Turbo installation instructions

Most common issue we see is the ceramic ball bearing line of turbos and customers not running a restrictor. This is essential and must be used with this line of turbochargers. These can be found on our website. If you have any questions or think there is anything you have experienced that you feel we should add to this, please let me know.

I would like to keep this thread going so we can continue to help customers that are first timers and make it as smooth as possible. Tags: clock turbo , how to clock a turbocharger , On 3 how to , properly clock a turbo , properly clock turbo , save your turbocharger and follow the directions , turbo clocking , turbocharger clocking. If you are getting any boosted source to the crankcase that will pressurize it and leave the air with nowhere to go but out the drain line.

This will immediately back the turbo up and make it look like your fogging for mosquitoes. Do not block off or plug valve covers, this will also push oil directly through the turbo. Vibrant Performance offers polished aftercoolers for engines of to hp. Spearco division of Turbonetics, as well as many others, offers aftercooler manifolds sometimes called tanks to fit various applications.

They mate with heat-exchanger center sections for customized fits in unique applications where an off the shelf cooler may not be available. The Quick Check leak test kit from Av-Tekk, a commercial diesel charge-air cooler supplier, is a universal aftercooler test kit that fits most every size cooler inlet and discharge diameters.

Courtesy Av-Tekk. Ludwig Prandtl first defined the aerodynamic boundary layer principle in a paper presented in in Heidelberg, Germany. The understanding of this principle has become extremely important in the areas of turbines, aircraft wing design, meteorology, and heat transfer. Boundary layers are either laminar layered or turbulent disordered. In heat transfer the majority of the heat transfer to and from a body takes place in the boundary layer. Therefore, an aftercooler with completely open air tubes will have a much lower capability to reject heat due to the laminar flow, where the boundary layer would allow heat to be retained in the higher speed outer flow.

The outer flow is the specific reference to that portion of airflow farthest away from the bounding layer, which in our case would be toward the middle of the tube. The illustrations below show how air flows through an open tube and how the use of turbulators converts laminar flow into turbulent flow for increased heat rejection. Horsepower conveniently sizes aftercoolers.

Since you already know your horsepower goal from the compressor matching exercises see how valuable your realistic horsepower objectives are? However, there is the consideration of available space. However, you can imagine that the same cubic inch size of cooler with a larger frontal area will be a bit more efficient. With that said, simply choose a welldesigned cooler, rated for your horsepower level, that utilizes all of the frontal area available.

Be cautious not to go overboard on thickness. Typically, the bimetal spring on the fan clutch is calibrated to an air temperature that correlates directly to the coolant temperature in that particular vehicle. An aftercooler can cause a higher heat load and make the fan clutch think the engine is too warm and turn the fan on early. Since an engine-driven fan is typically the largest horsepowerconsuming device on the front of an engine, this can be significant.

If your vehicle has an electric driven fan, it is thermostatically controlled by a sensor located in the water jacket. Watch for adequate cooling with your temperature gauge; there may not be enough cooling reserve to properly cool the vehicle in warmer weather use with your new-found horsepower. If this proves to be a problem you can possibly address the situation by adding electric driven fans in front of the cooler to help address the pressure drop across both coolers, the aftercooler, and radiator.

An electric driven fan is still less efficient than an engine mounted fan because of the losses inherent in the alternator to produce the electricity, and the electric motor driving the fan. The most important consideration here is the control. The horsepower required for driving an engine-driven fan increases with the cube of the speed increase.

For example, a fan that takes 5 hp at 3, rpm will require 40 hp at 6, rpm! This is but one reason to eliminate the fan, but the other is safety. Fans are typically not rated to spin at the RPM levels competition vehicles run.

A fan blade burst is a potentially lethal event, so take precautions in this area. There are many sources for welldesigned aftercoolers in the performance aftermarket. They come in all sizes and shapes and rated horsepower capacities. Vibrant Performance even offers coolers with polished tanks to complete the highend look that compliments their line of polished boost tubes. Turbonetics likewise carries a wide array of coolers marketed under their Spearco brand.

