Id agree most people underestimate the A Series. To make around that power target your going to need big revs and a cam that makes power up high in rpm, eg big duration/lift. Its common knowledge that with an NA engine the bigger the cam the more compression you can get away with running as the larger cam effectivelly lowers dynamic compression from overlap. Same thing applies to boosted engines, bigger cam more comp you can run. To me 8:1 seems a little low, maybe between 8.5-9:1 would work better with suggested bigger cam. What fuel you running, 98? What turbo manifold, try and stay away from a log style for bigger cams?

Were building a boosted a12 atm using parts laying around and on LPG. Just running a t25g from sr20, 270x300x76 fmic, prob just cast acls. Should do around 120kw atw on 20pound+. Will be running about 9:1 with cam around 230@50 on 114lsa.

I think the best money you will spend will be on the head, flow test before and after, chase every little bit you can, then run 25+psi with a good cooler. You will get good power from it prob suprise a few non believers!

Also for the record to give an idea, a while back i had an et pulsar, 100%std motor, t28, front mount, 3" syst, microtec etc did 140kw atw on 19psi.

I think you will find that a boosted a series will start breaking things but only when you can find traction. haha

first and second will be too low to load the engine up enough, It will be at full boost in 3rd that gearboxs and diffs will be running scared

i dont want to be pulling big revs 7500 should be good from what ive gathered from other peoples experiance with t3's on an a series is they tend to start boosting hard at about 3-4k so im aiming for the power range to be from 3500 all the way to 7.5k
yeh im having doubts but ill see what happens with the h165 if worse case senario happens ill use a h190
i dont think the gbox will blow
it will be a toyo celica 5 speed

h165 should be alright, but single spinning everywhere wont doit any favours. Im looking at the trd lsd conversion for the rear of mine and that should see me right with ~200hp. as long as its wheelspinning it should break stuff to much, haha, no traction no worries

I'm not doubting the reliability of our beloved A-series, i've absolutly hammered my A14 turbo and it hasn't done me any wrong so far(touchwood), it's just been the rest of the drive line that has let me down at this stage. I run it normally at 12psi have had it at 18psi but thats when it started to ping a little, so i quickly wound the boost back to 12 and it hasn't missed a beat.

If there something i've learnt over the years is the more you do to an engine the more can go wrong, espeically if the motor wasn't designed to be an ultra high performance unit. I think it would be much more easier with a E15T, A-series box bolts up apart from one bolt hole which is an easy fix with a drill and tap.Look at Matt1k's ute, he has installed an E15 in his ute, it should be easy to get engineered and regoed seeing that its only a 1.5Lt. But what ever floats your boat i surpose!

I'm interested to know more about the E15 head on the A-series block that D mentioned in an earier post.

make sure you get the motor balenced

um?
why would i spend so many thousands and what not and not get the motor balanced??? if you bothered to read the specs im pretty sure i said everything would be balanced

Stay away from xf sized throttle bodies except for drag applications, far to large for little 1.4L engine. A 1/4 throttle will feel/act like full throttle and if you open throttle further you wont feel any gain as you will be flowing max air at 1/4 throttle. Perhaps something around 50mm would be better, like a 2litre camira throtle body or even rb30.

ok cheers mate
ill ask my engine builder about it
the specs i have given are what i want
still asking him about stuff
motors at his place soo sometime it should be stripped then start getting prepped

How did you go with you custom pistons? Who is doing them for you? If you are still looking, JE make good pistons. That where i got my A series pistons from anyway.
Might pay to order 5, incase you damage one you dont have to wait 8 weeks for another.

For rods, i was happy with Crower H beams. They will make them however you want.