Well i have all the parts to start on my simple turbo system for my f150 4x4 setup. Going to be a set of my custom headers in the truck out of 304 stainless. Only part left to get is some 4.6 liter head flanges then i will have the headers made up and ready to go.

Turbo will be a t-66 p trim setup from turbonetics (got it used for a good price)
wastegate is a turbonetics race gate (for my power wants more than enough)
Will all blow through a nice air-air intercooler system.

Should put the snap in the truck after the build is done (fitting 37's to the truck baja flares etc... gonna be a fun summer)

Steven

 

zturboo,

If a guy already had
a chip that could be dyno tuned; and
42 lb. injectors
90 mm MAF
highflow in-tank fuel pump

.........I guess a guy would only need the turbo head unit, tubing, exhaust manifold and waste gate, and a device to determine boost levels, etc. made to fit their application? I have a 99' F-150 4.6 and I just sent you an email. My email is jason5761@yahoo.com

 

What would be manditory in a turbo system...

set of headers, turbo, wastegate, downpipe, oil lines for the turbo. (intercooler not manditory but I would recomend it cause there is plenty of room for one.

I am adding a boost gauge cause it is a simple tell tail to make sure you are where you want to be. Other piece I am adding is a EGT gauge setup.

There is lots of room in our trucks to cram in a set of headers, turbo and intercooler and then i will be trying out a fmu and see how it works out for me.

I will check my mail.

Steven

 

First, a boost gauge IS mandatory as unlike superchargers where boost is regulated by a pully, Turbo's need a boost controller if boost is not regulated by the on board computer (obviously, you NEED a controller, these are available in elctronic (probably dificult to install in an aplication like this) and manual types, manual is a lot less expensive and is fairly easy to install and adjust, with the MBC turned down, you run the vehicle WOT see what you boost gauge reads, open up the MBC a little a repeat untill you get to the desired boost level. You need a boost gauge to do this. You need a Blow off valve as well, lest you blow off the waistgate. You must have a I.C. that is not an option unless you want to replace your turbo on a monthly basis, the more COOL air going threw it the better and the faster you will spool up your turbo. The hoses to The I.C. should also be as short as possible. All in all I would not do this, I would (and will) Supercharge. I have owned and upgraded turbo's for about 6 years and its hard enough to get everything right when it is designed for that specific vehicle, to do this is possible but I dont see it being very efficiant and you will have some major lag with that turbo, you wont see much if any power untill 2500-3000 RPM but if you insist, you will have an experiance anyway! good luck

 

ZTurbo, I should have looked, you obviously have experiance with turbo's in your other cars, so I apologize If I came of sounding like I was telling you how to put your truck together, good luck, Iwouldnt want to take it on!

 

No worries 99 Lariet if I mispoke then correct away...

A guage probably should be used once i set my wastegate though i never look at it again.

A boost controller is not manditory you can set your wastegate at whatever you want manually and let it be. I personally prefer this so the bubba syndrome doesn't come into effect... . (Bubba syndrome= Hey bubba wanna go? Sure Billy Ray you know I ain't skeered!! Bubba plays with in cab boost controller and lines up with Billy Ray. They leave Billy ray is left in the dust for the first 60 feet then Bubba's motor is in pieces in the oil pan.

Hey Bubba what happened, don't know must be this pos turbo system. All I did was crank the boost up and it **** on me. Im gonna go back to stock dang pos turbo system..). This is the reason I do not run a boost controller inside my car only the race car. If you get into adding a boost controller you can start off with the bleeder style like turbonetics sells and a few other (basically an air compressor bleed valve for pressure reg) Up to the HKS top of the line wizzie piece. (I have a Innovative turbo boost controller in the race car.)
Actually at the boost pressure levels we are talking about putting on one of these trucks the most you will need is a bosche blow off valve and only really when you have a manual. Me personally I do not know if I will run one but do have a few laying around, and knowing me I will put on one.
Honestly it is not manditory with 10-12 psi to start where i personally am going to put my truck at it would be like a s trim blower on there and they run those without. I have a small intercooler I am using, if in hotter areas deff would use one though to quench detonation. Would recomend one though.

Actually the intercooler has nothing to do with cooling the turbo itself and will have no effect on it as the intercooler goes after the turbo between the turbo and the intercooler. It cools the compressed air.
Very true this helps building boost fast cause there is less air to compress just like a supercharger likes.

I like s/chargers as well but personally prefer a turbo as it will generate more tq than a s/c usually and torque makes a vehicle soo much fun.

