Intercooler fitment, etc. on possible turbo conversion

[Ben Swann]

Marc,

Thanks for the good info.  Experience does help speed things up.  This would probably be my 3'rd or 4'th I5 swap/conversion, but first actual turbo conversion.   i know my NG conversion ended up taking much longer than I figured.  Some of the wiring and harness swappage took way longer than I expected.  So did the fact that I did not start with a car that was entirely sorted from the beginning, some body and fender repairs required, and P.O. had started hacking the original engine out before i got the car, which necessitated additional wiring headaches, re-attachment of AC and PS systems, etc.  I know I can expect some of this, but the car is driving well, fairly well sorted, and only now starting to experience some of the CIS problems and oil burning that prompt the idea of doing a swap.

In the interest of cost and no need to rip the wheels off the FWD car by overpowering, the stock MC with chip - good for around 220 HP, would be more than adequate.  

I take your $1k estimate is parts alone, sourcing moter and all,  no labor included.  I am trying to come up with a combined parts & labor estimate.  I know I need to factor in stuff like Battery relocation, Intercooler refitment, wiring harness conversion, (tie rod swap?), et. al.  I expect all of this would add up to more time than it would take to do a straighforward engine swap, which I consider to be trivial.

Again, apreciate this and any other feedback.  I'd rather not commit myself into doing something for someone else that gets me in far deeper than projected.  This estimate is going to include/compare the different conversions NG/NF and MC-1.  Estimate may also include recommendations to make other changes in suspension and braking to support the added power.  This is certainly not something that I'm about to undertake lightly, and when owner gets estimate, may bag the whole idea.

Ben

[Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 09:54:20 -0500
From: Marc Swanson <mswanson at sonitrol.net>
Subject: Re: Intercooler fitment, etc. on possible turbo conversion
To: Denis Julien <sparkplugvw at hotmail.com>
Cc: quattro at audifans.com
Message-ID: <1077720860.19000.66.camel at wsmis3.sonitrol.net>
Content-Type: text/plain

> Then I threw out the possibility of doing an MC conversion.  I know this has
> been done many times, but am looking for caveats, or if it is doable with
> really not much trouble.  I know I'd need to relocated the battery, and have
> recall of some tie-rod issue, but the biggest hurdle that may be a
> show-stopper is where/how to intall the intercooler?  I don't think he would
> want to nix the AC.

as Denis (actually Eric) mentioned, the best way IMHO to allow for fitting a nice big
FMIC is to cut out the stock core support and make a new one with
provisions for holding your IC of choice.

Here are a few pics of how i did mine.  I did nix the AC on my car, but
if it was important you could probably fit it using this setup:

http://tinyurl.com/yqvp9

http://tinyurl.com/2uec2


> I appreciate any information on BTDT costs - time and labor as well as
> lessons learned.

It is hard to do one cheap if you've never BTDT before.  I spent way
more than I expected the first time around.  Now that I'm working on a
20vt swap for the same car I'm actually _under_ budget now that I know
where to save money on projects like this.

How much you spend depends on which route you want to go (stock IC or
custom?  Stock CIS or EFI?).  For a bone stock MC conversion using as
many factory components as possible, I'd say it could be done for under
$1000 quite easily.  

If you want to go with megasquirt you could probably come in around the
same number, since you could use the stock ignition system and just pick
up the bare motor rather than a whole parts car or CIS wiring harness. 
Sensors and stuff are pretty cheap.  If you are handy with fabrication
then it is all time on a swap like this, not a whole lot of $$.

Personally I'm a fan of 034 especially if you've never installed a
custom EFI system before.   You can't beat the user base or support
specific to 5 cylinder apps.

Things like custom intercoolers, exhaust headers, big turbos, etc etc
are what start to make a swap like this expensive.

Hope that helps

-- 
-Marc
87' 4ktq
88' 90q
www.mswanson.com/audi]