Nissan Frontier Forum banner

Vg33 turbo build

32K views 86 replies 8 participants last post by  Steveie 
#1 · (Edited)
Just thought I'd make a build thread to stay on the ball.

Here's some background and mods for anyone interested.

Bought this truck for $200 not running so I used the money that I saved to go over everything, runs great now bone dry with no leaks. It's my daily driver with 220k but when I rebuilt the top end I found that the cylinders still have their factory crosshatch. Perfect candidate for boost!

01 v6 2wd crew cab, synthetic Amsoil in everything

DT long tube headers(wrapped), 2.5 inch full exhaust no cats back to a vibrant ultra quiet resonator and flowmaster big block 70 series (I'll be chopping it up just where the y pipe ends and the two pipes merge for a mid mount turbo with a remote oiling system)

Volant cold air intake (which I'll be getting rid of when I go forced induction)

JWT S2 cams and springs and a complete top end rebuild with OEM parts

Did the clutch (luk), flywheel, release bearing and rear seal while I was in there(was leaking)

Also did all u joints, trans and rear end seals, carrier bearing while I was in there

2 inch spacers all around for stance on OEM wheels with 265/70/16 Yokohama geolandars

Poly bushings front to rear including leaf spring bushings

Bilstein shocks all around (stock ones were toast), sway away torsion bars and leveled out the front with just low profile bumpstops. The front is higher than the rear but I like the stace

Replaced entire 3rd brake light with a modified led assembly

Replaced rear lights with eBay chrome housings with all led bulbs, rewired the 3157 sockets for dual filament so I have 4 bulbs (2 per side) always on with driving lights, the one set gets brighter with turn signals... Then the others get brighter with brakes

Replaced front headlight assemblies with eBay chrome projector housings and running a set of 10000k HID's on 55watt ballasts for low beams, another set of 10000k HID's on 55watt ballasts for high beams, rewired turn signals for switchback led.. fogs and switchbacks are always on with driving lights.

Put in a diode so that my low beams stay on when I switch to highs instead of alternating

Foglight projectors with 3000k hid 55watt ballasts

When I had the heads off for the cams I painted the engine bay and all the parts blue and silver

Also painted my entire undercarriage hammerite black

Running a walbro 255 in tank pump

Gauges - oil pressure, wideband o2, boost (for my next upcoming project, t3/t4 hybrid mid mount turbo with fuel and ignition controlled by AEM FI/C)

Since i want to keep my expensive headers I'm fabricating a remote oil system - Oil feed coming from a 2 quart aluminum reservoir pressured by a turbowerx exa pump, gravity drained back into reservoir mounted lower than the turbo

I have all the parts just waiting for the time (have exhaust piping, intercooler piping, wastegate, bov, flanges, etc)

The only things left until I either total the truck or blow the motor are the turbo and some bodywork. If the fi/c can give me a nice and rich AFR under boost and work my timing properly then I'll tackle the bodywork. I'm not interested I'm going the megasquirt standalone route unless I absolutely have to but I have heard good things about the fi/c

I tried a apexi safc 2 to play with AFR but the OBD2 is too smart to be fooled with that piggyback. The only time you can alter AFR with it is when you go into open loop WOT, other than that the ECU just immediately corrects it. Plus it can't manipulate ignition timing. So I need to sell that

I think with just the stock MAF the fi/c should be good, I plan on running 10psi max

I'll be running the MAF pre turbo, no intercooler (should be cool enough through all that mid mount piping)

If I get high IAT I'll throw an intercooler in there, but I doubt it

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
See less See more
#2 · (Edited)
Since i want to keep my expensive headers
Since you are using your headers, the turbo will be mounted remote?
Turbocharged is the way to go.
My first experience with turbos was a older friend had a turbocharged Corvair.I was probably 10 years old but was fascinated.
Next was the Honda Hawk land speed record bike. Another friend was involved in the development at Honda American. We actually end up with the cases.
Same with Bill Hahn's turboed Honda fours back when I was involved in motorcycle drag racing. I have a few friends that built their own turbo systems years ago. One on a 240z. The other in a Trans Am with a 327 Chevy small block.
I turboed my 92 Ford diesel. Still running strong after I sold it to a friend.
Although I can't turbo my truck( rules won't allow, I will be following your progress.
Sorry for the rambling but I love turbos!
 
