Non Seq. Turbo Conversion by Garage Life
 

Hey Everyone. I dropped off my car to Daniel Kuo at Garage Life in El Monte to do a Non-Sequential conversion. I heard a lot of good things about Garage Life so I decided to give them a try. I will update you guys ever step of the way.

Thanks for reading.

So far, he has taken out the UIM and removed all the emissions. The next step will to replace the old tired turbos with a non-seq low mileage one.

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How much do they charge?

I am not sure what he charges for the NS conversion itself because I am having him do other things as well (wideband system, downpipe, midpipe, pfc installation, etc). Also, I provided all of the parts so he is just doing the labor.

I would recommend calling him. I text him and he answers back fairy quickly. His prices are very reasonable. I am sure you can stop by his shop to see the work he does.

UPDATE:

Block off plates being installed

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good thing about the NS setup...no more rats nest!

Yup. The main reason I am switching over to NS is because 90 percent of the time my seq. turbos were not working right.

Due to some technical difficulties, we are not longer using the pineapple air pump delete pulley. We decided to use the greddy pully kit instead. Any one else using this setup at the moment? if so, how do you guys like it?
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why couldnt you use the pineapple idler pulley? It helps keep the belt from slipping which is good if you want to track the car. Ultimately using the stock sized pulleys is better slightly b/c it spins the alternator and wp faster but honestly I doubt it makes a big diff. A lot of ppl use the greddy pulleys and they work fine.

hows the conversion going?

You should ceramic coat your DP if its still off. There are a few places around your area that do it.

I initially bought the pineapple pulley but I guess when they were taking out the air pump, the bolt was seized and snapped inside. I asked if it could be drilled out but i was told that it would need to completely centered or else the bolts for the water pump won't line up. It was less of a risk to just do the greddy pulleys.

I was told by using a ribbed belt, their won't be slippage. I am hoping that it work out and it doesn't slip.

The conversion is almost complete. I am waiting on the injectors and the rails to arrive. I bought 4 850cc injectors with the rails. The sell got them cleaned and ready to go so all i need to do is have in installed. Assuming that all goes well, the car should be on the dyno this weekend or early next week.

I am thinking of tuning to 13 or 14 psi. I know the turbo life will decrease but since this is my weekend car, I figure it should be fine since I will be putting an average of 100 miles a weekend on it (the most).

I am aiming for 330-340whp. Daniel Kuo, the mechanic and tuner from Garage Life feels that we can achieve that. I will post a video of the dyno run and sheet.

Ill let you know what happens. You said you are coming back in March, right?

If its not too late, you can have the cleaning place (assuming RC engineering) to bore 2 of the 850's to 1300's as your secondaries. Just my advice, 4 850's may max out at 330whp.

Im back ~March 9. Lets see if your ride is ready by then.

Dyno Tuning today!

sweet dyno time is fun...

Sooo... Yesterday did not go as planned. We started tuning at 4pm. The first fun was at 249whp. Daniel started changing the fuel map and we did a few more runs but the hp was dropping. One the second run we got 230whp.

We thought it might be the spark plugs so I went to Napa and bought 4 new plugs. After installing them, the car ran much better. THEN, out of nowhere, the car started to run lean in the high rpms. So, we began diagnosing.

We thought it might be the fuel pump so we I went to Pepboys and bought a new fuel pump. We installed the fuel pump only to have the car run lean again. We did a voltage check and saw that the fuel pump is not getting full power so we ran a straight wire from the battery to the pump and it was still running lean. (we need to rewire the power to the pump later on but for tuning purposes we tried to do a quick fix) So, it was not the fuel pump that was the problem.

We thought it might be the secondary injectors so we went back to Daniel shop and grabbed injectors with the rails. We changed out the secondary injectors with the rails and while doing a fuel test to see if their were any leaks, we saw that the pulsation damper was leaking, so we changed that as well. No more fuel leak. We ran some runs and the car was still not putting out what it should. We were running 230whp. At this point it was already 10pm.

We thought it might be a boost leak somewhere so we hooked up the line from the dyno to the car so check the boost and it showed that we were only boosting 7psi instead of 10psi. We didnt find any boost leaks which was wired. So, we used vice grips to clamp the hose to increase boost and did a couple of runs at 10psi but were were still in the 234whp range. At this point it was 11pm and we basically beat the crap out of the engine so we called it a night.

We decided to get a boost controller and give it another try in the next week or so. I am looking to purchase a boost controller now so hopefully that will solve the issue.

Does ANYONE have an idea of what it might be? If so, PLEASE suggest it and we can check it out.

dunno, but i can tell you from experience that those NS twins aren't going to last long at 13+ psi. good luck diagnosing.

