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Precision-Turbonetics NX2 turbo EcoBoost build thread

DeVito757

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What’s best site to buy the NX2 on? And if you don’t mind me asking how much did you guys pay to get it professionally installed? Don’t think I’m going to do mine myself either
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Hellman109

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I bought mine from CP-E on last years Black Friday deal for like $1700 US (Plus shipping and import fees to Australia, not relevant for US people).

As for the install, I cant remember the exact cost but it was like 2-3 hours labour, they had installed one before mine so knew the process pretty well anyhow.
 

Thatguy

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While researching the NX2, I read some posts that said there was a price increase earlier this year. Most vendors sell it for around $2400. I saw a couple that sell it for a few hundred less and I found one that has it for less than $2000. That was my incentive to buy it. The money I saved will almost cover my drag tires and wheels
 

Miadhawk

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Good news! Revision #11 is my final tune, now I will get this car on the dyno to see what she really makes.

Also, the prices went up a lot late 2018/early 2019 and I scored an NX2 turbo a good amount under 2K. Which made the deal a suuuper good value!
 

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Thatguy

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Two questions - Did you happen to have a Ford exhaust manifold socket? I've never needed one before and can't find one locally. Maybe another way to install the two studs? Also, do I really need to remove the water line support bracket (page 8)? Looking at the photo, I'm guessing I have to so they can slide out of the holes. I don't have a T-35 Torx bit and the two stores I just tried don't carry that size.

I was sitting outside waiting for the UPS driver to arrive Just had to bolts left on the turbo and then that torx bolt. Could have finished the install tonight or wrapped it up in the morning. This is putting me behind.
 