#3 · (Edited)
Yes, remote mount (mid mount, just after the y pipe) with a remote oiling system

I don't like the idea of running 180s off my headers for an engine bay turbo because of restrictions in exhaust, space restrictions and I also am not set up to weld new turbo manifold headers because I only have a wire feed

The proper way to do this is turbo manifolds with a twin turbo setup like the vg30det 300zx guys

I don't think the lag should be too bad because of the size of the turbo, if I can spool at low rpm then that might also encourage me to run an intercooler

Ideally I want to spool at as low rpms as possible, I don't take her above 6k

Right now when I watch my boost gauge I can reach 0psi instantly with a blip of the throttle so I would expect to boost fairly easy with forced induction

This is the turbo
http://www.speedyracer.com/turbo/tu...-HYBRID-CHROME-TURBOCHARGER-T04E-AR-63(450hp)

It's one of the higher end eBay Chinese type turbos, not bottom of the barrel but not a garrett

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
#4 ·
Sounds like you got it figured out.
Yeah lag is a problem with gas motors.
Bill Hahn,("Action Fours") back in the day cured the problem. They would ride the bike to the track, run 150 mph but no ET.
Later he had a jet that was directed at the impeller. The jet was hooked up to a small bottle of nitrogen. When he left the line he would hit a button that would shoot a stream of nitrogen at the impellers and spin the turbo. Outrageous ET's!
Have any idea what your exhaust temps will be? That is the killer of turboed motors but you know that.
Keep us informed on your progress.
 
#5 ·
Terrestrial animal Organism Insect Caterpillar Invertebrate


Since it's further away from the headers I need as much heat as possible to the turbo for it to work efficiently. I wrapped my headers when I had them off and I'll be wrapping the rest of my exhaust to the turbo once I start chopping it up. I bought a turbo exhaust housing blanket as well. I need all the heat I can get.

Once I finish the build I plan on fabricating a skid plate to box in the turbo mostly for protection from the elements but that will also help hold in some heat outside of the blanket

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
#12 · (Edited)
Engine Auto part Vehicle Car Automotive exterior


Back together (still need to clean off the hoses, I wasn't about to tape them all off that would have taken way too long)

Changed the loom to blue and tried to re route the engine harness but it didn't come out that great. The plus is the old loom was cracking, brittle and heat damaged so changing it protects it.

The minus, I don't like the stock location of the engine harness at all and I want to tuck the bulk of it. Unfortunately the only way I see that getting done is all the wires need to be extended to tuck it. Anyone have any other ideas? Of course the coolant temp sensor, injector harness, MAF and tps will have to be there but everything else doesn't

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
#18 · (Edited)
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Family car Center console


Here's how I set up my gauges, the last hole is for one more oil pressure gauge to monitor the turbo's independent oiling system. The blue matches my blue led cluster and HVAC controls

I swapped plugs for the cigarette lighter because the one I cut out is constant 12v and I wanted that on my remaining one

I didn't want to buy the a pillar gauge mount from 4x4parts because I want them to be discrete, this way I can throw a shirt over the whole gauge assembly if I want

It's a universal gauge mount so the fitment isn't great, at some point I'll work on the protruding edges later on so it matches the console and looks cleaner. Also need to fix the gap between the top of the gauge mount and the section of the console that I had to cut out to fit this assembly in . I just threw it together quick

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
#19 · (Edited)
Tinting my windows tomorrow