Yea, we are not looking to tune that high up. The most we will do is 12psi. We are trying to make around 280-300whp at 10psi. Thank you for the good luck wishes. I think we are going to need it

Try looking into ignition issues. Bad leading coil, coil harness, plug wires, etc. I dont think you need a HKS twinpower completely, but itll help out.

Do you still have a cat? maybe its clogged? Fuel filter clogged? Rag left in your intercooler? These wont explain the leaning issue, but they could be the cause for your low power. Which pepboys fuel pump did you buy? I wouldnt try it honestly, buy a reputable pump like the new walbro, supra pump or bosch, etc.

^^^^What he said. Also maybe a bad fuel pressure regulator. I would Install a fuel gauge In the Feed line too. Only reason for you to go really lean is something wrong with fuel. Definitely fuel filter too.

If it were the coils wouldn't the car idle rough? It idles really good. I will change the plug wires for sure before the next run.

I don't have cats, I just installed a midpipe. As far as the fuel filter goes, wouldn't car idle rough again at idle? I went with a denso pump. It is the same that is used in the supra.

I hope they didn't get a rag stuck in the intercooler lol. I will check on that as well.




I changed the fuel rails, which included the regulator and injectors. After I changed it, the car was not running lean anymore. The problem now is that it does not boost past 7psi so I ordered a boost controller. Just waiting on that so we can go back on the dyno.

If its the leading coil, you may not notice anything honestly. If ur still making low power adter u fix the boost issue, id look into replacing it.

Keep us updated.

Will do. Thanks for your help

Good luck with everything.

DK is a cool dude.

Thanks. Yea, I have only known him for a few months but so far DK is a kool and honest guy.

Dyno part 2 did not go so well. The car ran perfect this time because we found the boost leak and fixed it but the tuning did not go so well. We ended up getting 250whp out of it at 10psi. This is on dyno dynamics and I read that dyno dynamics usually shows around 12% low numbers than other dynos. I am not sure how true this is but if that is the case, we put out 280whp if it were dynoed on another dyno.

Any input on the difference in the dyno systems?

Not sure but I need a dyno myself. My dynojet on stock twins read really high

What kind of numbers did you put out?

They call the dyno dynamics the "heartbreak dyno" because of the low numbers it puts out.

If you want, I can set up a dyno session for you to see what kind of power you make on the dyno dynamics dyno. I'm sure I can get you a good deal.

Yeah I might be down once I change out my plugs and little things. I put 360 to the wheel with my car leaning to 13 or so Afr near redline. I was about to schedule a dyno with hps but if you can get a deal, I'm down.

360whp on stock turbos? Who tuned your car?? Lol let me know when you are ready and I can set it up.

Yeah, Steve Kan tuned it. I hope that my turbos aren't stock twins. The more I dig into the car, the more modifications I find.
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14 psi? Those might be stock turbos but at 14psi they wont last long. Now I really want to see your car on a dyno dynamics dyno lol

I hope they don't blow, its been 3 track days and 15k miles. The chart says 14 but my gauge was reading 12psi.

Well, if your gauge is reading 12psi then he might have just turned up the boost to do a pull and then dropped the psi back down to 12. You should be safe at 12. I am going to be installing a boost controller tomorrow so turn up the boost from 10 to 12psi. Ill dyno it on the same day as you at 12psi and we can compare numbers.

Oh, this was a dyno when I did it with a few friends. I'm down for the dyno when I get my car ready. Just need to sort out the suspension before my next track day.

Lmk if you guys do a local dyno day, wanna see waht my twins are putting down

Some insight on dynos and my thoughts..

Every dyno reads different! They say that dyno dynamics, dyno paks, Mustang read lower than the popular shop standard Dyno jet. Ive heard people say anywhere from 10-25% lower. Its all "hear say", there is no proven formula to compare different dynos. I know in Japan dynapaks are standard. my personal favorite dyno is the dynapak for its accuracy and precision in tuning.
Ive seen alot of people compare their hp online, and honestly its not accurate. A few factors to consider include the make/model dyno, settings in dyno, calibration of dyno, air temp, altitude, moisture,time of day, spark plugs, fuel, etc.

My honest opinion is that a dyno is a tuning tool to tune your ecu, and maximize your vehicles performance! When tuning your vehicle, continue to stay on the same dyno, at the same shop to help keep track of your mods and vehicles hp progression.

Another thing is its easy to crank up the boost +15psi on stock twins and laydown a big number, but how long are those turbos going to last? Or maybe crank its up for one pull for that nice dyno sheet to frame on the wall :) haha

If you want to compare hp acurately, it has to be on the same dyno, and same day/weather conditions. Theres alot of factors..

Use the dyno to measure personal gain on your vehicle..

-Dan

Agreed.

i agree, but i'm not sure about the dynapack dynos. i'm skeptical because the last one i used i turned out 485whp on a GT35R FD at 18psi. maybe i'm that good, maybe the dyno reads higher than the dynojet i usually use, only way to tell would be to do a run of the same car on each i guess.

