congrats on taking on the project i too will someday turbo my truck, how do you plan on running the exhaust? are you gonna run from the stock manifolds up to the front? or fab new headers?

 

i'm pretty much going to replicate the STS kit... to i don't have to screw around with the manifolds, and so i dont make anymore heat under the hood... http://www.ststurbo.com/ford_f150 these guys have been making rear mounted turbo systems for some time now, and the numbers are impressive... the F150 page doesnt have any pics other than the dyno chart... so look at how the GM pick up pics are, or the dodge pics... all u do is use a small diameter intake plumbing so that you dont lose boost due to volume, and minimize turbo lag, plus, with the intake plumbing being so long, you almost get an intercooled effect, long lengths of piping with air from the road runnig along it under the truck helps cool air charge temp...

 

Well...first of all, I would get over being scared of tapping lines in to your oil pan. If it worries you that much, go get a used pan from a local junk yard and tap it. Once you are satisfied it is sealed up and all the shavings are cleaned out, just swap it with your current pan.

Concerning oil flow, I would definitely use a pump to move the oil from the pan to the turbo. Hoping proper oil flow will happen over that far of a distance is questionable at best in my personal opinion.

One more thing, are you absolutely sure all STS changes is the diameter of the inlet pipe? I know their website claims their turbos are custom built for their application to help eliminate turbo lag. I would think this might have something to do with a change in the vane angles...possibly even and change in ratio from one side of the turbo to the next. I could be completely wrong, but I would definitely check it out. I have read about people who made their own rear mounted turbo system after learning about STS and suffered horrible lag and driveability issues because they just bolted on a standard turbo.

Just my two cents,
Mike

 

since your doing a rear mount id deffinatly use a pump no matter what you do, i personally would tap the pan....

 

Is this a picture of your setup?

JMC

 

that looks like a T28... from 86-88... slightly smaller and water cooled... alot of the 84-85's had these due to the T3 failing... when they were replaced, nissan advised repair shops to use the t28... nissan also replaced the failed t3's with the t28's

 

But does that picture represents what you were saying about your turbo?

JMC

 

Ok, just so that we are clear on turbo oiling. No turbo in existence can pump oil by itself to feed the the turbo bearings and gravity itself will not provide enough pressure to feed oil to the turbo bearings. You need a pressurized oil feed to the turbo. The return line from the turbo can use gravity if it is high enough to allow gravity to return the oil to the oil pan. If not you need to pump it back. The picture I posted shows a feed line circled in blue that uses pressurized oil from the engine and gravity returns the oil to the pan. STS uses pressurized oil from the engine to feed the turbo and a pump to send it back to the oil pan.

JMC

 

What I believe about his project had/has nothing to do with my asking him what city his shop is in.