Wanted to share some really fun stuff we've been working on at the fab shop on our 997.1 turbo. For those that haven't had a chance to follow us in the last while we've been custom tuning with the Cobb platform for a few months with some really great results even with OEM VTG turbos with minimal modifications and pump gas (posted a while back on here).

OEM clutch put a stop on our custom tuning exploration efforts with OEM VTG turbos. After some deliberation we decided to do take things a little further and not just upgrade the clutch

What we decided we wanted to accomplish for this project is to find a way to build a setup that would max out the stock motor internals but do so safely. Choice of turbos is always critical when it comes to building something like this and biggest is certainly not the best Quite the contrary...

We really liked what Tial's done with the Alpha turbos on the 996 and decided to go that route for a number of reasons. Flow on the top end was critical to us for extracting the most out of the stock internals motor but we also didn't want to sacrifice a whole lot on the low end in terms of spool. Given connecting rod torque limits there's only so much you can safely go in the low/midrange with torque before hurting something too soon. We also didn't want to heavily depend on meth injection to keep IATs under control by pushing smaller turbos past their efficiency to reach our power goals. Its a very hard task picking the right hardware for the job and in a lot of cases its not easy to do it right the first time.

We settled on using a set of Tial Alpha 3076 turbos and got to fabricating the rest of the needed hardware to have them fitted with the rest of the hardware. We built new turbo oil lines, coolant lines, new post-turbo exhaust pipes as well as intake pipes with provisions for Forge diverter valves.

While the motor was out we took the time to do a little preventative maintenance and pinned (instead of weld) all the coolant pipes as well as replaced the 3 coolant elbow pipes that are prone to leaking with their Sharkwerks machined counterparts.

To reinforce the drivetrain we got the ERP Triple plate clutch and DSS rear axles. Car is a manual so a Numeric SSK+shifter cables are being installed to improve shifter throw along with a GT2 slave conversion for proper clutch feel engagement.

AMS 997.1 Intercooler kit will be used for IAT control. Their 5.5" intercoolers are nothing short of great quality. Cast end tanks are a work of art and we're excited to get some data on them as we turn things up. We'll eventually throw the Aquamist HFS-3 kit into the mix for additional charge air temp control and added octane.

I'll be doing the tuning using the Cobb's ATP software with boost control done via Plex Tuning's PBC PRO to start out with but we'll see if we stay with that boost control setup depending on how well it meets our needs.

As for fueling, since we don't have E85 here, we've just installed a set of ID1000 injectors which should do well for pump and race gas tuning.

Pics say a thousand words so here are some pics of the motor out of the car with the Alphas on it

Custom turbo oil/coolant lines:


Sharkwerks coolant elbow pipes:


Post-turbo exhaust pipe re-work (mates to a KLINE 2.75" decat exhaust):


Pinning coolant pipes (don't recommend welding):






Almost done, a couple small things to be done still but gives you a good idea of how it all looks at the moment (no intake pipes yet):


Intake pipes should be done today and the motor along with the tranny will be back in the car some time next week. We'll get some custom exhaust tips done as a final touch and get started with tuning


UPDATE: Turbo support brackets adjusted/extended to hold the Tial turbos firmly in place with the OEM brackets coming off the block. Intake pipes installed and modified to fit Forge DVs. Love how them OEM heat shields fit over the Turbine exhaust housings



Showing the modified intake pipe with a diverter valve port built out of stainless (wish it was a full silicone piece as well but this should do well).



We'll start putting the motor and tranny back in the car tomorrow along with the ERP clutch, SSK+shifter cables, hooking up the EBC and possibly Aquamist as last piece of the stock motor tuning puzzle.

 

Woooo cant wait guys!

-Mitch

 

wow, cant wait to see the results!!!

 

sweeeeeet! just sent you an email.

 

Nice project. In for the results. Also if you ask AMS they will sell you the turbo inlet pipes from Alpha 9 kit which have the reciprocating ports for the diverter valves that will mate to their intercooler silicone piping. That will save you some fab time and fittment should be perfect too.

 

Thanks, we're excited as well

Responded.

Thanks prodigymb. When we sourced the AMS intercooler kit the inlet pipes from the Alpha 9 kit weren't available for purchase on their own from AMS unfortunately. For now we'll just have to go with something a little custom but still pretty nice and much better than the OEM 997.1 inlets. Hoping it works out as well as I'm hoping. I'll update this thread once that's fully worked out.

 

Looks great guys. Can't wait to see how they do.

BTW, the GT2RS intercoolers are on. Time to have some E-tuning fun

 

Awesome! Email over a few logs and we'll get started

Dzenno@PTF/PTG

 

Shot you over a 2nd through 4th gear pull. Lets make some power

 

UPDATE: Turbo support brackets adjusted/extended to hold the Tial turbos firmly in place with the OEM brackets coming off the block. Intake pipes installed and modified to fit Forge DVs. Love how the OEM heat shields fit over the Turbine exhaust housings



Showing the modified intake pipe with a diverter valve port built out of stainless (wish it was a full silicone piece as well but this should do well).



We'll start putting the motor and tranny back in the car tomorrow along with the ERP clutch, SSK+shifter cables, hooking up the EBC and possibly Aquamist as last piece of the stock motor tuning puzzle.

 

nice. this is exactly what we were going to do to my inlet pipes for the bypass vavles before i sourced the AMS ones.

 

Yea turned out ok

 

Looking forward to seeing the end results. Looking good.

 

What's the target horsepower?

 

We'll be keeping low end torque in check keeping stock rod limits in mind. Depending on how efficient the Tial Alpha 3076 turbos are on the top end it remains to be seen. Car will be tuned on our Mustang AWD dyno which has shown to read 15.5% lower than a typical Dynojet, heartbreaker heh