I just got my combo put together over the weekend and finally got a chance to take it out today. I went from a bone stock (paper airfilter,stock chip,cat,etc.) 43k mile car to my bolt on beast. The stock turbo started leaking oil, so instead of getting a rebuilt stocker I decided I might as well get a little bigger turbo and then well, you know how that goes :biggrin:. First of all, the driveability with the 60# injectors and turbo tweak chip is fantastic. Starts right up and idles perfect with no stumbles anywhere at idle or picking the throttle up out of corners hot/cold etc. It drives far better than my last car with 009's, you'd never know these things were twice the size of the stockers.
Secondly the RJC 325 frount mount fits great and looks awesome as well. I'm all too aware how "bolt on" parts often require massaging to get to fit right, especially something as large as this. Jason did a great job on this unit, it bolts right up using existing holes and the pipes were all bent perfect, clocked the turbo down a few degrees and that was it, done.
I bought a GT6157BB with the s-cover as I wanted a turbo that would work with the stock converter and I wouldn't outgrow immediately either, and I think it's a nice compromise. I still have the stock intake/airbox hooked up to the turbo(4" fullthrottle pipe on backorder) and even with the stock catback it spools up pretty quick, probably about as quick as my last car did with a ta49. With the dump open there's no question it spools faster and hits hard when it comes up on boost. It doesn't need anything more than the stock d5, but if you had ANY more converter in it I'm sure it would be animal.
I know a 3.5" DP isn't necessary at my power level, but I only want to buy these parts once, so I bought one of the new pipes from DLS. As long as I feel the need to retain an internal wastegate there's never going to be a need for me to upgrade here. This was the hardest part of the build to work with. There isn't a lot of room to work with and this is a big pipe, so do yourself a favor and before you even try bolting it up drill the bolt holes in the flange up a few sizes, it'll save you lots of trouble later. Even with that, I still had to dimple the pipe just slightly by the header and where it passes by the frame. My body mounts are brand new( few hundred miles maybe) and the motor mounts still look fresh. An extra click or two on the torque strap if you have one gives you a little more room as well. Stuff like this isn't a big deal and is practically to be expected, I'd still buy the pipe again.
The razor alcohol kit is something every turbo regal should have. The install wasn't a huge deal but the directions can be somewhat tricky at times. Do yourself a favor and read them through a few times, then do it a few more until you are positive you know exactly where each wire is going to go and should be routed etc. Beyond that the install is slick, the controller is low profile and easy to use. The few people who've asked what the box with "alky" on it is I've told that it allows me to compensate for the varying ethanol content in the fuel from different gas stations :biggrin: Using denatured alcohol from the hardware store, 93 pump, zero tuning whatsoever I ran 25psi right out of the box with no adjustments to anything at all. It was hot and humid tonight and probably a few other bench racing excuses. Bottom line, get one and hold on.
In lieu of buying a catback for the car, I elected to to buy an electric cut out and keep the stock exhaust. The stock exhaust is whisper quiet, was already there and in excellent shape, and it's a lot easier to bolt the cutout on than change the exhaust, cheaper too. I bought a qtp setup for my car and it's lots of fun. The car can be absolutely silent with it closed, or airplane loud in a few seconds, pretty awesome.
The last thing I'll say applies to all of our cars. These cars are getting on in age and most have had a number of owners and have had who knows what done to them. I was told my car had a 340walbro, shift kit and 50lb injectors. After some quick research/investigation it had a stock pump, stock trans and 30lb injectors. Unless you have tons of evidence otherwise, assume parts have or haven't been added like the previous owner said. Check it yourself. Two of the recently replaced spark plugs were finger tight and the lower radiator hose was within minutes of slipping off the radiator as were a number of other random bolts finger tight or barely tight. Check things out for yourself. The injector o-rings and throttlebody gaskets looked to be sealing fine but probably just barely. If I didn't have it apart replacing stuff I probably wouldn't have known they were about to cause a problem, and probably a very small annoying one like a random hunting idle or something like that. The same thing goes with vacuum lines as they are everywhere on these cars. I'm confident the guys going fast with few mods in these cars have them sealed up tight, not a boost leak anywhere to be found. It really is in the details.
