Turbocharged Sport Trac?

[Steven Zagaris]

Does anyone have a link or know anyone who has turbo charged their sport trac? I am NOT talking about the supercharger. I've heard there are so many problems with the SCer was maybe thinking of turbo charging instead. Any insights welcome.

 

[Travis Munday]

Not in a 'Trac, but the SOHC 4.0, yes.



Links escape me at the moment, but there have been a few Ranger guys who have stepped up to the turbocharged route.

 

[A1cntrler]

Turbocharging seems to me to be the more difficult of the two. Either way you will be putting extra stress on the engine components. You would still need to upgrade your injectors, computer and some other things. The biggest problem would be the plumbing for intake/exhaust routing. The supercharger makes more sense not only from the simplicity standpoint, but also the power is on as soon as you hit the gas. No waiting for the turbo to spool up to produce boost....

 

[Andy G]

One of the main issues to deal with on the 4.0 when it comes to turbo or supercharging is the already high compression ratio, and "swiss cheese" pattern on the heads. There is not enough contact space to keep your headgaskets reliable.



But no, I haven't heard of anyone doing that on a trac. For some good 4.0 SOHC tech info, and perhaps a contact to some people who would know the answer to your question goto

 

[Todd Z]

Plenty of bad fast 4.0 mustangs turbocharged already!!!

Todd Z

 

[Michael Cacioppo]

A1cntrler, the new designed turbos spool up very quickly. You do not get the lag of yesteryear. In addition, the supercharger takes some parasitic HP to run. I agree that the supercharger is an easier installation. The 4.0 SOHC superchager kits come with everything needed, injectors, filters, snorkel, gaskets, belts, etc. They are total packages giving about 6 pounds of boost, or about 80HP increase. They are pricey though, a little under $4k. (~$50.00/HP)

 

[Travis Munday]

A good turbo set-up will cost you more then that, espically considering the custom nature of it.



The new turbos spool very fast, some of the more inexpensive ones still suffer from a bit of lag, but nothing like turbos from even just a few years ago (or stock turbos in most cases). The really good high end turbos feature full ball bearings and ceramic races so that you could almost blow on the turbine wheel and cause it to spin. Add to that a good wastegate/BOV compnents and you'll get boost as fast as any supercharger.

 

[Larry Phillips]

What would be the advantages or disadvantages of an STS system over a traditional turbo system?

 

[douglas brandin 2]

I saw one on TV a couple of days ago that mounted totally underneath the vehicle. Don't remember any details. It was shown on "truckin" or "horsepower tv" or something similar

 

[Fudged Undies]

Larry, for any turbo on our 4.0, plumbing will be the biggest hurdle. That includes the STS turbo.

 

[Dre L]

I had emailed STS some time ago and while they did not have a kit, they were willing to have one of their authorized shops do a custom install for me.



Probably $6000 and a trip to south Jersey to experiment sort of put me off.

 

[Travis Munday]

Larry-

Advantages would be less engine bay heat, and less room taken up in the engine bay. Although the heat and components have to go somewhere....



Disadvantages are lots and lots of pipe (can get very expensive if you use stainless or any pipe worth it's 'metal'). And although the site claims lag isn't an issue, I don't see how it couldn't be an issue. You've got yards and yards of pipe that must be pressurized and gobs and gobs or air that must be moved. If you wanted to add an intercooler (I'mnot sure if the stock kit comes with one), then you've got even more work and pipe to add.



The STS kit sounds good and all, and it probably is for low boost/low HP increase applications, but for my money, I'll stick to an engine bay mounted kit.

 

[Tom Schindler]

Turbo's actually easier then a supercharger. Much cheaper too. Buy two Garret T25's from eBay. About $100.00 or so each. Drill two holes in the oil pan for turbo drains. Find an oil supply for the turbo's. Make an adapter for the turbo to manifold. Buy mandrel bent tubing from JC Whitney. Assemble it and fire it up. Run the boost low to prevent detonation.



As for fuel enrichment, you can use a piggy back ECU like an APEXi S-AFC or go with an extra injector trigered off a MAP sensor. Prety simple.



How do I know? A friend and myself installed a turbo kit on a car. All he had was the Turbo and manifold. We made the rest. 9:1 compression on the stock engine and 100,000 miles on the engine and turbo together. Very reliable and very, very fast. His total cost, not including labor (He did it himself) About $1,000.00





Tom

 

[Chris Kulbaba]

Hmmmmm...