How to Turbo your POS 89 SHO with pictures

[Dirk37]

89 SHO Taurus Turbocharging Guide



Here's a fairly detailed writeup on how I turbod my 89. This is not easy or cheap, but its a ton of fun if you're willing to put the effort in. Some disclaimers before you read this:

-I don't really know what I'm doing
-This was done on an 89 mtx, I don't know anything about atx cars or 2nd gens
-If you do burnouts your transmission will explode
-Your gas mileage will decrease significantly
-3rd gear will probably explode at some point
-You will have a ton of fun and probably understeer to your death
-I recommend giving Toolmans thread a read as well
-And yes, I know my car is a piece of crap lol

A little info on my car before we get started. Like all great projects, I bought this car my junior year of high school (2013) for $600 - I now have $8500 into it. When I got it, it was in pretty rough shape and needed a clutch. I replaced that in my high school auto shop and then started using the car as my daily driver. It needed a full 60k and lots of other things fixed, and I spent about $2500 just getting it to good running condition. Before you start on your turbo journey, make sure all of the routine maintenance is taken care of - especially rod bearings and a full 60k. After I had it running I decided I wanted to go faster. I got BBBs, a y pipe, and a tuner which made a big improvement, but I still wanted more. I saw some turbo sho's on the forum and decided that's what I wanted to do. I began collecting parts, and continued collecting them for 2 years until finally in the summer of 2015, I got around to actually putting the turbo on. What a blast! It was so much fun and my only regret wasn't doing it sooner. It took me a few months to work all the bugs out. I had a handful of mechanical issues detailed below, as well as some tuning frustrations caused by bugs/missing features in the tuning software (which I have provided workarounds for below), but after getting those resolved the car runs great. I am currently daily driving it and get about 16mpg with mixed driving, <14 mpg street only, and 23 mpg highway only. I'm running about 7-8 psi of boost and estimated hp is a little under 300 at the wheels. I still have the stock clutch which slips at any more than 8 psi. Once I get a new clutch I'm going to turn the boost up to 13 psi which according too Toolman should make around 400 at the wheels. Engine is also completely stock. Even with Contintal DW max performance summer tires, I can't keep traction in first or the top of second in the dry. Don't even try to boost in the wet if you want to live. I have aluminum subframe bushings, poly bushings everywhere else, and subframe connectors which all helped with traction, but I still have issues. There's also a bit of torque steer, but with good suspension components its manageable.

Parts List:

Warning: Do not buy cheap parts, they will come back later and ruin your day. For example, I had a crappy intercooler on the car and it wouldn't boost past 3 psi aboue 3500 rpm because it was so restrictive. Took me almost a month to figure out. Also had a cheap silicone coupler that ripped in a spot I couldn't see. Car kept getting slower for weeks until I pulled it apart and found the rip. Spending a little extra money will save you tons of time and headache.

Turbo stuff - $1310:

Turbo (Toyota Ct26) - $300
Turbo Flanges for exhaust - input and output - $80
Oil feed line and oil return line - $50
Oil return fitting in pan - $10
Fittings for oil feed - $30
Oil fittings for turbo -$30
Turbo piping - $120
Intercooler - $100
Blowoff Valve - $100
Wastegate (Tial 38mm) - $200
Wastegate ******(s) - $20
Exhaust piping - $100
O2 bungs - $30
Exhaust heat wrap - $25
Hallman boost controller -$115

Engine Management - $1695:

MAF (90mm lightning maf in turbo piping) - $100
MAF ****** - $30
MAF Connector $5
Injectors (Siemens Deka 60lb) - $300
Modded fuel rails - $100
FPR (Mallory FPR from shosource) -$300
Fuel pump (Walbro 255lph from shosource) $100
Tuner (Quarterhorse, Tweecer, or Megasquirt) - $600
Wideband gauge (Innovate MTX-L) - $160

Other - $55:

Boost gauge - $20
Check valves for vacuum system - $15
Autolite 3923 or NGK BKR6E spark plugs (1 heat range colder than stock) - $20
Premium gas

Approx total cost: $3060


Exhaust Piping:

The first part to build is the exhaust system. The whole thing is made out of 2.5 inch steel pipe.

First part I made was the upipe to the turbo. I built a y pipe thing that puts the turbo right above the transmission. For the most part this is out of the way of everything critical. I did have to cut the thermostat housing shorter and get a different hose though. I got the collectors from summit I think. Making the pipe is kind of a pita. First I got all the bends I needed from an exhaust shop. Then I bolted the collectors to the headers and started building it from there. It took a few days of test fitting, cutting and welding. This whole thing was built with a little mig welder and holds up fine, so you don't really need any special tools. I would recommend a chopsaw with a metal blade though as it makes cutting the pipe way easier than an angle grinder. As you're building the pipe keep test fitting the turbo to make sure it will fit on the end of the pipe. You'll have to get rid of cruise control and a whole bunch of other stuff on that side of the engine to make it fit right. I welded the wastegate ****** into the y pipe right after the rear collector and it just dumps out under the car. I might hook it up to the rest of the exhaust some day but it works and surprises people haha.




