racegirls turbo kit

[adamturbo]

i am building a turbo kit for racegirls p5. it consists of a stock mazda mx6 ihi turbocharger , stock mx6 intercooler, stock mx6 downpipe. as a mx6 owner i know alot about these systems. the turbo runs 8 psi stock, and can handle 18 psi. the mx6 intercooler is a very efficiant unit with minnimal preasure drop. the down pipe is a low profile design resulting in no clearance isues for the lower rad hose on the p5. now as for a manifold i baught a p5 unit from mazda 250.00 canadian, i modified it and welded a flange to it to mount the turbo. i went this route as it is cheap, and retains the egr output.

i am using the stock manifold also because i am not going to be pushing high boost so flow is not important.

 

[derrick1623]

so, you took a stock p5 header, and mounted a plate to mount the turbo to, and what year is your mx6, and all these parts i take it are from a first gen mx6...any info appreciated.

 

[adamturbo]

yes its a stock protege header, that i converted. mx6 is a 1988. but they were made from 88-91. all parts are from a first gen mx6. there are alot of these in junk yards so pieces are cheap. the turbo is a rebuilt unit cost 600.00 the manifold was 250.00 the intercooler was free but would cost 100 from a wreker. the down pipe came from the wreker 50.00
so my total cost thus far is 900 canadian.
i am a machinist so labour is all free for me.

 

[JcsMP3]

I was thinking that maybe before you put that unit on, you might want to get the turbo header ported and polished a little to increase and to better the flow.

Just a friendly suggestion.

Jc

 

[big_ben]

I hope you pre heated the cast iron that the stock manifold is made of. To correctly weld cast iron, it has to be heated at least 4 inches past the area you are going to weld. And when I say pre heated, I mean around 2000 degrees farenheight.(red hot) Here is the reason. Cast iron expands MUCH more that steel. When cast iron is welded, it WILL crack unless all the metal is heated and expanded evenly. Sorry, but a welding torch won't do it. I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but that manifold won't last longer than a year, maybe less. It will be leaking badly! Just thought I'd let you know.

 

[adamturbo]

thanks ben for the info i will be re welding that manifold. as for porting and polishing i smoothed out the rough casting with a dremel.

 

[big_ben]

There are companies that specialize in welding cast iron. You can read up on it if you search for "cast iron welding" at any search engine. Basically, since cast iron expands so much more than steel, the direct area that is being welded expands a huge amount, and the areas around it doesn't expand, and this causes stress cracks. These cracks will get worse and worse over time. If you use a torch to heat the surrounding areas until they are red hot, and only weld about 2 or 3 inches at a time. So you have to go slow with it. Good luck though.