All CT26's created equal? (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Threads
126
Messages
1,197
Location
Da shoots
I planning to turbo my 1HZ at some point, starting to collect some smaller parts and plan the rest of it. My thought is to buy as used CT26 to rebuild, but it looks like factory 1HDT CT26's are hard to come by. Would there be anything wrong with buying a CT26 from a late 80's Celica or supra? I found this on eBay from an 89 or so Celica All-Trac, housings look oriented the same direction as a factory 1HDT and Wikipedia says these cars were 8-9psi factory... i think this PN is 17201-74010?


Anyway, are CT26's all the same basically?

Screenshot 2021-01-18 160918.png
 
:worms:

There are a lot of differences. Some are twin entry. Some have turbine housings that are too large and will spool too slow (Supra and maybe some of the Celicas). Some have too small compressors (12HT, 13BT and arguably 1HDT). And they're all ancient technology....

The only one of the series I'd recommend looking into is the one used in the 1HDFTE. It's sort of a mix of the larger CT26 compressor with the CT20 turbine. Meaning quick spool, but still moves quite a bit of air. It's a bit of a favorite for the 1HDT/1HZ/1HDFT etc. family. Some call it the 'CT20B'.

Or you could look at specing a suitable modern turbo.
 
All CT26 share the exact same 68/52mm turbine wheel with 10mm bearing shaft and 6.5mm compressor wheel bore. The FTE ct20b which most people really dislike due to the huge EMP it runs and weaker shaft/ bearings is only 60/48mm with 8.5mm bearings and 5.7mm compressor nose. Compressor wheels are all very similar in design and 65mm exducer size but the inducer size is the main thing that varies. The exhaust housings vary from the 6cm twin scroll to the 8/9/10cm single scroll depending on vehicle, you can mix and match them all depending on your taste. I know quite a few people running the largest 10cm exhaust housings and all of them can still get 20psi at 2000rpm.
 
Last edited:
I found this online, looks like the Supra is the odd man out
4E6B6D76-EA6E-4AC9-B686-691C4D319CD5.jpeg


So the Celica turbo I posted in the first post might be the same as a 1HDt essentially.
 
This thread has some further info.


Shows a Supra? exhaust housing next to a 1HDT housing.

3AC02A83-E0E7-40C1-82F9-4C850FFB8A65.jpeg


C4E694DA-045A-4E77-8DC0-7F08A501581C.jpeg
 
@SKULLYOTA Did you end up buying that celica turbo? I guess the best and only way to know exactly how it'll go on your set-up is to try it. It's a relatively simple process to changing the exhaust housing to a smaller version of you find you don't like the performance of the 42010 housing.
 
@SKULLYOTA Did you end up buying that celica turbo? I guess the best and only way to know exactly how it'll go on your set-up is to try it. It's a relatively simple process to changing the exhaust housing to a smaller version of you find you don't like the performance of the 42010 housing.


No, I’m thinking now that if I get a used one, I’ll just wait for a 1HDT one to pop up.
I have a line on one but not sure about the task of rebuilding one. I have heard good things on Subaru boards about these guys:

2E7CD45C-1EC9-439D-A326-F75C8C9CE503.jpeg
 
No, I’m thinking now that if I get a used one, I’ll just wait for a 1HDT one to pop up.
I have a line on one but not sure about the task of rebuilding one. I have heard good things on Subaru boards about these guys:

View attachment 2562847
Used turbo's don't seem to come up for sale often.
If you find one, they are quite simple to rebuild.

I've built a couple of HD-T/7MGTE Supra hybrids.

This is a decent upgrade over the stock HD-T CT26 IF you get hold of a good use turbo at a cheap price.
There better performance options.
If you weigh the cost of used ct26, rebuild kit etc, and the risks of rebuilding, then Mambatek turbo's start looking like really good value.

I broke the shaft on the first one I rebuilt, so there goes any cost advantage.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom