SilentSeb

Hi all! First off, thank you for taking the time to read I appreciate you for helping others, hopefully I can pay it forward or return the favour somehow.

Car: 1997 with 90k miles, good even compression, all body work is done (FM clutch, suspension, brakes/grip)
Goals:
Power - Aiming for 200-220hp for now. If I want to hit 250+, it will be with a revised budget, a winter to drop the motor and rebuild, condidence + lots of experienced with a noob friendly build, etc etc.
Cost - I am about 3k CAD deep, with about 1.5-2.5k left in my wallet without going dead broke and eating ramen for the rest of the year.
Reliability level - I want all of this to last me until the end of this season at least, bonus for next year. Hopefully most of the parts I can re-use for a potential rebuild, and donate/sell the rest.

Where I am now.
Engine is pretty much bone stock aside from some decent maintenance, no leaks etc.
I purchased on local classifieds (perhaps against better judgement)
- a small, albeit untouched, turbo ( IHI RHB52 )
- Mild steel, welded 4-1 manifold with down pipe and external waste setup. Down side of this is it is a 2 inch diameter, and the end doesn't have any sort of flange, just a round pipe.
- Trubo kitty recommended part list for diy ms3 in the mail, coming in a few weeks as the expansion port is on backorder
- FM coolant reroute in the mail along with their feed lines for the garret kit
- Oil sandwich ( )
- AEM (30-4110) UEGO Air/Fuel Ratio Gauge
- Some random intercooler off of (i think) a subaru? No piping, seems large enough but might be a pain to pipe it since the in/out is on the top
- Some fuel pressure regulator with Kenne Belle written on it, i think off a mustang

What I need help deciding
- Flow Force 640cc Injector Kit seems overkill for my current needs. I thought 220hp ceiling is within the stock 1.8 injector, pump, etc capabilities. If I am mistaken, perhaps I will simply deal with lower boost until I figure out tuning etc, then upgrade.
- I need oil feed/drain lines. For the life of me I can't figure this out. This is probably the part of the build that stresses me out the most. I've learned along the way what AN fittings are etc, and it doesn't help that the CarPassionChannel guy has recommendations that feel a tad incomplete.
- I need intercooler piping and blow off valve. I own some sort of BOV already that has the writing OVA on it, but I can't find any info for this specific model. I trust that it works.

What I have no idea about
- Sensors? Something about air temps, something about MAF not being viable, etc? I am struggling on this end. What is bare minimum, and then what are the nice to haves? I just want to understand a bit more here.
- BOV needs to route back to the inlet. The explanation makes sense, but how do people typically achieve this? A garden hose? Sounds like magic.
- Do I need a way to sense boost level and monitor it? I think something like the MAC BOOST CONTROL SOLENOID KIT does something along these lines
- Is it worth holding onto the custom fab exhaust manifold since everyone is hell bent on 2.5 inch and more all the way.
- What else am I missing?

Thank you so much!
Some photos

Compressor side with some hosing

A look at this 2 inch exhaust downpipe with no flange

some random fuel pressure reg i guess?

The external wastegate control. No labels, but seems legit I guess.

Another angle showing the wastegate piping

user 8202

I have a 97 Miata. I went with the full MKturbo kit. Check it out. Literally everything you need in one kit and at a price that can't be beat. I have had it on the car for almost 5 months now and its great.

Turbomack

What are your specific questions regarding the oil feed/drain stress? The pick up point will be at the oil filter/warmer, feeds around the back side of the engine on around to the turbo top side. Drain out the bottom feeds back into the oil pan (not trying to insult your intelligence). This isn’t 1000 psi and can be hose-clamped just as easily as making AN fittings which can be a real pain. You asking how to make an AN hose, how to get it back into the oil pan, what size of lines to use, how to get a take-off point or something else? Post a pic and/or be very direct with you questions.

Skamba

I would get a good set of injectors straight away. You're going to want them at some point anyway, and it will save you redoing the VE table. I also think the 220 hp figure for stock injectors is optimistic. Furthermore, modern injectors have a much better spray pattern than the stock injectors.

Oil feed/return:
1) Most people run a -4 AN line to the turbo. You might have to run a restrictor - check the specifications for your turbo.
2) For the return, you'll have to drill into your pan. There's plenty of guides that explain how. Because the return is not pressurized, you can just use a piece of hose. An AN line is also an option of course.

You should be pretty much there if I understand your stuff correctly. Should be pretty easy to figure out if you have all the parts needed when you have them.

Intercooling piping can be a bit tricky if you have a different intercooler, but the idea is the same. Buy some silicone hoses of the same size as your intercooler inlet/outlet. You can buy an insert with a flange/pipe for the BOV. If your current BOV doesn't work well, I can recommend a 710N diverter valve, that is used by many VAG products. You can get a second hand unit quite cheaply on ebay.

