Mazdaspeed 3 / 6 K04 Turbo Upgrade - 330WHP!!!

[PPO2Kane]

Well - I was helping a buddy out and I got in touch with Bryan at BNR Supercars - owner of the world record RX7 FD on factory twin turbo's..... so he knows how to make OEM turbo's into beasts.



Monkeyboydrew sent off his OEM turbo to see what Bryan could do for him.... and after talkinhg to him on the phone - we decided to try and hook this up for anyone who wants a bolt on better turbo. Please read below.



PS - This isn't my thing just trying to help out!

Hey Kane.



The best Mazdaspeed 3/6 turbocharger is well on its way on being developed. The unit will be engineered for 330 WHP. The plan is 100% bolt up, no fabrication required, reliable, and affordable hybrid turbocharger upgrade. I need atleast 10 group buy volunteers to submit turbocharger cores. The turbochargers don't have to be rebuildable, they can leak, have broken shafts ect. I will throw the factory CHRA and compressor housings to make room for a robust and reliable turbocharger upgrade!



I suggest buying a blown up turbocharger off of forum members, ebay, or even shops that deal with the 3/6's. It will take atleast 8 weeks to make custom parts, CAD programs for CNC machines, and customized rotating assembly parts. I do not required a deposit up front, just a core. I am willing to devote my time and money in the set up for this turbocharger to initally get going.



Price will be $1300 after group buy, $1100 for the group buy. If more than 10 are in the group buy, that is fine. When parts are completed and the rotating assemblies assembled, we will then do the list, get payment and send out the turbochargers in batches of 5 units.



Bryan Nickell

President of BNR Supercars LLC

BNRsupercars@yahoo.com

205 640 1193

So CORES are the first step.... please let me know if we have any HP fiends out there who will want in on this. Looks like same spool - better flow and higher top end are all in site.

Also keep in mind this is basically a brand new turbo - the factory shaft cannot handle the higher boost and flow no matter what you do to the hot and cold sides; so Bryan recommended that he re CNC the CHRA to take a better and beefier shaft, bearings, etc.

 

[Bravnik]

This sounds like it has some good potential.

 

[skeeter149]

hmmmmmm

 

[smakdown61]

Wow. $1300 for a modified k04 that will do 330whp? You realize guys are already hitting 320whp fully bolted on the stock turbo right?

 

[BillTheCat]

This is exactly what I did to my MKIII Supra turbo. K04E upgrade in the stock housing. But it only cost me a couple of hundred bucks to have a local turbo specialist do the work. In fact, it was his idea to upgrade- I was just there for a rebuild.

Mind you, this guy was well beyond the R&D phase for the Toyota unit, so he could churn them out quickly at minimal expense.

Could be a good option, especially for those who want to upgrade & either not blow the warranty, or just get some stealth power nobody will spot under the hood.

 

[PPO2Kane]

Update from Bryan regarding HP numbers.

Hello.



The compressor wheel I was thinking of using is a 40 lb/min wheel good for 400 BHP.



I repeat that the turbocharger is not rebuilt. Its replaced with a new Garrett unit. Only thing reused is the exhaust housing. If you are paying 750 for a rebuilt stocker, that is a ticking time bomb. K03 and K04s are throw away units. I have been doing extremely customized turbochargers for 12 years. If the custom compressor wheels are not balanced perfectly, they will quickly come apart.



Well lets take a poll here. How much power are you guys looking to make then I will rethink things. I have to use a specific type of turbocharger or it will not work. If you go over 350 WHP then I will have to make custom turbine wheels along with custom compressor wheels.



But you will also have to consider the bigger the rotating assembly parts, the less response you have. Bigger isn't always better in a street car.



To answer a question above about the compressor inlet size, The housing I have in mind has a 2.5" inlet. I can machine those down to fit the factory intake tube if needed.



Bryan@BNR

 

[Akaveli]

hhmm...interesting.

 

[Captain KRM P5]

Wow. $1300 for a modified k04 that will do 330whp? You realize guys are already hitting 320whp fully bolted on the stock turbo right?

i don't think he's saying the turbo itself will generate 330whp out of the box on an otherwise stock vehicle. he's saying the turbos will be engineered with the potential to make 330whp on the car at the end of the day, tuned, with other parts, etc. this is pretty much what the other reworked turbos have the potential to show, give or take the right tuning and the right accompanying mods. we've seen 350 to 370 whp - which i don't frankly recommend on a K04 of any trim - which is more than most people need or want from these cars.

no one should be in the mindset that one mod is going to magically unlock 100+ more whp on these engines, and i don't think thats what the original poster or company was trying to say here.

