Potential Nomad Turbo

[Olnorth]

Hi all,

I'm new to the Nomad, and was planning to supercharge an NA car. The issue is there is a 3+ month lead time to get it done at Ariel, and I am impatient (and also have a Euro trip coming up). I've been speaking to Steve at the factory about potentially turbo'ing it. I don't think anyone has done it yet, but would be looking to get the power as linear as possible, and not chasing big numbers, so looking at about 300-350bhp and get it to make some nice wooshy noises!

Can anybody see an issue with this? Do you think it would hammer the value as it's none standard? I don't want to ruin the changes of being able to sell the car on in the future. I wouldn't be able to get this done at the factory so would be using a local performance car specialist.

Thanks in advance.

[mynamesnotbob]

K24 handles forced induction well, and think the turbo nature would suit the Nomad hooligan nature personally. Plenty in the Civic/JDM world have turboed so its all be done before, just I guess not in a Nomad.

Might be worth checking with the US boys, as they seem to do these things before UK

As for value, with pretty much any modified car then it could have an impact, but more importantly it reduces the buyers base as many want factory spec. Nomad/Atom buyers are pretty thin on the ground (lots of people say the love the idea, few go through with it), so reducing that further would be a consideration.

[Olnorth]

Thanks for the reply. I do worry a little as I don't tend to keep cars for very long, but maybe this will be the one that gets under my skin and becomes a long termer... As you say, turbo on the K24 is tried and tested, and I think without going for high numbers it should be able to be mapped to be fairly linear. I like being a bit different, but also don't want to it to be sitting for 6+ months when I come to eventually sell it...

[mynamesnotbob]

If you don't think its a keeper long term, I'd probably shy away from going non factory for a major upgrade, purely from a selling perspective

It might be worth asking the factory if they would sell a turbo car on behalf of a customer, would give an idea as to how much they think the market would tolerate.

This above is purely from a resale perspective though, from a purely conversion perspective it sound great fun!

[Olnorth]

Thanks. Although the factory like the idea, they confirmed they wouldn't sell it, as it's not standard. I think I'm going to go for it anyway - You only live once right!

[mynamesnotbob]

Excellent - keep sharing the updates. Are you doing the conversion yourself or outsourcing?

[Olnorth]

Will be outsourcing - there are a couple of really good local performance car specialists will will be able to do a great job. The main goal will be getting it done as well as possible and keep it reliable.

[StephenCM]

What news on this?
Did you get it done?

[Jamier27]

Answer is yes, verdict is unknown as of yet…

[Olnorth]

What news on this?
Did you get it done?

I sure did! It got a base map yesterday and I get it back next week. Can't wait! I made Pistonheads thread about it here,

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/top ... &t=1987428

This is what it looks like at the moment (The spare wheel is still to fit, and the intercooler and mount will be painted black)

[IanG]

Saw the car yesterday
It looks amazing
It’s only running mineral boast at present and still pushing out 300 plus

[Olnorth]

Saw the car yesterday
It looks amazing
It’s only running mineral boast at present and still pushing out 300 plus

Thanks Ian! It's currently on it's way back to me ahead of a Spain / Portugal trip at the weekend. Can't wait to get out in it. I've been really impressed with the quality of work from Hard Knocks.

[Billyb]

Brilliant, and a great write-up on PH. Have a fantastic trip.