Hi all,

so I own a 1990 MK4 Ford Escort bonus 90 (standard 1.3 engine) and I was looking to turbocharge it but I have never turbocharged anything with a carburetor so I was wondering If anyone here could help me and potentially give me a step by step guide on how to turbocharge and engine with a carb and if it's even worth the hassle since I've heard multiple people say a lot of parts such as the fuel pump for example needs to be swapped out and other general parts need to be swapped out for RS turbo parts, thanks.

 

hi tbh short answer is waste of time.... the engine is probs tired to start with without adding turbo... you will be better off fitting cvh turbo or even a na zetec will be better and alot easyer to do

 

as for what people say i had a cvh tirbo technics fiesta xr2 that was running a carb set up and onve tuned and tweeked it was running over 200bhp... but really to turbo a xflow you will really need to rebuild engine and forge low comp pistons to run high boost otherwise you wont really see anything to set your world alight power wise...

 

the engine is pretty solid, I am currently only 22 but I got the car passed down to me at 20 when a family member died, they bought it brand new and it only has 57,000 miles clocked on it, I did try and fit an na zetec in it (1.8L silvertop) but got stuck on the wiring, gave it to a friend of a friend to see if he could sort it and he told me the same thing as what I've been told now, he just said to make it work you will need a lot of RS TURBO parts and it will get very expensive very fast so I just put the old engine back in it

 

tbf I'm not really looking for a huge power gain, just anything other than 60bhp

 

a zetec on bike carbs with aftermarket ecu even a 1600 silvertop will be a massive gain in the driven feel of the car... im unsure why you didnt get sorted but for like Ł1000/1500 you should be away on the zetec conversion...

 

it was my first time swapping an engine, managed to get it mounted by modifying the old engine mounts and had a brief conversation with a friend who kinda knew about wiring and he mentioned something about needing to splice 2 wiring looms together to get it working and since I had no clue what to do I just took it to a friend of a friend to get it sorted who told me it is a massive job, needs a lot of RS Turbo parts and will be expensive so I just threw the old engine back in with the hopes of somewhat increasing the power somehow but again, first car I've ever owned with a carb so I have no idea what I'm doing, quite different from just getting a remap to gain 100hp lol

 

I did also ask in this group for any help with it but got no responses that would help so I just marked it up to a lost cause

 

i sent you a pm when u had zetec in i have a few after market ecu set ups to run carbs simple plug in 2 wires and away

 

Really, there are various books out there, go buy some. Both on turbocharging and how carburettors work

But with zero experience.....not an ideal project really these days.

 

why would I waste time and money looking and buying a book when I can simply ask in a Ford forums group? embarrassing comment

 

i think the problem here is.. its not a simple job as in a 5min fix nor is it cheap... if you havent got or had any kind of history working on engines or carbs it will one of them projects you end up 10 year into with no progress...

 

Jesus wept.

If you think that's how you gain real info, you're an even bigger fool than you appear

Sure why go to school....just google. Why gain an education, just ask on a forum

WTF. GenZ strikes again

 

The biggest problem is 90% of people on car groups think there know it all simple fact is most dont hence like graham goode and places are still going strong NMS i mean why would you bother paying ŁŁŁŁs for live maps etc when u can ring some C$$T off gumtree etc to do it at your home for Ł80 lol.... Thats the problem here tho simple fact is a turbo xflow worth having will cost like Ł5000 maybe more if you carnt do out yourself etc ..

 

Anything can be done on a budget with knowledge.

If you have zero, it will cost more.

If the person is refusing to be willing to put in some effort to learn...to educate themselves, or to perhaps pay someone to educate them. Then there is little hope for them.

If they think they will get it from handouts on forums, they're genuinely GenZ deluded if they think that can happen with a few posts on a forum. Even more so when the best advice they've got so far, they can't even grasp it.

 

simple fix to it is to bang a zetec in it on carbs with aftermarket ecu... its as simple as power and earth and away you go... a rollin road carb tune and jet car will be sorted power around 130bhp area

 

WHY? A standard 1.8 Silvertop will produce this amount of power with the standard setup (XR2i 16V non-UK-spec / RS1800i, XR3i 16V etc.)? More than twice the 60 hp of the 1.3 and ideal for a beginner aged 22. It's only a few wires to connect and you're done. Mostly plug&play. And later you still can think about investing more money and a LOT MORE TIME to get the Zetec turbocharged or fit ITBs.

 

and that is my problem, I have tons of of experience with newer engines and barely any experience with carbs and this being my first car with carbs I have no idea on how to go about it or go about forced induction.