3B turbo install with DIY manifold (1 Viewer)

[Sykoslug]

UPDATE-When I first installed the turbo the downpipe flange was pushing against the wastegate arm solid and I believed shutting it completely. I had a performance increase after install, but not a phenomenal increase. AFter installing a boost and EGT guages I was only showing a max of about 4PSI regardless of fuel screw adjustment. My EGT's were also high..........................I was blaming it on my square boxy DIY manifold I welded and had little hope that it would get better.......... Recently my performance seemed to drop a bit......I finally decided to unwrap the heat wrap around the turbo, unbolt the downpipe, and check the wastegate.
The wastegate arm was no longer pressed against the downpipe flange and nothing was holding the wastegate shut. I have been running it without a properly sealed wastegate for a month now. I hooked up a spring to hold the wastegate shut................
What a difference it has made. I have over 12lb of boost and it comes on quickly. EGT's have dropped 150degrees Celsius It is difficult to get it over 600C now. With cooler EGT's I have the ability to enrich fuel for even more boost, but I'm running into the problem of my turbo plumbing fittings popping loose due to the boost pressure......I have legit silicone turbo plumbing connectors on order and will try to get some of the turbo hose clamps with bolts on them at the parts store tomorrow.
Right now it seems to have as much power as my 4BTA 120 in my old 1/2 ton chevy 4wd. It if very difficult to get EGT's over 600C. I have room for more fuel, but I have to redo my intake plumbing to handle the boost.
I have some blowby and have a "catch can" waiting to install to collect the oil instead of blowing it back into my air filter housing.

I am not happy with my Oil supply plumbing. I have a series of brass fittings screwed together with teflon tape leading to a barb and hose clamp to feed oil to the turbo. It leaks... I screwed a 1/8NPT brass fitting into the oil supply port on the block. I don't think it is the correct thread, but because it is a taper thread and brass I can screw it in and tighten it down mostly sealing the hole. Still it leaks a bit. Does anyone know what thread/size I really need for the hole?

600C Max egt... Have you tried going up a hill? What tires, transmission and gearing on your truck?

Cool project

For reference I can hit 600 accelerating to 65mph on the freeway. Boost capped at 10psi, 33inch tires 4.11 gears on a 5speed. I can eclipse 600 climbing a hill, and it's a guarantee of the a/c is running.

 

[robmobile73]

600C Max egt... Have you tried going up a hill? What tires, transmission and gearing on your truck?

Cool project

For reference I can hit 600 accelerating to 65mph on the freeway. Boost capped at 10psi, 33inch tires 4.11 gears on a 5speed. I can eclipse 600 climbing a hill, and it's a guarantee of the a/c is running.

I have stock 4.10 gears and 32 inch tires. With no change the fuel screw and only the week boost I was getting after first installation of the turbo I could get it over 700 degrees on a medium mild climb at highway speed. At that same setting with proper wastegate function I get 12 to 13 PSI of boost and it's difficult to get it over 600 degrees unless I'm lugging it up a hill for a distance. if I turn up the fuel to reach the same egts I was getting naturally-aspirated or with weak open wastegate I can hit 20 psi on 2cnd and third gear windups. I'm going to take a 65 / 70 mile per hour interstate trip in a couple days here. I'll bring my wrench to adjust it on that trip. .... I have the stock 1 and 3/4 exhaust muffler. Hooked onto the 2 and 1/4 inch downpipe.

 

[Sykoslug]

What is your max safe egt? And do you sustain the 20psi, or just touch that on shifts?

I carry a 19mm wrench in the center console...
Do you have your air lines clamped at the Venturi? Mine blow off after 12psi if they're not clamped, that gets real exiting.

When I had my waste gate in the locked full closed position and fuel set stock (low), I was getting high boost and high egt with mediocre power, and had to get out of the throttle at about 2200rpms because the EGTs were creeping up towards 1200F on climbs and on the highway at 60- 65mph.

Now I get the numbers I mentioned in the last post with fuel turned up, waste gate set to open at 10psi, and a little Water-Air intercooler .

Have a good trip! And post your results.

 

[robmobile73]

Since the wastegate is closed properly I'm feeling good about the power of the engine. It feels as good as my 1/2 ton chevy with 4bta120. We have mild hills where I live. My max boost comes peddle to the floor reving at 3/4 rpm in 2cnd and 3rd gear with full load. 12-15psi with a full throttle run to 100K on flat ground and I won't bust 600c. A uphill run to 100K and I may hit 700c, but why do that? If I go another 1/2 turn on the screw I can hit those 650+ temps and 17-20 PSI max boost.
Normal boost just driving around at constant speed on level ground above 45mph is 2-7psi and egt is less than 550 usually in the 300-500 range. I'm going to keep fine tuning this and will bring my wrench on my next interstate highway trip.
Once the turbo was working properly I had problems with my intake plumbing letting go. I have since gotten Tbolt clamps , reinforced silicone fittings, and steel intake pipe...........I still have the venturi. I don't need it. There are no vacumn or boost lines to my IP that control it in any way based off manifold pressure. The only reason it's on my 3b that I can think of is because Toyota had the parts and wanted to use them like on other engines, and it also makes it alot quieter at idle than without it. I tried to take off the venturi plate today, but the screws will not back out so I left it in place.
I'm happy with the power I have now. I don't need to go fast, but I don't like to be underpowered in traffic as in can't hold speed or keep up with normal drivers. I have 32"s. If the turbo had been working this well when I ordered my tires I may have bought 33"s and I'm fairly sure I could turn 34's as well in the relatively flat place I live. 34 or bigger on the highway in the mountains I think I'd want some 4.56 or 4.88.
I am running stock exhaust. My 2.25" downpipe goes into a 1.75" pipe until the muffler. Perhaps there is room for improvement there, but there are other things to spend my time and money on first.
Comparisons: Better than a NA diesel hilux or ford ranger up to 90K, a bit better than a mercedes 240D with stickshift but slightly slower on top end, more peppy than a mitsubishi delica with 4d56 turbodiesel, better than a 81' NA isuzu diesel pickup, more peppy at speeds less than 45mph than a mercedes 300 DT, slightly less peppy than a empty unarmored HMMWV, better than a Armored HMMWV, similar to a 1/2 ton pickup with 4BTA 120 but not as much confidence in the durability of the engine.

