OK, I've been thinking about it for a long time, searching all over for parts. I'm building my own turbo kit now. I've thought of all the options, and this is what I've come up with. I just want a cheap small turbo kit for small boost that will give me a little more power. Nothing crazy. I've been getting parts cheap and so far it's coming together nicely (with the small amount of things I have). I have an 04, so I will be switching to the 02-03 fuel return system. I found the intake manifold, fuel rail and return set up really cheap.
My parts so far include:
-TD05H 14b Turbo
-Vortech FMU
-1g DSM BOV
-03 Fuel Rail and Return Line
-Someone that will do all of my piping almost free

Problem right now is the injectors. Turns out they are low imp. They were cheap enough to not matter if they were wrong. Does anyone know what resistors I would need to fix that?

So all I have left to get is a
-Walbro 255 fuel pump
-03 Intake Manifold
-Piping
-Turbo Manifold
-Oil lines
-Intercooler
-External Wastegate
-Slim Fans

I plan on just getting an RRM turbo piggyback for an 03 auto since my setup will be similar and I don't want to deal with finding and paying someone to tune it for me.
I'll probably have a few questions to ask as I go.

 

Questions?

Why run an intercooler if you are going for low boost, low power?
Also, why not just get someone to tune your ECU instead of running a piggyback system? Is it because you are worried about it being too difficult?

 

The intercooler will be cheap from a friend, so I might as well. That will be less of a pain later when I want to make it faster. No having to redo any pipes. I haven't checked with any tuners on tuning my ECU, and I live an hour and a half away from Houston, the only place I could get it tuned. I'd have to install the kit, then drive it that far untuned. Plus the RRM piggyback has software and a cable I could use to tune it farther later on. The piggyback would mainly be for a base boosted tune.

 

you wil have to get an external wastegate because those are set too high from the factory. i wanted to do the same thing, but i talked to rob at road///race and he told me not to.

 

Well from what I've read it's set at either 8 or 10 psi. But yeah, I will most likely be switching to an external gate.

 

I think someone posted that 10ohm resistors need to be soldered inline on the harness wire to use low imp injectors.

 

Sweet. I'll check that out. Good cause I got the injectors for 30 bucks. They closest I could find to that for bigger injectors was in the hundreds. Thanks

 

Why wouldn't you need a intercooler? you'll need it either way if its 8psi or 10psi. Mine is internal wastegate set at 7psi. I'd grab the oil lines from ebay its cheap and good. Is your turbo watercooled also? You don't really need a tune for low boost, just make sure you are recirculating your BOV and your set.

 

Yeah my next question was going to be this. If I get a 255 fuel pump, bored fuel rail, and 460cc injectors, could I run 7 psi without a tune? I know I'd get better performance from a tune, but just to drive on after it's installed. Also, I know different sized turbos have different flow rates and stuff. Apparently most people say 7psi is the most you want to run on stock internals. I know people running 10-12 psi on stock internals. Would 10psi on a turbo as small as a 14b be that much?

 

intercooler is allways better for non IC just due to temperature. You can run internal wastegates, just have to get a new spring set at your correct psi that you want. WRX injectors is the route most people go. Havnt seen people use RX7 injectors yet. good to know. I would not want to run a turbo at all w/o a tune. or at least knowing your way around lancerscan or RRM's software to get it to a safe point yourself.

 

Is there a way to change the internal gate spring on my turbo? Where can I get a spring for lower boost? Yeah the injectors I got work and plug in, but they are low imp. There's a decent list of cars with bigger injectors that we can use. Older celicas, preludes, wrx, rx7, supra. You just have to find which version of the car has the right injectors.

 

You should be able to change the setting on the internal wastegate, I'll see if I can find more info. I wouldn't suggest running without a tune, sure you might be able to get away with it but it's certainly not going to be good for the car. How much boost you can run will be dependent on what turbo you use and the exact nature of your setup. While a smaller turbo may push less air, if you overclock it and move it out of its efficiency range, you'll have a lot of detonation. I would start low (say 7 PSI) and slowly increase it once you're sure you're not getting knock.

 

OK cool. And this is my turbo. The pic is from spooled motorsports but that's the same turbo I have and that's what the wastegate looks like. Thanks for the help.

 

You'll be fine with your set-up its not like you are looking for real high boost. im running my turbo on a stock setup and its been running just fine and i'd say its been almost 2 months. I'd use a boost controller to set it at 7psi and i'd leave it at that. I've gotten away with no tune at all. I don't really plan on tuning it til laterrr. If you wanna go with reliability with no tune. Change out your headgasket and you'll be set. If anything you may have to redo timing to prevent detonation/preignition


---Edit----

My set-up was like a get-up and go set-up and it doesn't eat much gas at all unless im really running boost. My lancer is a daily driver.

 

Glad to see that you are going through with it. I've started to build as well with pretty much the same things except a 16g6 turbo. I just need to get some form of engine management, an adjustable wastegate so I can turn the boost down and a fuel pump.