Turbo a 2.4l

LilHammer97

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 19, 2019
Messages
213
Location
Huntingdon, TN
After reading up on another forum about the Zach Fab turbo kit and what all he has done ive decided to take my old 2.4l block and head in for a rebuild and possibly .030 bore out. I want to just build a "bullet proof" engine to be boosted. My main plan is this.

1. Start a step by step "driveway" thread and do it all myself at home with no special tools or any fancy equipment. My reasoning for this is so anybody out there with some common sense and a decent amount of reading skills and mechanical capabilities can do this on thier own.

2. Create a list of parts/tools that are not "cheap" but rather budget friendly and capable for most people to get thier hands on.

3. Try to keep this build Cali Compliant so that way anybody in any state can do this and also pass inspections.

4. Keep the build under 6k for all parts and tools (not counting the cost of a donor block and head)

5. Get atleast 200 up and maybe around 260 torque. I belive stock was 147 to and 165 torque. If I can gain more than so be it!


From what I read and have researched I think I can do this over the next year and have a very capable and strong rig that would be significantly lighter than a v8 or other wngine swap also while cancling out allot of fabrication work. Keeping this all old school and simple is one of my top priorities for this thread and build. If ANYONE has any advice for this idea I have please feel free to throw In advice and anymore ideas. I will probably just start a list of parts and prices and start buying
/building next year. So it will be a while but I want to take my time and get some great results.
 
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Your lower end parts choices can make or break this project. Things like wrist pins and bearing composition will play a large part in durability. Will be fun to watch and learn! I think the 2.4 is as durable as the 2.5. But I'm not sure. How do the bearing sizes and crank weights compare?
 
I'm not too sure about the weights. Like I said I have a full longblock to build this off of. From the research I spent my weekend doing I have came to a conclusion that I wont run any boost over 7 psi maybe 8 at the max. I'm gonna try to do this so I dont have to spend allot of my budget on internals when I could be getting quality parts to get the job done. I do believe this stock 2.4l can handle up to 10psi after calling a friend of mine who builds neon srts for a living pretty much. His neon is runnin 22 psi and damn near 500 whp! He said it would be best to try to use a neon or pt cruiser turbo for the job and use a piggyback ecu to control boost and my fuel trims. He also stated that many ignition components my swap right over to help with throttle response. Also from what I can tell these simple motors and stock ecu will adjust to some pretty adverse conditions which leads me to believe I shouldnt have to "tune" anything inside the day but keep my boost levels low for reliability and safety issues also to follow a low and simple budget so everyone can do this.

So in hindsight I'm going to have a manifold built to use a neon or pt turbo 500$

A larger diameter downpipe and exaust 250$

A intercooler (maybe watercooled) 250$

Taps for the oil and cooling line for the turbo 150$

A piggyback system to adjust fuel ration to around 11.5 to prevent det and knock 300$

Performance plugs, wires, and coil 200$

Misc. Items I can't think of 200$

All and all I'm still way under my original 2500 budget.

Again if anybody has any idea or wants to chime in with advice feel free. I'm hoping by doing this to my spare 2.4 we can all learn and possibly adapt this concept to the 2.5 and 4.0.
 
3. Try to keep this build Cali Compliant so that way anybody in any state can do this and also pass inspections.

I wish you the very best of luck with this but the Cali compliant part is unlikely. It took Banks (an outfit that does stuff like this all the time) something on the order of 3 years to get an EO sticker just for the intercooler for the Sidewinder turbo (which already had an EO sticker).
 
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You’ll need a new rotating assembly that can take the demands of boost.
also i doubt you’ll do anything with the stock Jeep Wrangler ecu. you’d need to swap a turbo block and head along with the harness and ecu as well as wirring it into to the stock gauges. It can be done though, just requires fab work and a lot of thinking.
A buddy of mine did a edv swap into his lj. Dynod at 300whp at 20lb. Running an adapter with an ax15 and an atlas. Also 60 front and fab 9 full float rear.
Good luck.
 
Sorry for the late reply but funds are short right now lol but I have contacted him about that kit and I'm probably going to go with it when I go up to a 32 inch tire
 
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