Fox (Newbie) on3 Turbo Kit 91 Fox body

[Slow91]

Hey guys I am new on this forum and wanted some really good input on the best route to build my fox.
Right now as the car sits, its a 302 built motor on 100 shot of nitrous and runs amazing. I was looking at going another route with turbo because the car is mostly a street car, I basically have my mind made up and want to go with the on3 kit which I think is the best bang for the buck. I just had a couple of questions and wanted your guys input on what I should do. Right now my goal is to be around 450 hp, I'm just not too experienced with these kits and the supporting mods that I will need. Right now I know I will need bigger injectors, maF, TB, and probably other things too. I was just wondering what else things I will need. I have a warlbro 255 fuel pump, is that enough? Any input and suggestions will help me a lot. Im not the most experienced when it comes to these cars so all the advice will help. Any additional info needed I can provide! Thanks!

 

[a91what]

What is a built motor?? forged piston, rods ect ect.... head studs? what heads? what intake manifold? I need more info before i can help

 

[Slow91]

What is a built motor?? forged piston, rods ect ect.... head studs? what heads? what intake manifold? I need more info before i can help

Speed Pro Pistons, comp roller cam, stock rods. ARP Hardware, I have a gt40 tubular upper and lower. GT40x Aluminum heads

 

[a91what]

OK are the pistons forged?? what cam?

 

[90sickfox]

You'll need to buy sleeves for spark plug boots and wires. Turbo blanket, down pipe sleeve, fabricate a bracket for the intercooler ( flat stock aluminum and 90° angle stock ), catch can, breaker tank, ac line wrapped and relocated ( by strut tower ), oil filter relocation or short filter, highly recommend a stand alone ECU like PimpXS or MS3, and a few little things depending on your set up.

 

[Slow91]

OK are the pistons forged?? what cam?

Yes forged pistons, The cam is a comp cam, the part #35-351-8 "extreme Energy" If you type in the part number all the specifics are there

 

[Slow91]

You'll need to buy great sleeved for spark plug boots and wires. Turbo blanket, down pipe sleeve, fabricate a bracket for the intercooler ( flat stock aluminum and 90° angle stock ), catch can, breaker tank, ac line wrapped and relocated ( by strut tower ), oil filter relocation or short filter, highly recommend a stand alone ECU like PimpXS or MS3, and a few little things depending on your set up.

Helps a lot, I heard the kit comes with a lot of the needed items correct? also was told that I shouldn't go with the on3 injectors and get a better brand injector. What injectors do you have on your car?

 

[90sickfox]

I've got Ford motorsport 42lb injectors. Still tuning so no idea if I will need more injector...so far so good. I also use a Kirban fuel pressure regulator.

Everything comes in the kit to get the turbo on the car. I had an issue with the thread pitch on the oil feed line at the block. ( only issue and fixed with an AN adapter ). I advise ordering the y pipe and the down pipe blanket from them. If your oil pressure is over 60lbs you'll also probably need an oil reducer for the turbo ( also from them ). The kit included the hot and cold sides, down pipe, turbo, oil feed line, oil feed adapter ( wrong but they may have fixed that issue by now ), intercooler, exhaust gaskets ( I used high temp rtv...no gaskets ), blow off valve, waste gate, a few different springs, turbo, oil drain fittings ( i used a brass plumb bob to bunch the pan and tapped tapered threads )... they include a bunch of stuff but theres still more to work properly. I have a Holley systemax intake with a 3/4 spacer. In order for the pipe to come out the inner fender and reach the throttle body I had to cut some off at the pipe behind the inner fender and add it to the pipe by the TB ( its stainless so I had it tig welded on ). The radiator hose will lay on the turbo so i cut it and put a 90° adapter in it. The sn95 hose 94- 95 would work...but i was tired of spending moolah. The stock fan shroud will hit the cold side tubing that runs across to the intercooler. I have Ford Contour fans and they clear nicely. You'll need a wideband o2 sensor. I use Innovo LC1. A91what handles my tuning on my MSPNP2. Its microsquirt 2 but the ms3 based stuff has way more options and bang for the buck. You can buy a diy kit if you can solder.

