AP2 S2000 Receives Full Race Turbo Upgrade

Fine Line

Making a car faster is most certainly a slippery slope. There's a very fine line between too little and too much, after all. It's easy to go too far, suddenly making your car temperamental and not much fun to drive on the street anymore. S2Ki member F1TwoThousand is well aware of this and went to great lengths to avoid it with his killer turbo build. 

Photos: S2Ki Forums

Stay Humble

"I made another thread addressing how many turbo'd S2Kis end up for sale," F1TwoThousand said. "I didn't want to end up being that guy with a 'pretentious build.' I want to keep it simple and enjoy my car until death do us part. I wanted to take on a build and be able to replace and diagnose parts myself in order to avoid the stealerships or Jiffy Lube mechanics at all costs." 

Photos: S2Ki Forums

>>Join the conversation about this AP2 turbo build right here in S2Ki.com.

Keep It Simple

Thus, the plan was simple. "For this build, I wanted to use quality parts and delete unnecessary components to free up space and complexity to wrench around the car. I want to put things together in a way that will maximize engine efficiency, longevity, and refinement, keep things easy to diagnose/pull apart and replace." 

Photos: S2Ki Forums

>>Join the conversation about this AP2 turbo build right here in S2Ki.com.

Big Goals

Which isn't to say F1TwoThousand wasn't eyeballing a massive power increase, of course. My turbo build parameters: make a max amount of power out of an AP2 short block for street use/highway pulls. Have a setup that will minimize turbo lag. Keep stock look/sound including OEM wheels, mufflers, motor mounts. Rev to 10k rpm. Basically I'm shooting for 650 whp with the earliest spool/best transient response possible in an OEM-ish looking AP2 that can rev to 10K RPM." 

Photos: S2Ki Forums

>>Join the conversation about this AP2 turbo build right here in S2Ki.com.

Parts List

The parts list for this build consisted of a fully built Borg Warger 7670EFR turbo, Full-Race Twinscroll Dual External Wastegate Turbo Manifold, E85, Injector Dynamics 1300CC Injectors, upgraded flywheel, and crank pulley, boost controller, AEM Infinity ECU, SOS throttle body, and CNC ported head. 

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>>Join the conversation about this AP2 turbo build right here in S2Ki.com.

Change of Plans

Later on, F1TwoThousand planned on adding a full Ferrea valvetrain, BC stage 2 turbo cams, and some upgraded tires. But the first step was to get cranking on making all this new kit fit where he wanted it. And before long, plans started to change as the OP decided to upgrade the cooling system with a CSF radiator and dual fans. 

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>>Join the conversation about this AP2 turbo build right here in S2Ki.com.

Heat Wave

The plans also required a good bit of cutting and fabrication, but it was nothing F1TwoThousand wasn't willing to tackle. All the while, he was maintaining the focus on combating the heat, which is a good idea with any kind of turbo upgrade. 

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>>Join the conversation about this AP2 turbo build right here in S2Ki.com.

Stay Cool

The only limiting factor here is that he wanted to keep the car stock looking, for obvious reasons. "Not venting the hood, keeping it as a 'sleeper'. It's actually 2.25" inner diameter, horrible design. Compressor to intercooler is 2.5." Will be upgrading to a 2.5" or 3" intercooler to throttle body but routing it through the fender well. This will keep the pipe out of the hot engine bay and radiator fan heating it up." 

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>>Join the conversation about this AP2 turbo build right here in S2Ki.com.

Recipe for Success

As the build progressed, F1TwoThousand spent a good bit of time testing and recording his results, making several changes to his design as he went along. That's obviously a recipe for success, no matter what you're building in life.  

Photos: S2Ki Forums

>>Join the conversation about this AP2 turbo build right here in S2Ki.com.

Making Progress

At this point, the car is nearly finished, but F1TwoThousand is busy dialing everything in. He managed nearly 400 wheel horsepower on a virtual dyno, so he's got a bit of work to do to meet his original goal. But we certainly aren't betting against him. Be sure and head over here to catch up and stay tuned as this wicked AP2 build creeps toward the finish line! 

Photos: S2Ki Forums

>>Join the conversation about this AP2 turbo build right here in S2Ki.com.