- You'll need an IAT. Diyautotune has one that a lot of people use, but you could also source something more locally.
- You can also put a small filter on it or buy a VTA BOV.
- The sensing of boost level is done by the MAP sensor in your MegaSquirt. To influence the boost levels, you can run an electronic or manual boost controller. Without one of those, your boost pressure is only based on the strength of the spring in wastegate actuator. Note that these can never decrease the pressure below your spring strength, only increase it. It would be good to figure out at what pressure your wastegate starts opening. You could put pressure on the wastegate nipple and see when it starts opening, if you can't find out what type you have.
- That's up to you :-) But I'd just keep it for now. You can always upgrade later.

My advice would be to first get the megasquirt (w/ wideband and injectors) working so you can learn how to tune your car and get the basics working. Then add your turbo.

SilentSeb

@Skamba
Thank you. Original plan was to do this sans the injector upgrade, but I just bit the bullet and ordered the FlowForce 640, which should future proof things just fine for me. I am curious to do some more learning on how spray patterns have improved over the years. Atomizer technology impresses me I am actually excited to see if I can see some changes on my stock setup with these 3 changes. Follow up question, would you just place the wideband in place of the stock O2 sensor, the one that is attached at the end of the downpipe?

Hmm, I was leaning towards buying "Brass Barbed Fitting Coupler/Connector 5/8" Hose Barb x 3/8" Male NPT" on amazon, and there is already a barbed fitting on the second hand turbo I have. Sourcing hosing is a bit more questionable for me. There are kits on amazon and ebay, but from photos they all look trashy. For the drain line I think anything is fine as long as I follow the recommended steps, but for the feed I am more concerned. I think I need a restrictor, and I also dont know where to source a line that I will trust won't leak. I see someone elses point that it isn't going to be really high pressure, so perhaps I am overthinking it. I'm struggling to find specs for this turbo that give actual information. Perhaps I am making a big mistake installing it.

The rest is very reassuring, thank you! That is a 10/10 reply man. I owe you a coffee and a croissant next time you are in Ontario Canada.

SilentSeb

@Jmatt07
Hey buddy, thanks for the reply. I found mkturbo after I already bought this never used turbo setup for a good price. However, now that I am depe into it, I sort of regret not waiting and buying this kit! I emailed the staff at mk to ask if they will sell me their oil lines and just intercooler parts, but I might get away with making what I have already work.

Thanks for the input! Very glad its working fine for you. At this point, if I get all this working smooth and am ready to upgrade, I will probably be also redoing my engine and pushing 300+. That will have to wait a while though, and assuming I don't have kids in the meantime

Take care

SilentSeb

@Turbomack
Thanks for bringing this point up. In my defence I posted 3am after a few too many drinks. The length I understand needs to be about 48in for the feed, but the biggest issue I am having is figuring out what I need to do to build this thing leak free. So many options for vendors, fittings, etc. But I think you answered this for me below.

This is something I need to let soak in. I feel like everywhere I look indicates that if the feed isnt designed to support marianas trench, it will fail miserably. I think I am comfortable trying out hose clamps, and I suppose the fitting size on the pickup point will be determined by the sandwich plate. As for a possible restrictor, I think I will need one, and I suppose it will go as close to the pickup as possible. I can't say for sure, can't find a manual/spec for the RHB52 talking about this at all.

Thanks for the advice. I will try and be more acute with my questions in the future, but typically if I know exactly what to ask, I know how to find the info with the right search

I think my final question is what sort of hosing do I need for these lines, and perhaps suggestions on where to source it, bonus points if in canada.

Thank you!

Skamba

The stock location should be fine, you could also do it a bit further back.

I wouldn't be too worried about the oil line. Just get one from a reputable seller. You could also get something like this, although you might have to buy the connectors to your turbo.

Deal! Although it might be a while :-)

shuiend

iTrader: (24)

Sorry I have not gotten back to you yet. I have been slammed with orders. Unfortunately I don't ship out of the continental USA.

SilentSeb

My heart :(

Thanks anyway! If the borders were open, I would try and ship it to a friend/relative. Oh well. Thanks for serving the community so well @shuiend . Your traffic says alot about you and your work.

Cheers

Skamba

If you really can't find anything in Canada, you could use a service like Reship.

SilentSeb

Thanks, I think I can figure out the lines here. I was also inquiring about intercooler parts, but again, I think ill give it a shot just buying piping. I have plenty of time before I get to that anyway!

c3hutson

iTrader: (2)

I got my lines from kraken if that helps. I'm guessing that if you knew what size fittings were needed for your turbo he could make yours.