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Turbos! can it be done?

23K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  Czechman 
#1 ·
I have always thought of putting a turbo on my car but with 126,000 on the car now. Im not sure if it would work well with that number. At a dealership I work at there was an HHR that came through all decked out, the engine was all done with blue clamps and wireing (which I was very jealous about because I love blue) it had a turbo as well. My coworkers say that on a car you can only have a turbo or a supercharger not both. I dont know if that is true or not but if it is then I would much rather go with a turbo. They went on to say that a small 600$ turbo wouldnt hurt my car (I have a 3.6) and would go to increase MPG 2-4. But if I would get a bigger one then there would be the possibility of it doing damage to my engine and that my MPG could possibly go down.
Has anyone put a turbo on their car before or know of any good website/stores to purchase a turbo from? I would be happy to hear any feedback on this turbo topic.
 
#2 ·
hey i was wondering how you had a 3.6 cus mine is a 3.5 and its a 2007 and im jealous haha and i have toyed with the idea of doing a turbo and have kind of decided against it because i do a lot of highway driving and figured it would shorten the life of my car at 128,000 miles but if you can find that it will work with no damage or life shortening i would love to know because i will do more to find out what would be needed. I know that you cant really just bolt on a turbo and call it a day you are going to need tuning and such for it to be what you are looking for which will cost atleast $400 alone, and unless you are totally confident that you can install it yourself (which you may be) the labor will not be cheep and our engine bays are pretty tight so it will probably need some serious fab work to get it to fit all the piping and such but if you are willing to put in the money and work it would be amazingly fun haha so let me know what you figure out
 
#4 ·
well when you increase air you need to increase fuel, which i have used a piggyback and bigger injectors (older toyota not chevy) you need to look at your compression ratio and what type of pistons and rods you have stock. if you get an oil cooled turbo you have tape into the engine oil line and run a return line into the oil pan. then you need piping and an intercooler and where to mount it there is alot of work and money involved and its a good idea to have a wide band 02 to make sure your not running lean or rich. and running low boost kinda defeats the purpose of having a turbo, (my opinion) and you can run a supercharger and a turbo in some situations but for a v6 you might as well run twin turbos
 
#5 ·
My friend who currently goes to UTI in Chicago says he was talking to a classmate in one of his classes and he brought up that he had built a 05 malibu up to 600HP. The guy didnt tell my friend specifics but that it was a twin turbo with a supercharger and it was a different motor but still front wheel drive.

Im thinking that he used a 5.3 motor and did some major mods on the front end. But with my friend saying that the guy gave a lack of info it made me wonder if the car is real or not.

He went on to tell me that the guy had the car for a year and put ALOT of money into it before the motor blew a hole in the block.

If the car was real, that is awesome. I have no intention to build mine to 600HP just a nicer amount then it is now.

So hopefully tomorrow I will know or not if the car is real, if it is and the guy has some photos, Ill try to post them here.

I have also been wondering what it would be like if I got twin turbos on my car, tuck them away in the bumper where there is alot of room for 2 nice small turbos, nothing big, and they could give me a decent amount of HP.

I also had a question on turbos since I have no idea what im talking about when it comes to them. Is it possible to have 2 turbos on my car but only have one working all the time to improve mpg and then a switch on my dash to open the pipe to the second turbo and give me power. Kinda like how the Corvette has a button to switch between sport and the other one, not sure what it was called but hopefully you understand what I mean. By how I would switch between MPG and Power. I would set up a Y pipe and there would be a switch to close off one of the ends when I want to get better MPG.

Ill try to get back soon if I get an answer or not on if the car was real or not. Like I said before I have no intentions of building my daily driver up to 600HP, just a decent amount so I could have fun with my friends some time.
 
#6 ·
600hp on on one of these fwd trans. would blow it apart first time you really got on it hard unless he done some major mods to the trans. too.
 
#7 ·
Okay, so the guy never gave me pictures or anymore information on the car. Oh well. So after looking for awhile I have decided that Bi Turbo or Sequential Twin Turbo might be the best idea. Where there is a nice size turbo always on and the smaller turbo is to give boost between shifts.

I havent looked further into if I need to change out my pistons, rods, or anything like that, and with 130,000 now on the car im not sure if my block will be able to handle the power.