That's impressive for 91 and with no tricks?!(meth/water injection) what computer?

Thanks for the input Dan. I agree with what you are saying; a dyno is a tuning tool to maximize your vehicles performance. It was my first time having my car on the dyno so I was really excited and wanted that high number but after doing research, I have found that what is more important is the fine tuning that takes place on the dyno and not really the number you put out.

Of course, you always want that one dyno sheet that you can frame lol

it was with pump 91 but did have water injection, which only allows higher boost above 17 to make more power beyond that(if the turbo is efficient enough). apexi powerFC, it was supposed to run higher but the deatshwerks pump started dying once it hit close to the 500 mark so we had to stop early.

the dynos seem close but i haven't really noticed that it was far out of line with the dynojet, if anything they were very close with the dynapack possibly reading slightly higher.

in the end it's always about the calibration of the dyno, some of the engineers/installers that set them up don't put in the proper calibrations which is where a lot of these variations come in.

Any updates, seems like like the sequential swap didn't go to well

280whp 10psi isnt that bad considering you have a stock port motor. I bet youll be ~300whp at say 11.5-12psi. I would personally be happy with that.

Can you post up all your mods?

Hey guys. I have been MIA due to work. Here is the new plan.

1. I bought new injectors and I will be changing out the primaries to 850cc
2. I bought a greddy boost controller and will have the car street tuned up to 14psi. I will most likely only run the car to 12psi most of the time but just for those moments where i want a little more power, I will have the option to crank it to 14psi.
3. I will most likely not have the car tuned on the dyno this time. Unless someone has a dyno I can use to make one run to see how much power it will be putting out lol

Well, after doing a lot of reading and from the responses from the guys on this thread, it really comes down to running the car on another dyno to compare the numbers. I am not sure if I want to do that and put my car through that abuse again so I think I will be happy with a street tune for now. The car is already tuned to 12psi so all the tuner said he needs to do is add more fuel and mess around with a few things to get it boosting at 14psi safely.

Here are the mods on the car:

Non-Seq conversion
Peter Farrell intercooler
Fluidyne radiator
downpipe, midepipe, rb catback
New injectors (primary and secondary 850cc)
Fuel pump upgraded to supra denso pump
30k mile stock turbos
Greddy boost controller
Power FC

Suspension: R&R springs on tokico shocks

Interior: stereo head unit is removed to reduce weight hahahaha (this is my most important mod. I actually bought it that way)

I just had my car tuned with Nelson. It's 12 PSI and around 255 WHP. Here are my mods below. Should I ask him to crank it up?

Apex-i PowerFC with Commander
Apex-i AVC-4 Boost Controller
HKS Twin Power ignition
Greddy under drive pully kit
Peter Ferrell air intake with air dam
Peter Ferrell stock mount intercooler (Medium size)
Koyo Radiator
Bonez 3" down pipe
Apex-i N1 dual exhaust
Dual Earl's 25 Row Oil Cooler 42510 -10 AN
ACT Clutch
ACT Streetlight Flywheel
Non-Seq mod
Rat's nest removed
Air-Con removed
Aquamist Water Injection

Forgot to mention previous owner claim that Steve K tuned it to 290 (I assume it's WHP)

That is basically the mods that I have and I was pushing out 249whp on the dyno dynamics dyno at 10psi. i think he gave you a very safe tune, which is not bad at all but I think there is way more room for power.

Also, it has to do a lot with your engine condition. Was if just rebuilt, or does it have a lot of miles on it?

Engine have about 20k miles on it. It was replaced at 65k miles with Mazda Manufactured engine. Car only leaves the garage for track days so I barely put maybe 1000 miles on it a year. I guess I'll run a couple track days and see how it feels.

Anyone interested in attending Speedventures 5/3 - 5/4 Auto speedway event?

street tuning is actually more abusive than a dyno tune is since the car can rest easier after a pull which puts less stress on it, it's all just crammed into a smaller timeframe though.

i prefer street tuning since it is the most accurate method of tuning but it is less safe due to driver focus and high speeds which always add a chance of something going very wrong and can take quite a bit longer depending on your surroundings.

if it's my own car i do street tuning only, if it's a customers car i will do dyno only because it's cheaper for them(just driving to a tuning section of road can take 45 minutes each way plus hours of actual power tuning, plus the added cost of the liability of getting an expensive ticket or thrown in jail). if they want the best economy and power mixed then it gets dyno tuned followed by a normal driving street tune(for those who want 20+mpg).

i don't do power street tunes anymore just because it takes 1/3-1/2 a day and has other liability factors.

I got an idea, how about tune during a track day? I guess I should read up how to tune my car so I can do that during my day at the track...:)