The Centre Island Project The Making of a Probe GT-16G Turbo Centre Island is a tiny island (giant sand bar, actually) situated about 1km from the city of Toronto. Centre Island is to Manhattan what the Centre Island Project is to the Manhattan Project. What  is the Centre Island Project?     A technological achievement with profound impact on the balance of power in the world? Sort of. It's about power, alright, but turbocharger power. The target: 300HP (flywheel) from my 2.5L V6 Probe GT.     The top secret nature of this project is to avoid having numerous people (family, friends, etc.) from asking why I would embark on such a project. I don't want to hear "Isn't your car fast enough  already?", "This won't do anything for the re-sale value of the car",  and "Why would you want to do  that?". To these people I say "No", "Don't care because its book value is not very high anyway", and "To right a great wrong (i.e., 164HP)".     Recently, after seeing the turbochargers that numerous people installed on their Probes, I too fell victim to the lure of forced induction. If you are still reading this, chances are that you too have fallen  under the spell... Centre Island  Project Project Status Control Panel Manufacturing  Line Speed Last Update Like a Yugo,  i80386 April 22, 1999 Work in  Progress Parts  Acquired •    Research:    --Obtaining info from other "Turbo" people ( Dan, Stephen, Ross)   --Reading, asking questions. I hope to make this installation  as painless as possible. •  Sourcing Parts:    --Bought a boost gauge and blow-off valve off an old Volvo    --Finally got Maximum Boost. Read the  whole thing in two days.    --Due to the unavailability of quality turbochargers, I decided to buy  a new Mitsubishi TDO5H-16G turbo through a bulk buy organized by a DSM list member    --Ordered the Vortech FMU, and exhaust piping pieces from Summit  Racing and J.C. Whitney respectively •  Calibration of Volvo boost gauge (no numbers on it!)    •  Volvo blow-off valve (BOV) •  Volvo boost gauge •  Mitsubishi TD05H-16G turbocharger •  Mandrel bent pieces of aluminized 2" piping •  Vortech 12:1 FMU •  Cast iron 'Y' pipe (originally an exhaust cut-out) •  Metalic "Ferramic" clutch disk Cost  to Date ($CDN) incl. taxes: Process  Flow $1440   Centre Island Project Design Specs Project Start  Date: January 29, 1999 Parts  List Cost ($CDN  incl. taxes, duty, and shipping) •   Turbocharger (type = Mitsu 16G) •  Exhaust Plumbing + Intake Plumbing •  Boost Gauge •  Fuel Pressure Gauge •  3" catalytic converter •  3" cat-back exhaust, no resonator •  Cheap straight-through 3" ID muffler •  Intercooler •  Oil, coolant lines •  Fuel pressure riser (Vortech FMU) •  Fuel pump •  Blow-off valve Total $1000 <$1000 est $5 <$100 est <$200 est <$200 est <$40 est $200 est   <--might go with air/water IC $50 $280 $180 est $15 ~$3000 Design Notes •   The stock exhaust manifold will be used. A new downpipe will replace the old. •  I have decided on the Mitsubishi 16G turbo. It has approximately the  same compressor performance as the T3-Super60. The 16G reportedly has a 0.54 A/R (area to  radius) ratio for the  turbine. Perfect. Here's the compressor map of the T3-60 that I initially planned on getting. It is  similar to the Super60, which, like I said is similar to the 16G.  Notice how the 3000-5000RPM range passes through the highest  efficiency range of the turbo. At  redline (7k), efficiency is around 60% -- still  acceptible. An even better choice of turbo would have been  the T3 Super 60, however these  are harder to find used. Notice the HP estimate at 7k RPM -- 301BHP! •  I think I'm going to stay away from header wrap. The heat from the  turbo and road salt from the street will destroy the plumbing if it is wrapped. •  I am going to use copper tubing for my oil feed and return lines. A  $15 pipe bender will do the job of  bending the tubing to shape. Someone expressed concern  that the copper tubing would fatigue  eventually. The tubing I will be using is quite  strong and (I hope) will be fine. The alternative is steel braided hoses which are hard to  find and too expensive. •  The exhaust plumbing is mostly going to be mandrel bent pieces. CTV  Motors in Thornhill, ON is going to do the work for me. Should be a piece of cake... not. •  I'm working on a pseudo-electronic boost controller to help the turbo  spool up more quickly. •  I want to have the system intercooled but don't want a mile of  intercooler piping everywhere -- this  hurts response time and is a lot of work.. A  water-air IC seems like a good solution in this situation. •  I bought one of those cast iron exhaust cut-out thingies. I thought  that this would make a very rugged 'Y' pipe leading into the turbo. I will have to drill  out the valve, obviously. •  Call me crazy, but I'm building my own "Boost-a-Pump". It  will boost the voltage to the fuel pump  thus keeping up with engine demand. I am still  debating whether I want to boost the pump full-time at 14V, or boost it to 15-16V only  when the throttle is more than 3/4 depressed. The genuine  Boost-a-Pump is supposedly safe  to boost your pump with on a full-time basis. Hmmm. In any case, boosting voltage to 16V  will provide the same performance as a Walbro 190LPH unit. Performance  Goals •   300HP@7000RPM (flywheel) at 9psi boost •  Maximum boost at 3000RPM •   Quick spool-up of the turbo charger would be a nice bonus. Contributors  that are making this project possible: •  Atmosphere Performance (Atlanta, Georgia) •  J.C. Whitney (U.S.) •  Ottawa Clutch (Ottawa, Ontario) •  Summit Racing (U.S.) •  CTV Motors (Thornhill, Ontario) •  Canadian Tire •  Home Depot •  Dan Dunhem •  Stephen Kuenzli •  Ross Lapkoff •  Mike Palmer •  Dan Tomchyshyn (Dept. of Chem. Eng, UofT)   Counter installed April 1, 1999