I got 5% black pre cut sheets for all 4 windows and the rear

Got sick of clear windows

It will be my first tinting job

The outsides are full of thousands of small scratches like, none big enough to catch my finger nail, so I'm going to polish them all out with cerium oxide (glass scratch remover). It will probably take me all day to make them clear

Later on (another day) I'll do the windshield in either 20% or 35%. Can't get a pre cut windshield sheet so I'll have to buy a roll and cut it myself. Better off to wait on this until I gain the experience tinting the rest of the windows

I already pretty much have all the parts for the turbo project so My next steps are to:

mock up the exhaust piping, intercooler piping, blowoff valve and wastegate vacuum lines. This mock up will be temporary, I'll take apart my current exhaust to mock it up, weld up all new piping, and then put all the old stuff back so that when I'm ready it will be a fast and easy install

Mock up a support bracket for the turbo, also box it in to keep road debris and water out. I want it sitting just after the y pipe

Mock up a box for the cone air filter. This will probably mount up as close to the bed as I can get it

install a vacuum block running off the brake booster,

Put a check valve in line with the idle air control line to prevent it from leaking boost back into the intake manifold

Put a small breather on the valve cover vent line and plug off the other side on the intake side. Don't want a pressurized valve cover

Throw a non vented and baffled catch can in line with the pcv hose (extra assurance, plus I've been wanting to do this for a while) I don't see any problem in keeping the stock pcv system

Put in my 4lb wastegate spring for initial testing

Mock up the reservoir bracket, pump bracket, feed and return lines, plumb my oil pressure gauge into the feed line, run the wiring for the sending unit. I need the reservoir sitting low enough to gravity drain but not low enough to be hanging down below the rearend

Run the wiring for the pump with thick wire straight to the battery with a relay pulling signal voltage from the fuel pump circuit, although not necessary that will allow me to prime the pump and turbo at the same time the fuel pump primes (one click of the key).

The main point of this mimicing the fuel pump is because I don't want it operated by a switch which could be forgotten (blow the turbo)

Some of this stuff will be installed permanently after mocking it up, but of course the turbo and exhaust piping won't

Set up AEM fic, figure out how to make it give me my rich AFR's

Throw on 4x4parts rear lift shackles to gain a bit more clearance for the turbo (front already has a torsion bar crank with ultra low profile bump stops do it's sitting higher than the rear)

I won't do it all at once, kind of a slow process

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
#20 · (Edited)
I did 3 windows and they came out like crap so I ripped the tints off. I got most of the bubbles out but each one had a crease in it that I couldn't get out even with a heat gun. I was hoping they would at least come out decent but this wasn't acceptable. I suck at tinting (not surprised, this was my first time. It might be my only time too, that's how bad it came out)

Now that my foot is already in the door for the tint I think I want to get it done professionally

At least I got the outside of the glass polished. The cerium oxide made a big difference on hard water stains and sand scratches. The Windex vs the cerium oxide is unbelievable. But I was polishing for about 8 hours straight with my 3 inch glass polishing pad on my cordless drill. and i had to wash the truck 3 times afterwards, its still dirty

The cerium oxide sprays everywhere with the drill and it's like clay , even hardens like clay. But I can see the difference looking at my reflection in the windows and I can hear it as it squeals running a rag over the surface of the glass, so it did a really good job

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
#21 ·
It looks like you have a solid plan. You can check out my build thread in my sig. Feel free to ask any questions. I have been there done that and rebuilt the motor twice.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Will the idle air control system work properly with a check valve on the idle air control hose to prevent boost from leaking back into the intake manifold while under pressure?

Will the stock pcv system work properly?

How much boost can the stock injectors handle with a tune before leaning out? In other words, Assuming I can create a decent AFR under boost with the FIC, how much boost will I be able to flow until I can't add any more fuel?

How much boost (flow in this case) can the stock MAF handle before maxing out?

