worthless IMHO)

And then the Starion as referred to above. Boost is in my blood! So, hopefully, I'll be joining the ranks of the boosted again and will become a productive member of the ForteTurbo society!

 

[Forte5]

Welcome! Nice stable you have had. You will enjoy the F5. Are you getting the base or fully loaded?

 

[warpig]

welcome to the site. nice car list, more so the turbo mopars

 

[6thElementEngineering]

Welcome fellow Turbo lover! If you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

[Innovazero]

Welcome, I recently joined the ranks myself with a black 15' SX5. You will really like this car, it offers a nice blend of speed and practicality. It responds well to mods, a lot of enthusiasm around this little 1.6 motor. Light mods(stock 15.0-15.3 depending on options, weight, koup/SX5) will push this car into the 14's with either transmission. Forum members are great. Look around, ask questions and have fun

 

[smalltowngirl13]

Welcome aboard Jason...

 

[riceboyler]

Welcome! Nice stable you have had. You will enjoy the F5. Are you getting the base or fully loaded?

Thanks. I'm getting the base, it's all I need. I won't miss the Sunroof in Florida. Just lets more freaking heat in...

 

[honhon]

another darn 5... lol... i really wish my dealer had a 5 when i got my koup... back is killing me loading my 2 year old into the back lol

good luck and have fun. parts are just starting spawn out for us. cant wait

 

[Innovazero]

Same, I got the base too... more then enough options plus we are about 50-100lbs lighter without all the options

 

[Korean Unicorn]

Welcome..good to know some one else has had to deal with that injection system on the conquest and staroron..I had a wide body conquest..great drift car...hit me up if you need anything

 

[riceboyler]

Welcome..go to know some one else has had to deal with that injection system on the conquest ant staroron..I had a wide body conquest..great drift car...hit me up if you need anything

I loved my Starion, even with that screwed up TBI. It had blown a head gasket and I was in the process of building it back up when I sold it. I had the head redone with a 5 angle valve job, mild port and polish, 800/1000cc injectors, a 16G (with the 12B hotside), a MAFT-II with a 4" GM MAF and some other goodies. Never got to see it on the road with that stuff, just the stock 12B at 15psi, a catless 2.5" turbo-back and a hard OVCP with a Forge BOV. It was an absolute blast to drive!

So, now to the F5. I picked it up last night awaiting financing to complete on it, and to be entirely honest, I'm a little underwhelmed at the punch from the turbo. Now granted, I'm coming from a 3.0L BMW 6 cylinder, so I recognize it won't be the same, but it almost feels like the boost levels aren't right. So, I plugged in my Bluetooth OBD2 this morning, fired up Torque Pro, and the absolute MAX boost was 11psi. The majority of the time, even romping on it, it was in the 5-6psi range. How restrictive is the ECU with the boost control? Is it possible it's holding it back during the "break-in" period?

As you guys saw, I have driven many a turbo car, so I'm used to the rush of boost coming on, and this car just doesn't have much of it. Is it possible I got a dud?

 

[riceboyler]

Well, I'm happy to reply to myself and state that either my right foot was tired early this morning, or the car decided to wake up. On the way to work just now, it performed more like I would expect it to. I have a feeling I may have been "easing" the loud pedal, as that's kinda what I had to do with the BMW. It was the first year of the TBW on that car, and so the throttle was REALLY touchy. Once I got into it, it woke up and performed as it should, with boost between 12 and 14 psi the majority of the time.

I'll tell you this, as soon as the financing is complete (hopefully tomorrow), the recirc hose will be gone and I will hear my BPV. I'll also be ordering the hot pipe from 6th, as I can feel that weird little hesitation. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it has a hill-start assist. I have a rather steep driveway, and it was a little shocking that I let off the brake and the car didn't roll back (at first). I think I'm falling for this car...

 

[Forte5]

The car should be boosting 16-17psi depending on weather and temps. It does have a feature where you can't boost hard before the car has had a chance to warm up proper. I have hit it several times. Once you get more miles on it the car will wake up more and change the oil on it.

