Let's hear turbocharging/supercharing installs gone wrong

[Tiny4cyl]

topic

[ratdub]

in for future laughs...

[phatsac]

[Horror Business]

Id like to hear some input. Someday I would maybe turbo my m42 if I dont swap in an I6 first. But Id like to hear about all the **** ups people have done. Its always good to learn what not to do.

[Mooz!]

I have one...

I had a beater 89 MK2 with a VR swap. Picked up a Stage 2 Turbo kit, and had 0 experience with turbo cars or even how they work. I did the whole install in a garage with no heat or power in the winter, and from 2 pictures i printed off the internet. Everything went smoothly. Before the test drive, I installed the MBC and didnt bother to check it - it was fully closed - bleed valve.

After taking the car for a run and everything seeming to work fine, i was being egged on to "punch it" from some people waiting to get into a club. I wasn't going to, but then decided to punch it in 2nd gear... proceeded to watch the boost gauge peg 25 psi before hearing a loud 'bang'.

The car stalled, sputtered, and wouldnt idle, but i didnt see any smoke in the rearview. I pulled over under a street light and popped the hood and couldnt see or hear anything obvious until i took a step back to see the FMIC hanging with the cheap silicone connectors included in the kit split.

The ****piece in question:


I've since learned my lesson... and owned many more turbo cars since.

[DrFrisker]

at least it didnt blow up entirely

[Horror Business]

Your not the first person I've heard of having their IC pop off.

[cockerpunk]

Your not the first person I've heard of having their IC pop off.

when i got new tires on my porsche, and the first time i autocrossed it, i pulled the intercooler hose off the intercooler because the cornering forces were higher then the car had seen in 10+ years. motor was shifting on the mounts because of the cornering and pulled the hose of the intercooler.

never blown one from too much boost though.

[ThreadBomber]

I installed a Vortech S trim on my 5.0 Liter back in about 2001 or so. I spend like two evenings doing it, took my time, triple checked everything etc etc. On the test drive I was getting major vibration, took it right home and coolant was pouring out of it. I had forgotten to tighten the fan to water pump bolts, they were just hand threaded on, and the fan wobbled and took out my rad. The water pump bit it about a week later, so it must have wrecked that too

[rconn14]

I PUTZ DIS IN ANd IT GIVE ME NO POWER

must have dun rong.

[KrautFed]

This is not meant for laughs and jokes.

Helped on a BT (50 trim) install on 1.8T back in ~2004-2005 (when the BT thing was still new). I made sure everything was tidied up. I set it to run practically zero psi until we had fueling on there. A week later, the fueling came in and I helped with a Walbro pump under the hood (again, common place at the time). A week later, the owner was driving down the interstate when his girlfriend noticed smoke. Due their claim at to the speed at which the fire spread, I'm convinced it was something with the fuel pump/lines. Anyway, the girl friend freaked out and froze up. He got the car stopped and had to run around to get his girlfriend out. She received burns to her legs. Because they weren't anywhere near an exit or access, the car completely burned to the ground and was a total loss. The owner claims that it was nothing I did, but I still blame myself (even though I triple checked all hose connections). The car was a salvaged (and fixed) vehicle, and the owner blames that.

Be safe out there everyone.

[Zombiestatus]

Not to knowledgeable on the subject but a friend found metal shavings in one of the cylinders of his turbocharged 2.5l after a shop "installed the waste-gate backwards."

[Justin_Eshelman]

My 1.8nevarlose story:

So the motors in, my hands are trembling as I put the key in for it's first start. It fired up like the day it came off the assembly line! Noticed gas was empty and 6 months old so took it about 3 miles for her first drive.

Everything is going great! 6 months of hard work and $2000 are culminating into a great drive for me. I was instructed to keep low RPM, but heavy engine load- so floor it up hills but only to 3k RPM. So I'm going up this hill with the pedal to the floor. My boost is climbing and right when it hits 25 PSI- BOOOOMMMMMM! The loudest sound I have ever heard from that car just came from the engine. The car died and I rolled into the gas station.

My heart was beating fast, the tears were swelling up, and my hands grew sweaty and clammy. It was just then I noticed the intercooler piping dragging below the front bumper

[Aonarch]

[RobMarkToo]

If I overclock the CPU in my car's computer, won't it make me go faster?

[Flipdriver80]

PETE clear out your IM's i need parts but cant get in touch with you lol.

[Air-over-water]

Just because I pass their Texas Headquarters at least once a month.

[Denniswhat]

Funny about the ic piping stories. I have a few of those haha.

[nismo4life]

Theres pictures of an SRT-4 with a BOV install, except they installed the BOV pre turbocharger......can't find them anywhere though.

[NOTORIOUS VR]

Theres pictures of an SRT-4 with a BOV install, except they installed the BOV pre turbocharger......can't find them anywhere though.

you're saying they installed the BOV in the exhaust manifold?

[Flipdriver80]

you're saying they installed the BOV in the exhaust manifold?

pretty sure he means on the intake side of the turbo, like where the filter would go.