Spearco is a long-time name in cooler technology and with perhaps one of the most complete lines of cooler products for boosted gasoline automobile engines. In addition to ready-made coolers, Spearco also carries a wide array of water-to-air coolers for racing applications. You can also get custom size coolers with a bar and plate design feature. Spearco also offers cooler manifolds for the do-ityourself fabricator.

Mounting your aftercooler is an important aspect relative to maintaining cooler integrity. A cooler can leak and a leak will cause poor performance indeed. Boost leaks are never good. Remember that an aftercooler is chassis mounted and gets very hot during its extreme thermal cycles. Torsion twists in the vehicle frame are part of high-horsepower life, allow for that. The mounting surface for the cooler must allow the cooler to sit square or flush with its mounting points and not be in a bind.

If your threaded fasteners pull the cooler onto its mount unevenly and place it in a bind, it will place the entire structure in a torsional twist that once heated, can induce premature failure of the heat exchanger core and allow the brazing of the tubes to the header plate to rupture. Aftercoolers should, for the most part, not leak air, but in many commercial coolers there is some leakage called bleed.

The method for testing a cooler is with a proper leak test kit. In commercial vehicles, acceptable bleed is defined as not more than 5 lbs pressure loss in 15 seconds from a static pressure charge using shop air of 30 lbs total pressure. If you have reason to believe your cooler may have a leak, checking cooler integrity is a good idea.

But use great caution! Do not make a homemade device! Professional test kits exist that use special rubber plugs and positive plug restraints that mechanically hold the plugs in place. Most high-performance aftercoolers are made with more care than the typical commercial diesel coolers and will be totally leak free, which means they will not exhibit any level of air bleed.

CAUTION: The air volume contained in an aftercooler and the pressure used in testing can launch a 3-lb missile the plug and clamp plate at over 75 mph for over 50 feet! This force is lethal! Only use equipment that is specially designed for this purpose to avoid bodily harm.

Clamps and hoses must not be overlooked in the assembly of a turbo system. Using proper equipment can shield you from the major headache of a leak down the road. Most hose clamps in automotive applications are the standard worm-gear type. The hose connections in a turbo system are subjected to many cycles of heating and cooling that include constant joint expansion and contraction. Constant torque clamps are designed to automatically adjust their diameter to compensate for the normal expansion and contraction of the connections.

Just as important is that the hose ID should closely match the tubing OD. Do not use a clamp to correct a size mismatch between the tubing and hose ID. On extremely high-boost pressure applications, such as over 20 lbs, double clamping is sometimes used in conjunction with boost straps.

Boost straps or boost braces are simply steel straps that mechanically limit movement between tubing end, and therefore relieve the linear stress on the hose joint and leave them to the job of sealing. The common worm gear type clamp on the left should never be used on a turbo system. The clamp on the right is a constant torque clamp that uses either a Belleville spring washer series or is coil spring loaded to maintain proper and constant torque. This is a T-bolt clamp. This is a very strong clamp, much stronger than worm-gear type clamps.

These T-bolt clamps from Turbonetics use an inner band that protects the hose from extrusion as the clamp is tightened. This Buick Grand National runs about 28 lbs of boost.

Note the boost strap that reinforces the step-up hose connection joint between the boost tube, leading from the aftercooler to the Holley throttle body. This boost brace from Vibrant Performance is polished and features a pair of mounting feet to weld to the boost tube and a quick release.

Various sizes of hump hoses for connecting of engine-mounted and chassis-mounted components. The excess material in the hump, allows for movement without causing hose fatigue. Vibrant Technologies offers a wide array of hose types and sizes. Lengths of straight silicone hoses can be cut to the length you need. Also available are various sizes of and degree bends, as well as adapter hose connections for stepping up or down in size.

There are a number of types, sizes, and grades of silicone hoses, rubber hoses should never be used. You can even get them in colors for the cosmetic minded hot rodder. For cost purposes, hoses will commonly have a cold end and hot end designation. Be sure that the hoses you are using are rated for the temperatures you will be seeing.

The hottest points will be the compressor discharge connection to the boost tube leading to the aftercooler and the aftercooler inlet connection. To be on the safe side, it may be wise to use hot side rated hoses throughout the entire system.

