Bell Engineering Turbo Kit

[Dudley]

I received my Bell Engineering turbo kit late Thursday afternoon, 11/11/04. I don't have a digital camera, so I won't be able to post any pics for at least a week or two. Here's what I can tell you about the kit.

Corky sold the rights to his kit to XIOS Motorworks in Anaheim, CA. The fabrication of the so-called "hard parts" is still being done by Bell Engineering, and I asked Corky several questions back in July and August before placing my order. I was the first customer for the new owners, so it took a while for them to source all of the parts, but that worked out fine for me since I needed time to prepare my car for FI.

The turbo is a Garrett GT28R (ball bearing, water cooled) placed after the catalytic converter and before the exhaust pipe i.e. where the flex pipe is located. Oil is fed by teeing off of the stock pressure sensor, and oil is returned by gravity to the top of the oil pan. The cooling water is taken by tapping both heater core hoses in parallel. The compressor takes its air from the stock MAF outlet and feeds into the FMIC before returning to the throttle body. The kit includes a compressor bypass valve and a boost gauge.

Aside from the price, one of main reasons I chose this kit is its retention of ALL of the stock emissions equipment. The kit is not CARB-exempt (not yet, anyway), but it is very CARB-friendly. And by "splicing" the turbo into the flex pipe, the cost of a dedicated turbo manifold is saved.

With this kit, the intake and exhaust are left almost completely intact. The only parts that are scrapped are the exhaust flex pipe and the MAF to TB tube. That means I'm free to use an ORP, race header, etc. with this kit (I don't plan to, however, since I'm keeping the cat). It also means that I can upgrade the intake at a later date, allowing me to build the car up in stages.

Obviously this kit is not designed for all-out performance, but is instead a nice compromise for those of us who need to keep our emissions equipment and aren't looking to make 300 whp. The kit comes preset to about 5psi, and I'm curious to see if the stock MAF meter can handle that much boost without being pegged. I have already fabbed a custom 3 inch MAF tube that is an exact replacement for the OEM piece, and I've had it installed on my car for over a week now. XIOS Motorworks is considering taking the same approach. So far, getting the MAF transfer function dialed in has been very time-consuming, but driveability is almost as good as stock.

I don't know what the price will be, since I was a special situation. I received a discount of $90 because I didn't need the boost gauge and pod included with the kit, and I received an additional [sizeable] discount because I had to wait quite a while for the kit to be shipped. Without any discounts, full price would have been $2,995.

XIOS Motorworks recently became an SCT dealer, so they will be able to offer tuning with the kits. That will raise the cost, of course, as my kit came with no tuning (I'm doing it myself with the Pro Racer package).

[Honda Hunter]

Putting a turbo after a cat is Stupid.

What the hell is going to happen to your turbo once the cat starts to deteriorate?

[PastyPyro]

This should be interesting. I'm thinking the quick spool the GT28R is known for will definitly be impacted by being so much farther away from the exhaust ports.

I'd really like to see how this compares to the precision kit because the manifold designs are so different. Get it tuned and get it on the dyno!

[To Nick:]

Agreed, even in Corky's own book, Maximum Boost, he advises against such an action. I'd like to see how the power curve turns out.

[ZX3Crazy]

Putting a turbo after a cat is Stupid.

What the hell is going to happen to your turbo once the cat starts to deteriorate?

Good point!

[Hocky]

you know the wrx has a cat before the turbo, right? It must not be too dangerous. Then again, the wrx also is known to have a good tune.

This is the exact same thing as an aerocharger minus the VATN turbo.

[Dudley]

Putting a turbo after a cat is Stupid.

What the hell is going to happen to your turbo once the cat starts to deteriorate?

Yeah, I've been concerned about that, too. Just imagine a pig-rich tune that soaks the cat with fuel. The cat overheats, disintegrates, and destroys the turbo. Bummer. Then again, my cat is in great shape, and if I get really paranoid I can either gut it or put an ORP on there. And my tune will never be pig rich because I'm doing it myself with wideband feedback.