My biggest thing right now is how much the whole turbo kit will cost, where I would mount the turbos, and what other things I would need to do to my car engine wise and tuning.

I was told a number, about 6000$ for the entire deal but im sure if I keep looking around online I can bring that price down.

Ill post soon on whether or not I will still go along with this on my car. I am actually looking to upgrade to a '07 Malibu SS.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Dont be mad at me if I am wrong, I am only going off of the LX9 part. I am under the impression that since both of these cars say they have that, that it is the same motor. So here they are.

Found a firebird with a LX9, the same 3.5 motor in the Chevy malibu I presume. There are pictures showing the turbos on the car. It might be set up a bit differently but its the same motor non the less.

http://www.g6performance.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9305


Correction, this was on the forum when I looked further at it

""Actaully I lied in the titel :p Thsi is a 3.4 Camaro engine with an LX9 top end, 11.56:1 static compression, Clevite 77 bearings, ported, polished, LS6 valve springs and a cam that would knock your socks off with the duration.""

Sorry to disappoint with the Firebird. -__-



and here is a link to a person with a Pontiac Grand Prix that has the LX9 in it with a turbo on it. This is a video on Youtube and he has a few others showing work on his car.



And to those doubters about ever putting a turbo on a Malibu, I had just contacted Andys Auto Sport, which btw is a great website for anything auto. After asking them about a turbo kit for my car, this is what they replied.

With your Malibu we would use our Universal turbo system to fabricate
a remote mount turbo kit. Our universal kit comes with our STS remote
mount turbo, STS proprietary oiling system, Turbosmart wastegate and
blow-off valve, wiring harness, all the fittings to make the system
work and our complete instruction manual that will walk you through
different ways to install our kit. The universal kit does not come
with a tuning package and you will need to locate a dyno tuning shop
near you to help tune the vehicle. We also offer a universal pipe kit
that will have basic pipes, silicones and clamps to help you with the
fabrication. The single turbo universal kit starts at $1995.00 and the
twin turbo universal kit is $2995.00. We also offer additional system
upgrades such as ball bearing turbo, electronic boost controller, heat
shield, etc. Usually we see a 20-25 hp increase per pound of boost and
a 10-15% mpg increase. I think that our turbo system would work really
well on your Malibu and make a huge hp difference. The great thing
about our turbo system is that you are gaining performance and you are
keeping the drivability of the vehicle. I can write up an estimate at
any time and give you a full break down of the turbo kit. please let
me know if you have any questions and how I can help. Thank you.



popular optional components and upgrades include:

STS-Turbosmart Blow Off Valve $325

STS Turbo Dual Stage Boost controller $175

STS Turbo Water Methanol Injection system $499

STS Turbo Turbine Jackets $150

STS Turbo Pipe Kits from with silicone connectors and clamps $300

STS Turbocharger ball bearing upgrade $600

STS Turbocharger Compressor wheel upgrade $300

See Sales Rep to discuss the options that are best for your project



Let me know if you need any estimates or more information about the
universal kits. Sometimes they can be tricky to size out and get the
correct kit.



So with that email it made me a bit excited to see that there are some options to go for with my car. Hopefully soon I can post about how a turbo is working out on my car.
 
#9 ·
Many, many dollars.

I'd rather buy a sports car and build my own project than put that much into an add-on for the engine.

But to each his own.
 
#10 ·
I know that it is alot of money that I am getting into, im just like any guy who gets his first car. We all think its badass and want to make it even better. Now I know I have just a Malibu, and this particular gen doesnt have many mods or upgrades, but im very persistent. I feel if I keep on it, that I can have a really nice looking Malibu that this forum would be jealous about. So hopefully I can do that. I understand if anyone has doubts, and says to go get another car that is faster. Well I dont want any other car. I like my Malibu and its not just a turbo I want to change on it, its much more then that.
 
#11 ·
Why not just trade yours for a Malibu SS? These are very good cars with lots of power, great handling, nice sound and they're not going put you in the poor house or broke down on the side of the road with a blown engine.

For the amount of money (and cursing) a turbo is going to cost you it's not that much difference getting an SS.

Just a thought.
 
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