If you're comfortable with minor fab work then it's a really good kit.

Edit; 42lb injector should handle 500hp....but it would be better to have a little more room...like 47lbs

 

[Slow91]

I've got Ford motorsport 42lb injectors. Still tuning so no idea if I will need more injector...so far so good. I also use a Kirban fuel pressure regulator.

Everything comes in the kit to get the turbo on the car. I had an issue with the thread pitch on the oil feed line at the block. ( only issue and fixed with an AN adapter ). I advise ordering the y pipe and the down pipe blanket from them. If your oil pressure is over 60lbs you'll also probably need an oil reducer for the turbo ( also from them ). The kit included the hot and cold sides, down pipe, turbo, oil feed line, oil feed adapter ( wrong but they may have fixed that issue by now ), intercooler, exhaust gaskets ( I used high temp rtv...no gaskets ), blow off valve, waste gate, a few different springs, turbo, oil drain fittings ( i used a brass plumb bob to bunch the pan and tapped tapered threads )... they include a bunch of stuff but theres still more to work properly. I have a Holley systemax intake with a 3/4 spacer. In order for the pipe to come out the inner fender and reach the throttle body I had to cut some off at the pipe behind the inner fender and add it to the pipe by the TB ( its stainless so I had it tig welded on ). The radiator hose will lay on the turbo so i cut it and put a 90° adapter in it. The sn95 hose 94- 95 would work...but i was tired of spending moolah. The stock fan shroud will hit the cold side tubing that runs across to the intercooler. I have Ford Contour fans and they clear nicely. You'll need a wideband o2 sensor. I use Innovo LC1. A91what handles my tuning on my MSPNP2. Its microsquirt 2 but the ms3 based stuff has way more options and bang for the buck. You can buy a diy kit if you can solder.

If you're comfortable with minor fab work then it's a really good kit.

Edit; 42lb injector should handle 500hp....but it would be better to have a little more room...like 47lbs

I know you said you're still tuning, but do you think its safe to have 60's instead? Also do you think a 255 fuel pump would be enough (thats what I have on the car)? or go with there 340? Also earlier in the thread you recommended sleeves for the spark plug for the boots and wires what any brand you would recommend? Same with the catch can, is there one that you would recommend. The pipe that goes in the inner fender come with the kit or not? Thanks for the info!

 

[a91what]

I know you said you're still tuning, but do you think its safe to have 60's instead? Also do you think a 255 fuel pump would be enough (thats what I have on the car)? or go with there 340? Also earlier in the thread you recommended sleeves for the spark plug for the boots and wires what any brand you would recommend? Same with the catch can, is there one that you would recommend. The pipe that goes in the inner fender come with the kit or not? Thanks for the info!

the 60lb deka injectors dont have a small enough minimum PW and cause idle issue for some people, I suggest LU47 injectors from FORD more than enough injector for your build.

 

[Slow91]

the 60lb deka injectors dont have a small enough minimum PW and cause idle issue for some people, I suggest LU47 injectors from FORD more than enough injector for your build.

You think my fuel pump is big enough for the build? Same with the catch can, I head mishimoto catch can is reputable, any others?

 

[a91what]

I suggest a walboro gss255lph hp

 

[Slow91]

Alright thanks for the input! now just need to find someone who can sell me one with the entire kit LOL

 

[wiseguyk]

So I installed the On3 kit at the beginning of the year and like @90sickfox says, it's really not too bad of an install as long as you're comfortable with some minor fabrication and take your time. I agree with everything he's mentioned and have a few things I can add from my experience.

I should have done more research before I placed my order with On3 because there were a few things I ordered and ended up not using. Like @a91what said, the 60lb injectors would not allow a small enough pulse to get the car to idle well no matter what we tried. I have a 306 with GT40x heads and E303 cam and I sold the On3 60 lbs on ebay and picked up the Ford 47lb ones and the car is very happy now. I am running their 340lb/hr pump, but would have gone smaller had I known I could have.

