OT-Turbo Charging

[Orion]

Hi, all.

This is slightly off-topic simply because it isn't a Subaru question. I
appreciate you bearing with me

A good friend has a 2001 Kia Sephia. She's interested in getting more power
out of it and has already looked into most options but was asking me about
turbo (or super) charging her car. She "heard somewhere" that a turbo from
a '98 eclipse would fit her engine but was wondering what other options
were. She's into figuring things out for herself but can't find a resource
to see what the detailed specs of her engine are.

But here's my question: What does she need to know in order to determine if
and what kind of turbo (and how much psi it can push) will not destroy her
engine? Strength of pistons, fuel injector flow, compression ratios? What
do you need to know in order to safely add a turbo or super charger to a
stock non-turbo engine (and determine amount of boost)? Once she knows
this, she can focus her info search.

I don't know for sure and was wondering if you folks could help out. Heck,
if you know of a place to get the needed information (online kia tech
manuals???) or anything like that, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

Andrew

 

[D Wrate]

IMHO, waaaay more trouble than it is worth... likely have to lower the comp
ratio using aftermarket pistons if they exist. Turbo intake & exhaust will
be a complete custom fab job...fairly extensive fuel system re-think
required as well. That is just touching the big items... many other details
to work out after these are solved.. Huge dollars if you have to have it
done... significant undertaking if one were to do it themselves.

 

[H. Whelply]

I agree with D Wrate. From everything I've read, the Sophia is a really
cheaply-made car of no particular virtue, certainly not worth that kind of
investment.

 

[Rob Munach]

Hi, all.

This is slightly off-topic simply because it isn't a Subaru question. I
appreciate you bearing with me

A good friend has a 2001 Kia Sephia. She's interested in getting more power
out of it and has already looked into most options but was asking me about
turbo (or super) charging her car. She "heard somewhere" that a turbo from
a '98 eclipse would fit her engine but was wondering what other options
were. She's into figuring things out for herself but can't find a resource
to see what the detailed specs of her engine are.

But here's my question: What does she need to know in order to determine if
and what kind of turbo (and how much psi it can push) will not destroy her
engine? Strength of pistons, fuel injector flow, compression ratios? What
do you need to know in order to safely add a turbo or super charger to a
stock non-turbo engine (and determine amount of boost)? Once she knows
this, she can focus her info search.

I don't know for sure and was wondering if you folks could help out. Heck,
if you know of a place to get the needed information (online kia tech
manuals???) or anything like that, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

Andrew

It is a Kia Sephia, fer chrissake! For the amount of money and trouble,
sell it and buy a faster (and better) car!

 

[Orion]

It is a Kia Sephia, fer chrissake! For the amount of money and trouble,
sell it and buy a faster (and better) car!

Hey, now! That's cheating! Those are, for the most part, the same things
I told her! Anyway, I'll pass on the information to her, I really do
appreciate it. I pretty much said the same things but assured her I'd check
with someone in the know for a better idea.

Thanks again.

Andrew

 

[Orion]

Just wanted to add, I went to the Kia newsgroup to find out the same info
and if anyone else there had done it themselves. They were the rudest most
sophomoric gang of idiots I'd ever dealt with. And that includes Super-Poo!
(hehe...sorry, Steve, I'm just kidding. At least I ran my post through
spell-check before replying to them!) I had two legitimate replies and
the rest were basically ripping on her (and myself for asking the questions
for her) because she wanted some information.

I just found it odd yet somehow fitting that the Subaru community, while
flat-out saying it was a waste of money for that car, still gave honest and
helpful (and polite!) answers to the questions that wasn't even on their
"stuff we care about" radar.

One more reason I'm happy to own a Subaru! Thank you for that.

Incidently, I found a few folks that actually did add boost to the same
model and put them in contact with her if she still felt like pursuing it.

Andrew