Like I said, this is a compromise between all-out performance and CARB-friendliness. In upstate NY, we have both a visual and an OBD2 test every year, so a turbo header would stick out like a sore thumb.

I, too, am very curious to see how responsive this will be with the turbo located so far away from the head. Once I get this up and running, I'll be datalogging boost and RPM (among other things), so I'll have some hard data to share - eventually.

[Bmorezx3]

Yeah, I've been concerned about that, too. Just imagine a pig-rich tune that soaks the cat with fuel. The cat overheats, disintegrates, and destroys the turbo. Bummer. Then again, my cat is in great shape, and if I get really paranoid I can either gut it or put an ORP on there. And my tune will never be pig rich because I'm doing it myself with wideband feedback.

That's a wonderful idea, I know someone who has an ORP for sale DIRT CHEAP.

[focuz04]

Putting a turbo after a cat is Stupid.

aerocharger does it..

I would go with the race header for a little better response.. At least it seems as though it would work better than the cat with shorty.. But either way sounds like the kit came out better than everybody thought.. good luck
jake

[belacyrf]

aerocharger does it..

I would go with the race header for a little better response.. At least it seems as though it would work better than the cat with shorty.. But either way sounds like the kit came out better than everybody thought.. good luck
jake

Yes and people have been running that Aerocharger for years without issue. If you run a car with a crap tune, you're asking for issues.

The biggest detriment to the turbo with this setup is the heat. There is alot of loss of heat after the cat compared to hanging off the exhaust ports, so spool up will definately be effected, but hey, it's still cool that smog issues will be less of an issue.

Congrats man!

[Penguini66]

Cool! Looks like the Aerocharger kit lives on (kind of). Also looks like there may be an upgrade/replacement for those of us with the Aerocharger.

Will be really interested to see a dyno.

Get yourself an ORP if you're worried about the cat. Sure, a race header would be better but if you have to swap it once a year for emissions, the ORP will probably be easier to deal with. I've done it enough now that I can swap my ORP back to the OEM cat in less than 45 minutes by myself. With an extra pair of hands, its easily done in 30 minutes or less.

[PastyPyro]

You also may want the ORP for taking wideband readings. You're going to want to take them pre-cat if you have one, but far enough away from the exhaust ports you don't melt the sensor.

[Drabert]

so you dont need an extra oil pump to return the oil from the turbo to the engine? very interesting... that was one of the main reasons i was straying from a retrofit kit.. i didnt think it was going to be able to return the oil

did you take pics? i would love to see some if you get the chance

[Honda Hunter]

aerocharger does it..

I would go with the race header for a little better response.. At least it seems as though it would work better than the cat with shorty.. But either way sounds like the kit came out better than everybody thought.. good luck
jake

Aerocharger is out of business my friend.

I would say the only way to run this kit is with an ORP or race header. The only problem is, you would loose one of the kit's best qualities: being emisions legal.

[PastyPyro]

The only advantage I see here is being able to remove and reinstall a cat for emissions testing without removing your whole turbo setup.

[SE SPORTNY]

Aerocharger is out of business my friend.

Mr. Bell purchased the company(which he then sold) then they redesigned the kit to fit a T28...but the majority of the kit is STILL the Aerocharger design.

[Dudley]

11/23/04 update:

I've got some pics now, if Imagestation will cooperate. I also have a few more details. There are two hot-side parts to the kit - an up-pipe and a down-pipe. Both are stainless steel. The cold-side parts are black powder-coated steel. For my situation, this will be very nice, since the intake tubing will blend in with the stock components (I want to keep this as stealthy as possible). Unfortunately, all of the silicone couplers are blue, so they'll stand out like a whore in church. Oh well.

The compressor bypass valve is made by Mitsubishi, so I guess I can't argue if somebody calls me a ricer.



