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Another Holset thread

62K views 562 replies 64 participants last post by  comtrang 
#1 ·
So when Vigge made a thread back in 08' about his new snail, I got sucked into the movement and have been following it since then. Just figured it was time to make my own thread with all of the info on my own setup rather than stuff it all into Vigge's. More so it can be documented for others who are looking to put a Holset on a stock internal, 2.0 NG900.

I'm 19, building up student loans and working through college, and really testing my credit to get this project finish. Save the criticism for later, please.
At this point, I'm still in the process of getting all the parts - almost finished - but when I get home in a month from school is when the work begins. I'll update this as it goes, and try to get pictures of whatever necessary.

My current setup is the everday stage 3 which includes a 3" JT, huge ebay intercooler, Jak Stoll tune, and Spec stage 3 clutch. I'm almost moving from a completely stock NG900 up to this new level so that first test drive is gonna be a really, interesting one. I'm gonna keep my hopes 'low' at about 400whp, but hopefully I'll reach at least that. W/M injection will help with my lower torque numbers (vs 2.3L setups) probably soon after this is all taken care of.

So here's my Holset HX35 the day I bought it.





The plan was to clean it up a bit, weld the internal wastegate flapper shut to use an external, and have it mounted to the beautiful piece that came from "Reindeer Performance" in Finland, thanks to Vigge:





Other changes will be of course a Walbro 255, injectors - to either Siemens deka 630cc's or the new 1000cc's from the same series that just came out - , and a JZW tune. Another thing is modifying the exhaust to work. The HX35 comes with a v-band outlet but my dad wanted to try something else so in the end it'll connect like this:





No issues with sealing, no clearance issues, just simple and clean. It's 3" and I still have a 3" 90 degree stainless pipe for the other flange to be welded onto. As you can also see, my dad cleaned up the compressor housing a bit when he had a minute so that's a nice cosmetic fix.

That's all for now, unfortunately. My car and I head home on May 9th so hopefully soon after, my dad and I get to work on this. Any feedback or suggestions appreciated, hope I can start updating this with progress in as little as a month.
 
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#12 ·
I got my manifold from Reindeer Performance :D "It's Finnnnnnnish"

I also had mine on and tuned before any of those people listed above :lol:
Yeah I haven't forgotten about you at all; I've bugged each JK, JZW, and Vigge a good number of times so I've got all of them to thank even before any actual work has been done. Let it be known:!:

Plus..your numbers have been my benchmark. You'll have me out-torqued, though, until I get some methanol in the mix.

cant wait :)

JK you dont count, you spent like $12 on your car, and still have a stock bottom end.
Mine's still stock, too T-T I'm eating $.60 deli meat and $1 loafs of bread everyday to keep this running.

looking good, i love pictures, add some more!
So do I, so I'll be taking enough pictures to make up for all the times when there weren't enough in other peoples' threads.
 
#18 ·
Have been there to "support" Us. saabers (Jzw and contram so far) when a local welder is Us. has not been found for likewise work ;) and currently there is one likewise header in manufacturing which will be shipped to Us. I dont make these headers, but a company "close by" does whom as built parts for my car and many other fast saabs in this country. Pop me and email if you need further info.
 
#24 · (Edited)
http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread?id=400168&page=1
Another HX35 build currently going on over on the Nissan/Infiniti side..SR20 with stock Holset and goodies. The guy doing it takes lots of pictures and gives lots of good info, I think. Pretty interesting.

One interesting bit that he had a problem with at one point:

"Got my car running today and it is going to be a beast. I have only 1 prpblem. I must have my WG vacuum run wrong because it is over boosting and the gate isn't opening up at all. This is my first external gate so I will figure it out. I did a 3rd gear pull and it hit well over 20psi and scared the crap out of me. It spools just as fast if not faster than my GT2871R(i know that sounds impossible but it does)."

"thanx for the help, but I do understand how a WG works. I used the brass nipple that you pointed out for my pressure source and it was over boosting like crazy and the gate wouldn't open. When I got home today I removed the nipple to see what was up and apparently the truck it came off of was running 35-40psi because this is what it had feeding the stock internal WG actuator... I replaced it with a regular 1/4" nipple and the gate opened around 11-12psi. I am currently running 15psi "





Sound like something that needs to be addressed?
 
#25 ·
Yeah, yours will look either like that, or like mine that was blocked completely, no hole at all. I just swapped one over from a T25 I had sitting on a shelf. Not really an issue at all, takes all of 30 seconds to "address."
 
#26 ·
Haha yeah, the amount of time it took wasn't the concern..just didn't have mine here to look at it and see if mine had the same thing. I suppose it'd have to if both are coming from the same application. Interesting that yours was completely blocked, though.

Anyways, about a week to go til I get home! Getting ready to order some intake stuff and oil lines now..
 
#29 ·
Sorry I missed that!

The one marked as Part Number: PG-15151 is what I am using, but I HIGHLY suggest getting a universal cooling fan from Summit racing or something. The one I have is far from idea, it was just rigged up because I wanted to do a track day last year and it was the only thing I had on hand that fit.

A good slim line fan will be cheaper, easier to mount and work a ton better than a that POS.
 
#30 ·
Haha okay great..I'll take some measurements and start looking for one. I was browsing summit the other day and saw they had quite a few but wasn't sure how much I needed it to flow and what size but I'll look into that now.

Thanks again for the help.
 
#31 ·
Another side update..
My dad just picked up a wrecked 00 9-3 for a spare parts car at the whopping price of $800. What this means for me is hydraulic clutch/9-3 5 speed should also be coming in to play with the Holset. Also has a good, 70k motor.
That's too bad, I was beginning to like my cables breaking on me in horrible places :)
 
#32 ·
Watching this thread now. This is one of the ideas I have for my 900 when I get it all back together again. I thought that a top mount manifold was needed for large turbos like that, is it only the fan that it hits? I thought for sure that turbos of that size would push into the radiator as well. Nice build so far and good luck with it!
 
#33 · (Edited)
Small update. I'm back and settled in now, so we're getting started on the new downpipe. We're gonna make it but have someone else weld it..my dad has a really nice welder but doesn't trust his skills enough for something like this so yeah..anyways!

FINALLY more of these flanges were listed on ebay so I picked one up. $20



3/8" mild steel





Of course that's gonna be cut down a bit, I had just bought it at the time. Will be working on it all this week if time permits for both me and my dad..also, I have some v-band flanges that are in the mail. They're just so much easier.



The 9-3 transmission that's in the above picture will also be going in my car, along with the hydraulic clutch :D
 
#36 · (Edited)
Small update - only parts left to buy are injectors and fuel pump. Injectors I don't need quite yet, fuel pump can be bought locally.

It seems like the only thing that's really stopping this from really taking the plunge forward is the oil lines not being here yet and the exhaust not being 100% completed. As of now, a motor/tranny is hanging in the on a chain from the ceiling and we've worked out as much as the exhaust as we can, from that. Also, still trying to come up with the best cooling fan solution; most likely just buy a 12" slim fan and make some kind of shroud.

In other words, it shouldn't be too long before having the hardware on the car. Trying to document any unusual quirks along the way for anyone else who cares in the future.







My bad managed this when I was at work one day. Not bad considering I remember paying $35 for all the metal used for this downpipe - a u-bend and a 90*. Makes me wish we made the my exhaust before, and also makes we wish I bought 3.5" pipe. What the eff would I do without my dad?
 
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