Doc

Just curious, I'm about to order a new turbo and I was woundering exactly how hard it is to install and is it worth the money?

Thanks!

P.S. If you did go with a TEC Garrett Turbo... which one did you choose and why?

Danno

Count on 4-8 hours to replace the turbo. Depending upon how rusted and difficult the exhaust nuts and bolts are...

David J. Harrington

Danno, I bought a T04E-54 from jason at TEC a while back. I liked it because it was inexpensive, custom made to fit the 951, and uses up-to-date technology. The install was easy, nothing more involved than putting a stock turbo in, except for the water cooling. That stuff has to be fabricated (the water lines) but it is an easy affair. My problem was that when I sold my original k26, i left the adapter to fit the compression jointed water line (on the drivers side of the turbo). I haven't found anyone with metric plumbing stuff around here, so I haven't been watercooling it since I put it in (around Nov 2001). If anyone knows were to get it, I would be grateful.

The only sad part is that I have yet to tune the car. I put the turbo in, and fabricated a really strange intake to fit the much larger turbo inlet out of PVC and rubber toilet conversion boots(to go from one diameter to another. The whole thing is quite comical, and I should take a picture to give all of you a laugh. I have just been too busy to mess with my car.

However, despite not being tuned properly, the car is pretty quick (MUCH faster than stock). At 18psi, I can't get traction in first and second gear when it is floored. Third spins on cold days.

Luckily, this summer, I should have time to nurse my baby back. This is what I am planning on doing:

Rebuild engine with Garrity for 2.8L, put in stand-alone (SDS, Haltech maybe), get your CCWheels (10 and 11's), put LSD in the tranny (or swap to a 968 6speed), and finally paint the car (it's red now, but a nice blue has been intriguing me). My suspension is already fine, so that is one thing I don't have to worry about.

If you have any specific questions about the turbo, let me know. It doesn't smoke, and it actually spools up as fast as the k26 (more or less: within 100-200 RPM)

Dave

ken louie

Hey David I thought you were having John do you motor? Also do you know what your hot housing size is?

thanks
ken louie
86 951
79 930

Doc

OK David... I'm a little confused.
What's with the PVC, I too just spoke with Jason this morning and was told their Garretts are "straight bolt-ons" with the noted exception of the water line.

I must say I'm a bit concerned about the need to "fabricate" the water line without seeing what anyone else has done. There is nothing worse than going through all the trouble to upgrade something only to find out it's more work than it's worth. And frankly since my 951 is a "track ONLY" car, I don't want to risk running it WITHOUT the water cooling.

I helped a friend install a turbo from TEC about a year and a half ago and recall it was a pain in the ***, (even with the motor out of the car, in fact, I don't think we could have done it while it was IN the car.) ...Anywho... not to mention there was quite a bit of grinding of the housing, brackets and bolt heads necessary just to get it to fit, and THAT was a KKK hybrid.

Jason insures me that the Garrets are better and easier to install and that turbos with ball or ceramic bearings are, "worthless". In his words, "Just because you paint flames on any old car, doesn't make it fast". All in all I'm a bit skeptical.

THAT is the main reason for this post in the first place, and frankly, your descriptions has me somewhat concerned.

Can anyone else ease my concerns?

Thanks in advance!

keith

How much is this turbo?

OZ951

[quote] I must say I'm a bit concerned about the need to "fabricate" the water line without seeing what anyone else has done. <hr></blockquote>


Mine is the same turbo and coolant line setup, it IS a straightforward adaption. I'll try and get a pic today so you can see whats involved.

Wayne

David J. Harrington

Doc, I didn't mean to concern you

The PVC was needed because I am running the stock air meter. The factory rubber J-plenum has a turbo inlet size of 2 inches, much too small for my turbo's 3" inlet. Also, the ONLY reason mine isn't watercooled right now is because I gave away an adapter with my original turbo. As long as you keep it, you will be watercooled. I forgot to mention that I kind of baby the thing since it isn't watercooled. If you have MAF, then you won't need to think of anything to adapt to the larger inlet.

Here is the eact description and price on my invoice:

item number description price
103-153748K TA34/T04E 1029.00
TE-3454K

104361 360 degree 114.75
thrust bearing
w/ 18mm washer
piston ring seal

freight 22.00

Total: 1165.75

Hope this helps. Are you running MAF or stand alone?

David J. Harrington

Ken, I assume you are talking about Milledge. I never was really considering him. Price is a bit too high for me for what I need. Nice stuff though. As far as my hot housing goes, if the numbers in the above post don't tell you, then I am not sure. The outlet is bigger than a k26/8 and the housing is huge compared to the #8's housing.


Dave

OZ951

Here is a pic of the pipe joiner and threaded section I used to extend the coolant fitting so it would reach beyond the compressor housing.



I also modified one of the lugs on the compressor housing and replaced the throttle return spring arm bolts with rivets to provide additional clearance (easy job). There are pics of those mods on the bottom of the restoration page of my web site.

Cheers,
Wayne.

Russ Murphy

Thanks for the insight and pics Wayne. Doc, I've got a TEC garret hybrid coming, I'll be installing it Friday probably, if you want more details. I'm going with Jason's recommendation of a TO4E-46. It will support the hp I'm after and hopefully be a little more driveable than the bigger compressors I was looking at.

Doc

Hey guys, thanks for the info and picts... keep'em comin!

Russ, sounds good, keep me posted.

Thanks again!

951and944S

You can simply modify (grind), the housing where the coolant pipe "should" lay across the turbo.

<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Sure looks cool, when you polish and chrome surrounding components.
Hard to see, but the master cylinder sheild, upper coolant hardpipe, downpipe, and vacuum tree are all chromed or polished.....

ken louie

David, I meant John Anderson.

ken

Danno

Here's what I did with my turbo coolant pipe. Bent it up and around the compressor: