Remote mounted turbo

[PVVH]

Hey Guys
Just reading the thread about European parts; specifically intercoolers and it jogged my memory. I had seen an add in a magazine for remote mounted turbos. This company claims that if you mount the turbo outside of the engine comp. you don't need an intercooler. They call it passive charge cooling. I don't know if I would want my $3500 turbo outside of the eng. comp. but maybe some of you California types wouldn't mind.
Check out the companies web site. Specifically look at the Tacoma that they hooked up. There are sound and video clips...pretty darn cool.
www.ststurbo.com
No Cruisers but I'm sure if you put your mind to it you could come up with a system. Paul

 

[Radd Cruisers]

I have seen that stuff on car shows, they can mount it down stream under the vehicle in some cases, exhaust temps into the turbo are lower.

Not sure the big advantages other than finding a convient and easy place to install.

 

[Diescipel]

But isn't the reason for the intercooler to cool compressed air. I mean, the principle of physics at work here is that when you compress a gas, it heats up (same number of molecules, less space, more friction--this is of course the same principle that gives us our compression ignition diesels). So, remote mounting may prolong the life of the turbo by reducing the exhaust temps but won't cool the air coming into the engine--you won't be able to compress it as much and hence you will not get as much power or efficiency.

Or at least this is what my physics brain tells me. Correct me please.

This is why the intercoolers are inline between the turbo output and the intake manifold, not the filter and the turbo.

B

 

[PVVH]

Yes that makes sense to me. The cooler you can get the air the denser it will be and therefore the more power you extract. I guess what this company calls passive charge cooling is the "intercooler effect". The air is compressed at the turbo and then it is cooled as it makes its way back along the underside of the vehicle to the intake manifold. So it is cooled at the same point as an intercooler; After the turbo output and before the intake. I don't think however that the cooling effect would be as stong as an intercooler.
That's my take on this system. That being said, I know next to nothing about turbos. Anyone else think that the cooling effects take place when the compressed air is sent back to the engine? P

 

[silvercrusher]

Sounds pretty hokey. It has 1\2 the efficiency of an intercooler setup. If the temps reaching the turbo are lower then you have to be getting less work out of the turbine. Less work means less horsepower. As to there claims about superchargers are they talking about gas engines? I'm not sure. I was under the immpression that super charging has everything to do with the ability to keep the exhaust valve closed as long as possible with a blower installed. So where the blower comes into their turbo setup is anyones guess.

They make it sound like an aftermarket tuner exhaust LOL

rigs have run the turbos direct coupled to engines forever and they don't have a lack of horsepower.

 

[sandcruiser]

so what happens when your 1000 degree turbo housing hits a mud puddle? or a river?
That can't be good!

I would believe that the air running from turbo to the motor would cool off a bit as it travels. but have to wonder about the reliability of the air running from the air filter, all the way back to the exhaust, then all the way back to the motor... lots of chances for leaks or cracks that let dust/water into the air intake, killing either the turbo or the motor.

For a street car, this might make sense, for a cruiser it seems like a lot of potential failure for a small gain in cooler air.

 

[fjbj40]

All plumbing from either the exhaust manifold to the turbine or from the compressor to the intake should be kept as short as possible . If the turbo is under the vehicle it not only has to fill the cylinders with compressed air but also that long tube from turbo to intake manifold ,too much pumping loss and the turbo also has to work harder to keep up the supply so it is working harder so the temps of your compressed air will be higher....no gain . The exhaust gas will cool in the trip from the exhaust man. to the turbine.....a loss in power , as heat = power for the tubine ....in other words as the exhaust gas cools you lose energy/power . This remote mounted turbo is a crock of s*** and just a marketing way of taking your money , look at it this way , if it is such a great system you would see it on real race cars and production vehicles .
Remember if you don't research and educate yourself in whatever you are interested in someone will always lie to you and take your money !
HTH , Daryl

 

[cruiser_guy]

I'm with everyone else. Seems like a hokey "snake oil" salesman routine. The air is moving through the piping so fast that there would be very little heat exchange with the tubing and the charge air (you'd need to be real clever to convince me that the charge air gains a significant amount of heat when the piping is left in the engine compartment). Unless the tubing that is outside the engine bay is finned and there are tubulators or other devices in the charge air piping it would be pointless. By the time you used finned tubing and turbulators you'd have a primitive intercooler anyways!

I'm not rushing out to change my turbo setup !!