Things I learned from modding my Galant

**qnz** · 03-08-2009, 11:12 PM

Originally I wanted to write a turbo guide of what parts would fit and such but I thought it would be more useful for people to know all the miscellaneous things I learned and to learn from all the mistakes I made. When I bought my Galant in 2004, I couldn’t tell you where my intake was. But with the help of the good people from TGCNY and lots of searching, I was able to turbo my car 3 years later.

These are just some things from my point of view. Not everyone shares the same way of thinking as me and you. But I believe when 2 people with an idea or thought shares it with one another, they each walk away with 2 ideas. When 2 people meet and share loaf of bread with each other, they each still have 1 loaf of bread.

And now, in no particular order, here is what I learned:

Don't be afraid to ask dumb questions. How are you gonna learn if you don't ask?

You can’t trust everything you read on forums. Sometimes you just have to go out and do it. Accepted belief back in the day was that the stock block can’t take more than 10psi without forged pistons and other internals. I started off at 13 psi and never looked back.

Have a plan on where you want to go with your car. Planning is the hardest part. You can save up your money while you plan.

For exterior mods, search members rides or Cardomain to get an idea what the rims/bodykit/paint/cf hood/etc would look all together. You know what they call a Galant with tuner parts and VIP styling with Donk influence? A ricer.

If you want performance, have a HP goal and plan out the parts you want to buy. I literally bought enough turbo parts to turbo 3 cars: 3 different turbos, 4 different manifolds, couple of sets of IC piping, an evo motor (lol), and countless other parts just sitting in my room now. Just don’t buy a small 16g, then switch to a Evo3 16g, then to a t3 turbo next month, like me

you can do your upgrades in stages. Like, you can put on a custom exhaust one week. Do a ECU swap another week. Install the injectors and fuel pump the next month. etc

Don’t be cheap with the parts. You will only want to upgrade to it later when you have more money or when your cheap part breaks. Just hope that when your cheap part breaks, it doesn’t damage anything else or worse, injure people. Do it right the first time and buy what you really wanted

if you want to buy a nice set of coilovers but only have e-bay coilovers money, just save up and buy the nice coilovers. You'll save your money this way. now replace the word coilovers with any part.

Springs are softer (more comfortable) than coilovers. If you want to be low and comfortable, get some nice springs and shocks. If you want to be slammed and handle like rails, get coilovers.

Spend the money and have a custom downpipe and intercooler pipes made for you. It just looks so much cleaner in your engine bay.

Tuning is 80% of what goes into a turbo build. When I dyno’d in NY, I was at 190 hp. I dyno’d again in FL and hit 208hp. Now with my current tuner, I’m at 264hp. All with the same setup.

Good shops/tuners are hard to find. The first two shops I got tuned at were recommended from online forums. My current shop is less famous online. Maybe people want to keep him a secret so he doesn’t get too backed up on work? The other tuners strapped my car on the dyno and did some pulls and basically said, “Here’s your numbers.” My current tuner not only dyno tuned my car, but also took it out on the street and did a road tune, and still wanted to fix all the other small areas that were affecting the car’s performance. That is how a good shop should be like.

Measure twice before you cut. And when you’re ready to cut, measure again. Whats cut cannot be un-cut.

Nothing feels better than starting your turbo car up for the first time and it actually idles....

Except when you boost it for the first time....

And you hear the BOV

The stock auto does not handle the extra hp well. When going turbo, know you will have to either convert to 5 speed or get a upgraded auto tranny.

If I had a chance to turbo my car again with the information I know now, this would be my parts list:

big/small/evo3 16g (good street turbo)
stock DSM or Forced performance DSM manifold (cheap and reliable)
WRX 565 Injectors (bolt on)
Evo ECU (cheap and proven)
boomslang harness (expensive, but beats having to solder wires upside down on your back and saves your stock harness)
evo fuelrail (cheap and easy)
evo fpr
Recirculated blow off valve (unless you want your car to stall/run rich between shifts)
custom downpipe (will be a little pricy but looks better than having hacked up parts not meant to fit on your car)
custom intercooler piping (same as above)
VRS exhaust piping (resasonable prices)
Defi gauges (bought cheap gauges, they failed. bought more cheap gauges. they failed again. shoulda bought the good stuff)
walbro fuel pump (only choice)
ebay intercooler (they're good enough for the street. maybe not so much for the track)
t-bolt clamps + silicone couplers (cuz worm clamps suck)
oils and fluids

if you do the installation yourself and bring the car to the shop to weld you IC and turbo-back piping, total would be around $2000-$2500 . With good tuning, it would be capable of 250 hp. Professional tuning will run from $300-$500+ depending how much time the tuner spends. The more time, the better it is for you in the end.

EDIT: on second thought, Theres also gaskets, couplers, clamps, misc fittings, and oil/fluids you will need to purchase too. Total would be another $300-$400 additional.

**goldenthumb51** · 03-09-2009, 12:03 AM

great post!

**therev** · 03-09-2009, 12:27 AM

Originally Posted by goldenthumb51

great post!

ABSOLUTELY! Your post was very helpful, it didn't tell me what i need to do in order to successfully start work on my car, it told me what i shouldn't do, how to not Mess up which made it an awesome post worthwhile for reading! Thanks again QNZ

~Gabe

**kolio** · 03-09-2009, 12:32 AM

great write up.

and i'm sitting on a cache of parts to turbo 2 cars and a whole 6 bolt motor.

**00galantguy** · 03-09-2009, 07:01 AM

awesome write up.

blue8g · 03-09-2009, 07:08 AM

wow great post!....although now i want to go turbo!

**Jeffylou87** · 03-09-2009, 08:28 AM

Very inspirational..

**Asierra_999** · 03-09-2009, 09:25 AM

Good info!

**Galantfan88** · 03-09-2009, 02:14 PM

Very good info to share wit others

**glantv699** · 03-09-2009, 03:55 PM

People like Aaron should be one of the reasons you appreciate this forum. Good stuff man

**Da_silvagride** · 03-09-2009, 04:00 PM

Thank you Aaron. Very good stuff bro.

**Fishboy55** · 03-09-2009, 04:15 PM

Greta job Aaron....Mods, this should be a sticky in both 7g and 8g forums

blue8g · 03-09-2009, 04:18 PM

i agree!!!^

**phizzalot** · 03-09-2009, 04:25 PM

Iam with ya qnz.. and agree with the intercooler pipes... I went thru hell with my licp and my upper still has an oem dsm bov which isn't bad but could be better if all the piping was the same size..

for the 7g I think the route I took was OK, but with my evo I will not cut any corners!!!!

**ricky_db** · 03-10-2009, 12:41 AM

nice deserves a sticky 8)

**jonk8123** · 03-10-2009, 01:51 PM

great post its very helpful!

**qnz** · 03-15-2009, 04:28 PM

thanks for the comments guys. It doesnt need to be a sticky. Stickys are usually facts. This is all my opinion.

I updated a few things in my original post

Part of the reason I made this was cuz I remember Phizzalot saying at a meet "Man, I wish someone told me these things before going turbo." There are lotsa small things you can never plan for and people don't usually post about. Then there are the selfish ones that will not share info once they figured it out themselves so other people can make the same mistake