Skyactiv Remote Turbo Build

Any updates?

I have the part's to try two different oil drain set ups, however I am currently exploring a more ideal mounting position (that also will let me keep my current ride height).

I've ordered a smaller turbo that can hopefully fit back here without having to be disassembled (like my current one). I'm building an up pipe, subie style. Basically an up pipe takes exhaust gas and routes it into the turbo. It off the manifold exit, up through the right side opening, and I will have the turbo sitting over the mani. I will use existing blot holes to assist in supporting it. The downpipe (turbo exhaust to car exhaust) will be coming off the left side, However even with that catch can moved, I'm not sure I can get a 2.5 pipe in there (using minimal length of smaller pipe, so through there I may have to use a 2" pipe. I was going to just build a new mid section since it's just a straight 2.5 with a flange, but I don't want to try to rebuild all the hangers. Once I'm satisfied with the turbo op I will just cut the original pipe enough to connect the downpipe into it with a vband clamp, or two bolt flange. All that stuff will be wrapped and any hoses foil taped if needed.

Cover removed from mani, opens up a good amount of space




A U shaped pipe will go left of the mani flange, just right of the steering shaft. It will accommodate a 2.5" pipe with room.


Space where the up pipe will pass. I may end up replacing those shaped heater hoses with regular type so I can reroute them away from the up pipe.


Space where I anticipate the DP going. from rough testing the 2.5 pipe would not fit in there. I may be able to use a 2.0 pipe or 2.25 just to transition that area. The other though, which I probably wouldn't bother with was using a 1.5" splitter and using two 1.5" pipes to collect back into the 2.5. But that seems like extra trial and error/fabricaton unless I encounter an issue with the smaller section. That little black thing is the catch can, and I can reposition the bracket to move it more towards the left.



I cut the mani cover up so that i could still bolt the pieces back on in order to remove it. Otherwise, you can't. Also I wasn't even going to try to remove the 02. sensor to get it out; for one it's like cemented in there, and two it's liable to be broken, but also there is like no working room to even loosen it. I covered the cut areas with foil tape just to kind of fill the gaps when I have it installed.

My role model http://my350z.com/forum/forced-induction/552830-boosted-performance-single-turbo-fabrication.html

Chris_Top_Her said:

My role model http://my350z.com/forum/forced-induction/552830-boosted-performance-single-turbo-fabrication.html

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So when are you churning out the kits and software?

I wish I had 1% of that expertise!

Chris_Top_Her said:

I've ordered a smaller turbo that can hopefully fit back here without having to be disassembled (like my current one). I'm building an up pipe, subie style. Basically an up pipe takes exhaust gas and routes it into the turbo. It off the manifold exit, up through the right side opening, and I will have the turbo sitting over the mani. I will use existing blot holes to assist in supporting it. The downpipe (turbo exhaust to car exhaust) will be coming off the left side, However even with that catch can moved, I'm not sure I can get a 2.5 pipe in there (using minimal length of smaller pipe, so through there I may have to use a 2" pipe. I was going to just build a new mid section since it's just a straight 2.5 with a flange, but I don't want to try to rebuild all the hangers. Once I'm satisfied with the turbo op I will just cut the original pipe enough to connect the downpipe into it with a vband clamp, or two bolt flange. All that stuff will be wrapped and any hoses foil taped if needed.

Cover removed from mani, opens up a good amount of space


A U shaped pipe will go left of the mani flange, just right of the steering shaft. It will accommodate a 2.5" pipe with room.

Space where the up pipe will pass. I may end up replacing those shaped heater hoses with regular type so I can reroute them away from the up pipe.

Space where I anticipate the DP going. from rough testing the 2.5 pipe would not fit in there. I may be able to use a 2.0 pipe or 2.25 just to transition that area. The other though, which I probably wouldn't bother with was using a 1.5" splitter and using two 1.5" pipes to collect back into the 2.5. But that seems like extra trial and error/fabricaton unless I encounter an issue with the smaller section. That little black thing is the catch can, and I can reposition the bracket to move it more towards the left.


I cut the mani cover up so that i could still bolt the pieces back on in order to remove it. Otherwise, you can't. Also I wasn't even going to try to remove the 02. sensor to get it out; for one it's like cemented in there, and two it's liable to be broken, but also there is like no working room to even loosen it. I covered the cut areas with foil tape just to kind of fill the gaps when I have it installed.

Click to expand...

Chris you just made my day. I have been reading about you and your turbo build and I was very interested. I saw that you mounted the turbo via at the exhaust way at the end of the car instead of off the exhaust manifold. I was always wondering if there was enough room and a decent sized turbo to fit in the front. I figured the CX-5 has a decent amount of space to mount a FMIC and do the normal piping for a turbo. Just was a bit stuck on how to do the set up and all the piping, and of course I have never done a turbo install. Will be definitely following in your footsteps for this build. Im currently working on trying to get the Big Brake kit that CorkSport just came out with. 4 Piston Calipers can't wait! If only they made them in Yellow to match my theme.

Oh there is defintely room for a top mount or bottom. The issue is getting a manifold, and if you have AWD the pain to remove it

Chris_Top_Her said:

Oh there is defintely room for a top mount or bottom. The issue is getting a manifold, and if you have AWD the pain to remove it

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Yea, there is not really any turbo manifolds for the CX-5. It would have to be custom fabricated, that's why i'm interested in what your going to do. I was reading up that it's probably better to mount the turbo on a longer tube manifold because it allows more room for the exhaust gases to travel before reaching the turbo. Kinda like a buffer zone so there is no back pressure on the engine, just another smart thing to do to prevent knock.

