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[deewoody]

Hello all.. I look forward to "talking " to you all, and picking your brains a little !   i just bought a '93 Xr2.. awesome little car ! i do have questions about it..
1st: the turbo spools up. only goes to around 8 psi (if i really get on it). is that normal ?
2nd: ive had turbo cars before, and love the turbo "whine", but i hear none with this XR2. is that normal ?
3rd: the gear shifter is very loose at the column (lots of play).  how easy is it to fix?
4th : are there simple, quick, adjustments, or fixes i can do to get more boost ?
thanks for any and all responses. I appreciate any input, very much

[Rocketman]

Welcome to TeamCapri!

1. Stock boost is anywhere from 5 to 9 psi depending on the car & gauge. Aftermarket gauge will be more accurate
2. The turbo whine is very quiet on a stock XR2. Opening up the intake helps. (cone filter or cut air box) The compressor geometry is designed to be quiet as well, I have run a compressor on a hybrid turbo with a different blade geometry and it's much louder.
3. Sounds like your shifter bushings are shot. Very simple fix. Decent amount of info on it here if you search for it\
4. A manual boost controller will let you run more boost. You can run up to 16 safely with the stock turbo with supporting mods. Plenty you can do. Chipped ECU, Blowoff valve, larger exhaust, larger intercooler, etc will really make the car a beast compared to stock

[deewoody]

thanks so much rocketman.. ive been reading alot of your stuff here. You seem to be the MAN with these little cars ! How much does one of those ECU mods cost ? and if i just placed a boost controller, and a chipped ecu on her, that will be a good start?  wont hurt tranny, or anything else? will my car pass emmissions?
thanks again Rocketman for your input.

[NomakeWan]

Hey, finally a question I can answer! I've got nothing but a chipped ECU (thanks rocketman!) and a boost controller and run 15 psi of boost but am otherwise stock. Yes the car passes emissions just fine even here in California. I have the boost controller connected in a way that I can restore it to stock in about 60 seconds if I have to, but I left everything on when I went to get it smogged and had no problems.

As to being a good start, you bet it is. It's a very different car when the turbo puts out over 1 bar of boost instead of less than half.

If my oil issue ends up being a bad turbo something-or-other it'll give me an excuse to pull the turbo off and port the wastegate. Once that's done, I think it's time for new exhaust.

[deewoody]

thanks for the response nomakeWan.. im still not sure where to place the MBC in my engine. Can you tell me exactly which line i need to slice ? and where did you get your MBC ?   Take care

[NomakeWan]

Sorry for the late response! I got my MBC off of eBay, it's a Turbosmart T-type. Not too pricey, and not a bad unit: http://www.ebay.com/itm/TURBOSMART-TS-0101-1002-GBCV-Boost-Tee-Black-/252163816678

I mounted it temporarily to the bracket that holds the intake snorkel in place (just to the right of the exhaust heat shield and up a little). It's a pretty good spot, but I will need to add some washers or some other sort of spacer so that the intake side clears the exhaust heat shield properly. It works for now. As for hoses I didn't splice anything which is why I can go back to stock so easily. Remove the vacuum hose at the bottom-right of the metal intake tube, that's the boost source. Plug that into the 'wastegate' side of the T. I used some spare fuel hose to hook the other side back up to the intake personally, but proper vacuum hose would be good. The only issue here is that the Turbosmart has rather tiny outlets on it, muuuuuch smaller than the inner diameter of the stock hose. I made it work, though.

[Rocketman]

I prefer the old school ball-spring type valves that are made from plumbing fittings

Here's where it installs. Can be done in literally minutes

[deewoody]

thanks Rocketman,  as always, you are a huge help.
I just took off my intercooler, and got doused with some oil !  Is this a sign of a bad turbo ? I havent been able (time) ,to check the play in the spindle. I will soon hopefully. I also have oil leaking from somewhere, looks like around the turbo area, cant find the specific spot.. After i check the spindle in the turbo... i may be in the market for another one. we will see.

[Kev93]

Just wanted to also thank Rocketman for the photo and all his help, generally.  The picture helped me get my MBC installed, the VAF adapter allows a less-restrictive air filter, and the Rocketchip keeps the car from starving itself.

Forward, on to the exhaust system! 

[deewoody]

well i finally made myself , and installed a MBC... wow ! what a diff ! I am in the process of installing a Boost guage also, and have been scouring this site for info on max boost and all.. I want to clarify what ive been reading, and not kill my car just yet !
Right now i have stock everything (except a K&N air filter), and the MBC..  Ive read that i can boost up to 10 psi safely now, no more ? once i get my ECU chipped, i can go up to 16 psi safely with no other modds ?  wont need a air/fuel monitor at that psi ? I can use my stock Blowoff (whatever its called ).
Is this accurate ?  Any more info i need to know ?  I will do a 2/12 " exhaust  probably next year , after its last Inspection (1993 XR2).
thanks again ya'll
Darren

[NomakeWan]

Anything higher than 10 and the stock car will cut your fuel to prevent you from overboosting. If for some reason you have disconnected this safety device, reconnect it until you get a Rocketchip. Yes, once you have one you can push 16 safely on all stock parts. Once you start changing intake and exhaust however you may have issues with boost spikes if you don't port the wastegate hole in the turbo to roughly nickel-size.

Read the pinned thread about Turbo Treatise. Then read it again. Then read it a third time and get modding!