 

[robmobile73]

My $99 Ebay turbo gave up tonight. I started out on my first highway trip since the waste gate is properly shut. I have 5-6PSI at 55mph on level ground and 400-500C egt. Oil is leaking badly around the turboshaft. Into the exhaust and intake. Clouds of smoke... I have a 1/16" restrictor in the oil supply line so it should not be getting to much oil/too much pressure. .............She is however running strong and with good power. I may get a rebuild kit for the turbo, or the ebay seller may offer to send me another. I may buy another CHRA. Not sure yet.

 

[Sykoslug]

My $99 Ebay turbo gave up tonight. I started out on my first highway trip since the waste gate is properly shut. I have 5-6PSI at 55mph on level ground and 400-500C egt. Oil is leaking badly around the turboshaft. Into the exhaust and intake. Clouds of smoke... I have a 1/16" restrictor in the oil supply line so it should not be getting to much oil/too much pressure. .............She is however running strong and with good power. I may get a rebuild kit for the turbo, or the ebay seller may offer to send me another. I may buy another CHRA. Not sure yet.

Oh that's rough. Hope the seller makes it right.
I have a spare used schwitzer turbo I could sell if that doesn't work out. It was part of a kit I bought from Denco (Aussie company). I have since moved to a smaller turbo (different a/r values etc) that matches my needs better.

 

[robmobile73]

Oh that's rough. Hope the seller makes it right.
I have a spare used schwitzer turbo I could sell if that doesn't work out. It was part of a kit I bought from Denco (Aussie company). I have since moved to a smaller turbo (different a/r values etc) that matches my needs better.

It's a Hong Kong seller working with a US warehouse/distributer. They want pictures of the turbo. I'm guessing that they will offer to send me another from HK. Alot of Chinese sellers seem to do this procedure: They know some of their items are junk, but they want business and shipping is expensive so when it is broken, defective, etc.. They ask for pictures for proof and they send you out another one and don't ask for a return.

Oh that's rough. Hope the seller makes it right.
I have a spare used schwitzer turbo I could sell if that doesn't work out. It was part of a kit I bought from Denco (Aussie company). I have since moved to a smaller turbo (different a/r values etc) that matches my needs better.

I got a reply from the Ebay seller who is out of HK(Hong Kong) in partners with a US warehouse. They asked for pictures of the turbo. It is past their 30 day warranty period, but I think they will do something for me as this should not happen so soon. I pulled the turbo today to check it and take pictures. The oil leakage is quite evident and there's a little wobble in the turboshaft. I didn't drive it long enough for catastrophic failure/blade tohousing contact. It may have had some contact, but with all the oil it just slid along without damaging blades.
I ordered a $40 rebuild kit that will include brass bearing, thrust plates, O rings etc. it should be hear this week. I've done this before with a different turbo. I have a feeling the HK company will offer to send out another turbo from HK. I don't want to have my LC unusable for 3 weeks of the summer waiting on it. I have plans. If I successfully rebuild what I have and they send me out a new one I'll put it on Ebay and resell it.........

 

[OGBeno]

What do you expect for Chi-com $99 turbo?

I’d buy 4-5 at that price and just have them sitting and available.

Or just buy one good reputable turbo and be done with it.

 

[robmobile73]

What do you expect for Chi-com $99 turbo?

I’d buy 4-5 at that price and just have them sitting and available.

Or just buy one good reputable turbo and be done with it.

It's a crapshoot. I'm not "shocked" or overly upset about it. Sometimes you win sometimes you loose. I do believe the seller is going to do something for me as they don't want negative feedback on Ebay. This is 1 out of 3 cheap turbo's I've bought and the first to go bad. ........I'll rebuild the bad one, if the seller doesn't send me another one out, I'll probably order another from a different seller and keep it ready.....This is my first bad experience with a "cheap turbo" it's still mostly good experience..
All that said I am extremely impressed with the performance of the 3B with TD04-13t-6 on my ugly boxy log style welded manifold. It is better than the 4BTA 120 I had in a 1/2 ton chevy.

 

[mongoose2231]

I read through your thread. Great work here. I built a home made turbo for my 2H. The valve cover breather needs to rerouted. The intake neck side needs to be capped off. I initially ran the breather into the intake pre turbo but this was putting oil in the compressor side. I bought a provent 200, best catch can u can get, designed for big rigs, routed the breather through there and now my intake is nice and dry.
Check out my build thread to get an idea of my catch can install.