Since I did my top end the weak point should be the bottom end, how much boost do you think the stock bottom end can handle?

I want to start out at 4 and slowly increase over time to 8 max?

Since you overhauled, what were you pushing and what exactly happened? What did you upgrade the bottom end to prevent it from happening again? I'm assuming aftermarket conrods and pistons but which ones? When you upgraded what did you gap your rings at?


Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
#23 ·
The idle air circuit is only active at idle. Otherwise the valve is shut so there is no boost going into it.

The stock PCV system will not work. I ended up plugging the intake manifold off with a bolt and routed the vents off of the valve covers into the front of the air filter.

I answered the injector question on my thread. I never used the stock injectors

I am stock MAF. I used the FIC to max out the voltage it outputs at 4.89v I believe.

I used an electronic boost controller that is controlled through the FIC. That is the best way to do it. Then you can just go into the FIC and change the boost any time you want.

I ran 10 psi for a while before my piston ring lands cracked. I put forged pistons in and upped it to 15 psi and I blew both head gaskets. Then I had custom ones made. I have JE pistons with their wrist pins and locks on the factory conn rods. I believe the rods are forged already from asking people that I showed them to.

If you go with JE you wont have to pay to have them measured because they didn't have them on the shelf. I paid like $75 to have them measured for the mold.

I used Nissan piston rings and put them in. I don't know what the gap was but I'm sure it is tight.
 
#25 ·
I tried putting a stronger check valve at the intake manifold so the boost wouldn't pressurize the crankcase but nothing worked. I kept blowing out my valve cover gaskets. That's when I just blocked it off.
 
#26 ·
Thanks for the heads up

I've been thinking about it and I decided I'm going to:

block off the manifold pcv side

Run a breather filter on the pipe that connects both valve cover breathers before going to the intake duct

Run a long line all the way back to pre turbo for the other end of the pcv

That way the ventilation system will still work, one side will suck in air and the other side will vacuum out air

The only issue I see is the vacuuming out air to pre turbo won't be as strong of a vacuum effect as connected straight to the manifold

That's really minor though lol its not a deal breaker

Could even run a low mounted catch can inline with the pre turbo suction side to prevent oiling of the compressor blades, again not a big deal though

I'm sure your brake booster works just fine because youre not braking while on the throttle but do you have any thoughts about the whole boost/brake booster thing?


Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
#27 ·
I didn't even run a filter on the pcv. I just routed the pipe that joins the two covers together towards the filter. It helps to be under vacuum yes, but I haven't had any issues since with just the turbo sucking it out.

The catch can wouldn't be a bad idea since your turbo will be a lot lower.

When are you pushing the brakes and the gas pedal in boost at the same time?

Never. The brake booster has a check valve in it anyways. It will be fine.
 
#28 ·
Took my vacation this week, and got home early to work on a side project that I picked up a few months ago - blown head gasket Suzuki xl7 2003 with the 2.7 v6. Got the heads off and ready to send out in about 6 hours, and tomorrow I'll pull the oil pan and clean parts. (I think the front end needs to come off to pull the pan lol)

The cylinders still have the factory crosshatch so that's a good sign. This is a daily driver that I'll be setting my wife up with. Bad thing about it is I paid 1k for it. Oh well. That's about the highest I can think of paying for a blown head gasket car

Whatever time I have left over in the next 2 days after pulling the pan and cleaning parts is going into my turbo project so hopefully I'll make some progress mocking things up

I did a roll race for fun against an aggressive chevy Cobalt coupe driver I came up to on the road this morning, it was a 40 roll and I got smoked bad. When i was hitting rev limiter in 3rd and he was about 10 car lengths ahead of me, gone, left me in the dust lol. What a shame, now I want to push 8lbs when I go forced induction instead of 4 or 6

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
#29 · (Edited)
I welded up a few things today

First I clocked both sides of the turbo and figured that I want it a little further back than at the end of the y pipe. It's about 2 feet past the y pipe because the cab floor raises higher just before the bed.

