turbocad's custom fx
- Thread starter turbocad6
- Start date
wow, finally finished the heart of this turbo system. headers, turbo's, wastegate plumbing & down tubes all done. everything fits, all symetrical & equal length & evenly matched side to side. tommorow I'll drop it all off to be tig welded.
this heart of the turbo system winded up taking about 100 hours in labor believe it or or not, over the past 2 weeks. engine in & out many times... the amount of tedious work to get everything to line up 100% the same side to side while having everything fit is crazy... I winded up having to build another seperate jig just to get the waste gates in exactly matching spots left to right... I wanted everything to look even & perfect, it def came out sick I think, was worth the effort.
this heart of the turbo system winded up taking about 100 hours in labor believe it or or not, over the past 2 weeks. engine in & out many times... the amount of tedious work to get everything to line up 100% the same side to side while having everything fit is crazy... I winded up having to build another seperate jig just to get the waste gates in exactly matching spots left to right... I wanted everything to look even & perfect, it def came out sick I think, was worth the effort.
Last edited:
sooooooooooooooooooo sickk
sorry I couldnt stop by saturday, ended up being out pretty late with the family and was mad tired from driving alll day...
sorry I couldnt stop by saturday, ended up being out pretty late with the family and was mad tired from driving alll day...
thanks John for sharing all the awe inspiring photos of your progress. car porn 
So this is what you were doing on Sunday when we spoke..
Goodness.. it was worth it.
The welds came out clean man.
Goodness.. it was worth it.
The welds came out clean man.
N
NopWRX
Guest
Wow, this will be the nicest/fastest FX... ever.
frank, what do you mean on the other side of the collector? you mean the wastegates would go behind the neck? wouldn't fit right & def wouldn't flow as well as this either... the wastegate & the turbo should be connected like a Y for best control, the wastegates should be a path of low resistance to flow... this setup should be very efficent & work really nice, should be able to make good power with less boost because of the increased efficency a setup like this will give...
stu, wiring? ha... this whole turbo build & HR engine bolted into the fx is probably the second biggest challenge, actually getting the HR engine to run & work well in the fx is probably still the biggest challenge & yeah, that's still ahead of me... that should also be fun but I'm way past the point of no return, so it'll have to work no matter what...
stu, wiring? ha... this whole turbo build & HR engine bolted into the fx is probably the second biggest challenge, actually getting the HR engine to run & work well in the fx is probably still the biggest challenge & yeah, that's still ahead of me... that should also be fun but I'm way past the point of no return, so it'll have to work no matter what...
wow, tommorow night I'm going to sleep like a baby, I had the fx in the shop for a total of maybe 6 weeks or so & been working real hard on her most of the time, past 2 weeks especially with 1 am & later every night including saturday and sunday... the majority of the tough mechanical end of this swap & custom turbo build is pretty much DONE, roll her out of the shop tommorow, I can finish the plumbing & wiring with the fx outside.... I really had to push pretty hard to get this part of the project done as quick as possible... dropped the nose to the ground for the first time in 6 weeks & man, I forgot how low my fx sits... it almost looks like a car with no nose on it I originally hoped to complete all this in 4 weeks, but building all the headers & pipework from scratch instead of the lesser options I played with in the begining really added a lot of work to this build too...
I think I'd say I'm ~ 80% done overall at this point, can't wait to drive her again!...
that's me after spending half the night on the floor under the fx buttoning up everything with final re-assy
I originally hoped to complete all this in 4 weeks, but building all the headers & pipework from scratch instead of the lesser options I played with in the begining really added a lot of work to this build too...I think I'd say I'm ~ 80% done overall at this point, can't wait to drive her again!...
that's me after spending half the night on the floor under the fx buttoning up everything with final re-assy
soooooo first start-up video?
So John, I saw a couple posts ago you said you had about 100 hours of labor into this - but that was before you dropped it and did all this other work. Just for fun, really think about all the hours that went into this and try to estimate total hours as if you were doing this work for a customer. You can even subtract the trial & error hours if you want. Strictly your own labor. I know you'll be essentially guessing, but I'm interested to know.