I am using a small exhaust housing for quick spool and with the v8 there should be no problems hitting boost down low. Turbo is sized for my setup and should be an animal when together. The headers are going to be equal length primaries going into a y pipe that will feed the turbo which i have been looking at where to shove it for looks and function.
Thanks a million it will be a blast, I do enjoy doing this stuff and have been for a while now. I am not shooting for alot of hp really but wanting to make around 450-500hp down the road with the new SHM engine setup.

Steven

 

I WANT ZTURBOO'S F-150 TURBO SYSTEM RIGHT NOW!!!!!

 

"Actually the intercooler has nothing to do with cooling the turbo itself and will have no effect on it as the intercooler goes after the turbo between the turbo and the intercooler. It cools the compressed air. "
You are right and wrong I think. Yes, It does cool the air (hot gases produced by the engine and aditionally heated by the turbo and exhaust heat as well as the ambiant heat outside), these gases or air are reinjected into the turbo and that forces the air back into the combustion chamber, more air allows for more gas and a larger explosion thus more power) the hotter these gases, the less effent burn (the entire reason for ram chargers, cold air filter systems etc. This results in more lag time, and less boost and power your turbo will produce. If you have no I.C. your turbo will VERY quicky become saturated and you will get dramaticly lower boost levels after the first time you put your foot into it. (first run This is why many people have tryed ice on there I.C. (especially at the track) as well as cold water injectors spraying on the I.C. I had duel fans on either side of mine (pusher and a puller) this helped with air flow. My boost controller was in the engine compartment and after inital dialing in I didnt mess with it but the boost gauge did tell me VERY quick if there was a problem somewhere. Simple needle and ball types work well. I also disagree that you wont need a BOV, yes, I do agree that less than say 10 lbs boost you can have a simple basic BOV but above that I wouldnt leave home with out it 8^) (my age is showing) Super chargers are great off the line (better than turbo's because of lag) but top end power and the big power numbers are acheved better with turbo's BUT there is a trade off, a smaller turbo will give you much less lag, faster spool up and thus off the line. A larger turbo will give you the BIG horsepower numbers and great power at say 4k rpm and up, this will allow you to cruise at 140 mph but they take a week to spool up (slight exageration but not much) 8^) and by that time an S.C. truck is 1/8 mile ahead of you. This is why most dual or twin charger set ups have a small and a large wheel, small for off the line, larger for top end. A T66 turbo is a fairly decent sized turbo which leads me to my estamate of 3K spool up, (actually that would be good, 3500 is probably more realistic) I think your manifold will not help as much as you think, This is not so bad in a 4 cylender high rev engine but in a V8 that will take a while to get there, plus your power band will be higher yet. I am no engineer but for my money, a high and fast revving engine (typicle 4 cylender bennifits greater with a turbo, a lower revving V8 should do better with an S/C (with the possible exception of adjustable cam/timeing engines like the VTEC, there power is so high in the RPM range that they are perfect platforms for S/C's Actually, I would like to see someone do a twin charged S/C and a large Turbo, now that would be great off the line AND great top end! 8^)

 

First off I am not trying to talk down, I do know a fair amount about turbos cause of racing them for many years now. (ie my drag car makes 1375 fwhp on a conservative 20 psi which is lower than what I race it at now. (it is air-water intercooled)
Last street setup on my camaro made 503 rwhp and 619 rwtq with a t-62. boost was instant and carried all the way across the tach at 12psi went to a larger turbo *t-72Q trim turbo and cranked up to 17 psi and made 695 rwhp. picked up power but lost top end cause manifold design was built for a smaller turbo system and choked the turbo at higher rpms with mass amounts of exhaust.
83-84 regal turbos were not intercooled (called hot air cars..) Stock. No alchy no intercooler etc...
Second the heat from the exhaust does not effect the compressor side very much as there is very little that joins the two pieces. (center section and shaft)
I am not sure what you are talking about as you are loosing me with this comment maybe it was worded wrong but the track of a turbocharger is... I am not running a sequential turbo system like they use on the tractor pull tractors (3-4 turbos ran in series with manifold pressures exceding 200 psi.) needless they don't circulate the exhaust gasses into the compressor side you vent them to the atmosphere.

exhaust gasses out of headers or manifolds and then through turbo then out the downpipe to atmosphere.

Intake comes in the inlet side is compressed and forced towards the intake whether if a intercooler is present from the turbo to the intake (does not route back into the turbo..)

right side is compressor side of the turbo left is exhaust side

just curious but, Have you driven in a v8 powered turbo car or truck . The reason I say this is cause there is not much lag with a v8 there is so much exhaust flow that it will spin up rediculously fast. After 3 systems on various street cars gives me this thinking cause I have done it with a v8 before and will again I am sure after this setup.


