Has anyone turbocharged a 1st gen Xterra before? I was wondering what the internal spec of the VG30DE were capable of; boost pressure wise. I used to build import engine in Honda's and Acura's (not just little 250whp cars...im talking real 500-700whp). Anyone know of a site that will show me the stroke, bore, compression, etc. of the engine?

I know the H223b out back will handle the added stress, my main concern is how much boost pressure to run. How much boost do the SC X's produce. I am sure i could double it without having any problems.

Aiming for a good 350-400whp....just to be safe.

Discuss and inform........

No no one has. We dont want to go fast in our trucks. Not to mention there is no VG30 in any xterra.

--Kinda like turbo-charging a riding lawn mower, man could you smoke some high grass-

Oh man with all the weight I've added to my X,I couldn't imagine going any faster..

a wise man once told me:

"if you want a fast car, buy a fast car"... i.e. if you want something that will go fast, it really helps to start with something that will go fast right out of the box...

i would imagine that also applies to trucks... want a real pavement burner? start with something like a x5... the dynamics of the xterra don't exactly lend themselves to high speed chases... imo, a high powered xterra would be a recipe for disaster, unless really significant modifications were made to the rest of the truck...

one man's opinion anyway... but then again, i'm not a member of the "more power is always good" club...

Hasn't been done, and don't expect any help here. If you wanna do it, do it, and come back to prove us wrong, but all you're going to get here is "don't waste your time and money" as far as advice goes. We've seen plenty of pie-in-the-sky dreamers like you, nobody has followed thorough.

Brent

The Factory Service Manual has all of the info you are asking for, including blow ups of the engine and parts, etc.

You want the VG33, not the 30 as discussed above, as X's never had the 30's.

I'm not sure the math supports a doubling of the SC's boost boost as giving 350 hp....and that's belt driven, not exhaust driven boost....so a few more horse pressure, and maybe mid-200's HP is realistic w/o changing a bunch of associated/impacted components to make it survivable.

The VG33 is really set up for low end grunt, not high rpm thrust...so you'd be essentially making a new engine.

Its probably less work to see what advanced adapters, etc, has, and drop a small block or already turbo'd nissan engine in, etc...as a starting point...than to take a pig and try to make it fly.

I know, my bad, the VG33...

Anyway, the aim with 350 horsepower...Thats not alot. But with a turbo application and proper tuning, i could easily make more torque than horsepower. Maybe i would aim for 280whp rather, to make it more livable. That way i could tune for 310 torque.

If the factory SC creates 5psi of boost, though driven by a belt, it loses a small percentage of that. So the 20hp differnce is created. But using a turbo system with a matched turbo (say a T3 flange on a 60-1...)it would create enough highend spool to have top end power, but lots of low end grunt to churn the tires into motion.

This is all just wondering if its possible, so positive and negative critisism are welcomed.

But some of the other desert runners i ran with a few years ago back in Big Bend, walked away from me, and all i did was eat dust in my Hardbody, granted i had 233whp...it was ample enough, but not enough to stick with the high performance rangers and f150s.

I would just like to have an SUV that could show some grunt.(my personal taste...is custom and out of the oridinary...i dont like main stream ideas)

i feel you bro....ask any of these guys i made and ass of myself asking pretty much the same thing, i wanted 2 super charge my '01 XE, after considering the input i got from these guys, i didnt like it but i realized it jus wont happen. unless i rob a bank or somethin. my advice, if you got the money, go for it and once its finished post some pics and specs, just 2 make us all jelous. and belive me a 280whp xterra will show a new side of what u can do with an x....make it happen

My boss and I are debating on giving it a go, 5psi non-intercooled should yeld 40-50lb/ft more torque. If you use a small compressor side with a high pitch wheel on the exhaust side, you can get full boost around 1500-1800rpm.

I won't be in it for the HP numbers, Some more torque is what I am looking for.

Where would you mount the turbo? Don't you have to do a twin-turbo since there are two exhaust manifolds?

No. 300 ZX came in a n/a, single and twin turbo application.

Uh, where or when was theere ever a single turbo 300zx?

As for the location of the turbo. A new braket to hold a larger radiator will have to be fabricated to move the radiator and AC condensor core foward by about 2-3 inches. Other than that a single turbo could either be set directly up front, behind the radiator or up top like a conventional setup, however in that case, the exhaust manifold would have to be quite lengthy...resulting in more torque.

If i do it, it will be hand made by me and a little outsourced labor by a engine building company a used to manage. And you are right, 5psi would yeild a good 40-50wtq with the correct selection of compressor wheel and exhaust housing. What are you guys thinking about tuning it with. (Wondering if CROME will work to cut costs...?)

If ya'll do it, run the turbo through the fender to a snorkel. That would be sick...thats my idea for my setup.

From 1984-1989 the VG30ET single turbo
VG30E N/A
VG30DE(TT) is the twin turbo from 1990-1996

Thanks for playing.

Wikipedia is your friend

I asked, you answered. Thanks.

Rear mount, behind the muffler.

The VG30ET ran a crossover pipe behind the block over the bell housing to bring the right bank over to the left side where the turbo was.

So you're going to go with the www.ststurbo.com type setup eh? I've always wondered how the hell that actually works, seems like a recipe for massive turbo lag.

It is. I installed a STS kit on a Tundra...on the dyno i think it made like 27hp/36ft.tq. It was a piece of shit. Plus there was all sorts of piping running under the truck and no intercooler or anything either.

The crossover pipe is a much more user friendly and efficient way of getting the turbo to spool at LOW RPM and making power. Ofcourse there is also the need for two custom manifolds...but those make power by themselves, over the stock "log-style" manfolds used on most factory turbo kits.

All depends on what wheel you use. Besides the distance from the engine doesn't matter. What would cause the lag would be the trash can we call a muffler. If the stock muffler was removed and placed after the snail that would negate the lag some people experience.

Distance does matter. Exhaust gases travel in pulses. Between each pulse, is ambient or negative air. As these pulses build up on the compressor wheel of the turbine; they compress until there is no room for them to compress BEFORE the wheel will spin. Therefore, the further the turbo is from the wheel the longer it will take to spool = inducing lag.

A GT10/11 wouldn't even have a problem in that location.

You can practically get away without a muffler entirely, especially with such a remote turbo location. The turbo alone muffles the exhaust considerably already.

Technically, on a turbocharged car...you ONLY need a Catalytic.

Yeah, your COULD mount it like an STS kit...and YES it IS cheaper...personally, i just DONT like it.

A turbo on an Xterra, might as well get the altezza tail lights and spinning hub caps while you're at it....oh, and don't forget your boost guage and bright neon blue underbody kit. Hell, might as well use NOS.