How to turbo a daily driven iX

[downforce22]

I have been ready to pull the trigger on an iX oil pan and M50 oil pan to send off to Jake at Classic Daily to have them mated for an S52 swap. After talking to him he was pushing me towards a turbo build instead. I was always wary of turbo as it seemed they were wrought with problems and not great for a daily driver. He said that was the case maybe 10 years ago but not so much anymore.

I had not been on R3V in quite a while but I get on and this is the first thread I see. Exactly what I'm looking for. I thought it wouldn't be possible with my stroker motor I built up 10 years ago to a 2.8L with 10:1 pistons but I've been told with mild boost like you are doing its no problem. If I can get between 250-300 hp and not have to mess with full pump, HG, or any kind of meth injection I would be beyond happy with that. Also, living in Leadville, Colorado at 10,200 feet is what pushed me over the edge from a motor swap to turbo. I'm going to keep following this thread and I'd like to get some feedback on how reliable this set up has been for you as I will be using this as a daily driver as well and reliability is key for me. Thanks for posting this and I hope to see more updates soon.

cool, i drove my turbo 325ix out to twin lakes and to leadville this summer for the leadville 100 in august. Its the way to go. me and another guy in salida have turbo 325ix cars running around right here in colorado

[aaron325ix]

I have been ready to pull the trigger on an iX oil pan and M50 oil pan to send off to Jake at Classic Daily to have them mated for an S52 swap. After talking to him he was pushing me towards a turbo build instead. I was always wary of turbo as it seemed they were wrought with problems and not great for a daily driver. He said that was the case maybe 10 years ago but not so much anymore.

I had not been on R3V in quite a while but I get on and this is the first thread I see. Exactly what I'm looking for. I thought it wouldn't be possible with my stroker motor I built up 10 years ago to a 2.8L with 10:1 pistons but I've been told with mild boost like you are doing its no problem. If I can get between 250-300 hp and not have to mess with full pump, HG, or any kind of meth injection I would be beyond happy with that. Also, living in Leadville, Colorado at 10,200 feet is what pushed me over the edge from a motor swap to turbo. I'm going to keep following this thread and I'd like to get some feedback on how reliable this set up has been for you as I will be using this as a daily driver as well and reliability is key for me. Thanks for posting this and I hope to see more updates soon.

[jeenyus]

This thread has been a tremendous help to me. Thank you!

I do have a question on the location of the oil drain. Do you think it would be possible to drill above the location you drilled? It seems like I could do it without lowering the entire motor while also allowing the ac bracket to still be used.

I'm currently at this step and idk if you still use this platform but wanted to ask. Below is the location I'm thinking of drilling.


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[Eskie]

It’s 2.5” inch piping. I’ll take a pic of part I cut out of the high beam headlight bracket. It wasn’t a whole lot, basically just flattened the bottom of it. It didn’t take any structural integrity out of it. I brought the ruptured AC line to work today to measure and order parts to make a custom one. More updates soon. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[marko]

Hey, sorry..just got the notification for this. I can send you the tune in the next couple of days, PM me your email address please!

I've actually just moved my entire setup to my other iX and have retained the AC....it's definitely possible. However the line that runs down the passenger side strut tower just burst because of the heat from the hot side of the turbo. I'm working on making a custom line at the moment.

Sweet! PM incoming. Good to know about the passenger side AC line, I’ll probably start by just wrapping the hell out of it with heat shield and see if that holds.

Cool that you could route intercooler pipes where you did, I wouldn't have thought they would fit with the AC hoses still intact. What diameter pipe did you end up using? I’ve been thinking about bringing the piping up and under the drier but this seems way cleaner and a shorter run. Any more detailed pics on how you cut the headlight assy to make it all fit?

[Eskie]

The only real issue was the lines under the passenger side headlight because that’s where my intercooler pipes run. I thought about making custom AC lines to go under and up by the receiver drier but in the end I just cut a small amount of material out of the bottom of the plastic headlight brackets (I have DEPO headlights). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk EDIT: I also welded an elbow to the passenger side of the intercooler as I wouldn’t have room for a couple and T-bolts in that area.

[daveduck]

Hey, sorry..just got the notification for this. I can send you the tune in the next couple of days, PM me your email address please!

I've actually just moved my entire setup to my other iX and have retained the AC....it's definitely possible. However the line that runs down the passenger side strut tower just burst because of the heat from the hot side of the turbo. I'm working on making a custom line at the moment.

Any details on how you retained A/C? I definitely can't get rid of mine with GA weather

[Eskie]

Hey man this is a great thread, super clear and accessible. Would you be cool to share your base tune? I’ve got w very similar plan for my iX except i hope to retain AC (just r&r’d) and use a gt28 of some kind. Would be awesome to start with something within the ballpark.

Hey, sorry..just got the notification for this. I can send you the tune in the next couple of days, PM me your email address please!

I've actually just moved my entire setup to my other iX and have retained the AC....it's definitely possible. However the line that runs down the passenger side strut tower just burst because of the heat from the hot side of the turbo. I'm working on making a custom line at the moment.

[marko]

Hey man this is a great thread, super clear and accessible. Would you be cool to share your base tune? I’ve got w very similar plan for my iX except i hope to retain AC (just r&r’d) and use a gt28 of some kind. Would be awesome to start with something within the ballpark.

[Eskie]

Haha that's a perfect benchmark, STi owners are the ones that are guaranteed to try and pull on you from a green light.
Are there any other M20 bits you had to buy to make the DIYPNP work, or can you salvage the connector etc from the stock ECU?
Thanks for putting the thread looking together, looking forward to more content!

The stock DME connector plugs into the DIYPNP, I didn't have to make any modifications there. I did have to make modifications to the wiring on the TPS connector because I'm using a E36 TPS. The connector housing is the same but the pin order is different. You can either de-pin it and move them around or cut and splice the wires.


I also changed to a GM IAT, so that was some cutting and splicing as well.


I'm running a single coil right now so I haven't changed any of the ignition parts around.

[Mazdayasna]

Right now at 7.5-8 psi it feels to be about 250whp...I don't have any problem with stock Subaru Sti's if that's a benchmark of any kind ;D

Haha that's a perfect benchmark, STi owners are the ones that are guaranteed to try and pull on you from a green light.
Are there any other M20 bits you had to buy to make the DIYPNP work, or can you salvage the connector etc from the stock ECU?
Thanks for putting the thread looking together, looking forward to more content!

[Eskie]

Thank you, more to come soon


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[cro_xt]

Wow awesome results!
Thanks for sharing this with us!

[Eskie]

What does your ass dyno tells you about hp :)?

Right now at 7.5-8 psi it feels to be about 250whp...I don't have any problem with stock Subaru Sti's if that's a benchmark of any kind ;D

[Eskie]

Same here Mazdayasna :)
But i will take a risk and order diy ms2 kit... There are some good tutorials out there, just need to read it like 10 times or so...

As long as you know how to solder it's really straightforward and easy. I was worried at first but the instructions on DIYautotune made it super easy. I would definitely do it man, more money for other parts.

https://www.diyautotune.com/support/tech/hardware/diypnp/documentation/diypnp-v1-5/main-board-assembly/