My new (smaller) turbo came in, and fab started. The turbo fits behind the motor just by removing the compressor housing. Disassembled it, removed any factory oil/residue etc, replaced the exhaust side piston ring with a gapless type, heavily oiled it and put it back together. The exhaust manifold mid pipe flange is an odd spacing (which I can't seem to find as aftermarket), and the exhaust side of the flange is threaded as well. So I had to widen the holes on the flanges I bought, and see if these bolts I got from home depot will fit in the thread. The up pipe I have started will be a u shape to the left, up into the engine bay, then a right over the manifold. The manifold has some screw holes for the aluminum shield, which I will repurpose to attach a support bracket off the pipe. I may make a little bracket with a stiff spring welded in the middle to attatch to a stud on the firewall. The little t25 to 2.5" exhaust inlet flange I got has some conflicts with the bolts I bought (head is too wide), so I'm going to grind/cut the washer part down a little so the bolt clears the pipe opening. If not I'll just buy some that dont have a washer built in. Now that I got under the car, I may actually be able to get a 2.5 pipe through with clearance on the right side, meaning I can have a 2.5" downpipe, vs. a smaller sizing or split pipe for the exhaust. In order to avoid buying a bunch of pipe/hangers to replace the mid pipe, I'm just going to cut it aft of the 2nd cat in the stright area, and replace that short travel with either a stright pipe, or cheap cat with an 02 bung welded into it. Our 2nd o2 sensor is pre 2nd cat, so I don't have to worry about buying a cat with a bung hole. At least this way, I can utilize the oem exhaust hangers etc and save myself a bunch of fabrication. If I need to return it to stock, all I have to do is buy a 2.5" coupler and weld the OEM section back on. That would be the last thing to do anyways, since I don't need that to test the turbo. For trials, I'll probably jsut lower the exhaust enough to get the upipe by, or just remove it.

Chris_Top_Her said:

I have the part's to try two different oil drain set ups, however I am currently exploring a more ideal mounting position (that also will let me keep my current ride height).

Click to expand...

Have you abandoned the remote mount setup completely?
Seems to me like you were almost done?

I'm patiently waiting for your boosted CX-5 to come to life, but this new turbo mounting location seems like it'll add some time to your project.

What are you plans for dealing with the 4-2-1 exhaust header? Are you putting your up-pipe downstream from the 4-2-1? or in it's place?

Chris can you explain a little bit more on what you did to the exhaust mani in order for turbo to fit. Like what did you do wielding and fitting wise. It seems like you added a split of where the mani ends and have pipe going to thr cat and pipe going to the turbo is this correct? Also where did you get your turbo from.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

T.Winnick said:

Chris can you explain a little bit more on what you did to the exhaust mani in order for turbo to fit. Like what did you do wielding and fitting wise. It seems like you added a split of where the mani ends and have pipe going to thr cat and pipe going to the turbo is this correct? Also where did you get your turbo from.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

I didn't do anything to the exhaust manifold. I removed the top part of the heat shield by cutting it into 3 sections so I could pull it out from above after unbolting it. I am simply building a pipe coming off the manifold exit to the turbo instead of it leading into the catback exhaust system. I will build a downpipe off the passenger side of the the turbo and intercept the oem midpipe. I repurposed one of the shield bolt holes into a bracket mount.

Chris_Top_Her said:

I didn't do anything to the exhaust manifold. I removed the top part of the heat shield by cutting it into 3 sections so I could pull it out from above after unbolting it. I am simply building a pipe coming off the manifold exit to the turbo instead of it leading into the catback exhaust system. I will build a downpipe off the passenger side of the the turbo and intercept the oem midpipe. I repurposed one of the shield bolt holes into a bracket mount.

Click to expand...

Interesting so it still goes through the cat. So the exhaust exits the mani goes to the turbo. What happens after that??

Where is your turbo from?

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U off manifold


Mocked up


Left section will be cut on the straight section (just right of the 2nd cat) and replaced with a high flow cat and fabricated to accept the downpipe.

im assuming no internal work is needed... i like this project but how much more hp are you expecting.. im willing to try this if it does not need any internal work.

Been away from the site for a couple years and just chugging along with a whopping 9,800 miles in the last 3 years. Time for my first tire rotation.

Chris the last time I was lurking you had a flashed ECU that returned a 0-60 time of 7 seconds flat. Now a turbo is in your sights, so what are you trying to get, in the high 5 second range? Can the tranny handle it? Have you found a shift kit?

I didn't think the motor's high compression had enough head room for the extra 5 psi of boost, has someone else boosted their's too?

Glad to see your enjoying your ride!

Big_T said:

Been away from the site for a couple years and just chugging along with a whopping 9,800 miles in the last 3 years. Time for my first tire rotation.

Chris the last time I was lurking you had a flashed ECU that returned a 0-60 time of 7 seconds flat. Now a turbo is in your sights, so what are you trying to get, in the high 5 second range? Can the tranny handle it? Have you found a shift kit?

I didn't think the motor's high compression had enough head room for the extra 5 psi of boost, has someone else boosted their's too?

Glad to see your enjoying your ride!

Click to expand...

That was an aussie diesel guy and I think it was 6.0. Other skys have been boosted to +5 psi. Right now that's on hold while I address an issue that may be related to a faulty fuel pump, or faulty belt tensioner replacement