Finally going to turbo my 2011 aveo5 lt

Stock fan is what I ment lol

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Originally Posted by exist3nce

Hello there Hondahunter,

Glad to see someone in this community is still brave enough to tackle a turbo project! The old timers here will know who I am - for those who don't I went through the whole custom turbo build route with my Optra/Forenza back in 2006/2007 and still have the car driving today. The car has been through several different setups but see my signature for the current quick specs (I also have a 40+ pg build thread). I'm sure you know about some of the similarities between the Aveo and Forenza platforms... they were essentially like siblings. Anywho I come on this forum once in a while due to the closeness of our platforms and to see what the Aveo community is up to. I usually get interested if I see someone starting a turbo thread, but so many of them just give up for many different reasons... So I thought I would give you a few points of advice as I've learned alot over the past 7 years especially with 2 custom turbo cars now..

Hardware

1) Turbo choice - That K03 is ok to start with, but don't expect too much power or performance from it. They are old technology and relatively limited.

2) Manifold - Log manifold is acceptable to start with and a good budget choice. I went with custom ramhorn tubular manifold from the very start on both my cars, so I don't have any 1st hand experience with logs. However, I spend alot of time observing cars being professionally dyno tuned and I can guarantee you that tubular manifolds with proper collectors will ALWAYS make more power and provide better response than logs. This is not only true just for "high rpm and high HP", even in a low power setup tubular will be more efficient, thus generating more power (and safer power) with all other things being equal.

3) Downpipe/Exhaust - Don't limit yourself here. With turbo cars, the bigger the better after the turbo. Try to fit at least a 2.5" downpipe in there. 2.25" as a compromise - but I wouldn't go smaller than that. The rest of the exhaust can be 2.25" but go for 2.5" if you can. If you intend to have a cat in there, opt for a high flow one to match your piping size - the stock ones will be restrictive and you may end up ruining them.

4) Fans - I see you are talking about removing the stock fans.. Please try to avoid this. OEM fans are far superior to 99% of those cheap aftermarket fans out there - ESPECIALLY the slim ones. The factory fans were designed to be able to pull plenty of air through both the radiator and AC condenser to keep things cool in the worst case scenario - think stuck in traffic on a hot summer day. Now with sticking an intercooler in front of that condenser you are making it even harder to pull air through. If you abandon them for aftermarket fans, you will most likely overheat on hot days - and you can forget about using the AC. If you absolutely must remove something - remove the smaller one of the two and get a quality SPAL or Flexalite fan in its place.

5) Fuel - While it would be a good idea to upgrade the fuel pump from the start, for a low power setup this probably won't be necessary. I made 230whp on my Optra with the stock fuel pump. If you do upgrade - make sure to get a Walbro or other quality brand as I see you just mentioned "high flow fuel pump(355 lph or better) ebay 50 and up". Don't bother with a $50 ebay special - it is most likely a cheap China knockoff which will overheat and seize up or worse (yes I've seen this happen). If I remember correctly the Aveo shared the same size injectors with the Optra (200cc) ... this won't allow for very much power - maybe 140whp at best. You will need something slightly larger - 280 to 350cc would be ok. Also to consider - your fuel system is most likely a RETURNLESS system which means you cannot physically install an aftermarket fuel regulator (rising rate or otherwise) without converting the system to a return type system. Your factory regulator will be built into the fuel pump basket assembly and is a proprietary piece. You can convert the system to return but I would not recommend a RRFPR - they don't offer anywhere near the desired control. My fuel system is a return system and uses a standard regulator with a 1:1 rate to maintain a consistent fuel pressure over manifold pressure. You will need some type of electronic tuning to adjust fuel delivery (piggyback, ECU flash, standalone, etc).

6) Ebay warning - I see you are planning to source alot of things from ebay. While this is fine, some stuff should not be "cheaped out on" or your risk it failing causing damage to the motor or worse like starting a fire.

7) Transmission - I think you mentioned that you are manual 5 speed. I believe your transmission is the D16. My Optra came with the D20. While theres no true concrete info, most people have come to associate those names with the safe torque handling capacities. Transmissions only care about torque - that is what will break shafts and shear off gears. Commonly accepted rating for D16 would be about 160 lb ft and 200 lb ft for the D20. I destroyed two D20's running ~245 lb ft (at the wheels) with sticky tires. On my third one, I turned down the boost so as not to exceed 200 ft lb at the wheels - tranny lived for over a year. Then I upgraded to the F28 6 speed because I wanted MORE lol.


Tuning

This is the single most critical area if you want the engine to live! The tuning will make or break the setup. Tuning is not simply just to "maximize the power" of the setup - it is a critical and integral piece of the setup. A bad/poor tune will destroy even a $10k fully built engine. It can also make for hard starts, jerky/inconsistant power delivery, poor fuel economy and a host of other strange issues. Being able to tune a car properly and safely for a given set of modifications is an art in and of itself.

