turbo upgrades for 505 Turbo
From: jonmccurry (jonmccurry@hotmail.com)
Date: Sun 31 Mar 2002 - 01:01:42 EST
In talking extensively with turbo rebuilding/modd'ing companies
(including different bastards at Turbonetics that make the ball
bearing stuff and sell it primarily to other turbocharger
businesses), I have found that the ball bearing upgrade doesn't seem
to be worth the extra expense. It may cost as little as $400 but
might run you $1,200 or much more. A less expensive upgrade would be
to have ceramic compressor and/or exhaust wheels installed (as Joe
Grubbs suggested). In talking with the turbo people, these ceramic
wheels are much cheaper and more reliable (even more reliable than
stock since they are lighter and stress the bearings less!!), and it
helps reduce turbo lag much more than the ball bearing kit does-from
what I've been told on numerous occasions.
Apparently the ball bearing upgrade isn't all its cracked up to be.
They say failure rates are very high compared to a traditional
cartridge regardless of application, plus its expensive, and doesn't
reduce lag as much as less expensive (and apparently more reliable)
options like ceramic wheels.
They also informed me that the ball bearing is only for one side of
the cartridge. In other words, the compressor side and turbine side
will not both have ball bearings, only one side will (I can't
remember which one has and which one doesn't).
Another thing people have mentioned is changing to different
compressor and/or turbine wheels, to spool up quicker or allow higher
maximum boost. This is something I considered at first since its
very inexpensive (relative to other turbo upgrade options) and I
could tailor the attributes I wanted, such as less lag time, or
whatever. The bad thing about this sort of upgrade is that its
always a compromise. For example, you could get the turbo to spool
up at a lower RPM, but this would reduce the maximum amount of boost
possible. This isn't really a problem for the A/R 48 turbo (on
the '88 & up N9TEA) since it can hit 25PSI easily even at high RPM.
You could also modify the turbocharger to be able to obtain a higher
maximum boost level by modifying the wheels, but this would result in
the turbo not spooling up until a higher RPM (=more turbo lag).
These reasons make me consider the ceramic wheels only, maybe the
ball bearing if I stumble accross some extra $$, but not changing to
different compressor wheel or turbine wheel (or modifying the
existing ones).
The best place I have talked to so far is the place in Texas Joe
Grubbs mentioned before, but I have forgotten the name of, I think it
is www.turbochargers.com
PugNut.
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