I need to run it further back like this so the reservoir can be below the drain, if I had it up at the y pipe then the reservoir would need to be mounted way too low

I have a 2 bolt flange just below the end of the bed that's connecting a mid pipe to my tail pipe/muffler. So I just disconnected that flange and started working out from there.

So I started working on the 4 bolt turbo exhaust inlet. I have a 4 bolt to v band adapter to start with

Problem #1

Before I started I bought 2 v band sets with the flanges and clamp

The 4 bolt to v band flange has a slightly wider OD on the flange than the sets of v band flanges I ordered(different companies). So when you tighten up the clamp the smaller one is still loose inside lol. Ok. I don't want to buy more ****. So I just took one of the match set v band flanges, set it on top of what's already on my adapter and welded it together lol

Now for the cab side of the connection. I welded another 2 bolt flange to match what I already have, onto a super short section of pipe, then welded a v band flange onto that. Straight shot to the turbo's v band adapter

I already have a adapter piece that goes from the 4 bolt exhaust inlet on the turbo, to a v band. So I just needed to weld up the other half of that to connect to what's already there

Unnecessary connections here. It's a Frankenstein adapter. but I'm working with what I already have, dont want to buy more stuff, and I want to be able to do a quick change from turbo back to whats there just in case something goes wrong.

Ideally I would have just went: 4 bolt turbo outlet to 2 bolt flange which will go straight to my current 2 bolt flange. But all I had was this 4 bolt turbo outlet to v band adapter lol.

Next I started on the exhaust outlet

Again, before I started the project I also ordered a 5 bolt outlet flange to v band so that's what I have to work with. Unfortunately, again, different company v band so I had to stack one of my match set v band flanges on top of what was there

Anyways, making some progress here. But...

Problem #2

My cheap eBay Chinese v band flange kits warp when I weld them

Good thing I have a belt sander

Now I know:

It takes me 1 hour per warped v band flange to make it flat on the belt sander

Next thing to figure was how to connect the exhaust outlet back up to my muffler/tailpipe. I figured out if I cut off 2 hangers and relocate them, and cut off about 1 foot of pipe before my muffler, I can be close to the turbo outlet. At this point Its about 1 foot and a 90 degree bend and it can be connected.

it was getting late so I put back together my exhaust

Now I know what I need to do next. I'm going to weld the 90 degree mandrel bend that I already have onto a v band flange, then make a 2 bolt flange just before the muffler. I'll have to modify my existing pipe to accept this 2 bolt flange also for the quick change. That will kill another day, probably one of these coming weekends

Once I get that done all I need to do is figure how I'm going to set up the wastegate and the exhaust will be done

I mocked up the air filter location in my head with the way that I have the turbo currently set up. The only place it can be is ran above the front side of the fuel tank. Looks like there's JUST enough space to fit in there lol. I dont think I'll have space to make a box for it but the fuel tank might be sufficient enough to block the elements from it. Worst comes to worst I'll either need a smaller cone filter, or a body lift to separate the tank from the bed a few inches lol. But I'll be happy if I can squeeze it in just above the fuel tank, then I don't have to buy metal to make a box. I already spent a good amount of last year's tax return on stockpiling the parts for this and I don't want to buy anything else lol

Then I'll run the cold side piping, should be easy - no welding, just aluminum intercooler pipe and silicone boot connections. I have straights, 45's and 90's already with the clamps and ready to go

Then once all the piping is ran I'll make a mounting bracket to secure the turbo. Then a mounting bracket for the reservoir and the pump. Then plumb in the oil lines. Then run wires for the pump and pressure sensor. Then set up my vacuum block to the brake booster line and run vacuum lines for the wastegate, blowoff valve, boost gauge, AEM FI/C all off the block. Then run the pcv system vac lines to pre turbo





Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
#30 · (Edited)
I did some more work last Sunday mocking up the 5 bolt exhaust outlet.