I'm asking the shop doing my own turbo install for the same info - totally different jobs, I know. But I thought putting a few numbers down somewhere on the forum could be potentially helpful to other members. Let them know what they are getting into before they attempt it. Of course, my shop is estimating their labor on the quote I got from them, so I'm starting with that.
As always - great work. I love the black engine in the black bay - it looks great and fitment looks like OEM if there were such a beast. True customization is not only a highly demanding skill, it's also an art and you obviously have the talents and experience in both. A rare thing to find these days and something this forum is lucky to have and hold on to as long as you have been a fan of FX. It really is a great car, isn't it?
I'm asking the shop doing my own turbo install for the same info - totally different jobs, I know. But I thought putting a few numbers down somewhere on the forum could be potentially helpful to other members. Let them know what they are getting into before they attempt it. Of course, my shop is estimating their labor on the quote I got from them, so I'm starting with that.
As always - great work. I love the black engine in the black bay - it looks great and fitment looks like OEM if there were such a beast. True customization is not only a highly demanding skill, it's also an art and you obviously have the talents and experience in both. A rare thing to find these days and something this forum is lucky to have and hold on to as long as you have been a fan of FX. It really is a great car, isn't it?
Last edited:
100 hours is just the headers alone, not including anything else like pulling the drivetrain or any of the actual motor swap project itself... overall total I'd say should be in the 200+ hours range depending on how nuts I get with the radiator support & intercooler stuff... so figure ~15k in labor there... in the end there will probably be even more than this though, the hours add up quickly, by the time I get fuel & wiring & all plumbing done completely, plus all the nose modifications for the intercoolers & stuff, pretty safe to say ~20k in labor at retail...add ~ another $11-12k for the drivetrain & all accessories parts & materials, in the end would be an over $30k build for sure... I went slightly over my $10k actual cost budget (without labor) that I originally planned, but not by all that much really...
"not all that much" lol. If I told NASA I over-ran the budget by, "not all that much" I'd get fired, haha! Not because it's NASA, but because I would have no back-up data to lend credibility to my estimate. I wouldn't expect that kind of detail for your build, of course. Parts cost is actually a really a subjective number until you start tracking it and writing down all the purchases, tax included. But your LABOR estimate doesn't surprise me at all - $20,000 to $30,000 in labor ALONE, plus another $10K in parts. Standard shop rates range from $80 - $100 per hour. You are estimating 200-300 hours of work. Full time, that's only 5-8 weeks. If somebody wanted to hire out this job, that's about what it would take!
I have kept a spreadsheet of everything I've done to my car over the last two years and BEFORE I ever started looking at FI, I had spent about $15,000 on just the items you see in my signature line. Some of that was shop labor (like for the transmission work) but for the most part it's parts only. I've done just about all the work myself except for transmission and tuning. Some of that was learning mistakes. After two sets of spacers I finally got it right on my third attempt. BBK drove me to new hubs and new rotor hats & hardware. Two different oil catch cans & tubing. Etc. After the FI is completed I will have easily doubled the cash I put into the FX and I'm positive you are in the same boat if you count even a fraction of your own labor.
Not trying to bring down or highjack the thread, just trying to illustrate what's really behind doing something like this. It's really not a DIY driveway job. Time, knowledge, skill and resources (including $$$) is essential to a build like this. To me it makes the dedication even more impressive. Keep it up, bro!!!
I have kept a spreadsheet of everything I've done to my car over the last two years and BEFORE I ever started looking at FI, I had spent about $15,000 on just the items you see in my signature line. Some of that was shop labor (like for the transmission work) but for the most part it's parts only. I've done just about all the work myself except for transmission and tuning. Some of that was learning mistakes. After two sets of spacers I finally got it right on my third attempt. BBK drove me to new hubs and new rotor hats & hardware. Two different oil catch cans & tubing. Etc. After the FI is completed I will have easily doubled the cash I put into the FX and I'm positive you are in the same boat if you count even a fraction of your own labor.
Not trying to bring down or highjack the thread, just trying to illustrate what's really behind doing something like this. It's really not a DIY driveway job. Time, knowledge, skill and resources (including $$$) is essential to a build like this. To me it makes the dedication even more impressive. Keep it up, bro!!!