Hi guys, im 16 years old with an au series 3 falcon ute and im looking to turbocharge it for cheap and not really sure where i should start. Im interested in an ebay turbo but i cant find much to suit the i6 sohc engine that isnt far out of my price range such as a 6 boost kit. Any help is much appreciated

Honestly what's your rough budget? Would you go for second hand parts or are you after new?

Im thinking no more than $800 and i would probably lean towards brand new parts

Cheap - Fast - Reliable

You only ever get 2 of the three...

Cheap + Fast wont be reliable...
Fast + Reliable wont be cheap...
Reliable + Cheap wont be fast...

$800 is cheap

If you find a brand new complete kit for $800 (manifold, intercooler, turbo, piping, wastegate, bov, fuel pump, reg, injectors, method for tuning (J3 or aftermarket computer), oil/water lines, i'll be damned...

It's going to cost me $800 to get my blown 4.0L SOHC motor tuned... That's without any of the blower...

Cheers,
Tim

Did School Holidays start?

You are 16, you have a budget of $800.00, You want new parts and you don't know what you are doing.

Good start.

As Timmy has said,

"Cheap - Fast - Reliable

You only ever get 2 of the three...

Cheap + Fast wont be reliable...
Fast + Reliable wont be cheap...
Reliable + Cheap wont be fast...

$800 is cheap"

I don't think you will get 2 of these with $800.00, only cheap.

What is the condition of your existing engine and gearbox? If these are not up to it then you are off to a bad start.

Start with making a list of what you need.
1) Turbo.
2) Intercooler and pipework.
3) Turbo Oil Lines.
4) Turbo Exhaust manifold.
5) Min. 3" Exhaust.
6) Blow Off Valve.
7) Fuel Pump.
8) Injectors.
9) Fuel Reg.
10) Air Intake.
11) Tune.
and more.................(oils, filters, trans service, bolts, gaskets, etc)

Do some price checking and see where your budget will get you.

I think you will find yourself way over your budget, even using second hand parts and having low boost.

Sit down, do some research, buy your parts wisely and when you have your collection together, bolt her up and get it tuned.

not going to happen for $800, the exhaust alone will cost near $800..

in all honesty you could find a cheap used kit for maybe $2000-3000 then still need a decent sized exhaust, being an au you cant just bolt the turbo on and go.
there are fuel system and tuning modifications ect..

so in reallity it would end up costing around $5000+ by the time you got it driving, then if it made any decent power the first thing to fail will probably be the gear box , a decent rebuilt gearbox is around $2000, its not a cheap excersize ..

been there done it a few times, aftermarket performance is not cheap...

I'm a bit more optimistic then other guys. If you said $2000 was your budget then it could be possible. But even I think $800 is never going to happen unless you make everything yourself.

You could find a second hand kit for around $2000 complete. There is a guy on facebook selling one for a el for $850. Minus exhaust, computer, fuel side.

It all depends of you also wanted to tune it or not. You could get away without a tune if you used a fuel management unit and a aftermarket fuel pump. Fmu cost $199 and a walbro 255 is $115. But your still going to pay $300+ for that. Might as well get a j3 for $90 and a tune could be done for $400 - $500. Before people flame me saying tunes are $1000+ where I live people will dyno tune J3 chips for around $500.

If you where going to ebay everything then here would be a rough price list.

Ebay gt35 turbo $300
Log manifold could get for around $300
Ebay intercoler $150
I/c piping $300 (universal kit wont cover it all)
Oil lines $50? Unsure because mine came with the turbo
Ebay wastegate $80
Ebay boost tee $20
Dump pipe $300? (get one made at a exhaust shop
Exhaust $150 (use a 2.5" performance exhaust for now)
Walbro 255 pump $115

This part is what path you want to go down
J3 chip + tune $500
Bigger injectors $200
Or
12:1 fmu $200

What ever I have missed I'm sure someone could help me out.

This is doing it at bare minimum. Ebay special and unsure how reliable it would be.

Remember that even tho a tune is amazing and will unlock so much more power and make it 1000x reliable. It isn't needed if you want to do the fmu route.

did ya end up turboing it??