It's registered and titled as an '88. I had an '89 Mustang GT, which I ordered in February of 1989, and he had had it for 6-8 months at that time.

And it's a 2.2L, not a 2.3L. Sue me.

I don't think I've heard anyone use this phrase in a context like this since the 90s.

Interesting... Someone done fucked up, then. 88 model never sold. Took Ford an extra year to slap their own disgusting, heavy, and cheaply made body and interior on the car that Mazda started selling as an 88 model.

And yes... it's a 2.2 Mazda motor that doesn't have anything in common with the 2.3 Ford motor being referenced other than sharing the camshaft count. :giggle:

True story: That motor rules face over BPs. All day. Every day.

Sounds like they are a bag of dick lickers. Unless you removed the clip and re-installed it wrong yourself, or if you had purchased a used turbo off of Ebay rather than from a reputable vendor you are not to blame.

Keith

So I'm up and running, turned up the boost, and hoooooooly shit, it turns out having your compressor housing on securely is where it's at!

I was always secretly unimpressed with my car's spool before. Even at higher RPMs I would "give 'er" and it would take several seconds to build boost. This didn't match the whole "super-fast-spool, basically-a-supercharger" description everyone gave the 2554 but I figured y'all were just dumb and exaggerating.

But holy shit.

If I"m going more than about 2500rpm and I put the skinny pedal down my boost needle goes WEEEEE! except it takes about .2s so it's more like "WE" and then I either hit boost limit or a charge pipe blows off (had a couple loose tbands after working on everything...)

So this is an mlev top tip of the day: put your compressor housing on all the way. I highly recommend it. :bigtu:

Now to get my EBC dialed in. I have a feeling I'll be okay with a P value of less than 200 this time around...

we need videos of properly boosting 2554r glory.

and congrats that its finally running right :)

lol'ed hard while reading this.
been there done that, tho. forgot to tighten compressor housing once, thought turbine wheel fell off again

I'm glad BEGi took care of you in the end, but this thread finally tipped the scales for me on my BEGi vs FM decision for my turbo kit. I had read plenty of interesting opinions about BEGi, but thought the general consensus was that it's in the past, and they've improved. The fact that it took 3-4 weeks, many emails, and basically finally having the customer demand what should have been offered without a thought to begin with, helps to solidify my decision.

I don't doubt that BEGi's kit is well engineered, and it goes without saying that Corky is amazing, but I can't stand dealing with a company that I need to be constantly on top of, and feel like I can't trust to just handle their shit like any competent company would. Meanwhile, my interactions with FM have been unfailingly friendly, helpful, and timely. Ah well, I know where my money's going. Thanks for documenting your experience, mlev.