It's not a great picture, but here's the CBV, inlet casting, up-pipe, and oil supply line/fittings:


Cold-side parts:


Down-pipe, turbo hardware, and oil return line/fitting:


Coolant lines and fittings:


And this is, by far, the prettiest part of the kit:


I'm sort of the Guinea pig for XIOS Motorworks, so they had a lot of trouble sourcing all of the various parts. Some extra nuts and bolts, as well as a different bypass valve, are on their way to me. I'm still planning to install this kit over the Thanksgiving holiday, so hopefully I'll have another update next week.

[Penguini66]

Good luck. Should be a fun weekend project. Unless you’re a pretty skilled mechanic with every tool in the book or you’ve done an Aerocharger install before, I’d give yourself at least 10 hours for the install.

Because of where the turbo will be situated (between the engine and the firewall), make sure you have four jackstands or another method of getting the whole car at least a foot up in the air. The higher the better.

That intercooler looks identical to my ACIII setup (My guess is that it is identical). The phlenum(inlet casting) looks like the same piece as well.

The new flex pipe looks a little different. Hopefully they figured out how to get it past the steering rack without slamming into it with each shift.

The elbow/up-pipe also looks pretty familiar but I'm guessing they had to change it at least somewhat and the cold side parts look extremely familiar.

Regardless, I'd recommend a poly lower tranny/engine mount. It will help keep things in place more and possibly make getting rid of bangs and rattles a little easier.

Edit: Oh, and please keep us updated. When my Aerocharger kicks the bucket, this is most likely the route I'll be going. As long as they'll sell me the parts to upgrade.

[Dudley]

Cool - thanks for the tips. I've got at least 6 jack stands, so I should be set. Lately I've been fond of my $20 Pep Boys Rhino Ramps, so maybe I'll use those at one end.

Drabert has been in contact with Corky regarding the retrofit kit, and IIRC he said it would require almost an entirely new kit. But I dunno. I'm sure that Bell Engineering can come up with something, though, and Corky has been very helpful in answering my questions. After all the stuff I've done to my car the last few months, this should be a piece of cake by comparison. I am expecting some fitment issues, though, and I work VERY slowly, so we'll see...

[Welding Rod]

Is that a cast elbow of some sort on the compressor inlet?

I see the intake pipe from the MAF to the compressor is now sans a 90 at the bottom end, and one of the pics looks like it shows some kind modified inlet on the compressor.

That would be great as one of the major trouble spots on the old kit was that intake pipe interferring with the shift cables.

[Penguini66]

That would be great as one of the major trouble spots on the old kit was that intake pipe interferring with the shift cables.

Ohhhh, almost forgot about that one. An hour after I put the turbo kit on, I thought I had blown the tranny. Turned out that I had just knocked the shifter linkage off. Bent the bracket a bit and has been fine ever since.

[Hocky]

Ohhhh, almost forgot about that one. An hour after I put the turbo kit on, I thought I had blown the tranny. Turned out that I had just knocked the shifter linkage off. Bent the bracket a bit and has been fine ever since.

haha... I did that too.

[Dudley]

Hmm, well I didn't post pics of the turbo itself because I figured nobody would care (plus they were close-ups where I was trying to get a record of some of the identifying marks). But here are a couple of pics:







So yes, there is a right angle bend at the compressor.

BTW that transmission thing was pretty funny.

[subliminal kid]

That's a really interesting kit.

So they've said that doing a conversion from the AC VATN turbo to the one on this kit won't work without major piping retrofits?

How many PSI can this kit push?

[1turbofocus]

Wrapping ALL header and the piping to the turbo will help with the spool time and the lower power

The more heat you can keep in to the turbo the better spool and low power you will have

Tom

[war02svt]

you're right tom, warmer air does move faster, but i'm still interested in seeing what the boost response on this kit will be like. i have a feeling that this one is going to be a bit laggy at the onset being that the turbo is positioned so far away from the runners. (even with the quick spoolin characteristics that turbo) i would also like to see what the kit looks like installed on an automobile as well