For the dual housing size turbochargers that idea has been basically thrown out in the last 6-7 years cause the dual sized housings honestly just don't work right and ballance a turbo system. You don't want one restriction on one side of the engine and a seperate restriction on the opposite.

How so, with primaries of the correct size it will actually help spool up, being a free flowing setup, but still considering velocity of the exhaust pulses. The thing that confuses me though is I have not posted a picture of my trucks headers since they have just been getting laid out. swapping out from a log manifold to a header system on my old street setup i gained 65 rwhp just from the headers no other mods, talking about gains in header designs. In a v8 app i feel a single t-66 is quite reserved for my power wants. If I was talking about a t-76 setup with a 1.20 a/r ratio exhaust housing then that would be another thing.

Granted in the end I am not going to sit here and argue what I know and don't know about what I have done and will do with a turbo system. I just figured some might be interested on here. I do build my own turbo systems and they do perform.

ps. my twin turbo race car now runs twin t-66 stealth turbos at 30 psi roughly give or take depending on traction and the track the turbos spool up before 4000 rpms and it is only a 347ci sbc motor. If built right it will perform correctly. If I am racing someone I am on boost before I move which is very simple. (even with a manual or a transbraked car have run both not including a regular auto as they are too easy to spool up push brake floor on boost.) funny thing is I have never raced the truck nor ever will its just another lil toy to see what i can do myself.

Steven

 

zturbo.
sounds like the truck is your daily driver, that you tow the race car with? do you have any concerns with having the truck "down " while parts are fabricated, testing and tunning?

whats your budget for this project?

could the stock exhaust manifolds be altered or flipped around? seems like that since it is for a truck, that top end power is not on the top of list and low to mid range power is more important.

it is hard to understand why gm had such success with the GN that they dont make more turbo vehicles. i guess that if you a layout or an existing add on kit that you could duplicate it but it is not something that would be easy to duplicate with out a lot of time and a nice chuck of change. kind of like when you watch monster garage. you would need a team of guys with fab skills and a full blown fab shop, mills. lathes. a tube bender and a industrial band saw.

"ie my drag car makes 1375 fwhp on a conservative 20 psi which is lower than what I race it at now. "

is that front wheel hp?

 

I have a stealth that i can drive while it is down and if something happens to that can always break out the race car, is plated and gets 20+mpg. So i won't be without a car. As for towing it will not tow anylonger as I am getting a dedicated f350 for towing the race car. Fabrication will take approx a week on the truck since i ordered a mockup block and heads to use to fabricate on the workbench to sort it all out once it is laid out.
Budget is not huge but will spend if needed. Have most of the parts from other projects that were upgraded so in all reality i am not spending much and have stainless tubing from building headers on other cars. If i didn't have the parts it would be about 3-3500 depending on parts i find or buy. Could actually build a new system for close to that.
The problem with welding cast iron is it is stick welded and must be heated up the cooled down slowly. Only way i would personally do it, if it would work flipping the manifolds over is to make a y pipe in the front and use it that way but I do not like doing that personally.
One problem they had was they did not want to turbocharge the vette and gm insists that it has to be the most powerful car they make (buick pushed there luck with the gnx cause it made more hp than the vette did and was faster.)
Making a duplicate kit of a system is not hard its just figuring out the small things that have to be certain places and how they run the parts. Cost can be kept down with finding parts slowly looking on boards and being choosy to find good deals for quality parts.

Actuallly the tube bender is not used on a stainless turbo system (unless you have a true mandrel bender that costs a ton cause you need smooth bends I personally buy u bends and go from there with them.) A turbo system just takes a thinking of your trying to make it all flow to a certain point and not to kink things up.
Fly wheel hp. It is on a engine dyno.

 

Very interesting. Keep us posted. Make sure you take pics during install.
Thanks
Jes

 

how is the project going?

 

Project is going good, finished all the suspension stuff I wanted to do to the truck minus diff shocks just using the ones that came with the kit for now. Put the new wheels and tires on the truck and been building the headers on the mockup engine when I have free time. Just need a few 2.25" U bends for the finishing up of the Y pipe for the turbo.

I am still reading on what is the simplest tuning method on the 4.6 engine.
Pictures of the build are being kept on my web site for the truck..
Have not taken any of the turbo system cause it is not finished and won't take till its on the truck and make sure all works and fits.
Pictures of the truck
Steven

 

lift and the tires look perfect!
to me it has that just right look of looking lifted but also looking like you could off road it with out flipping over.