Viability of IHI VF12 (Subaru Liberty RS Turbo) + 4AGZE

[PooJou]

Hey guys,
My mate recently suggested that he could toss the IHI VF12 turbo from his RS turbo and am wondering if anyone has heard of these turbos bolted to GZE's
Apparently it is a little larger than the classic TD04L and so boosts harder for longer, but not so much that it'll lag the little GZE.

Also wondering about the viaiblity of keeping as much of the turbo's stock plumbing as possible (ie. bov's etc.)

Physically i know its a gay fit for turbo's in the FWD engine bay, but which is better, high or low mount? I already possess a beastly FMIC, so i figure ill need:

- IHI VF12
- APEXI PowerFC or similar (anyone got any better ideas? apparently it does basic boost control fairly well)
- Custom Exhaust Manifold
- Some extra piping
- Do I need to internally mod the GZE? I'm not hunting MASSIVE power figures... maybe 160-170KW at the fly? Apparently im running 130-140odd kw atm...
14psi? No idea, just guessing.

Thanks in advance guys,
Lichan

[30psi 4agte]

That turbo will be fine as far as lag goes.

I think you will find most of the manifolds around will be low mount due to the space in a fwd setup.

14 psi should get you what you are after no sweat.

GZE internals are tuff as nails and will handle that sort of power level day in day out.
just look at mine - pretty much factory

[PooJou]

I think you will find most of the manifolds around will be low mount due to the space in a fwd setup.

About that, would you suggest i spend up big for some HKS branded jobby or are they some local aussie guys who do custom 4AGE manifolds?

[30psi 4agte]

yeah there isnt really any.
you will either have to go custom or sorce one that is from a fwd.

Check the lost and found - woops im mean selling forum on this site they come up fairly often.

[takai]

Yeah, the car was setup for a tardbo when i built it. Not much to do to it other than fit it with a boost controller.
Generally with a FWD GZE 14psi will net you 140fwkw. At least that seems to be the going rate.

[PooJou]

Yeah, the car was setup for a tardbo when i built it. Not much to do to it other than fit it with a boost controller.
Generally with a FWD GZE 14psi will net you 140fwkw. At least that seems to be the going rate.

Hey chris,
How will the current exhaust cope with a turbo setup? I figure I will need uhh... at least a new bit from turbo to flex pipe? Or am i missing another bit heh.

Also i've forgotten, I would need a smallport intake manifold correct? As well as a the throttle body from the aforementioned engine?

Currently creating a list as we speak, won't be started for a while yet, gotta wait for my mate to buy his STi halfcut then I can begin

[takai]

Exhaust is only 2 1/4" so it will cope ok, but for good power gains you will need larger. You do need a smallport intake with throttle, which i only sold a couple of days ago.

[nos4ag]

Most of the turbo manifolds for FWD 4AGE's, that I have had experience with, have been pointing the turbo towards the gearbox. This way it can be low mounted or high mounted depending which way you want to go with the conversion.
Are you running Air-Con at all?? Are you running Power Steering at all aswell??
The reason I ask this is that I did the opposite to what I said earlier and pointed the turbo towards the drivers side of the vehicle. I did remove the air-con and I didnt have power steeringoriginally either, so it gave me plenty more room to play with.
When I made the manifold, i made it as such that it will fit bot AE86 and AE82 engine bays. This way it is a universal low mount manifold that can be used for AE86, AE82, AE92 e.t.c BUT only if you are not running air-con.
I am running a Microtech MTX8 CPU, and would recommend it **BUT** they do not have any technical oparts to fix old units and will not help you when you ring up for advice. They will tell you to buy a new unit!!!
For reliability and lastability I can always reccomend all round any Haltech unit.
Excellent product!! APEXI Power FC's are pretty expensive and are pretty expensive to tune for 4AGE's. (From my experiences anyway).
Anything else you would like to know about FWD 4age Turbo's, just ask away!!

[takai]

I built the car originally, and it is still runnign both powersteering and aircon. When i built it i was originally considering a GT28 from the GTR and having the compressor housing on the gearbox side.

There is enough room between the rad and where the turbo would sit to feed the compressor pipe through, and then the intake would be in the same spot on the passenger side.

[nos4ag]

Yeah, thats one way of doing it Thats the way I have seen most done. The HKS high mount "Twin Charger" Kit is done this way, while still keeping the air-con and power steering.

[PooJou]

Great info snipped here )

Hey mate,
I say that I am in the process of restoring my climate control to full functionability - so yes to the aircon, and also yes to the power steering, and looking at the engine bay, there is fuck all room on that side of the car unfortunately. I have a feeling that I wil need to relocate the battery from the front of the car to the boot in order to accomodate the excess piping.

As for the choice of ECU, I was just going off the fact that every other controller in my car atm is APEXI - Anything cheaper that does the same job better, or the same would be great!

There has been the issue of engineering raised in another thread, and I'm going to go find out whether it'll be hard to engineer this vehicle.

When the aircon does get reinstalled, I'm going to ask them to run the lines as out of the way as possible, even if it means paying a bit more for it. Shouldn't be much of a problem.

Are there any other possible gremlins i should know about in advance? I can't think of any more than what I've already covered