HOW TO FIT A TURBO

> Time to turbocharge your engine. Excellent news. Get it right and you’ll be rewarded with neck-snapping performance. Get it wrong and a stock of 2020 calendars would’ve been a better investment

What’s on the shopping list? First you need an actual turbocharger with a manifold it can bolt onto. You’ll need an oil feed to lubricate it, and a filter on the front to stop it from inhaling small animals.

Now your air is compressed, the next item is an intercooler. Although not strictly necessary, cooling the charge temp is a very good idea. Pressurising air increases its temperature. The hotter the air, the less oxygen it contains (reducing power) and the greater the risk of detonation. That sounds scary, because it is.

Air cooled and ready to enter the engine, you’ll want to control that boost using either an actuator or wastegate. When the intake pressure reaches its desired amount, say 10psi, the wastegate/actuator can bypass exhaust gas from entering the turbine wheel (usually straight into the exhaust system) preventing it from over-boosting and blowing your engine to bits. Funnily enough, they call this boost control.

Now, assuming your injectors and plugs are up to the job, you’ll need to tell them when and how much extra fuel needs adding, along with the right point to ignite the mixture for maximum power. In an ideal world, you’d use a proper standalone ECU for this along with some clever engineer with a laptop. Although, depending on make and model, you might simply be able to chip the OEM unit if it’s part of a complete turbo kit.

And just like that, your car is turbocharged. There’s an awful lot more to it than that, so don’t take this as gospel. But do turbocharge your car, it’s brilliant fun.