[NOTORIOUS VR]

pretty sure he means on the intake side of the turbo, like where the filter would go.

equally as stupid, but probably correct lol

[.:Ryan99:.]

I can contribute. I bought a second hand BBM twinscrew supercharger kit for my old MKIII 2.0 golf. The kit had only been available for a couple months at this point so it was in really good condition. So as I am going through with the install I notice that I can only find 3 of the 4 bolts that bolt the pipe off the charger to the throttle body. I figure no big deal, must have gotten lost during shipping. I go down to the parts store, buy another bolt and continue with the install. I get everything finished up, fire up the engine, and go for a quick spin with a buddy. I pull out of the drive way and ease out of the neighborhood. Once I hit the main road I stomped down on the gas. The car pulled amazingly for about 2 seconds then I hear "pow" and the car dies and I coast over to the side of the road. We pushed the car back to the house and after hours of frustration we take out the supercharger and ship it back to BBM. When they disassembled it they found a flattened bolt in between the two screws of the supercharger. Turns out that bolt that I thought went missing was actually lodged inside of the cone air filter. Must have gotten in during shipping. So of course when I stomped down on the gas it got sucked into the supercharger and jammed the screws, which then stopped the drive belt and the engine. No other damage occurred and BBM gave me a nice deal on a brand new unit. So about a week later I had it back up and running for good, but not until after a costly oversight.

[E CODE]

When I had my 20th AE GTI, I was adventurous and went about installing a twin sidemount IC system, and an audi intake mani.... as the three people above me have experienced, I blew an IC hose a couple days after the install.... thought I had blown the crap out of the whole engine or something, it was such a horrible noise....

A few T bolts later everything was fine....

[zeewhiz]

I PUTZ DIS IN ANd IT GIVE ME NO POWER

must have dun rong.

leaving fully satisfied...

[B3passatBMX]

Thankfully when I supercharged my SVT Focus, the only hiccup in 98K miles I had it with the blower was a power steering hose rubbed on the serpentine belt.

[Vash350z]

Supercharged my 350z in 2006. Used a brand new vortech kit. Have since installed several smaller pulleys, larger injectors. Best trap so far is 116mph, larger jackshaft pulley, larger impeller, and larger intercooler awaiting install. Have run perfect for 5+ years...

[Buckeye(OH)]

Supercharged my 350z in 2006. Used a brand new vortech kit. Have since installed several smaller pulleys, larger injectors. Best trap so far is 116mph, larger jackshaft pulley, larger impeller, and larger intercooler awaiting install. Have run perfect for 5+ years...

I will never, ever force fed a factory NA car again. I installed a VF on my MK3 GTi. Pure garbage. I don't think I ever got it tensioned right such that the belt didn't slip at even moderate boost. I hated it so much I hit a crub and totaled it.

[Tiny4cyl]

Supercharged my 350z in 2006. Used a brand new vortech kit. Have since installed several smaller pulleys, larger injectors. Best trap so far is 116mph, larger jackshaft pulley, larger impeller, and larger intercooler awaiting install. Have run perfect for 5+ years...

Sounds like an install that went horribly wrong as the topic states!

[renegadeofpunk03]

sort of OT, but here goes:

in school there was this guy who was a colossal f-tard. like seriously, should not have been allowed near moving equipment, but was training to be a marine engineer. this is one of many bonehead moves.

so one night hes out doing rounds in the engineroom and goes to do a blowdown on the ship service air compressor receiver. all valve handles on the ship are color coded to prevent confusion. IIRC, air valves were pink. he walks up to the compressor, can't figure it out so i guess he just opens whatever he found first. what he found was the crankcase drain valve, which would have been black and yellow. so as soon as he opens it (on a running compressor), maybe a gallon of 30W oil at 125PSI blasts out, shoots about 6 feet into the engineroom and lands RIGHT on the hot side casing of one of the main engine turbos, which promptly bursts into flames! fortunately, small fire that was easily put out with a drychem extinguisher. the burnt insulation on the uptake was never replaced though.

that valve was forever known as "the scharf valve" in memory of his awesome mistake.

[2.0T_Convert]

Sounds like an install that went horribly wrong as the topic states!

Well it's a 350Z and not an S2000 so that is the wrong.

[Brendan@bwalkauto]

I hated it so much I hit a crub and totaled it.

Did you at least spank the ricer hatch?

[elmer fud]

Sounds like an install that went horribly wrong as the topic states!

yup, spent all that money and could have had a turbo. lol

[nismo4life]

you're saying they installed the BOV in the exhaust manifold?

They installed the BOV after the air filter but before the turbo compressor.

[nismo4life]

I will never, ever force fed a factory NA car again. I installed a VF on my MK3 GTi. Pure garbage. I don't think I ever got it tensioned right such that the belt didn't slip at even moderate boost. I hated it so much I hit a crub and totaled it.

I put a blower on my RSX. I revved that car to 8,600 all day every day. Only issue I had was shredding belts.