junk yard turbo?

[do92fj80]

Hey guys, I am new to this post and was wondering if I could get some input on a silly idea I have been pondering on for quite some time. I have heard to different views to when it comes to force induction on a 3fe motor. Some good some bad. Now given the relatively low rev range the engine has, could it be possible to install a small turbo set up, ie: turbo, pluming, intercooler and wastegate (which are plentiful in junk yadrs off small compact, possibly 80's volvos) in order to help get a little more power.

Now, I am not looking to make a rice rocket, but would like the extra assistance in overcoming steep hills without resorting to go to third gear at 70mph (ie. increase transmission and engine life.)

So far I did install a home made ram air kit (available at any AUTOZONE for about $50, will tell you how if interesred) to the cruiser and saw a small gain in power. Able to increase uphill performance, however gas mailage suffers because I have have to floor the pedal in order to stay with traffic (+70mph in Los Angeles traffic). Figure maybe 5-10hp increase.

If turbo would be possible, I would be happy with a 35-55hp increase.

Looking just for a little more oommffhh!

 

[Dusty]

do it. if you pull it off others will follow

 

[TiredIronGRB]

It's fun to be the first

 

[sleeoffroad]

Not really the first. Ben Swain (our sales manager did a turbo 3FE about 5 years ago. The truck was then sold and driven by Braddass (on mud) and I think it has since sold again. So it can be done.

 

[F0RSAKEN]

I do not know what your experiences are concerning turbo chargers, so Ill just start from ground zero:

A few things you will want to take into consideration before you try something like this would be your engine, fuel delivery, and cooling systems.

How many miles does your engine have? Ive heard the 3fe has problems with the HG, is yours in top shape? How old is your fuel filter, because this can cause flow problems when you definitely do not want them. Are your injectors flowing/atomizing correctly?

I took the injectors out of my RX7 after only 60k miles, and sent them to RC Engineering for flow testing and cleaning. The results they sent me back were relatively suprising. Two of the four were only flowing at about 80% of their efficency. Not good for boosting a normally aspirated engine.

When was the last time you flushed your coolant? Does your radiator have any sludge in it? How old is your water pump?

After you have made sure your truck is running at 100%, then you need to shop for parts. You will need a custom exhaust manifold, and unless you can fabricate that yourself, it will probably cost a pretty penny. Same goes for all the plumbing. If you make all of that yourself, you will need access to someone with a mandrel bender, or buy pre-bent pipes off of www.summitracing.com, or www.jegs.com.

Now for the turbo: I personally would not use an old Volvo turbo, or a turbo off of any car, due to size. The 4.5l I6 will displace quite a bit of exhaust, which could spin a mid-sized turbo without too much problem, and if you get one too small, you will have problems with heat. The closer the turbo is to flowing at its optimum efficiency, the cooler the intake charge will be, and the less likely you will have detonation problems.

For the intercooler, you have alot of options. You wont want to run more than 5 or 6 psi, and at boost that low, you wont need a huge intercooler. A largish Volvo one from a junkyard would probably suffice.

You will of course need gauges to monitor your system. I would suggest boost, water temp, and fuel pressure. IMO you should buy something of a better quallity than Autometer too, but that is an opinion based off of many stories of inaccurate or faulty gauges from them, but they are cheap, and that is nice.

Its not as easy as just bolting everything on and going if you want your truck to live for a long time.

Ahhh hell, just do it and tell us how it works!

 

[Dusty]

dont sit there and worry about all that s***-just start building. AND post pics of your cold air mod so others can see.

Mr. Slee
How did that turbod 3fe run?

 

[semlin]

If turbo would be possible, I would be happy with a 35-55hp increase. Looking just for a little more oommffhh! [/SIZE]

try selling your fj80 and buying an fzj80. You will get a 60hp boost. you will also find it's not enough

 

[MTNRAT]

dont sit there and worry about all that s***-just start building. AND post pics of your cold air mod so others can see.

Mr. Slee
How did that turbod 3fe run?

