I"M SUCH AN IDIOT!!! for the past year and a half i've been drooling over the only turbo kit for my 06' 4.6 , i dont know if you guys have heard of STS, they're the company that make rear mounted turbo kits... http://www.ststurbo.com/ford_f150 they're pretty awsome actually...
anyway, it just hit me, i've got a freshly rebuilt T3 from my z31 in my garage, and i've got all the tools and equipment to do all the piping and **** at my shop... it's time to play...

heres my question, the great thing about the T3 is it isn't water cooled, only oil, so no stupid water lines to run and fit, thing is i need to figure out the oil supply. STS taps into the oil pan and uses a small electric pump to move the oil(a turbo will do it on its own, just not long of a distance), i don't want to tap the pan, so, i've got 2 thoughts.

1st, just use a small oil catch tank as a resivior, mount it to the frame close to the turbo and let the turbo feed itself.

2nd, same concept, but use a small electric pump to feed the oil.

on my z31 the turbo draws it's own oil from the pan, and it's never had lubrication problems, so i'm leaning towards the 1st idea.

what do you guys think???

by the way, i'm going to have swanson do the tuning after, i was really happy with what he did for me already.
(sorry this was so long)

 

wasnt a long post at all


but yeah they all sound like good ideas

btw how much do you think all of this will cost?

 

when i blew the turbo a year ago it cost me 450 to do a complete rebuild on it... but i havnt got around to puting the Z back together, so i dont think it'll mind donating it to my truck. i'll probly spend about 150 on piping, (enough to have extra for when i screw up) i have a bender and welder at my shop, so no cost there, a good quality T3 flange is about 30, and swanson charges me 125/hr for tuning, so i figure around 300 for that, and as far as the oil supply, i have a 1ltr catch tank from my Z that i'll use as the res. and the feed and return lines will cost around 80 to get made... so all in all around 1100, sts sent me an email telling me that the intro price for the kit was 5670.... thats a huge difference...

 

What city is your shop in?

 

In Alhambra... we're at the end of the 710N, on Valley... we're just a repair and tire facility but it's also my little playground....

 

The welder is ours, the bender is actually down the street from us at our buddys shop, but he lets me use it all the time...

 

i've been trying to get the owner into selling upgrades, and mods... but he's a stupid **** and thinks it's too risky with money, and to much of a liability problem...

 

My only concern would be the size of the oil tank, and it's ability to disperse heat. If it's small and doesn't have much cooling effect, you're going to have issues. I personally would just tap the oil pan. It's not that big of a deal.

 

Go for it! You have access to all the right stuff. Should be cool!

 

i agree

 

if the oil temp will be an issue, i could use the small elec. pump, and just push it through a small radiator style cooler...

 

I did not know that a turbo could suck oil by itself to lube/cool the bearings. All the ones I have seen need a pressurized supply that needs to be properly adjusted so as to not cause a leak past the seals.

JMC

 

Could always use the cooler off an explorer power steering unit.

 

JMC... on my z31, the feed line comes from the bottom of the oil pan, and the return drops into the pan just above it and about 4" to the side. whats required to lube and cool the turbo depends in the location of the turbo, on a diesel truck, you run a pressurized oil line to the turbo, mainly because the turbo sits above or at level with the head(s), if gravity's downward force is in the right place, you do not require a pressurized lube system... like on my Z, where the turbo sits is just above where the block and oil pan meet.... it's a draw/return oiling system... which isn't the best.... but it works.. and fairly well... i dont plan on using a crazy huge turbo, or making a tone of HP or boost... the T3 i have will be good up to 14psi, but i dont plan on running more than 5-7, mainly cause i dont have the funds for bigger injectors...
one day yes, but not yet...

 

so you believe someone else who says they can budget them selfs to about the same that i said......or is it just because he hasa welder and bender(which i have too, i have 4 welders...) dgaf

nope they suck the oil up but need to be placed higher then the oil pan so that it can drain back, which is why sts needs oil pumps