Ford Forums is the premier Ford Forum on the internet. We discuss all Ford models on the forum. Registered Users do not see the above ads. Please Register - It's Free!
Ok im looking at either turbocharging or supercharging my 3.9mpfi in the not so distant future and was just curious as to what you guys find or figure to be the best option, also if i was looking at pumping a bit of power thru it what kind of internal mods etc. would be neccessary?
if you are going to pump alot of power through it i would say it will cost around $10,000. you can buy supercharger kits for $5500 for the EA and then the rest for internal mods. turbocharging is cheaper though, you could probabley do it for about half that.
supercharging is good because of the instant boost, you could twin turbo it and get rid of turbo lag. for the 3.9 engine you need a big turbo, around a t4 so a single turbo may have a bit of lag.
internally you would need to get the heads done, larger ports and valves for forced induction usually. get low compression forged pistons. find the strongest conrods you can, mod some I or H beam rods if you can. i dont know about crankshafts for the EA though, so yo may have to take your chances with the stock one, get is balanced, nitrided and so on. get it all balanced.
then i would start looking at the gearbox and diff. because they are going to start blowing up too once you put alot of power through the engince. so a few thousand for a nice 9 inch diff and tremec box.
With a Turbo you would get very little lag, if any on an engine the size of 4.0L, especially one with the low down torque which ours has. You can get more power out of a single turbo than Twin also, check out the high powered Supras, GTRs and even Mustangs in the US, the quickest ones run a single.
And you do get lag with superchargers aswell, at very low RPMs they can be even more of a dog than a Turbo car. You know how slow the car feels with the Aircon on, it can be like that or even worse until the supercharger builds up any decent boost.
With a good condition Falcon motor you should be able to run 8-9 psi (turbo or blown) without modifing the internals, as long as youve got a decent computer and setup running the whole show.
You can probably make up a dodgy turbo setup with used Jap bits for next to nothing but reliablity will be an issue.
OK , turbos and supercharges are just air compressors that feed the motor ,under pressure,the differances iz that turbos run of exaust gases, while blowers run of a belt connected to your motor.the main problem besides the cost and the reliability ,is HEAT !!! and lots of it =you will need an intercooler =$$$$$$$$$$
Thats why i think you should get a car that is at the spec you want ,not try to do what car companys do , pay millions on r&d ...leave it to them .
well id like to see you run 8-9psi on an ea falcon with the 8.8:1 compression. todays fuel is going to blow it up in no time. so you will need to mod the internals. and he said he wants alot of power, 8-9 psi isnt worth pissing on.
there is no reason why a twin setup is worse than a single, it uses a small unit for low down and then the big one for high up in the revs when the small one cant cut it, much smoother considering the ea has a shit redline of around 5500 rpm.
there are different types of superchargers. get a proper one and you wont have the lag.
IT can be done, it will cost heaps of money ,but it will PISS !!!! ive seen a few in car mags if you do it right and you have the funds your looking at 390-400 bhp (thats at the flywheel) or about 220kw at the wheels is the best ive seen from a 3.9 wiv a garrett t04 hi flo turbo!! good luck !!!
Not long ago I was very serious about getting a turbo onto my EA, however, I decided against it.
Just a few things to conceder.
-How much you want to drive the car (Reliability is very questionable)
-Are you able to do most of the mechanical work your self (Labor cost big $$$ for custom mods)
-Insurance was a big problem for me.
-How much power do you want out of it? Big power = $$$$$ (Low boost is nothing huge in the power department)
One of the things that were mentioned above was the issues of diffs. and trannies. I spoke to a guy who ran 7psi with a 5 speed and had constant clutch problems. I also spoke to a guy with a 3 speed running 9psi (soon to be 12 and then 25psi) and he said it fried pretty quickly. You might want to add on a few extra grand to get these components customized.
I just felt that if I were to install a turbo, I was asking for some big headaches.
As for the Turbo VS Supercharger. I would personally go for a turbo even if the only benefit were only the sound of the thing. Honestly, it may seem like a stupid opinion, but when you back off the throttle and hear the cooler going OFF, you will love it, I’m sure. However, most people I speak to say that the charger will provide better reliability.
I can’t give you a proper opinion on what to go for as I have a limited knowledge when it comes to the ‘Forced Induction’ area.
Anyhow, if you decide to do it, I wish you all the luck, as an EA Turbo/supercharged would be a crazy thing to drive around. A more then welcome change from the VL Turbo In my book.
__________________ CAUTION: Slippery When BOOSTING!
Hey goingSPAK, more of a story then advice, sorry gotta add my 2c worth. Anyway mate of mine has a relative who lives in melbourne. Has a worked EA turbo(single not twin) 'apparently' its a ten second runner. Number plates
FCK-GMH. Wasn't there a limited run of EA turbo's from factory. coz if they were turboed from factory wouldn't that mean it would be easy to turbo it aftermarket aswell coz the motor would suit it. Just a thought. heard of figures of 14.5 sec 0-400m in an EA fairmont ghia turbo. thats as quick as a 220kw XR8. F**K, not bad for 1988.
I'm pretty sure most were done by AIT and AVO. Btw a turbo ea held the world record for a caravan tow (204.4 km/h) back in 1991, running 32 pound of boost.
Linear Mode