The reason I chose an external wastegate was because the turbos internal wastgate was super small. Also I had to reclock the turbo housings to work in that location, so the internal wastegate actuator no longer worked. I just welded the internal gate shut on the turbo so I wouldn't have any issues. The wastegate is something to not cheap out on. Cheap ones will rust shut and allah u akbar your engine when the turbo over boosts. I originally had a cheap wastegate I got on craigslist and it was missing the wastegate seat, so the turbo didn't spool till 5k. I spent a few hundred on a nice tial one and have been happy ever since. I would recommend getting a super low pressure spring (4 psi) for the wastegate and then using a boost controller. Hands down best one is the Hallman boost controller.



The downpipe is kind of a piece of crap. I couldn't figure out a good way to do it with solid pipe, so I cheated and used a flex pipe covered in heat wrap. It seems to work relatively well. I was having issues with the wiring melting on the heat wrap so I have a cardboard spacer between the pipe and the wiring. Not recommended though. To make the downpipe fit the speedo sensor needs to be moved or else it will hit it. The speedo cable system is in three parts, two cables and the speedo sensor. I switched the lower cable and the sensor so that the sensor connected to the upper cable instead of the transmission, and the downpipe fits just fine after that. The downpipe then just connects to the stock exhaust. Now this severely restricts the exhaust flow of the car. I have a cutout right after the downpipe though so I can flip that open and gain like 20 horsepower. I'd recommend a full catback though.

 

[Dirk37]

(continued)

Oil Fittings:

For my turbo oil feed I built a little fitting cluster where the stock oil pressure sending unit is. It has the stock sending unit, an aftermarket sending unit, and then the feed for the oil turbo oil feed. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it, but its just a two galvanized t's and some threaded couplers. I don't recall the fitting size, but if you bring the stock sending unit to the store its pretty easy to find. I had to make a ghetto extension for the stock sending unit since the stock harness connector couldn't reach it.



I got the lines for the turbo made at an industrial fitting place. It was about $25 for each line, including having the fittings put on the end. They were both 5 feet long which was about perfect for the feed, and a little long for the return. If you go to an industrial place to have them made, don't call the fittings AN or they won't like you, call them JIC, which is the industrial equivalent of AN. Fun fact, all the "AN" fittings you see online are actually JIC fittings. AN is the Army Navy spec of JIC fittings and has significantly tighter tolerances. Actual AN fittings are 5-10 times more expensive than JIC fittings and the consumer grade "AN" fittings.

For the return line, I drilled and tapped the oil pan and threaded in a piece of steel pipe. I ground the threads down on one side so that the hose would slide over it. This works but leaks and is really a stupid design on my part. I would recommend putting a fitting in the pan that your oil line can thread on to. The spot where I did it is right above the oil level when the pan is full. I had to get a 2nd gen starter to make the line fit because the 1st gen starters are massive.




Intake Piping:

The intake piping is fairly straightforward. It goes Turbo -> Intercooler -> Blowoff Valve -> Mass air flow sensor -> Throttlebody. Basically you just have to make it fit however you can. I have a "custom" core support because I rear ended some lady who was stopped in the middle of the street over a blind hill, so my piping is a bit different. Here's some pictures of it. Some important thing to know are the bov needs to be before the maf or else when it blows off the car will stall. Also the maf shouldn't have any bends or pipe size changes directly before it or it will mess up the readings. The maf I have now it a 90mm lightining maf in the tubing with an epoxied on ******. Since the maf element is in a smaller pipe, its maximum airflow reading is reduced proportional to the ratio of the cross section of the original maf size and the pipe size. I'll go into detail more in the tuning section. I'd recommend getting an HPX maf though because it can measure much more than the 90mm element.

Now that the engine has boost going into it there needs to be some modifications to the intake system. All of the vacuum lines with the exception of the wastegate, bov, fpr, and boost gauge need to have check valves installed so boost doesn't blow into them. An easy source of check valves is pcv valves. Make sure they don't leak though by blowing through them both ways. One way should allow air through and the other way should seal completely. Also the pcv system needs to be modified to work with the turbo. Its not recommended, but mine is just disconnected and the two hoses vent to the atmosphere. I'd recommend building a catch can and hooking it up before the turbo. Mine is disonnected right now because I don't want to foul the maf with oil particles since I have blow through maf. I considered a draw through maf but then I can't have a vent to atmosphere bov and the fueling is a bit less precise. Also with a draw through the system becomes exteremely sensitive to leaks.

The evolution of my intake system:




Fuel System:

The stock fuel system is good for about 5 psi at 5k rpm and then runs out of fuel which is no bueno. If you're going to turbo your car, upgrade the fuel system or you'll kick yourself later. I recommend getting a 255 lph pump, Shosource mallory FPR, and modded fuel rails with Siemens Deka 60lb injectors. The siemens deka injectors won't fit in the stock rails which is why you need modded ones. The modded ones are just bored out and can be found around ebay or the forum / facebook. If you're feeling adventerous you could probably bore them youself. The siemens deka injectors are really quite amazing and are well worth the money. This combo of parts is good to well over 600 hp.