DavyJones

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You are 100% correct; these stock engines are not made for “big turbo’s” and I have had mechanics say the “built engines” Don’t support the power either. I have 2016 Eco Premium with auto trans. I have MRT race cat turbo-back exhaust, Steeda suspension, American racing wheels (staggered big with Nitto 555G2’s), Sno performance, WMI, Mishimoto oil catchcan, Turbosmart BOV (re-route, not to atmosphere), CPE Race intercooler, Roush Cold Air Intake. Unleashed tuning was calibrating my vehicle and we dyno’d it around mid August 2018, with 93 octane it was putting down 328rwhp (southern louisiana heat and humidity keep in mind) and with WMI was doing 349rwhp this was around 24psi with the gauge reading up to 26 or 27 at times but the tuner was aiming around 24psi. Around this time I had also discovered the WMI was syphoning under vacuum, got that corrected with a solenoid. I searched the internet for more information and found a guy who wrote an article. The author of the article told me I should be at least 400rwhp with 93 octane. My tuner and I started gunning for more power and he was aiming for 25psi but I know the gauge would get up to 26-28 psi. Beginning September 2018 I had cylinder 1 misfiring and confirmed a head gasket. Author of the article blames me because I was blaming the insufficincey of the engine to support the claimed HP coming from that turbo; he was a product pusher supporting the product (Nx2 precision turbo). I got in touch with adamtuned and he told me that author was full of it and the author’s ecoboost is sitting at 300rwhp, which is probably smart because I think that is where these safely cap at. Adam told me that 93octane limits the car to around 350rwhp and anything above requires E85. I had the gasket replaced and all internals and the head looked good. My mechanic replaced it but I would hear a horrible noise around 3-4K rpm. My tuner said the car was leaning out and detonating at 4K rpm. I kept doing research and ran into a forum where adamtuned discusses the lean condition and a faulty lowside fuel pressure sensor. I ran the stock tune and got one of the three corresponding error codes. I replaced the sensor myself using Parker performance’s YouTube video, and the lean condition went away but I still had knock retard. Finally we discovered this past January that cylinder 3 was shot and I needed a new engine, Ford would not own up to the faulty low side fuel pressure sensor and I had to pay for a new engine myself; if you have not replaced it and own a 2015-2017 ecoboost mustang you need to replace that lowside fuel pressure sensor yesterday; that is what is causing “ecobooms” the faulty low side fuel pressure sensors. I had them install JE performance head gasket with ARP studs on the new engine along with HPS charge pipes. I got my engine back and after breaking the engine in with the stock tune I datalogged a basic unleashed tune from American muscle and he said it was too low fuel pressure with too high boost, and he now has me at around 21psi and the car is less with this tune and precision turbo than when I was running a stock turbo with basic Unleashed tune from americanmuscle. I switched to a local tuner recently who has me around 22psi. I am planning on getting it on a dyno, but my car hasn’t felt as quick as it did when I dyno’d it before the gasket blew, so as soon as I can get it on a dyno I will post about it. There is a lot more to my story but I am trying to highlight the more important points. I originally decided to upgrade my turbo, and suspension when I was deciding between upgrading the car or trading in for a GT; I test drove a 2018 and 2017 and thought my car with stock turbo and basic Unleashed tune was more fun and powerful than a stock GT, and I liked the idea of getting “520” hp (as advertised on the turbo); all the headache and issues and the fact that my car seems like it is performing less than when I had stock turbo makes me regret ever touching the turbo. I also would like to mention that my precision turbo was leaking oil when it was first installed and I had to send it back to turbnetics to rebuild it I had to pay all install costs. I sent the author of the article and turbonetics e-mails with my displeasure in their product and the misleading descriptions of the product concerning performance, turbonetics didn’t reply and the author/product pushed blamed me as previously described. Yes you can obtain a lot of power but expect to blow engines and gaskets. I find that there are a lot of product pushers out there who all claim to really have “R&D”, which there might be some setups with final success after much failure. But it seems to me that you need constant maintainance and datalog monitoring to make sure these things won’t go out on you. Additionally, side note, I have had a bad ground and after reading some of these posts I may need to move my WMI grounds. I am hearing also some people say the WMI is ruining these engines and is worthless. For an ecoboost mustang all you need is a good sounding exhaust and an exciting tune like from Unleashed or adamtuned; you want more reliable power get a coyote. My local tuner does have my car fun right now just the transmission strategy is very conservative; my tuner is good and safe; I will get dyno numbers and he will work safely with me to attain as much power as possible, but am sure will be comparable to stock turbo numbers, my current new tuner thinks my car feels like it is at 400rwhp, I will use the same dyno as before to help compare, I honestly would be happy where I was with the dyno at 349rwhp last August before the gasket blew. From the moment I installed the turbonetics turbo I have had issues and have wasted thousands of dollars! Unless you have copious time and resources, I wouldn’t bother with going aftermarket turbo on an ecoboost mustang. Unleashed and a local tuner are the only tuners I have used. From research and conversation PD tunjng and Adamtuned are good too. I only communicated with Adam to discuss the specs of the precision turbo, the issues I was having, and some of his products, he never calibrated my vehicle. I highly recommend Unleashed tuning from experience. Since I have access to someone local I prefer to stick with that, and he has some safety nets in play for me, like if my water meth pump goes out in the middle of a hard run; and he can help me trouble shoot in person. I am still considering using PD tuning and/or adamtunded, but want to work with my local guy more before I jump ship and wast more money again.
OK, let me share with you guys the problem that I run into.

About 3 to 4 weeks ago, I started hearing a noise everytime on part throttle, between 3500 and 4000 rpm on gear change (either on D or S). Initially I thought it was an issue with the transmission. I took the car to a friend of mine who is a mechanic and he told me that this noise is detonation! This got me worried.

A couple of days ago, on Saturday, I took the car for a long drive, about 210km each way. An Audi started following me at 180kph (112mph), so I did a wot to show him some real muscle (lol). The Accessport was connected on the car, because I was monitoring knocks on cylilders 1 to 4 and ignition timing correction on cylinders 3 and 4. During that wot I noticed a major negative correction on cylinder 3 (-6.5). So next I decided to do a datalog while on the highway and I did another wot. At around 220kph (137mph), the car went to limp mode and the AP recorded multiple knocks on cylinder 2 and 3...

The datalog was sent to my tuner who told me that the headgasket is probably staring to go. I changed the spark plugs, just to rule them out, but I still had detonation on gear change at 3500 to 4000 rpm. Apart from this detonation, the motor feels fine, like before.

I took the car to the dealership and they will install the JE Pro Seal headgasket and ARP headstuds next week.

I believe that the stock block cannot take the extra power even of a drop-in turbo. I had a near-ecoboom experience and I was lucky enough to avoid the worst... If you want my advice, an upgraded headgasket and headstuds should at least be installed alongside the PTE or any other drop-in turbo. Although forging the engine with upgraded pistons and rods would be the ideal way to go.

However I would like to hear your ideas on the above. What could be the cause of the detonation that I hear on gear change at part throttle between 3500 and 4000 rpm? And why do I get knocks on cylinders 2 and 3? Is it really the headgasket?