EDIT - read the update in post 7, and that makes a lot of good sense and sounds very interesting. i have a few cores here waiting if anyone is interested.

 

[PPO2Kane]

How much for cores man? I wouldn't mind keeping my stocker alone just in case something happens later on.

 

[ericrapp]

I just came across this and am a little interested. Where are you going to make the power. I am not knowledgable enough to speak on this but isnt the stock K designed for early spool and runs hot air at around 6300. And is your set up designed for the higher flow tbe and bigger ICs. 330 on the street is mostly wheelspin but to have some good flow at the top of fourth and fifth gear would be fun so the mid to high 300s also would be nice for the long straights. And as a bolt on? What ecu management is needed? Thanks for the interest in building the little k up.

 

[PPO2Kane]

The idea is to get a better flowing unit - with less backpressure; so you end up with a slightly slower spool in exchange for more flow up top... the goal is to get the AR spool slowness (if you will) to be as small as possible.

MAF based car with this kind of mod can benefit from tuning (obviously); but shouldn't be required provided the new turbo doesn't drastically change VE.... if it does - then an AP type gig will work it out no problems.

 

[Captain KRM P5]

How much for cores man? I wouldn't mind keeping my stocker alone just in case something happens later on.

PM me if interested

 

[PPO2Kane]

Ooooooo - pretty....

 

[mazdaspeed32007]

if your going to be doing full bolt on's and can push 330 without this unpgrade what added benefits would you be seeing? the price is not steep for what your getting in labor, parts, and quality, but i cant see the purpose in doing this if its a daily driver hitting 330 whp without this anyway...i may be ignorant but please fill me in. i know kens upgraded k04 has worked wonders....is there a difference here between the two?

 

[PPO2Kane]

The short answer is reliability... the K04 with the 5mm shaft is never going to push that much power as easily as the upgrade.

The idea is to bolt on a reliable upgraded snail that can better make use of all the other mods you are going to install or already have... no matter how you cut it this turbo flows more than the K04 - so if you wanna turn up the boost and exceed BNR's specs - and your willing to take the risk; then have at it.

 

[Speed3Rookie]

hmm....it sure is purty

 

[mazdaspeed32007]

so basically the stock K04 would only be able to push so much air because of its build. lets say the stock ko4 can handle like...21 psi before it just cant push any more volume of air...the upgraded turbo would push the same volume of air at a lower psi and a 21 psi with the upgrade will push not just more air at 21 psi but it will be able to exceed the stocks max psi by quite a bit more? makes good sense. so thats why he was saying use the k04 core and your basically getting a new turbo. i must have mis read something in there before.....idk....looks like a sweet turbo though. good work! id love to see someone do this and see the outcome. better have the upgraded block or engine internals.

 

[clos561]

this will help the turbo not blow hot air into your motor, these baby turbos are only good for 5800 rpms any rpms after that you start blowing hot air.

 

[ericrapp]

This sounds like a great project. But i must ask the question that is never answered decisively, how much hp can the stock internals handle if tuned decently?

 

[cpolly69]

i believe this thread started over on su - these were some ?'s i raised there -
well i've been following this thread for a while and i am anxious to see the results from the first person - this week i got my new k04 from the dealership installed on wednesday - saturday i installed my dp/rp & inlet - then i drove about 75 miles - and that was the end of those oil seals! it already smokes after about a min at 25 psi -
so since i've already got another k04 sitting here i'm starting to get concerned about just how this idea may or may not work - some of the things i've been thinking about are:
1. if this newly bulit turbo spools faster and creates more power at low rpm - what will happen to those who haven't upgraded the fuel system yet and they experience the lean spot at low rpm?
2. the previous ? goes with this one - what about the knock retard issue all ms3s experience? it's also at low rpm and even with the best tuning - i haven't seen someone totally eliminate it - so what happens when we go into boost and we have knock?
3. the most important to me - if this is still going to remain a journal bearing turbo - what is going to be done to stop the seals from leaking oil into the exhaust side housing - everyone who rebuilids one uses the best seals possible and they still leak - the have been therioes spun about the chamber being over-pressureized and that a better supply and return for the oil may help - but is any of that in the plans?

from what i've seen here this person obviously knows a ton about building b/a turbos - but what i really want to know is do they know about the ms3 and all it's issues well enough to build a safe & non-smoking turbo that can be used on a daily driver??