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Turbo for Nissan Pathfinder 2001 R50


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With @Barry raising the topic on Turbo installation on his favorite truck, he has got me thinking of getting a Turbo installed in my Nissan Pathfinder 2001 model R50. Recently I have been watching a video breaking the myth of cheap turbo sets found on ebay installed on a vehicle in like 10 minutes and is like a fan only which is added to the intake. This turbo set claims increase of 50 hp on the said vehicle, but does nothing except made a sweet sound. As these guys explained that the turbo or super charge is all about getting compressed air into the engine. I now am more curious to learn about turbo charging a vehicle, in particular my Pathy R50. I used to have a 1991 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSR4 with turbo which was tuned by AMG. This came as a stock factory install and I never had any problem passing the car and it was a lot of fun to drive.

Firstly, what all needs to be done to install a turbo, it is not just dropping in a turbo in the engine bay and walla, my car also has a MAF sensor, how does that restrict the turbo from working, or is there a way to adjust it?

Does the ECU needs to be reprogrammed?

On long run what effect does it have on a wearing old engine which you are trying to keep alive and running?

Would I need new headers and exhaust?

What kind of realistic minimum gains you can expect?

How much would such a setup cost?

Is it legal, will I have a problem passing my car in RTA if I do get the turbo installed?

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I wrote an advice about this a while back,

 

To answer your questions,

The MAF is essential. It measures how much air is flowing into the engine and tells the ECU how much fuel to inject into the cylinder. It is non adjustable, it is just a measuring advice. 

The ECU will need to be reprogrammed, probably changed. 

On an old worn engine, a turbo puts extra strain. Unless you want to upgrade the internals, you will need to run a low pressure turbo, 10 PSI or less.

You will need new inlet and outlet manifolds, custom made if a kit isn't available. You might be able to keep the rear part of your exhaust the the front will have to be changed. 

Anything from 20-200 horsepower depending on how much you want to spend.

A lot.

You will need wasta to get it passed by RTA. 

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In this case, my advice to @Rahimdad would be to forget the idea, and to buy a vehicle with turbo already installed by the factory. On a 2001 model, the mileage (and wear) on the engine is probably so high already that ANY turbo he fits to it now will make it explode. The engine, not the turbo.

Edited by treks
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  • 2 years later...
On 5/4/2017 at 11:17 PM, treks said:

In this case, my advice to @Rahimdad would be to forget the idea, and to buy a vehicle with turbo already installed by the factory. On a 2001 model, the mileage (and wear) on the engine is probably so high already that ANY turbo he fits to it now will make it explode. The engine, not the turbo.

Yesterday i met with a guy who owns a pathfinder R50 2005 with turbo installed. His name is abu saif and well know among the r50 group. He claimed to have 342Hp on his hood. But his machine really roared like a beast.

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9 minutes ago, shadow79 said:

wouldnt turbo have a lag starting where in desert you always need it right there in the begining

Any turbo will have lag but if you go for something small like a T25, it will spool up a lot faster and start making power at 2-2.5k. You won’t get as much power as say, a T4 or T5 but it will be a noticeable increase and lag will be reduced. 

There are options. You can run a twin turbo setup. Not the standard one on each side, a small turbo that feeds air to a bigger turbo. I did this on a Subaru I owned before and got an extra 150 bhp. Problem is this takes up a lot of space and you will need to get a lot of custom stuff made. But, the power is always there and the harder you rev, the more power you make. 

Superchargers are awesome for making power all the time but it will cost you more. 

If you want to go quick, cheap and nasty, fit a nitrous kit. They are cheap and easy to fit. You can fit the whole kit in a few hours. When you need an extra boost when climbing dunes etc, just hit the button and you can have 50-500 bhp depending on the kit. 

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Rahim Bhai, 

You can turbo your Pathy no problems but you'd just want to make sure the engine internals are in good to very good condition. I'm sure you're looking for maybe 8-10PSI of boost, with a small turbo which will spool up quicker (around 3000 RPM ++) at 8-10PSI expect around 30-40HP crank extra. 

They way these kits are designed is so that before passing you just get it removed, put the OEM intake manifold and then back after passed (1-2 hour job). Realistically your cost will be in the ECU. I'm not sure how advanced a Pathy's ECU is but you'd be looking at a Piggyback ECU minimum with tuning and that can set you back around 2-3K. Totally you can get a reliable turbo kit for 10-12K AED with the Tuning done from a decent garage. Keep in mind you'll have to do some other minor upgrades too such as a Water Methanol kit (600-700 DHS)  to keep the engine from knocking during the summer months as well as some better heat management with header wraps etc to keep the Exhaust Gas Temps down (EGT's)

If you really want to see some performance out of the car I'd recommend you spend the same 10-12K and get a 350Z stroker kit done (4L) along with an engine rebuild and Head Porting. Here you'll see close to 60-70HP gains without changing much else. Along with the fact that everything is within the engine so RTA will not be able to see anything. 2 advantages; 1. You're still naturally aspirated so power is added from 1K rpm, till your Watatata limiter. 2. Much more reliable and you basically have a new engine. 

"Theres no replacement for Displacement"

Cheers, 

Jas

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