awesome advice above ^^^ there was me thinking I was going to have to type all that out, but XS man has done it for me
The only thing I'd disagree with, is that FWD can't handle the torque, that sounds like a man who's recently bought a quattro to me
FWD cars CAN handle the torque, however, the reality of it is, you need an LSD to get the most from it.
My AGU ko3S build costs were very similar to the above as well, over £2k when finished.
All things CAN be done on a budget, but it really depends how good you are at spotting bargins, and how mechanically minded you are.....
To throw some light onto the 'budget' end of the spectrum, you COULD do a ko4 for a lot less.
Typical price on ED38 for a full ko4 setup is £4-500, for that you'll usually get the turbo, manifold, and fluid lines. A second hand silicon TIP would typically be about £50 2nd hand, £30-50 for a VR6 MAF, £100 for some Saab red top injectors, then you just need a downpipe. and exhaust, second hand Cat backs tend to be £150-250, and maybe £150 for a DP/Decat.
Throw that lot on, and go to one of the cheaper mappers, maybe £400 for a custom map, and you're looking at £1300-1500 all in, for a realistic 250-260bhp.
THe one advantage of doing something like that, is you're not pushing the ko3S to it's limits. Having done 2 KO3S cars now, I wouldn't try to take one beyond 220bhp again. My daily drive runs 224bhp from a stage 1 map with a Downpipe, and it's brilliant. it just runs and runs and makes great power.
My track car has a stage 2 ko3S, and HAS previously made 238bhp, but it's absolutely thrashing the balls off the turbo, and a result, it killed it's first turbo, and now, 2 years later, the second turbo is well and truly dying, with the housing being full of HUGE cracks due to the insane heat generated by running it flat out. As a result of this, the turbo is now highly inefficient, and it now makes 208bhp. The last turbo made 238 when first mapped, then when it died power dropped to 197, new turbo bolted on, and power was back above 230, and it's slowly been dropping ever since!
a 'simple' Ko4 setup, mapped to sensible levels, should be more reliable and less highly strung than a flat out ko3S setup, and in my opinion, it'll be a nicer driving car due to the ko4's ability to hold some boost at the top end of the rev range. Somewhere us ko3S users don't get to explore
I was going to do a ko4 conversion, wanting to try and get 280bhp +, but I realised, going for 280 from a ko4 you're in exactly the same position I am again now, you're running it flat out, on it's limit.
Instead, I've now got a ko4 Hybrid, and high flow manifold that's previously made 338bhp at 22/23psi. I'm going to run it at a nice calm 18psi, and hopefully net around 300bhp whilst keeping things reliable.
I think it's worth stating that the use of the car does effect things too: my stage 2 ko3S that keeps killing turbos is on a track car, so it's used VERY hard. The same issues still apply on a road car, but over a MUCH longer time scale I'd think.