I appreciate the input. Also this is the link to the datalog I referred to above:

@Juben @Glenn G
t
 
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Thatguy

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My NX2 turbo arrived late yesterday afternoon so I installed it, loaded the base tune then did the first two data logs today.

It took just under two hours to put the front of the car on jack stands and remove the stock turbo. It took a little longer than that to install the new one. As I read through the installation instructions I noticed that it said - Install the provided new studs (31504 )to the new turbo using a stud installation tool. I didn’t have a stud installation tool and buying one was going to delay the project so I screwed the studs in as much as I could by hand then used one of the nuts to finish them off. Another thing was I needed a T35 Torx bit. Everything I has was around 35 but I didn’t have that one. Neither did any of the stores I went to last night. It would be used to loosen a bracket that holds the two coolant lines. I very carefully tried a T30. That worked.

A few other notes from the install -

There’s an oil drain line on the bottom of the turbo. I got it off of the stock turbo but didn’t think I’d be able to get it onto the NX2 after it was installed. The instructions say to install it after the turbo is bolted on. I ended up sliding the turbo onto the four studs then installing that line. That allowed me to move it around enough to fairly easily get the line in the bottom.

The next thing was the down pipe. I was doing the install myself. An extra set of hands would have come in handy for those. I slid a floor jack under the pipe so I could get it close to the flange. One foot would push down on the jack handle to lift the pipe up a little if I needed it. Are tools would have come in handy to tighten those nuts. It’s tight back there.

And last, I was using an Airaid intake tube. The NX2 comes with two adapters. One for the stock tube and another for what they call popular 3” intakes. The Airaid is 3.5” so neither of those would work. I installed the stock tube for now then ordered 3.5 inlet and outlet Spectre coupler. Part # 95611. It will be here tomorrow.

So now I’m looking forward to getting a few tune revisions in to see how it goes.
 

mJolnir

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You are 100% correct; these stock engines are not made for “big turbo’s” and I have had mechanics say the “built engines” Don’t support the power either. I have 2016 Eco Premium with auto trans. I have MRT race cat turbo-back exhaust, Steeda suspension, American racing wheels (staggered big with Nitto 555G2’s), Sno performance, WMI, Mishimoto oil catchcan, Turbosmart BOV (re-route, not to atmosphere), CPE Race intercooler, Roush Cold Air Intake. Unleashed tuning was calibrating my vehicle and we dyno’d it around mid August 2018, with 93 octane it was putting down 328rwhp (southern louisiana heat and humidity keep in mind)...................................................................
t
Sorry to hear about your experience i dont know if it can be done on 93 as i dont have 93 here its 89 or 100 on the pumps, the stock fuel system will do a glory dyno pass at 390wph without water injection, but when racing at the track the hpfp will loose pressure on gear change, if you want more power after that you are going to need aux fueling. 31 psi seems to be near the limit of what the nx2 turbo will do, after that you will get higher psi on the midrange and it will drop down to 31 psi.

I think the nx2 turbo is a great turbo for ecoboost owners that will never go forged and port injected, at the power my clients are using their cars they will outrun most bolt on GTs both on the street and the track, i do make them aware that they are very close to the engine limits and that reduced engine life is to be expected.
 

Thatguy

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Last night I sent over data logs for my base tune. I received revision #1 this evening so I loaded it into the AP then went to my "testing area" to do two more 3rd gear pulls. This tune woke the car up! Looking forward to see what it's like after more revisions.
 
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Thatguy

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Has anyone done any testing to see what the best shift points are with this turbo?
 

lawrencecar

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Last night I sent over data logs for my base tune. I received revision #1 this evening so I loaded them into the AP then went to my "testing area" to do two more 3rd gear pulls. This tune woke the car up! Looking forward to see what it's like after more revisions.
What are your HP/TQ (assuming you capture those on the AP) ?
 

Thatguy

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What are your HP/TQ (assuming you capture those on the AP) ?
I haven't been monitoring the HP/TQ on the AP. I did for a little while but it's not accurate.
 

lawrencecar

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i cant imagine the performance you will see with the new turbo after tune is completed. I just added a 12 psi wastegate and updated PD tune. It is wicked fast.
 

Eco206

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I haven't been monitoring the HP/TQ on the AP. I did for a little while but it's not accurate.
So how has the turbo been for you? I just got mine and going to install next week.
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