Greetings, I picked up a wrecked 96 for the OEM hard top and sell the rest but the JRSC M45 kit with power card (whatever that means) is Staring me right in the face. I would rather turbo the car... but... a free blower (after I sell all the other stuff) is proving to be too tempting. Donor car is a 1.8 as is my 2002, but the 02 has vvt. Not sure how much if any will work on the 02 but I'm ready to start swapping this stuff around. Any help or smart *** responses would be greatly appreciated and enjoyed.

 

My unsubstantiated opinion would be that using the blower should be fine, as long as it is in good working order (I have no experience with them, so do your own research into confirming the viability of the M45), but avoid using the power card. It is a bandied solution in this day and age. Go with an MS3 or equivalent for tuning. Might be more work to get it going in the first place, but the added potential safety and options opened up by using a proper ECU solution is worth it.

TL;DR: Use the M45 if you want, throw the powercard directly in the fuckit-bucket and get a real ECU to run everything.

 

The mechanicals will go right on. The crossover tube may not quite be the right shape, but that's an easy fix with some aluminum tube and silicone couplers.

The power card should work, but I would suggest a real ECU, and you want to add a wideband whatever choice you go with.

 

Ziggy,

Sell it to someone who doesn't know it sucks and put that money towards a megasquirt and a turbo.

This is the same kind of crap we encounter when people have some random turbo dumped in their lap and try to design their entire build around what they happen to have acquired. Neither one of those devices are worth having. The M45 is too small and the power card is an unsophisticated toy which can cost you thousands of dollars.

 

Thanks to all, I agree, changing your build plan around free stuff is a bad idea. If I can put this together without spending money on items that won't work with a turbo set up. (Upgrade cooling system etc) then I'll do it otherwise I'll sell it. MS3 would be fantastic but I'll have to swap it out every 2years. I'm in central CA and have to deal with CARB. Not saying that it's not worth it.