B&G Custom Turbo Install - Turbo Boost On A Budget Upgrade

The passenger-side wiring harness needs to be moved inside the fenderwell. To do this, you'll have to pull the wheel and the inner fender liner. If you still have the smog equipment hooked up, you may need to open up the existing hole a bit, but if you don't have the stuff in the way, you can feed each harness and plug one at a time until all of them are through the hole. Then just tie them up out of the way.

The downpipe is next, and installation proved a bit difficult at first. We opted to use a mallet to modify the floorboard a bit to make it easier. Once in place, there was plenty of room. The downpipe is held to the turbo with a V-band clamp and connects to the Y-pipe with a flat-band clamp. Part-time HP employee Steve Duncan (pictured) has his own B&G turbocharged Pony and took on the Recession Special as his pet project.

Assuming we were going to add at least another 100 hp to our 253 rwhp engine, we decided that the 2 1/4-inch stock/Borla exhaust had to go. It was replaced with Cherry Bomb's new Vortex exhaust system for the 5.0L Mustang. It's 2 1/2-inch diameter was just what we needed and provided a mellow tone for our daily driver. We liked the factory-looking stainless tailpipes, but wish they extended them a bit farther as they don't quite continue behind the tire like the stockers. Other than that, the system fit well.

After seeing how close the downpipe was to the spark plug wires, we decided to cover it with some high-temperature exhaust wrap. The spark plugs also got their own high-temp boot covers. Luckily, we had this stuff leftover from a previous project. We would advise doing the same given the spark plug wires' proximity to the downpipe.

The exhaust side of the turbo system terminates in this Y-pipe that B&G fabricated for us. Like the downpipe, it measures 3 1/2 inches in diameter and splits into 2 1/2-inch pipes. They don't currently offer it for sale, so you'll need to have your own made at the local muffler shop.

Reducing backpressure after the turbocharger is very important, so you might want to stay away from chambered mufflers. The Cherry Bomb Vortex mufflers use a unique internal core to reduce noise while providing excellent flow characteristics.

Since our stock 19 lb/hr fuel injectors were seeing 98 percent duty cycle on our normally aspirated engine, we had to offer the turbocharged version more fuel. We installed these 42 lb/hr units from Ford Racing Performance Parts.

We were thoroughly impressed with the 168 hp and 169 lb-ft of torque that our Recession Special picked up. This was with just 19 degrees of total timing and 10.5 psi of boost. As you can see from the graph, we encountered a misfire toward the end of the pull, and discovered the coil and distributor to be the culprits. We'll attempt to remedy this in a future article.

We had planned to install Turbosmart's eBoost2 electronic boost controller, but we didn't get a chance to before the story deadline hit. B&G sells the eBoost2 for $470, and we'll be sure to bring you a more in-depth look at the controller in an upcoming issue. We are also using an Auto Meter A-pillar gauge pod (PN ATM10102, $24.95) to mount it. Adjustable boost at the touch of a button is a wonderful thing, but we were superbly impressed with the power and torque numbers using just the wastegate spring that provided 10.5 psi of boost.

Making sure the bigger injectors are supplied with plenty of fuel are these pumps from Brothers Performance. A 255-lph in-tank pump works in conjunction with BBK's inline external pump.

With the B&G turbocharging system installed, it's time to hit the chassis dyno for some numbers. Turbo V-8 engines have a unique sound that we've come to appreciate, and the sound burbling from the back of the coupe was music to our ears.