 

[Dirk37]

(continued)

Tuning:

Now for the fun part, making all this stuff run right.

For tuning I'm using the moates quarterhorse with binary editor on an X2J Ecu. I would recommend the megasquirt route as it allows for way more flexibility, but the quarterhorse is probably the easiest to get going. The tweecer works as well and is quite a bit cheaper than the quarterhorse, but binary editor offers tons of excellent features and I highly recommend it. Here's what I have set up with tuning:

-The load scale on tables has been modified to work with the turbo. Since we're blowing air into the engine, the load will exceed 100% under boost. I have it set up as shown in the picture below. The in boost timing and air fuel ratios are set to kick in at 110% and 105% load which help the turbo spool faster.

-The target fuel ratio in boost is about 11.5:1. It seems to work well on my car. These ecus will pull timing if they detect knock, and at 11.5:1 I haven't seen any timing get pulled.

-Since these cars have knock sensors, you could just leave the timing map alone and let the computer handle it. Toolman recommended to me removing .75 degrees of timing per psi of boost over 5 psi. That's what I have and it works quite well.

-Obviously you'll need to change settings for whatever maf and injector combo you have. I'm not sure if it's been fixed, but there were two major tuning issues with Binary Editors X2J strategy. First one was the low injector slope value didn't work. I have a workaround for that here. (http://www.shoforum.com/index.php?t...-x2j-strategy-workaround.131893/#post-1448122)

The next was an undiscovered air limit in the ecu that would cause lean conditions in boost under 3k rpm. I have a workaround for that here. Besides those (which may have been fixed now), everything else works great.
(http://www.shoforum.com/index.php?threads/leaning-out-under-boost-below-3k-rpm.131380/#post-1451268)

-I currently have the stock O2 sensors disabled so as not to mess up the map with long term fuel trims. That can be done by changing the number of sensors to zero and putting all the injectors on the same bank.

-Not sure where else to put this so its here. You need to get spark plugs that are a heat range colder than stock. I'd recommend either Autolite 3923 or NGK BKR6E spark plugs. I've run both in my car and they work great. They do need to be replaced every 3k though since they are copper core. I'd recommend changing them when you change the oil.

-And obviously you'll also need to run premium gas from now on

Here's screenshots of my fuel and spark tables and 02 sensor settings:


I think that about covers everything important. If I missed anything let me know and I'll add it in. Just be sure to remember these few things - Don't buy cheap parts, this is going to cost way more than you expect, and you'll have the fastest Taurus around and still won't get any girls.

 

[SHOdded]

Thank you for taking the time to document in such detail

 

[sperold]

Inspirational write-up.

Everyone has toyed with the idea of either supercharging or turbocharging the Yamaha engine. This write-up makes it seem possible.

Your first disclaimer is not true.

 

[Shamwow]

Looks like a fun car!

Im going through the process now on metSHO and had a quick question for you. You state vacuum lines need check valves

i did not install a check valve on my secondaries vacuum system. You know, that small line feeds the canister, then solenoid, then vacuum actuator. My understanding is that its not needed and internally checked. Is that right?

 

[Dirk37]

Looks like a fun car!

Im going through the process now on metSHO and had a quick question for you. You state vacuum lines need check valves

i did not install a check valve on my secondaries vacuum system. You know, that small line feeds the canister, then solenoid, then vacuum actuator. My understanding is that its not needed and internally checked. Is that right?

I believe it is internally checked. If you're not sure you can always blow /suck on it to find out. Anything that can't see boost or doesn't already have a check valve needs a check valve. I just have one master check valve with everything that needs vacuum connected to it.

 

[Shamwow]

Thanks. I would only add that the FPR vacuum line should not be checked, lol. I am sure that's not what you meant, but for anyone else reading the thread, your FPR needs to see boost pressure to raise the fuel pressure 1:1 with boost pressure.

Another question I had. You mention the issues with injector low slope and 3k airflow limits and specify that these are issues with "Binary Editors X2J strategy"

I am heading to the dyno this weekend with our turbo SHO project. We have purchased Adams (Core Tuning) X2J strategy. Is this the one you were using? Any idea if he has fixed the issue?

 

[Dirk37]

I am using the core tuning X2J strategy. As of this morning when I checked the low slope memory address is still wrong and there is still no way to disable the air limit in the ecu.

The low slope workaround is pretty straightforward and not too much hassle, just requires a little math.

The air limiter one is a little more annoying since you have to load up different software every time you make a change in the tune. The air limit can be dealt with when tuning if you know what to look for, which is the car inexplicably leaning out below 3k when in boost. In the datalogs you'll see the maf value increase but the air charge won't, and consequently neither will the fuel. I tuned my whole car with the limit in place because I didn't know it existed yet so its not too bad, just really annoying if you aren't aware of its existance.