I see you mentioned about Trifecta - I just checked out their website and their list of supported cars - however I dont see any Aveos on there unless I'm missing something? This would actually make sense since all the cars they listed are the "pure GM" stuff rather than anything Daewoo (GMDAT) related. I went through a search back in 07 for tuning as well - and it would have been nice to be able to use a ECU remap/reflash such as HP Tuners which is essentially what Trifecta is doing. At the end of the day there was (and still is) ZERO support for flashing my ECU from anywhere. I'd bet your 2011 Aveo ECU is in the same boat.

That doesn't mean you are stuck necessarily. In my case I was able to use a piggyback (Greddy Emanage blue) to modify and intercept certain signals from the stock ECU to accommodate the turbo and extra air delivery. If you are going this route, hopefully you have some electronics and electrical wiring knowledge. There are a few other "tricks" that need to be implemented to make this work.

Talking about ECU's I've actually just purchased a Haltech Sprint500 standalone which I will be installing over the next couple months. The piggyback route is good, and reliable if done correctly BUT it is limited with the amount of adjustments and tuning that you can do. Again - I want to venture further so that's why I'm going this route.

PS: I saw some people mention about A/F ratio ... this is a whole discussion in itself depending on many factors, but please don't tune for 12.0 AFR at WOT and expect your stock motor to live long. Ive also ready Cork Bell's Maximum Boost and while he communicates some good basic concepts and principles - many of the specifics are outdated and obsolete by today's standards.

This is by no means a comprehensive guide, but just some quick insights. Hopefully this is helpful for you... I'll keep an eye on this thread ;)

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Honda Hunter,

There is more useful real world information in this post than this entire thread. Listen to this guy. This is gospel from someone who has actually walked the walk. Everything in here is spot on.

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Originally Posted by Hondahunter

Thanks for the advice. Since starting out on this venture a lot has changed from the original list. I know the k03 won't do much power but it's a good start and after working out the kinks of the install I will most likely change over to a ramhorn style and put in a Garrett gt2560. My exhaust is what I am putting together 1st and. 2.5 is the size I'm using with the future upgrade in mind. On the fuel side I found that the injectors off a 2k Volvo s40 should be adequate being it is a turbo 1.9. For the fuel pump I am going to run a walboro 255 in tank and plan on modifying the stock unit to hold it. My transmission is an automatic so its 50/50 on how long it should hold and having a junkyard just down the street is helpful for the oddball stuff. I looked into both the emanage blue and ultimate but decided to start with a trifecta tune then go from there. After poking around my engine bay I have figured out how to mount everything and keep the stock. The curious part that has me scratching my head is where to tap into for the oil send since I'm draining back into the pan. Other than that I'm excited about putting the turbo in and can't wait to get all my pieces together to get it done.

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Good to hear you have more things sorted out. Yes the K03 will be fine to start off. If I were you I would choose a relatively modest power goal such as 140-150whp for the project.

I'm still confused on how you plan to use a Trifecta tune when they dont support 2011 Aveo? From what I'm seeing they don't have the ability to re-flash your ECU... so what are you planning to do ?

As for oil feed, you can tap where the stock oil pressure sensor is, and for the drain you will need to remove the oil pan and drill/tap a return fitting. I have pictures of alot of this stuff if it will help.

Existence, trifecta can tune 09+ aveos. We have the same ecu as a 1.8 Cruze. Ask me how I know ;)

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Originally Posted by Pickles

Existence, trifecta can tune 09+ aveos. We have the same ecu as a 1.8 Cruze. Ask me how I know ;)

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Oh ok, that's great news for you guys then! Do they offer full re-mapping and dyno tuning services? To run a boosted setup, you will need a new MAP sensor and a complete re-map of the load tables.

They do offer re-mapping. And dyno tuning on site or you can go to a local dyno and call up Vince at trifecta and he can remote access your laptop iirc

I forgot to bring up the MAP sensor, I researched it, and the sonic 1.4t sensor is the same. and is a 3.3bar sensor More Information for ACDELCO 2134760 $22 on rockauto. so unless you are going to run more than 33PSI of boost (HAHAHAH) that one will work for you!