Cliffs: GT6157BB is a good turbo, RJC makes good stuff, 3.5"dowpipes are big and alcohol is fun. 215's aren't wide enough. ib tl;dr, wall of text etc, READ IT.
Secondly the RJC 325 frount mount fits great and looks awesome as well. I'm all too aware how "bolt on" parts often require massaging to get to fit right, especially something as large as this. Jason did a great job on this unit, it bolts right up using existing holes and the pipes were all bent perfect, clocked the turbo down a few degrees and that was it, done.
I bought a GT6157BB with the s-cover as I wanted a turbo that would work with the stock converter and I wouldn't outgrow immediately either, and I think it's a nice compromise. I still have the stock intake/airbox hooked up to the turbo(4" fullthrottle pipe on backorder) and even with the stock catback it spools up pretty quick, probably about as quick as my last car did with a ta49. With the dump open there's no question it spools faster and hits hard when it comes up on boost. It doesn't need anything more than the stock d5, but if you had ANY more converter in it I'm sure it would be animal.
I know a 3.5" DP isn't necessary at my power level, but I only want to buy these parts once, so I bought one of the new pipes from DLS. As long as I feel the need to retain an internal wastegate there's never going to be a need for me to upgrade here. This was the hardest part of the build to work with. There isn't a lot of room to work with and this is a big pipe, so do yourself a favor and before you even try bolting it up drill the bolt holes in the flange up a few sizes, it'll save you lots of trouble later. Even with that, I still had to dimple the pipe just slightly by the header and where it passes by the frame. My body mounts are brand new( few hundred miles maybe) and the motor mounts still look fresh. An extra click or two on the torque strap if you have one gives you a little more room as well. Stuff like this isn't a big deal and is practically to be expected, I'd still buy the pipe again.
The razor alcohol kit is something every turbo regal should have. The install wasn't a huge deal but the directions can be somewhat tricky at times. Do yourself a favor and read them through a few times, then do it a few more until you are positive you know exactly where each wire is going to go and should be routed etc. Beyond that the install is slick, the controller is low profile and easy to use. The few people who've asked what the box with "alky" on it is I've told that it allows me to compensate for the varying ethanol content in the fuel from different gas stations :biggrin: Using denatured alcohol from the hardware store, 93 pump, zero tuning whatsoever I ran 25psi right out of the box with no adjustments to anything at all. It was hot and humid tonight and probably a few other bench racing excuses. Bottom line, get one and hold on.
In lieu of buying a catback for the car, I elected to to buy an electric cut out and keep the stock exhaust. The stock exhaust is whisper quiet, was already there and in excellent shape, and it's a lot easier to bolt the cutout on than change the exhaust, cheaper too. I bought a qtp setup for my car and it's lots of fun. The car can be absolutely silent with it closed, or airplane loud in a few seconds, pretty awesome.
The last thing I'll say applies to all of our cars. These cars are getting on in age and most have had a number of owners and have had who knows what done to them. I was told my car had a 340walbro, shift kit and 50lb injectors. After some quick research/investigation it had a stock pump, stock trans and 30lb injectors. Unless you have tons of evidence otherwise, assume parts have or haven't been added like the previous owner said. Check it yourself. Two of the recently replaced spark plugs were finger tight and the lower radiator hose was within minutes of slipping off the radiator as were a number of other random bolts finger tight or barely tight. Check things out for yourself. The injector o-rings and throttlebody gaskets looked to be sealing fine but probably just barely. If I didn't have it apart replacing stuff I probably wouldn't have known they were about to cause a problem, and probably a very small annoying one like a random hunting idle or something like that. The same thing goes with vacuum lines as they are everywhere on these cars. I'm confident the guys going fast with few mods in these cars have them sealed up tight, not a boost leak anywhere to be found. It really is in the details.
Cliffs: GT6157BB is a good turbo, RJC makes good stuff, 3.5"dowpipes are big and alcohol is fun. 215's aren't wide enough. ib tl;dr, wall of text etc, READ IT.
