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Do any of you Daily Drive your Turbo Fox? If so, can you share some input?

6K views 30 replies 20 participants last post by  assasinator 
#1 ·
Non-Turbo owners need not reply please. I have a very nice 306 motor ready and prepped for a power adder. I daily drive my coupe everyday rain or shine and would like to know if it's possible to run a Turbo Set up for daily use? I recently bought a Vortech V2 and came across everything to put it together. But... I'm having second thoughts and am very interested in a pony down or hellion turbo kit. I have the money to blow with a buyer lined up for my super charger. All my buddies run super chargers and thought I ask. Plus I like to be different. I'm not looking to drag with this car. I have another project for straight drag! This is my daily street car that will be getting extra love this year. Can it be done? Is a turbo kit problematic for daily use or should I just keep my Vortech and be like everybody else? Keep in mind I only wish to stay 400-420 RWHP and will restrict any power adder to my goal. 450 Max RWHP. What say you? Thanks : )
 
#2 · (Edited)
daily driven

I don't really see a reason why you can't.. As long as the car is setup for a daily driver with street friendly parts, shouldn't be a problem...My car is a street car which will see more street action than the track...although I don't drive mine everyday its a street car...If gas wasn't so damn high, I would drive it everyday...Theres plenty of guys here that have street friendly turbo setups... So I would say yes it can be done... And you won't even think about looking back....The turbos do require more maintenances though....
 
#3 ·
.The turbos do require more maintenances though....
I think that is the key right there. Just seems with the turbo setup you are dicking around with the car a lot more. I have had a few daily drive SC cars and those were just so rock solid. Especially when in that low to mid 400 rwhp range but even in the 500s I still ran into next to no issues. The turbo setups though, just seemed like more random things would come up.

With that said, I'd love to have the cash to get a Hellion kit on a notch for daily driving.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the input fellas. Mantenance and fuel economy has of now is a given. I drive a Ford V-8 so nothing new here. Considering more over than a Super Charger set up understood. I just might be Sold on this Hellion Kit. Thank you for the insight. Anymore suggestions?
 
#5 ·
I say absolutly do a turbo set up, I drove my mustang to and from work often, probably a 30 or so mile trip with no problems. I say as long as you have it tuned well and have good cooling (an electric fan atleast) then your good. My car was untuned so I changed my spark plugs and oil more often, but thats it. Rain hot or cold it was a blast to drive. If I didnt drive it one day and I pulled up next to another stang or corvette I would kick myself.
 
#9 ·
I drove mine everyday until the tranny blew. I had the 450rwhp goal in mind to save parts. Its only running 13* of timing and still made 477rwhp. As far as mpg, I got about 15 around town and close to 20 in the rural area where I live.

The car will be my DD this summer when I get the new engine and trans in. I am epecting north of 600rwhp now though.
 
#10 ·
one key i will say for DD is important. and you dont know about it until you run it.


cooling. the turbo will heat soak everything. if its close to the radiator, it will heat up the water inside. you'll wonder why it runs so hot.

get a quality heat wrap and wrap the hotside totally. wrap it from where it feeds under the k-member to where it exits the engine bay.

otherwise its great to DD a turbo.


get a boost controller instead of just using the wastegate. it does two things.

1. it lets you adjust boost on the fly, for economy or power

2. the response of the turbo is better with a controller. it keeps the wastegate fully closed until the preset is reached. without a controller the wastegte creeps open like any other spring retained gate.
 
#11 · (Edited)
I daily driver my car. I drive it as much as possible. The heat can be an issue...my hottest temps are around 215....hotter than I like, but same as stock temp. My MPG isn't bad at all NOT IN BOOST. It also depends on the fuel u run too. I think I was getting better mpg with e85 cause I can run more timing, and have it leaner under vac, but under boost it drank e85 like it was vodka.
 
#12 ·
DD mine for a few years making 525/626tq running low 10's - 18mpg last year with 28" tires, 3.27 gear and a C4

Raced the car during the week so I was always on top of maintenance. Had a few issues but they were due to electrical wiring with the fans, other than that the car was rock solid and reliable.
 
#14 ·
I did DD mine for about two weeks and then took it back apart to change motors. For those two weeks the turbo setup was perfect no problems at all. Car with only the stock SN95 fan never got over 165 and had great street maniors for a C4. I really like the 3.27/turbo over the 3.73/blower setup I had. If you know how to turn your own wrenchs then you will never have a problem IMO. Every modifed setup has a chance for a problem to arise it just depends on weather or not your caipable of fixing it.

P.S. I only changed motors because I got the opertuinty to upgrade from a stock block to a aftermarket block setup. Had no problems.
 
#16 ·
Id say you can DD a turbo car easy, just set it up good. But honestly, your going to be tinkering and messing with things more, the car is going to run hotter, the turbo is going to heat the engine bay up more, and if you got a FMIC, its going to block airflow to the radiator. Itll be more maintenance IME but you can DD one fine. A blower or NA car is less maintenence by far, but the turbo is superior in terms of power.
 
#17 ·
I daily drive my DIY TT in the spring summer fall. Just don't want to get the car nastied up. No real problems. In fact, I find it way easier to drive economically in the turbo than my procharged 97. On a mix of rural roads, bumper to bumper and highway, I get 18 mpg. That includes getting on it a bit. If I drive it hard, it may drop to 17. The 97 gets 17 and drops to 16 with some hard driving. On the highway, both are in the 20s.
I would go for it. If you can build something yourself that is reliable, I would imagine a kit would be even more so.
Erich
 
#22 ·
Ive had it both way's and would NEVER have another turbo setup on a street car. They make WAY to much heat under the hood and it's like cancer on all you wiring and hoses especialy in the summer time. Also they are to much work to take off and put on when you can put a supercarger on in less than a hour. I had a 76mm on a built motor had it tuned ect, ect. did everything the right way from start to finnish and it destroyed a brand new motor in less than a 1000 miles bcause of the heat. Supercharger's are the way to go for a street car.
 
#23 ·
Stop it, you're scaring me!!! :eek: lol
 
#25 ·
I do have a little Maxima I can tool around in during the hottest of months and save the stang for evening cruising. I'm gonna do it anyway because I like to learn some lessons the hard way!
 
#27 ·
#28 ·
For me, plug boots were really important. Keeps the headers from burning up the wires. Also like the others say, wrap everything. I wrap the wires that come near stuff too.
Erich
 
#30 ·
DD for 2+ years.. even one winter which was not as bad as you might think..

a cheap turbo kit will result in problems but if you go with a quality kit and supporting parts its very reliable. I have made several 600 mile road trips with mine.
 
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