 

[Korean Unicorn]

Well from what i'm seeing.. car really runs like a High winding Na.. drive train.. than a boosted car.. 11 psi is on the mid side of the boost range.. our cars peak at 19- 21.. on the top end when the drive train is warmed up.. but most of the time.. the Di motor is not running boost.. wile you drive.. and from what I have been logging in it.. most day to day driving is in the boost range you are reading.. I average a boot peak of 5lbs in normal low rpm driving.. another point of interest.. this drive train tends to loosen up a bit after 3000 miles... is what most people say.. and a few car magazines have even state that the cars they tested with higher miles were faster than factory fresh..
we have some Kia personal on this page that mite have a more insight.. into this drive train.. for me.. this car is the least turbo feeing car I had ever driven.. and it was most likely developed that way.. until I did the Cold air intake.. the car was dead quiet.. as you know.. and to me the power delivery felt more like a VW tdi .. a lot of low end torque with a flat top end.. The C.A.I has shifted the a bit more of the bottom end further up and cleaned up the top end lag..

as to my conquest.. I punched a nice size hole in the factory block.. I replaced it with a Evo3 block and trans.. it was a common swap at its time.. sold it about 5 months after the swap.. didn't want to deal finding parts for it pre us Evo time rite..

 

[Forte5]

Our cars hit limp mode at 20-21 so it won't peak that far. The farthest mine has peaked is 19 while shifting and will immediately go to 17 and then fade to about 15. The tune I had would reach 22-23 peak and immediately go to 20 and fade to 17.

Again this all is dependent on climate since some are peaking around 14 on the east coast from what I am reading on the VT forums

 

[riceboyler]

Our cars hit limp mode at 20-21 so it won't peak that far. The farthest mine has peaked is 19 while shifting and will immediately go to 17 and then fade to about 15. The tune I had would reach 22-23 peak and immediately go to 20 and fade to 17.

Again this all is dependent on climate since some are peaking around 14 on the east coast from what I am reading on the VT forums

Yeah, I have a feeling the ECU is looking at all kinds of things (temps, humidity, air density, etc.) while determining how much boost to allow. Regarding your tune (just because I'm curious), was it a regular Unleaded tune (87 octane), or did you do a higher octane tune? I'd be really interested to see what Tork (or others) could do, simply by mapping for 91-93 octane as opposed to 87. Granted, it would cause the cost of ownership to increase, but I'd have to imagine some good gains could be had by leaning it out a bit in the mid range and requiring a higher octane fuel.

@Korean Unicorn, it's interesting you describe it that way, as being more of a NA power delivery, because that was exactly what I was thinking. The power doesn't really come in as one big lump like every other turbo car I've driven. Perhaps that's how the engine is tuned, to make it a smoother, less boosty feeling engine. Me personally, I'd prefer the boosty feeling, so I guess I'll have to do an intake ASAP. (Oh darn, more power...)

As for your Conquest, I got to ride in a 1JZ swapped car at the Pigeon Forge meet a couple of years back. That thing was absolutely insane, and he was just running the stock turbo and management. He was planning on going to a single T88 and AEM management. I can just imagine how ridiculous it would be with that. The DSM swap has died out in favor, because of some of the issues with getting it to really like a RWD platform. Lots more V8s and 1JZ's or 6MGTEs I was seeing before I left the scene.

 

[Forte5]

I have always used 91 octane in my car. The Tork tune makes a huge difference in the car. If your a a/t we are still perfecting the tune. If your a m/t then the stage 1 is good to go. With stock tune there is a lot of power limiters. That's why it feels like a n/a car when fully stock. With the tune these are all raised and the boost hits a lot harder and holds more psi till redline. With the a/t we have found that there are more limiters keeping it from making good TQ right away. We should have the tune done the beginning of march. With lifted limiters and possibly some dyno results on my car.

If you want the "hit" lime other boosted cars do then you need to get rid of that stock air box and upgrade the stock hotpipe. You can make it 2.25 or 2.5". I did mine 2.5" and works great. I have noticed boost comes on way faster and pulls so much harder with it. The intake gives it a really nice kick and helps it spool quicker also.

Just for reference the stock hotpipe is 1.75".

 

[riceboyler]

WOW, the stock hotpipe is that small? That's like breathing through a straw! That explains a lot...

So I just went out and did a little data-logging session, and I'm seeing max boost now at 16psi and it feels much much better. I wonder if the PDI guys had either absolutely caned it, or never hit boost, and the ECU has to relearn how to actually deliver the power...

 

[6thElementEngineering]

WOW, the stock hotpipe is that small? That's like breathing through a straw! That explains a lot...

So I just went out and did a little data-logging session, and I'm seeing max boost now at 16psi and it feels much much better. I wonder if the PDI guys had either absolutely caned it, or never hit boost, and the ECU has to relearn how to actually deliver the power...

You should see in those data logs that the boost will peak anywhere from 15-17 and then taper down as you approach redline.

 

[riceboyler]

Yeah, I'm seeing a peak around 16-16.5 and then it drops rather rapidly. That may be due to my reluctance to really get on it until I own the car , but Torque has come in quite handy to see what I'm actually hitting as far as boost levels and temps.