I talked with a local rep with trifecta who said that the stock would most likely be blocked off to make tuning easier but I would feel better with a boost friendly map like that instead of a blocked off map

At the most realisticly speaking I'm not planning on crazy boost numbers. Really I just want to drastically improve acceleration for getting on the interstate and to dodge idiot Atlanta drivers. The whole plan of this thread that it seems some are missing is that this is a journal of what I'm going through with the turbo venture. Being as I keep learning more each day with the research I'm doing and the help and advice from the forum, everything evolves and ideas, theories and the nonsense surrounding them changes. I can say that since starting this my eyes have been opened and I'm both nervous and excited about things to come with the install. If you have been following the thread you will notice that I go overboard first then drop the not needed and research the rest then move. I don't claim to know everything about it but when I run across something that.I haven't seen I do get excited. I have ran into some negativity and take it with a grain of salt and keep going. For those that have given solid tips and advice I sincerely thank you for guidance and keeping me from buying the wrong stuff. I welcome help as the only time I plan on taking my car to someone is when it goes on the dyno. There can be something said for looking at your car when it is all said and done and being able to say yeah I built it. I don't claim to be the best or the fastest on anything but I do take great pride in my work and offer my help where I can. I have been dealing with engines since I was a.kid rebuilding lawnmower and gocart engines then got into car engines in my teens through adulthood but never ventured into turbo until now and never dealt with reprogramming an ecu as I usually would either send.it off or replace the chip. But basically the point I'm getting at is that I'm constantly changing as I'm learning so just because it was in a post in November or December of last year doesn't mean I'm sticking to that.

cant wait to see this play out. Please take lots of pictures. Good luck, Hope it all works out and you get it done.

I just registered for this site just because of this specific thread.

excellent write up. so you think a stock fuel pump would be good?

Update: things are looking great for my timeline but leaning more like early summer before I am turboed. Got enough stick time in with the welder to comfortably do my exhaust and im in the process of getting the exhaust components together as money allows. I have decided to run a flowmaster super 40 2.5 in/ dual 2.5 out ( yes that says dual) so it will look like dual exhaust in the back once its all installed. magnaflow high flow cat and some mandrel bent tube sections and an afternoon with a handfull of 6013 1/16 electrodes then the exhaust will be in and I can concentrate on the fuel section after. I will post pics of the exhaust and may even have a youtube vid of the install as well. damn I love car modification

where are you getting mandrel bent pipes froM?

camo check your pm :)

either ebay or I have a local exhaust supply warehouse in the atlanta area

I have been lol. And gotcha. I won't be mandrel bending much. Just slapping some pieces together, doing some ****ty welds, and calling it a day.

ebay has a bend kit with a cpl of 180 bends a cpl of 90 and 45 so the bending will be done and all i have to do is run the beads on the straight sections to put it together and add in the flex pipe at the cat side then fab the dual in the back. get some scrap pieces from a local muffler shop and practice and the welds will look great.

I'm not too worried about the exhaust as long as it doesn't leak. Not even sure what muffler I'm gonna go with, probably just a generic magnaflow muffler and I might use a the olds cats from my G8 if I can rig that up.

as long as your running 2.5 dia. tubing it shouldnt make much of a difference on mandrel or crush bend my prefrence is mandrel as I will most likely upgrade after getting all the kinks worked out of the system to a gt2560r depending on how things are running and how much money I have to work with

Nice plan. I am keeping the gt1544 no matter what lol. Maybe I'll straight pipe it lol.

that will have ya sounding like a 747 at WOT lol

yeah true, I'll probably just try to keep it as quiet as possible.

quiet is good... better to be a sleeper and not raise too much attention than be loud and get the pretty blue lights behind you

I might just upgrade the piping size and the cat. Keep the stock muffler. Definitely upgrade the tailpipe to something that looks a little nicer.

if your upgrading the pipe size then its best to run same size all the way back. if you run 2.5 then drop down to the stock 1.75 at the end you will create a restriction and that is not a good thing

Eh I'll figure the exhaust out. That will be one of the easier things to deal with compared to the tuning and fuel part.

Get I was just wondering were you guys were going to run the oil rerun from the turbo? I was thinking about putting a bulkhead in the oil pan. Is there an easier way I don't know about?

The proper way is to tap a hole in the sump for the return line.

By sump do you mean oil pan?? Lol

Yes the oil pan. My recommendation is drain the oil, remove the pan if you can. Drill a hole, tap the hole, thread in a proper size fitting to attach the return tube. Put some teflon tape, liquid nail around it to seal it. Then you should be good.

You will have to tap the oil pan for the drain and come off the oil pressure sending unit for the line to the turbo

That's the same thing I had to do to my honda lol I was just checkin

But can't you use a sandwich plate? I mean that's where I plan to install the sending units for an oil temp and psi gauge.

I was going to Ru a sandwich plate I've used them in the past and they work great

If you can make it fit without leaks it would be easier I'm going to run a t off the port for the oil pressure sending unit and send one line to the turbo and the other to an oil temp gauge

is everyone just running a universal style intercooler? Just whatever will fit behind the bumper basically.

top mount is easy.. just sayin. but a kit for b16 fits pretty easy, some of the welds are done for ya, same general path

How on earth would you go about a top mount on this car? There wouldn't be any air flowing over the fins.

From the measurement I took on mine a 27x5 will easily fit up front and plenty of room for the plumbing as well