4age turbo question.

[danhtruong]

Hi guy;

I know this is dump question, but I have to ask for some advises. I am building 4age 16v turbo, this is my first engine that I have been assembled. I spoke to a technician near my house, and he told me that it very easy to blow the engine. Below is what I am putting into the engine;

1. Arias forged Pistons.
2. Pauter X Beams connecting rod with ARD bolts.
3. ARP stud head.
4. 7 ribs block.
5. Stock crank shaft with ARP stud.
6. New pistons bearing.
7. Stock cam, valves.
8. GT2871r turbo.

My goal is 300 whp. Is it very easy to blow the engine? I know it depend on how it build and tuner. If yes, please give me some advises to avoid that happen. I don't want all my time and money go to trash.

[yoshimitsuspeed]

What compression ratio?
What kind of fuel will you be using?
Stock cams? It is definitely possible to make this kind of power on stock cams but it's also definitely well above what i would want to use stock cams for.


It's kind of hard to answer your question because yes in a sense it is easy to blow up any engine. All you have to do is one thing wrong.
I don't want to scare you though because it's pretty easy not to blow up an engine. All you have to do is make sure you don't do anything wrong.
Very few tuners seem to have much respect for detonation monitoring. then again a lot of tuners either don't push the limits or learn where the limits are after it's too late.
If you can properly monitor AFRs, Detonation and preferably EGTs and if you build up your boost and power progressively it should be quite easy to get to your goals without doing damage.

Other than that the initial build will be key. People talk about turbo motors being higher maintenance or more likely to break. I call BS on that. However high performance builds are much better at finding the weak link. If your bearings are a little too tight, loose, not bored square to the rod etc, if your bores are a little out of spec etc a high performance build will tend to find that point of failure sooner and sometimes more catastrophically.

[danhtruong]

What compression ratio? 9:1
What kind of fuel will you be using? I don't know, what is your recommend?
Stock cams? Yes

I followed the manual, but like I said, this is my first rebuild and assemble, so I am not sure 100% right. Is there anyway to check before put the car on dyno? Should I bring it to technician for the first start? If something wrong I just want it to be fixable, I don't want blow up the engine and everything gone.

[SgtRauksauff]

consider this: 300whp is triple what these engines were originally designed with. With this kind of power from a 1.6L engine, you will have massively increased cylinder pressures, heat, and force acting on all of the moving parts. Like Yoshimitsuspeed said, turbocharging a motor not designed for it will reveal the weaknesses, which you can identify if you have the right monitoring. Predetonation/knock monitoring is huge, there's a reason why OEM turbo vehicles have it. With a wideband O2 and EGT sensors, you can make sure that you are fueling the engine appropriately.

I think a lot of times, when people are ventilating their engines after turbocharging, the reason is because they didn't have the tools in place to accurately monitor what their engine was doing, and adjust the tune accordingly.

[oldeskewltoy]

Hi guy;

I know this is dump question, but I have to ask for some advises. I am building 4age 16v turbo, this is my first engine that I have been assembled. I spoke to a technician near my house, and he told me that it very easy to blow the engine. Below is what I am putting into the engine;

1. Arias forged Pistons.
2. Pauter X Beams connecting rod with ARD bolts.
3. ARP stud head.
4. 7 ribs block.
5. Stock crank shaft with ARP stud.
6. New pistons bearing.
7. Stock cam, valves.
8. GT2871r turbo.

My goal is 300 whp. Is it very easy to blow the engine? I know it depend on how it build and tuner. If yes, please give me some advises to avoid that happen. I don't want all my time and money go to trash.

Sell the Pauter rods, and buy a set of mild/moderate cams. Stock rods are plenty strong enough to twist to just about any rpm your build will twist too. Add a properly ported head - helps with making power, and holding up to greater heat and pressures.

[yoshimitsuspeed]

What compression ratio? 9:1
What kind of fuel will you be using? I don't know, what is your recommend?
Stock cams? Yes

I followed the manual, but like I said, this is my first rebuild and assemble, so I am not sure 100% right. Is there anyway to check before put the car on dyno? Should I bring it to technician for the first start? If something wrong I just want it to be fixable, I don't want blow up the engine and everything gone.

Fuel
From an engineering standpoint you could say the right fuel would be the lowest octane you can run safely with a little headroom.
That will vary from build to build, tune to tune. With a boosted motor more octane will generally mean you can run more boost and make more power.
If you have proper knock monitoring/control then you can slowly build up to the point of knock and then decide if you want to run less boost or timing or if you want to run more octane.
With your setup and goals starting on premium pump gas is a decent starting point. To make your goals on stock cams you may end up needing a little more octane but you would probably at least be able to get close.
If you have the correct monitoring tools, a little knowledge and you start increasing power progressively then there should be no need for a "technician" but judging by the level of your questions I would say that either a lot more research or getting the assistance of someone with more experience may not be a bad idea.

[danhtruong]

Thank you guys very much. I will do more research. If I still have questions I will post on forum.