White Kia Sportage soft-top with a roll cage, front clip off, outside in the snow on 35s
Builds / Turbo Kia Sportage
Custom Turbo • Build in Progress

Turbo Kia Sportage

A first-generation Kia Sportage being rebuilt nut and bolt: the frame stripped, primed, and painted, with a custom turbo setup and 3-link suspension going back on it.

The Sportage is the only vehicle in the USA to come with the legendary Mazda FE3N 2.0L 16V, which is basically a big block BP engine. This one is a full build: a fully built head, a custom turbo conversion with a Garrett G25 and a Haltech Elite 2500, a custom 3-link suspension, and a nut-and-bolt restoration underneath it all.

Everything on a body-on-frame truck trusts the frame, so the frame came first. In spring 2022 the body came off and the engine came apart, all the way down to the bare block. In July 2022 it came down to bare structure, got cleaned and prepped, went into primer, and then into a gloss black finish on stands, with the mounts and brackets checked along the way. Everything else gets built on top of something straight and solid.

From there it started coming back together. In September 2022 the cage bars went into the cab. In January 2023 the turbo manifold was on the bench, and in March 2023 the 2.0 DOHC 16V got a fresh red valve cover and went on the stand with the turbo mocked up. Now it’s back on its own wheels and tires outside the shop, front clip still off.

The engine

Engine
Mazda FE3N 2.0L 16V
Head
Fully built by Carlquist Competition Engines, with Supertech valves, guides, keepers and locators, ISKY racing springs and ARP head studs
Bottom end
Stock, kept for torture testing (proven reliable up to 500hp)
Turbo
Garrett G25 turbocharger on an SR20DET tubular manifold, modified with a laser-cut exhaust manifold flange from Lynx Fab (NZ), with a TiAL MVR external wastegate
Intake
Lynx Fab SR20DET-to-FE3 intake manifold adapter, with an Outsider Garage DBW adapter to fit a 74mm Bosch throttle body
Fuel
Radium fuel rail and Deka injectors
Ignition
Audi R8 coil conversion, designed and manufactured in house
Sealing and plumbing
Custom MLS head gasket from Gaskets To Go, a new oil pan welded for the turbo oil return, and water pipe bungs welded in for turbo cooling
Engine management
Haltech Elite 2500

This one is still a build in progress.

Photos

White Kia Sportage soft-top with a roll cage, front clip off, outside in the snow on 35s Door opening of the Kia Sportage showing the full roll cage, seat and steering wheel Wide front view of the assembled chassis under the lift with the body shell above, September 2023 Assembled Sportage chassis with the engine installed, top-down front view, September 2023 High front view of the Sportage chassis with the engine installed, September 2023 Rolling Sportage chassis with the engine, turbo and blue cam belt installed, September 2023 Kia 2.0 DOHC 16V turbo engine on a red engine stand with a white turbo and blue cam belt B3 Performance coil bar mounted on the red Kia Motors valve cover Kia Sportage interior in the shop with the roll cage, driver seat and rear seat Roll cage tubes and the pedal box area inside the Kia Sportage, mid-build White first-generation Kia Sportage on new wheels and tires outside the shop, front clip still off Turbo exhaust manifold runners on the bench The Sportage as it came in Body off the frame, on stands Engine down to the bare block Cam gear, engine apart Sportage frame in gloss black Sportage frame in primer Painted frame on stands
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