I also was naive to think that I could just take the car to a tuner once everything was installed and be good to go. Once I got to chatting with Steve and others here, I decided to go with a PiMPxs ECU and learn (with lots of help from @a91what Steve!) how to tune the car myself. Because of that oversight, I ordered a manual boost control solenoid and analog boost gauge from On3 that I didn't end up using either. Since I have the PiMP ECU, I now run an electronic boost control solenoid and have a digital "multi-gauge" (for lack of a better term) that allows me to flip through all kinds of data that streams to it over CAN from the PiMP.

I can also tell you that On3 no longer ships extra springs with their wastegate (unless they just forgot mine lol) that comes in the kit so it will just be the single 7 lb spring. I've since upgraded mine to a Tial MVR gate which is made in the USA came with a bunch of springs. Now I have it set up with the smallest 4.5lb spring and the electronic solenoid so that I can run less boost in certain conditions to help with traction.

The spark plug boots I have are like these ones, here's a pic since Amazon links post all weird in the forum:

If you're running a manual transmission, I would also recommend a heat shield/sleeve for your clutch cable. I went with their oil relocation kit and while the quality wasn't the best (I cleaned the threads a bit because of metal burrs here and there) I LOVE having the filter mounted vertically now as it makes oil changes even easier and I can completely fill the filter before reinstalling it.

I also went with their turbo and downpipe blankets and y-pipe and went the extra step of having the headers and hot side crossover piping ceramic coated as well.

I'm sure I'm forgetting other stuff, but I have TONS of pictures over the course of the install I'd be more than happy to share with you, or if you have any specific questions just let me know.

I absolutely love the power the car has now and would 100% do it all over again, I would just have been a bit smarter about my purchases and approach knowing what I know now. You're doing the right thing asking around here before pulling the trigger, there are some really smart mofos in this forum!

 

[90sickfox]

WiseguysK is doing it the right way. I also have a 340lph but I'm going to step out down to a 255... also planning on going up to 47lb injectors.

Forgot about sleeving the clutch cable.

Car is great to drive and I wouldn't want to go back. On3 has come a long way over the years. They are too busy to return emails but they must read them because the faults do get fixed over time.

One thing to add... I plan on building a support brace for the turbo flange. Over years people have gotten cracks on the passenger header because of the added weight. One guy was plagued with issues ( also running bigger turbo ) and welded a bracket from the flange to an old bolt hole for the smog pump. Figure I could make one that boils too the flange and the block just to take a little stress off.

 

[2fast4u770]

Could you use eco as well? Thoughts compared to the pinpxs

 

[90sickfox]

I wouldn't use that. Megasquirt is open source and can run almost anything you can think of.

 

[2fast4u770]

And I see it’s over twice cheaper too huh

 

[2fast4u770]

How’s the turbo itself on the on3?

 

[90sickfox]

The turbo itself is OK. Most people upgrade to the ceramic ball bearing turbo. Mine works... no smoke or anything funky going on. Builds boost decent. The base On3 turbo is like....90s technology journal bearing stuff... more like 80s tech...but....

The base one is good enough to get the car going with. Not sure what the average lifespan is for a journal bearing turbo. It's very important to have proper oil flow through the turbo. After a good pull is a good idea to let the turbo run for a bit before cutting off to avoid burning the oil in the turbo.... that's called " coking " and isn't good on any turbo. That's what turbo timers were invented for.

I'm not a real technical turbo guy. I have ported Twisted Wedge heads, xe282hr camshaft, ported Holley Systemax intake, Scat 331, forged pistons, and H beam rods. There's surely a better matched turbo for my set up but it works. It's at about 6.5 psi. with 7 being the highest i'll go. That 7psi should put me a hair over 500hp at the engine.

The turbo spools pretty good...no real lag felt. I ran through some turbo efficiency graphs and found that it is close but always room for improvement. On your car with less flow and ci. it should be better matched. They chose the turbo for a stock 5.0.

Edit; Not saying your car is anywhere near stock.