Every turbo kits starts with a couple of key components. For me, it was a Borg Warner 7163 turbo, a Vibrant 700hp rated intercooler core, and a turbosmart 40mm external wastegate.

I decided with this build to do a simple log manifold. The 7163 is a tad on the small side for a “big turbo”, with that, I decided to not build a tubular manifold.

Here I’m trying to figure out the best wastegate placement.

Ceramic coating to help with the heat.

On the purge block for final welding.

I thought about using the stock intake manifold, but I wanted to build my own. This was my first intake manifold, I was curious as to how to go about building these. I learned a lot on this one, and I do plan on offering intake manifolds in the future.

I used a porsche throttle body, it’s 7-8mm larger than the stock one and has a 3.25” inlet vs the 3” the stock uses.

More pictures of the intake manifold build process.

For the intercooler, I used a 700hp vibrant performance core. This was the prototype intercooler I built for the “Big P2R Intercooler” you can view in the shop section of this website.

The crash bar I modified and use it yo mount the intercooler as well as the radiator support (not pictured).

You can also see the transmission coolers, RIP to the TF80.

I use my mockup motor to build the oil and water lines on for the turbo.

I mounted the manifold and the turbo on the car, and started on the OTE pipe.

The intake pipe was pretty straight forward, the OTE pipe however was a bit more complicated. The cold pipe is tiny compared to a the stock one.

I used a catch can meant for a toyota, designed a bracket for it and mounted it to the chassis. Threw the R logo in the bracket for fun.

The exhaust was pretty straight forward, nothing crazy here. 3” v-bands and piping. I used a Vibrant ultra quiet resonator right after the downpipe. The face on the downpipe is meant to be Sonic the Hedgehog, but that didn’t turn out as well as I hoped. For the catback section I use a old titanium WRX catback that a friend gave me. The muffler was shot so I wasn’t able to use it, but I use the res and put it out back to act as the muffler. Welding used titanium sucks, I do not recommend. The catback section only weighs 13 lbs.

That’s it for now. I still need to redo the fuel system (going full return from the rail) and do the M66 swap. I have everything for it minus some of the maintenance items.

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Martins 2007 Sonic VR Build (currently in progress)