Well i think i've put it off enough. Its time. I need some boost. My buddy just boosted his civic from scratch and we were able to get it perfect. Had to do some custom work, make some stuff fit that didnt, but in the end it was extremely satisfying to throw down 6psi on a daily driven car just for fun. So its time for my good old 03' Oz to get some spoon fed compressed goodness. I've been researching the forums here during my offtime at work and i've decided to go the custom/kit route. I'm going to do custom fuel system, custom intercooler piping, kit turbo/oil lines/manifold. Heres my short list of parts that i will be doing in two stages because thats how my money will hold out

Stage One

Magnaflow Catback (have it on order anyway)
Boost, A/F, EGT, Fuel Press Gauge
A Pillar 3 Gauge pod
Apex-i SAFC II
12:1 FMU
2g Eclipse Walbro 255 pump

Thats what i'm doing through the end of march. Its just the early fuel prep work for the turbo since my turbo fund wont be complete until early may anyway. I know this thread will probably start a war over FMU/RRFPR/etc etc and EMS/SAFC/etc etc, but i'll just say this to close the issue now. I've read up for a while, and for my desires and goals with this (very low) this setup will do fine. I'm not looking for crazy boost, i'm not looking to push anywhere over 210hp at any point in the future (at that point i'll just buy an evo). I'm just looking for a mildly tune-able daily driver with a little extra push to mess around with on weekends and a 12:1 fmu will deliver plenty of gas in conjunction with the 255 fuel pump, and the SAFC is more than enough to fine tune whatever fuel curves need to be tuned. With this setup theres no need for major fuel correction.

So as for stage two which will be the actual turbo install i researched this also. I looked into a fully intercooled kit, a complete custom kit, and pound for pound the best bang for the buck for what i was looking for is as follows.

Stage Two

-Tsi Non intercooled t25 kit - $1599 (this was the middle ground and what seemed most cost effective as opposed to complete custom turbo kit and fully intercooled kit)
-FMIC (probably 28x7x3.5 so i can avoid major fitment issues)
-Piping kit to custom fab some intercooler piping
-1g dsm BOV
-Turbo Timer

I'm sure i'm missing a few things but i'm sure you guys will fill in the blanks. As for the TSI kit. Yeah it has fitment issues, but adding 3 inches to the downpipe, ordering a few extra oil lines, adding some header wrap, and welding in an o2 bung is a hell of a lot more cost effective than custom fabricating a lot of this stuff, as well as a lot less of a headache. I'm probably going for a civic or integra kit intercooler to keep the size down because i really dont wanna have to modify the bumper and for 6psi the flow rate should work out alright. All in all it looks to be well under the cost of an RRM kit, a lot better features than the TSI intercooled kit, and a lot less of a headache than a fully custom kit. Hopefully i'll have the fuel upgrades installed and running mid march, and the full turbo kit and parts ordered and fabricated by mid May. Wish me luck! Any tips or additions are welcome, just keep it light, no need to turn this thread into a war like every other one I'll take pics as the install progresses on

 

Sounds good and good luck...

 

nice ... keep us updated ...

 

I need boost also................its all most time to throw down im sick of not having a fast car

 

Haha well no matter how much boost you want the Lancer will never be fast, i've come to grips with this reality. So i'm just tossing some cash down for a fun project, learn a lot in the process, and extract a little more go power from the car. Basically this car is just my fun toy until i can get an EVO, thats when the power really comes. But thats a year or two down the road, for now this will just be fun, and it will up the resell value when i sell it to some little high school ricer

 

Pretty sure you will have to add a slim line push fan to put on the front of the radiator.. although you might not need that. And i have a preference for the emanage, but thats just me.

I have the same project underway.

 

I figured the slim line fan can be an "if needed" scenario. From what i understand from other people with the tsi kit a good header wrap takes care of the problem. But i guess we'll find out. Once everything is up and running i will be pretty much babying the car, tuning, opening the hood, and inspecting every 10 miles haha. So its going to be like a newborn