Do you have a rough idea of how much it was to get the sonic to 240? I would like to do it myself but I'm not sure if it's something that I'm going to sink a ton of money into. Also I'm assuming it's just as reliable?
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There is just so much variability.
Factors:
1. Turbo selection (how "nice" of a turbo do you want)
2. Tuning (self tuned or have someone do it)
3. Gauges: Kinda necessary but you can you could probably get away without. Definitely need a wideband.
4. Supporting Mods: How far along are you with your sonic. If you haven't done an intake, exhaust, injectors, or FMIC I would say your not ready for the turbo swap.
5. Fabrication: Can you do some or all of this yourself.
So Ill run through my setup and you can go from there.
I am running MPFAB's original turbo swap set up with a sightly bigger compressor wheel. GT2056. The kit included a down pipe, manifold, oil lines, no water line because this turbo doesn't use any, intake pipe, bov, and recirculating bov hose. $2,000
I also had to purchase a wideband. $200
I had to purchase Hptuners (pro is preferred). Pro $650
I also had to purchase a windows computer that had windows (I had a Mac). $200
I had to purchase MPFabs oil adapter fittings. $60
I had to pay someone MPfab to tune it and I had to pay to use the dyno. $700
Total is somewhere in the ball park of $3,800. The only way I think you could get it done cheaper than that is if you knew how to do a lot of the work yourself such as welding. I did the install with no problem.
Another option is the BNR GTX kit but that will only get you about 200 whp and maybe 230 on e85. For $2,300 bucks I say save your money and have someone build you a kit. I am flowing 24lbs of air per minute on 23 psi and I occasionally get up to 25 with the same boost. I am expecting to hit 27 lbs of air flow at higher boost level and then run e85 on top of that.
Also note that if you want to make much more than 240whp you are going to run into a big fueling issue. It is not a cheap supporting mod.
Reliability is still something that is being tested by the sonic community. People have blown their motors with the stock turbo. Doesnt make sense when people are making over 100 hp more than a tuned stock turbo, but when you think about it, the bigger turbos power comes on way later and for a less amount of time. Those EFR's a few people are running dont hit full spool until something like 4,300 rpm so they only have 1,700 rpm under full load. I am also pretty confident these big lazy EFR's have saved them from absolutely destroying their gear boxes. I haven't blown anything up yet and I am pretty hard on the car, but time will tell.
