Ok guys, Im very new to the world of Lancers, I just purchased mine earlier this week. My main question is this:

What is the cheapest turbo or supercharger out there for the Lancer? Used works for me... and swap from other cars work too. Basically, what would you all do to get your car turbo'd with a very tight budget?

Thanks in advance...

road race motorsports have kits
the hacker tweaker kits on their site
is good but you dont get any piping

All of the available turbo kits run roughly the same price. The only place where you can really cut costs is if you can get your hands on any of the parts for cheaper, namely the turbo itself or the intercooler. The piping is another real expensive piece, but it's harder to find a hookup for that.

If I were on a tight budget, I'd save up and get a proven kit. There's been a few bad stories where folks have tried piecing a turbo together, only to end up having paid at least the same price for a turbo kit, if not more.

Ive come up with a source for some of my pipeing. Mercedes uses manderal bends in their exaust systems and we do a lot of warrenty exaust for rattleing cats. seeing as the cats are part of a exaust section I have cut up a couple that they scraped and got a couple decent bends. its not 3" pipe but more like 2.25" - 2.5" . add a little 1200 degree engine enamel and it should make some decent intake pipeing. It also helps that I managed to pick up my turbo for $40 and rebuilt it my self. I will have to go with and external waste gate (ouch pricey) because my turbine housing is cracked pretty good at the wastegate flapper(common on TD05 turbos) and my turbo didnt come with an actuator to boot,so i will remove the flapper, port out the opening in the houseing (eliminateing the crack) maybe I can find a hook up for a good wastegate for cheap. I also am going to buy a mig welder so I can make my own 02 housing. sounds expensive huh, but if you compare the $300 or so I will spend for the welder and $40 in flanges to the $250 to buy said houseing I basicly get a mig welder for $100 that I can fab up parts with to sell or hell weld some scrap together and call it art this will be a long term prodject in my spare time and with what little windfalls, freebies, and little spare cash I can come up with. Also I dont want to actualty install it till my warrenty is over and I have most of it paid off.

Here are a couple of links to inspire
http://www.homemadeturbo.com/
http://co.dsm.org/users/jake/DSM/

this is what I am talking about with the wastegate
http://co.dsm.org/users/jake/DSM/pro...te/index.shtml
and for the uninclined I will post a couple of pics from the site

flapper removed

after porting

another veiw

and this is what I will build
( these pics came from http://co.dsm.org/users/jake/DSM/pro...te/index.shtml ) pretty cool how to site for dsm'rs

nice job there...

I was just at DSM trader and there was a guy selling a T25 for 150 you can find them all around...perfect sized turbo for your lancer.

Personally I'd opt for bigger, but it really depends what you want out of your car. You could always swap to a T28 later on if you ge a T25 at a steal. They use the same flanges.

Words of warning: Do not turbocharge your car if you don't have more than enough money for it. When you're adding boost, to a naturally aspirated car especially, expect problems. Expect expensive problems. You may be able to predict the likelyhood of what's going to fail, but you never know for certain.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, if you want BIG BOOST like you mention in the thread title, that T25 is not for you. You're going to want at least the T28, preferrably ball bearing. It will not be cheap unless you can find a reconditioned one or have a used one reconditioned yourself.

Excellent Warning Andrew. I was about to post the same thing, since my uncle's N/A Eclipse that was turbocharged aftermarket kept breaking down cuz the engine couldnt handle the added boost. Always have in savings enough to buy a new engine (worse case scenario), that way you know you'll always be able to get ur car fixed when needed.

Yeah i know what you are saying about the bigger turbo but the t25 you can get your hands on at the fraction of the cost. A big t28 runs about 800-900 I got mine for 750 w/ exchange of old core. The t25 may be small but it puts out more than enough power for a lancer. As we all know it is capable of running 15psi and max's out at 250hp......I think it would take alot of money to get the lancer to handle that kind of boost..but thats just me and 250 hp is not too shabby for a lancer. Smaller turbos arent that bad I mean they can make some decent power llook at audi's small kkk turbos.

Why can't we just come up with a supercharger kit??? Less problems, but I guess harder to fab into a car. I have yet to see a sc in a Lancer.

I second u9v's suggestion. SC rox. Me wantum SC! But, nice work there adenbre!