Holy smokes, when did Christo become a MR.
cheers,
Sean

 

[fzj80kidpen]

Do it .....
Do it .....
Dooo iiitt maannn

 

[Spicer '92]

That is one hell of a thought. Since I have a brand new 3f-e in mine I am starting to wonder about this turbo thing myself (there's no way im putting in a v-8 or buying another cruiser because i would never get the money I paid for the new motor back). I was wondering, if a turbo from a smaller 4cylinder volvo is used (1.8-2.3 l) would it be neccessary to run the turbo off both exhaust manifolds or maybe just the front one. Do it man, I might follow

 

[gbell210]

If the yards have any MKIII (87-92) turbo supras, try one of them. Since the engine was a 3.0L I6 they were connected to. Stock boost was only about 6psi, but the wastegate could be shimmed to put out up to about 12psi. Adding boost controllers they could go up to about 22ish I think I remember reading. I'd donate my old one (had crack starting to form in exhuast side) if you were in Montana. But shipping is not realistic since its pretty heavy. BTW they have lines for coolant and oil too. Not sure if you want all that or not.

 

[slambson]

Offroad solutions did two I know of. Brads and mine. I've had issues of late with the high fuel pressure due to the Vortech FMU. Had the fuel injectors cleaned etc...(pretty clean to begin with based on the results). Mine was done at 153K when a new motor was put in. It has just over 200K now. You could just buy mine for what the turbo/intercooler install ran.

 

[semlin]

Scott that is very interesting. did you ever get it dyno'd? any photos? what sized turbo and where did the manifold come from.

 

[slambson]

T4 turbo, I can't remember the trim but the AR was .60 or .65 on the intake. I have pictures but have never bothered loading them to my ISP. Offroad solution used the stock manifold and built extensions off the first junction. No never Dyno'd. I've disconnected the wastegate and I'd say around 50 Hp at 5psi boost. Much quicker off the line as the turbo comes in quick. Too quick in my opinion. The turbo starts boosting with any kind of load.

The biggest problem I see with turbocharging the 3FE is that the intake manifold is on the same side of the engine as the exhaust. Too much heat in that vicinity. I've tinkered with this thing enough that I wish it was back to normal. I've considered buying the MAF header and converting it back although I'm missing quite a few components to do that. The Griffen intercooler is huge on mine making the intake plumbing quite complicated.

 

[Rusty Phillips]

how junkyard do you want to go? are you ready for an idea from left field? (and yes, I have been drinking again)

what about a tailpipe turbo ?

no complex manifold fabrication..... less underhood heat..... long intake pipe acts as intercooler

some concerns about offroad problems having a turbo hanging down so low,
at one time I was looking at mounting a turbo in the bed of a pickup truck..... right behind the cab - would protect it from damage - the thing that stopped me was that the only way I could think of to get rid of the exhaust was to run a chrome stack up from the turbo & the visual of that ruined the whole idea for me.... (but you would agree that that location would protect the turbo)

at any rate, what to do on the 80's?

you could put a small box on the roof rack with heat shielding in it & put the turbo on the roof...... run both the intake and exhaust completely out the bottom of the truck and then straight up the back corners (run the vertical exhaust pipe on PS rear corner, intake at DS rear corner) - make sure that you can still open the rear doors..... dont forget the oil line from the engine to the turbo - maybe incorporate a remote mounted oil cooler with a fan up there while you are at it (since you have to pump the oil up there anyway)...... although if you have fifteen feet of thinwall metal tubing routed back to the turbo and another fifteen feet returning to the engine that would be an oil cooler all by itself

on the other hand - after looking at that tacoma install Im thinking that it is tucked up in there out of the way rather nicely...... maybe the rear mount would be ok offroad

check out
http://www.ststurbo.com

http://www.ststurbo.com/tacoma_install_pics

http://www.ststurbo.com/testimonials
(the tacoma testimonials are at the bottom of the page)

 

[MLX450]

Tail pipe turbo...hummmm...very interesting!

Would the spare tire location be a good place to put this?

 

[Cruisin'Carolina]

I saw a tailpipe turbo install on one of the cable channels.......it was on a late model Camaro.... Space doesn't get any tighter under the rear of one of those, I'd bet the Cruiser has PLENTY of room....

Still waiting for the turbo Gods to give some input on efficiency issues...

 

[MLX450]

Did you guys watch the Tacoma on that link? Man imagine that on an 80! Crap more stuff to dream about!

 

[landtank]

If I read correctly the turbo replaces the muffler, correct? If that's the case then there is a ton of room there.

 

[Rusty Phillips]

would want to run air inlet from up high down to turbo..... maybe bring it inside the cabin and then attach to rear vent sucking in outside air

but a big concern would still be running thru water - thermal shock cracking something expensive

although it shouldnt get too much hotter than a regular muffler in the same location..... and they seem to do ok going thru water

I guess you dont like my roof mounted turbo idea?