Originally Posted by
usherboy83
I didn't start a build thread because I wanted to finish it all before I shared. the build took me a year due to only having one day off a week and some of those days being cut short due to errands dentist appts etc. My car was at a buddies shop and I was working in between shop hours so that meant no lift, but a jack and jack stands and hand tools, but hey I did it. I started off with a stage 2 AA C30 s/c kit pushing 10psi making 280whp but only 220wtq with stock exhaust manifolds not cats and a bosal brospeed cat-back. I wanted more power but was on a budget. Sold the kit for $1700 and was planning on using the s/c tune so no need to spend more money on a tune. I know, what was I thinking. After extensive research and talks with AA I knew that wasn't gonna end well for my build, so I figured id worry about the tune later just go on with the build. Ebay build its gonna be, because I wanna prove done right, a cheap build will last. I found a fastwayracer kit on ebay that came with everything I would need with gauges, intercooler, piping, turbo feed and return lines, catch can, turbo timer, godspeed wastegate, dump tube, hks BOV, adjustable fpr, and best of all a TURBONETICS T3/T4 t04E turbo with a 2 year warranty, that they honor as soon as the build is complete. it cost me $1100. So now I have $600 to spare. I spent that in 3" flowmaster mandrel bent exhaust piping, 3'' performance CAT, 3" flex pipe, and a $70 spa bottom mount manifold. I start on the build, quickly to realize I didn't want to blow my motor with boost creep from an ebay wastegate and I want to go top mount because I was running into fitment issues. I sold the godspeed wastegate and bought a turbonetics 38mm wastegate. I bought a CX racing top mount manifold. I sold the ebay kit turbo lines and bought new lines from cavalier hose. I sold the small new intercooler and bought a used larger intercooler for half of what I sold the small one for. I sold the ebay fpr. I used ebay for couplers, but bought t-clamps from a reputable tractor supplier company called Kennedy's. I used 12 n54 exhaust bolts from a blown engine sitting in the shop for those hard to reach exhaust spots on the manifold. I finished the mock up and decided to go with the miller performance tuning package so that I could do tuning myself and get remote tuning help if I needed it. I got it for $1000. Long story short, total cost of this build was $3390, but after selling the s/c I paid a total of 1690 out of pocket. Only because I didn't want to use cheap ebay items, otherwise it could've cost way less, but maybe cost me more in the long run. My goal was to spend $2000 or less, and since I did all the work myself, with the help of my buddies here and there with welding, my goal was accomplished. I wouldn't call this a budget build, but being under $3500 total is pretty good using reputable parts with a very good tuning source. have to redo the exhaust due to ground clearance issues but no biggie just a couple cuts and welds.
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