My Turn @ Pulling the Trigger on a Twin Turbo

Been modifying my car over the years in the garage and haved one
more than most. Had a ProCharger P1at first, and now a D1. Have
used a 3.0 pulley, a 3.2 and a 2.4, maxing out at 18 psi
of boost. Have used a ProCharger intercooler and now use a
31 horizontal flow intercooler with 3 entry and 3 exit.
Started with ProCharger 3 steel intake piping, but have switched
to aluminum. Have gone from a Focus pump with a BAP, to twin Cobra
pumps, to twin GT-40 pumps, toa return style fuel system using a
MagnaFuel pump and regulator. Didn't like the pump cavitation
at tankfull and the constant smell of fuel vapors. Have gone
back to returnless and twin GT-40 pumps. Have gone from 42 lb
injectors, to 50s, then60s, then 80s, and now 98s. Have gone from
a stock upper intake, to a ported lower and upper, to a highly
modified cut-n-weld upper with expanded height, rear, and L & R
plenums. From there, went with a Freestar 6 into 12holes lower
and a custom upper. Have aSnow Meth/water injection system and
also Nitrous. Went from a 70mm throttle body, to a bored72mm TB
to now an 80 mm TB. Along the way, learned to tune the car mainly
due to all the changes. Still use A/C, power steering, heater,
and stereo. It's mainly a street weekend car. When tripling the
whp or more, lots of things on any car will not be engineered to
take on the extra power. It takes a lot of add-on parts and
customparts to make it happen and keep the motor, transmission,
rearend, driveshaft,etc. from blowing up. It is very frustrating
making and testing mods to keep the car safe and still pass an
annual emissions test. So far, so good. Lots of work and plenty
of $$$$ spent along the way. Have learned a lot and am willing to
help others minimize some of the expense by buying the right
parts for the intended application. So now, off to bigger and
better.

 

My goal is 700rwhp with 15 psi of boost and 93 octane. I believe that the supercharger steals 100 rwhp. 4-5 years ago, I dyno'ed 542 to the rear with meth/water injection and 23 degrees of timing. Was using a highly modified and ported upper and lower semi-stock looking intake with meth injection. Ran 11.7 in the 1/4 mile track. Now, have 4 more years of mods and many problems solved, mainly with misfiring. The build should go fairly quick. Began persuing a twin turbo setup back in March. Andy from TMA Turbos got the call. His regular job went to 50+ hours per week and he had to slow down on the build. Concerned about Texas heat, I looked and finally found a 2" thick aluminum radiator (thanks Diller) from Northern that is made for an automatic. Not installed yet, but a perfect fit with the locations for auto trans cooling and mounting pins. Worked with Andy at the time and he shortened the header T-3 flange by 1 inch toward the firewall and cocked them inward by 3 degrees to accommodate the extra thick radiator. I found out that an '03 Cobra radiator was only 1 3/8" thick. A V-6 stock Mustang radiator is only 1" thick.

 

Spent some time talking with Precision guys and Garrett. Both seem very good. Garrett has a website that helps guide you to the correct size. The disadvantage is however that the website guide does well for a single turbo, but not for twins. That is where prior experience of a dealer or a company engineer comes in. So, I finally decided on twin 3071R Garretts with 4-bolt T-3 flanges for quicker spooling. The headers are 11 gauge and made of 304 Stainless. Am using twin Tial 44mm wastegates and V-band clamps. The intercooler was made by Bell. I looked and looked but could not find an intercooler that would be a guarantee to fit. Most of the twin setup intercoolers were 3 1/2" thick. I wanted a 3" thick intercooler because I know it will fit. The compressor housing is an A/R 50.

 

The source of the misfire was somewhere between 3-4 issues. Changed out the plug wires to Magnecors. Changed out the alternator to one that would put out 200 amps. Got my MSD DIS-4 (spark boost) box repaired which was dead. Exchanged an Excell coilpack for an MSD coilpack which puts our 48,000 volts (the highest of any of the advertised brands). And, added a heat shield to the coil pack.

 

Parts In House


44 mm twin Tial wastegates. Uses twin V-band clamps.

One of the ways to control boost is with the wastegate springs. The separate springs each have different strengths. One has to use multiple springs to get to higher boost pressures. 15 psi will use 3 springs together. Because the springs are of different sizes, the smaller springs fit inside the larger ones.

 

This intercooler is made by Belll. It has internal baffels to direct air flow inside the coils for even air flow. For a twin setup, the two inlets are on the bottom and the outlet is the single tube on the top. Built mine to have 2 1/2" inlets and a single 3" exit. Am hoping to add mounting brackets to the bottom to support and hang it on the car. Have a pair of twin pusher fans to go on the front.



New 2" thick (2-core) radiator from Northern that is made for an automatic.

 

Turbo guts.


Here is how my motor looks at this point with NO modifications for a turbo setup.

 

Not too worried about too much heat at this point. Found some 3000 degree ceramic coating. But, yes, am aware of what needs to be relocated. Will provide more details and pictures as this project moves along. More parts to show up in the next week or so. Pictures below are from several months ago to show the beginning of the hot section.