Has anyone duplicated an STS system. I have access to a turbo and I thought it would be easy to simply mount them in the rear and route the intake piping. I was was going to leave my mufflers and mount the turbo after them. Possibly where the rear tire used to be. WHat do you think?

 

I have a DIY remote turbo- and there are many more out there besides me that have done it. Take a look at the DIY section at theturboforums/turbomustangs. There are also a few buildups on LS1tech.

 

Whatcha going to do about the oiling, this seems to be the hardest and most painful part of both the STS and the DIY setups. Everyones always flipping out about there pumps not working and oil coming out the tail pipe.

 

I have never had oiling problems with mine. I use a STS pump that runs all of the time and have a restrictor on the feed line at the turbo. Just make sure the turbo is draining level or downward towards the pump and you'll be fine. There is a guy that is selling oil pumps on ebay that will work.

 

I just built one for my cuz's Dodge Ram. It's very simple and it works good. I used a pump from RB Racing which is the same a the STS pump. The also have check valve's to keep oil draining back into the turbo. I ran a Flowmaster in front of the turbo on his and my truck both. It gave the trucks a very nice exhaust tone.

 

I made my own kit, used a check valve threaded right onto a 90* fitting on the turbo oil inlet, inline to prevent oil seeping out through the turbo when parked, also used a Mocal oil pump designed for hot oil and rear end coolers, works great have had it on for a year or so with no problems. The wiring for the pump is simple, just bought a weatherproof relay and took the signal off the fuel pump, so any time the fuel pump is on so is my oil return.

 

making the rear mount is easy, tuning is where it will take you the most time if you do it yourself.

 

about how much money (ballpark) could I save by doing a rear mount turbo myself?

 

If you actually do all the stuff STS does (coatings, etc) and count up all the fittings, flanges, tubing, consumables, etc., probably not much when it's all said and done. If you coat your exhaust too, forget about it

I definitely spent more than I would have on a new kit when I made my twins, and sure, it's a twin kit, but to put it in perspective, I also started with from an existing STS kit... My coating bill alone was ~$1600 with a 25% discount. I did both my exhaust (heads to outside the truck), intake snorkels, and charge pipes however. I spent probably $700-800 on tubing, $400 on mufflers and cats, ~$200 on flanges and v-bands, ~$200-250 on oil lines and brass fittings, ~$200 on silicone and clamps, who knows on consumables like cut off and grinding wheels and I used about 10 40lb bottles of 75/25 and 5 spools of t56.

Just doing a single and the intake piping, I'd say $350-500 on tubing (depending on how fancy you get matching the STS design and adapting for the MAF etc), $100 on silicone and clamps, $50-75 on flanges, ~$150-200 on oil lines and brass fittings, $75 for the air cleaner, ~$1000-1500 for a turbo, $600 for coating, $200-300 for an oil pump, $300 for a PCV system and catch can, $200-300 for a wastegate (and double that if you want a BOV) -- that's already $3025 using the lowest estimates. Now add in your time, consumables, etc. and all the stuff I'm forgetting... This is also assuming like quality components as you'd get from STS.

So, IMO you won't save much, but you will gain the ability to build exactly the design you want to build, but at the cost of expertise. In my case, Rick Squires was my sounding board for the changes I wanted to make, and offered me a ton of advice based on his experience developing the STS kits and building his own custom stuff. I also had the benefit of keeping the STS oil system from block to the return spout, using parts from a C5 twin kit, etc. (hehe basically the dual oiling system, an intercooler that I adapted to my truck, and the stage III turbos from the Z06 high hp kit).

If you have the shop, the welder / fab equipment, ability and expertise on tap, it could be a fun project. If you don't have that stuff... just buy a premade kit and enjoy it IMO

 

My cuz has $2500 in his set up. That includes injectors a tune. This kit was designed to functional not fashionable.