Good hoses will be rated to withstand degrees F or more. In these cases, hump-hoses are typically used where the hoses are molded with one or more humps in the hose length that allow for an excess of material to be present for a given length, which allows for movement without stressing the hose or the joint connection.

Many specialty type hoses exist from companies such as Turbonetics and Vibrant Performance for just these purposes. Building boost tubes can be very simple or complex depending upon the particular application. This twin turbo system utilizes all polished aluminum boost tubes to and from the aftercooler for a very nice look.

Note the location of the turbochargers just behind the front wheels for hood clearance and weight distribution, and the much larger black air inlet ducting run parallel to the boost tubes leading from the compressor discharge to the aftercooler.

Vibrant Performance offers a complete range of boost tubes in straight sections, as well as , 90, and degree bends in both polished and natural aluminum finish sections for the do-it-yourselfer. These short-radius pieces could save a lot of tubing headaches. Shown are a 2. These cast-aluminum elbows are available in 2, 2. While there are pros and cons of ducting and routing of the boosted air to minimize line loss, there will also be reality of just where you have to run the tubes to fit your application.

There are many successful applications that route the boost tubes in a manner that may not be the most optimum, but are necessary in that given vehicle and engine combination. There are many sources for pre-bent mandrel tubing, which keeps the fabrication simpler, and even some sources for runs of tubing that are already chrome plated, or polished aluminum if aesthetics are important to you.

Extremely tight bends should be avoided if at all possible, but if you really need one, a cast elbow may be prudent. Tight bends can be cast more successfully than can be formed in tubing. However, you will rarely see this done in the intake routing because there is typically enough room for better options.

The plenum is the part of the system that connects the boost tube leading from the compressor discharge or the aftercooler discharge to the intake manifold. Depending upon your type of engine application and intended use, there are some different design considerations.

In a high-performance drag-race engine, the plenum is typically small and serves the primary function of adapting the throttle body to the boost tube. In such applications, the plenum simply provides a smooth air transition to the manifold. Shown is the Banks GM 6.

The square plenum chamber creates a static pressure head above the manifold that helps with retrofit drivability issues where there are several changes in throttle position as you drive. It is intended for competition where there are only two throttle positions. For many street-driven vehicles, the intake manifold was designed as a naturally aspirated engine component.

During mild accelerations, such as accelerating from 30 mph to 55 mph as you merge onto the highway, the increased volume of boosted air in the plenum will help transition the engine because there is air volume to immediately draw upon.

By contrast the drag race vehicle where all-out acceleration is the only concern, that excess plenum capacity could add to the intake system capacity beyond what the aftercooler already adds and increase system response time because it will take more time to fill it in a race car going from zero to all-out acceleration. Therefore, a plenum design needs to take into account your application and usage like so many other factors.

When routing the boost tube into any manifold plenum, the point of entry must insure that air swirl and pressure distribution are considered. The Banks sidewinder turbo system on the early 6. Your personal data will be used to support your experience throughout this website, to manage access to your account, and for other purposes described in our privacy policy.

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Go Back To Home. Garrett turbocharger installation guide — Steps to proper turbo installation. Steps to proper turbo installation Start the turbo installation by removing old gasket material from the exhaust manifold and pipe. The surfaces of the flange must be clean and have no damage. Remove all plastic or foam blanking plugs from the turbo.

Position the turbo onto manifold or engine block using the correct new gasket or O ring, and then reconnect the exhaust pipe. Tighten all nuts and bolts to the correct torque. Pay special attention to oil feed and drain lines, which must be totally clean and have no damage to ensure unrestricted oil flow. Make sure that no flexible hose liners have collapsed internally, and that oil feed line is not too close to any source of heat which may have damaged the oil feed line internally.

This is common on some vehicles and difficult to detect without cutting the pipe! We recommend fitting a new oil inlet pipe when installing the new turbo. Install oil drain line to the turbocharger, then pour new engine oil into the oil inlet hole of the turbocharger and fit the oil feed line. Spin the compressor wheel by hand a few times — it should spin freely. Note that it is normal to feel some up and down movement of the wheels.