My flowmaster starts before the axle, on the driver side of the fuel tank. And I need to connect the exhaust outlet into the muffler inlet

I found out that if I take off my muffler/tailpipe, which I already set up with flanged connections,

Then flip the muffler upside down, the muffler inlet is pretty damn close to the turbo exaust outlet. It's offset so flipping it upside down gets me closer without such a harsh bend angle

The turbo exhaust outlet runs from the 5 bolt flange to a v band, then from there the other side of the v band runs to the muffler via a 2 bolt flange.

My mandrel bends weren't harsh enough to make the angle so I had to make some pie cuts and tack them underneath the truck. I got the short pipe tacked up and plan on completing the welds next weekend

It sucks because every time I mock up pipes I have to take apart the back of my exhaust and flip the muffler upside down lol

The pipe I tacked up is very short, about 6 inches long with 8 connections so I'm definitely going to have to take my time completing the weld to prevent warpage and distortion .

I'll probably mock up the cold side at the same time as im welding the pipe next weekend. Hoping I can do it without cutting things up to transition from the trans tunnel area up into the engine bay, but if I can't and have to cut some crap out of the truck it will probably take a while.

There's not a lot of room for my 2.5 charge pipe to run up alongside the exhaust on the driver side to the throttle body, and I don't want my charge pipe getting heatsoaked by the exhaust, so we'll see how that goes

If I get time I'll snap a few pictures of how things are going
 
#31 ·
Finished welding the turbo exhaust outlet to muffler,

Then I ran the charge pipes up to the throttle body and put in the blow-off valve. Took the pipes out still assembled and set them on the side.

Since tomorrow is labor day I'm going to do a few things. Probably wastegate placement at the least
 
#32 · (Edited)
Haven't had time for pictures, sorry

I did the last of the major welding, all that's left to weld are hangers and brackets

I put in the wastegate.

I originally bought a angled wastegate dump tube with the 2 bolt flange for the wastegate dump but I used the dump tube for the actual wastegate itself, cut it at a 45 angle and cut a hole in a pre turbo pipe, welded the dump pipe in and bolted the wastegate to the flange

The nice stainless tig welds on the dump tube that I bought were leaking all around the whole weld joining the flange to the pipe

Found that out by water testing it

Laid a bead over the existing weld - came out good

Now I need to water test the rest of the welds on the aftermarket flanges that I bought, lost trust in them

While I was in there I ran the charge pipes all the way up to the throttle body and put in the blow-off valve. My volant maf pipe fits perfectly to my charge pipes so no maf fabrication needs to be done

The way I want my charge pipes routed leaves me with a half inch gap between my driver side header and the charge pipe. Unfortunately I really like the pipes routed that way so I'm going to have to run it like that and fabricate a heat shield. The header is already wrapped but that won't be good enough for me

If I run it the alternate route it will require about 5 more feet of charge pipe, and a hole saw through the driver fender well where the air box would be

So it's either extra length charge pipe or hotter charge pipe

I'd rather deal with the hotter charge pipe and work around it with heat shielding. Not sure what I'm going to use yet

Up next: water test the aftermarket exhaust flange welds, and set up the oiling system
 
#33 ·
Getting closer. I lined up all the rest of the parts to make on nthe garage floor

I ran the air filter side piping and made a box for the filter with 16 gauge sheet metal and a 3" hole saw, and fixed all my leaking v band flanges

Did my research on tuning with the aem fic

Next up is to mount up the reservoir, pump, run the oil lines, run the wiring and vacuum lines, and make a box for the turbo/pump/reservoir

That will be one day

Need to put it on hold for a bit because I got my heads back for the Suzuki, need to reassemble that and get it done. It will take longer than a typical head gasket job because this has about 4 timing chains lol. I'm guessing two days which in my time, equals two weekends because only have 1 day per week to work at home
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top