damiza318

--

hosrom_951

First of all, i would contact John at VR and make sure you have the suited chips for you're application. As long as you follow his guidelines (for boost and any fuel/timing adjustments he recommends), the engine would last long enough (as long as you take care of the car obviously).

Why would you go for a larger turbo? did you get used to the current one? if not, and since the car is street driven, you could have more than you need. As far as a 'bigger' MAF, you may see some advantages of going to a true maf set-up rather than the stealth maf you have (but i could be wrong, again contact VR for this).

Cylinder heads are fine, you dont require any extra work or o-ring head/block. Unless you plan on squeezing as much power from the engine, then some head work would be in order.

Honestly, a street car is supposed to be a fun to drive car with nice torque band and zippy in traffic. Running a MBC with the stock wastegate works fine (hey i have it like that), but a dual port gives you more control and better response and would hold boost to redline with you're set-up over the factory wastegate.

xsboost90

when i upgraded to a bigger turbo i did a full engine seal w/ a new head gasket. The wide firering gasket has a larger metal ring around each cylinder- like 1/4" instead of 1/8"- the o-ring is when they cut a groove into the head and put a crushring in the head-i believe- to help hold better compression. The stock configuration is going to work great how it is- i worry about the old head gasket so i replaced mine- headwork is nice but you are not going to see a large difference and it costs plenty to do. That is meant mainly for guys trying to squeeze every last hp out of their motor or that have mod restrictions and do it to flow better- makes a more noticable difference on an n/a is what ive heard. I would spend more money on a nice wideband setup so you can monitor your engine closely when you start modifying stuff. Air fuel and exhaust gas temp is what i watch closely although a nice boost gauge etc is helpful as well. Im using a www.zeitronix.com LCD setup- there are plenty of other setups that are as good or better as well.

kevincnc

With the mods you are doing, the stock headgasket should be fine. After 50K miles, it is well fused in place. Many people who do more excessive mods than you are planning leave the headgasket stock and consider it a sort of "safety valve" because you are more likely to blow the headgasket instead of causing more expensive internal engine damage if something goes wrong (like the wastegate line coming off resulting in higher boost than you intended.) Since you have the bigger turbo, you WILL be tempted to turn up the boost, so it is especially important to maintain the correct AFR so you don't get knock/detonation that can cause the headgasket to blow, or worse. The Vitesse software is very good at maintaining the correct AFR, but a Wideband AFR gauge is very nice to have, and an aftermarket boost gauge is really a necessity with the bigger turbo.

kevincnc

As for boost control, I would skip the LBE and just get a simple black-**** MBC mounted in the engine compartment if you don't want it in the cab. Later you'll probably want an EBC and DB wasteate.

ehall

"The mods I plan to use.......

I just purchased a Vitesse stage II turbo used, with only a couple thousand miles on it along with a new Vitesse stealth maf kit and new 72 lb. injectors and 3.0 bar fpr all of which I soon plan to have put on the car along with a new lindsey racing blue-top clupgate wastegate with the stiffer spring in it from their dualport wastegate."


You need to talk to John directly. john@vitesseracing.com about the use of the LBE. His system is designed to be used with a manual or electronic boost controller. Unless I'm mistaken the LBE uses the stock cycling valve. That won't work.
You also need to ensure that your maf kit has the chip board mapped for his STGII turbo. If not it will be all screwed up.
Don't buy the single port WG. Buy the dual port wastegate. With your mods, you need it.
As for your first question...skip it. You don't need any headwork at this point.
For the same money I'd replace the exhaust with a Lindsey or Speed Force Racing 3" exhaust.
As was stated, buy a wideband solution as well as a boost guage. Your stock guage is basically useless.
Don't open up a prefectly good engine unless you have too or are doing some major elective engine surgery.
Right now it aint broke so don't fix it.

Feel free to ask any questions. Legit questions are always answered happily around here.

It's the dumbassed questions like "will this carbon fiber, ricer body part match my lipstick" that pisses us off. YMMV

HansB

Agree with ehall

To stress some points:

• Without long experience, do not mix and match stuff from different suppliers. You are then yourself responsible for making it work together, and this can and will be a pain.
  
• Since you have most of the (expensive) Vitesse components, get the set complete. This might also include a piggyback, if you do not have it already.
  
• Do not waste your time on other wastegate than a TIAL. Is not more expensive and a good piece of equipment.
  
• Loose the cycling valve, get a MBC, could be Lindseys
  
• Get a aftermarket boost gauge
  
• Get an A/F display
  
• Get a 3" exhaust.

With this your car will run great, and be very reliable.