Turbo selection for street/drift

[Victor Charlie]

I spent the day researching new turbos, and ended up writing Aaron. I would like to get community response too, if possible. My goal is a responsive and powerful engine for driving below 90 mph, for daily driving. If I ever get time to go racing it would be drift racing.

The first version of the engine was pretty good with 3” exhaust including downpipe with integrated elbow matching the stock CT-26, wastegate spring reinforced to open at 12 psi, Mildly upgraded cams, 1.2HKS MHG, ported head, combustion chamber opened for flow, from 40cc to 43 cc volume. Opened/ported stock exhaust, K&N filter kit. Only electronic tuning so far is zeitronix wideband, which will electronically shim O2 sensor data to the ECU. I also have w58 trans with 4.3 diff, which is an issue for turbo choice.

The main limitations of the original setup were poor gas mileage (18.5), and limited boost before running out of first gear, though it had enough torque to the wheels to be pretty quick off the line without hitting boost.

Now I will need a turbo to match the same engine with the following additions:

JE pistons -16.1cc dish with final compression ration 8.48:1 after counting for 1mm overbore, 1.2mm headgasket thickness and the combustion chamber modifications. Eagle rods.

2.5” cxr hardpipes.
Large sparco intercooler
walbro
AFPR
Suspension work.

Option of 3.9x differential - have on hand
looking for good price for lexus AFM/550injector mod parts.

I would like to keep my downpipe with integrated elbow, so a bolt on turbo is best. I can do the CXR 61 trim, or get an upgraded CT26 from you, or possibly other bolt on options I’m not aware of. My ct 26 has mild exhaust housing cracking around the wastegate, I was told this is typical and not a problem. It was the best of 3 exhaust housings I had to choose from.

What turbo choices would be reasonable with these mods, and either of the two differentials? Reliability is a high priority for me, so please consider that also in your answers. Thanks.

 

[Victor Charlie]

I talked to Aaron at DriftMotion (thanks Aaron), and did a bunch of reading. I was surprised how hard it was to collect the information, which seems to be basic and obvious, but not written in one place. If anyone has compiled a list of turbochargers and mounting formats for the 7MGTE, I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one interested in finding it.

I looked at CXRacing and other ebay turbos, but decided to go with the rebuilt stock turbo 57 trim CT-26 due to the simplicity of matching my downtube, lines, and manifold.

I now wish I had not picked the down tube with the integrated elbow, because it is much less flexible. If I had started with Driftmotion's T4 conversion and the 60-1 trim turbo they developed I would have had about the same bucks into it in the end and much more flexibility. The T4 conversion, separated waste gate, and v-band on the elbow would have given lots of great and economical options for turbo selection in the future, and Driftmotion's turbos are well priced and well matched to common setups people seem to be running.

For bolt on convenience with the stock flanges, the main options I found were the rebuilt stock turbo, the Chinese replicas of the stock turbos, and the T61 from CXRacing which requires a bit of fuss to make it fit right, and has unknown reliability. I gather there might be some more expensive bolt on alternatives also, but I'm not sure. Clearly there is a lot more I'd like to know just about the types of flanges and connectors available for the exhaust inlet and outlet (standard 4 bolt square, 4 bolt stock type flange, 5 bolt flange, T3, T4, what is the stock turbo to manifold flange called, is it T3?, and so on) , and the oil and water feeds. At least the air (compressor) connections are pretty simple, just a diameter. So if there are any walking encyclopedias out there who feel like dumping nitty gritty facts regarding turbo fitment, I think it would be a great service for the rest of us.

 

[87mk111]

For your driving habits, I would recommend getting a ct26 rebuilt to 57 trim. It is reliable, bolts up to all the stock equipment, spools up quickly and can make up to 400hp depending on the supporting mods and tune. As for injectors,I beleive you can also use injectors form the EVO 8 and EVO 9, they are 560cc in size and should be available from a parts store like autozone or napa. I hope this helps.

 

[Victor Charlie]

Thanks, great info. i agree on the turbo. I didn't know about the injectors, great information.

For your driving habits, I would recommend getting a ct26 rebuilt to 57 trim. It is reliable, bolts up to all the stock equipment, spools up quickly and can make up to 400hp depending on the supporting mods and tune. As for injectors,I beleive you can also use injectors form the EVO 8 and EVO 9, they are 560cc in size and should be available from a parts store like autozone or napa. I hope this helps.

 

[87mk111]

Someone else on the forum psoted about the EVO injectors a week or so ago. i cant remeber for the life of me the name of the thread tho.

 

[3p141592654]

Did you look at the Suprasport Boss/Boss Jr and Jeff Tamulis JT series turbos?

 

[Victor Charlie]

THanks Jon, I will check those out. I heard a rumor that there were other bolt on turbos, but didn't know what companies made them.

 

[kmfdmk]

I would highly recommend AGAINST the 57 trim CT-26. Unless this car will be an almost exclusive track car, and even then I can't recommend it. Why? Well let me preface this by saying that Aaron is my go to Guy, I have had nothing but amazing service from Driftmotion, and will continue to laud their great service.

I will fill you in. $3000+ in machine work on a 7m-gte block and head, stock cams, 550cc injectors, R154, 4.30 diff, MAFT-Pro, etc with a 57-Trim CT-26, 7"x11" oil cooler, oil thermostat, Turbo blanket, 3" core AL radiator w/ e-fans. Drifted it as much as I could in 2009, put about 50,000 14 - 18psi daily driven, 18 paid miles over about 15 months on the first Turbo. About 8 months full synthetic 10w-30, then regular Castrol GTX last 7 months. Then it started smoking, since I'm a contractor and was away from home mail ordered another CT-26 57-Trim, because mine had 1.5mm+/- of shaft play.

That Turbo lasted all of 2.5 months, and started smoking RETARDEDLY BAD. Aaron was awesome enough to exchange one under a kinda one-time warranty deal for me. That was around January or so.

Now it's May and I'm starting to smell oil in the exhaust again, and it's puffing on coasting up to a light/stop.

I cannot in good faith recommend a modded CT-26 unless either of the two apply:
1. Car will never see more than 12-14 paid Max, ever!
2. Car will only see limited weekend/track use at 16-20psi range.

I'm not knocking Driftmotion, however I should have listened to Mark Sherman at Vancouver Toyota an went T4 setup from the get go. Upgraded CT-26's do not seem to like having bigger wheels on them. Nevermind about 60/61 trims supposedly snapping shafts.

So, go with a T3 /T4 setup with a properly sized Turbo accordingly.

However if you want/have to keep the stock style manifold hookup, I think Driftmotion might have something that's similar to the SP61GT which you can get from Sound Performance, or the LIPP Boss Jr. From SupraSport.com

 

[Victor Charlie]

First, I really appreciate your input. Yes, it sounds like a false savings to keep my down pipe, even though it's new, to avoid buying one that fits a T4 setup. I imagine I could also make myself a flange to convert to T4. Strangely I haven't seen anyone selling one. I don't know if your experience is typical or a fluke, but there surely are more options with a T4 setup, and competition keeping prices down. It seems like more people are happy with the upgraded turbos than unhappy, but maybe the boost level is an issue. i wasn't planning on pushing past 16 on the 57 trim since the whole point of using it was to get a streetable vehicle with good throttle response. I also just wanted to see how much I can get out of the stock manifold after I ground it to be less restrictive. The next phase will be to replace the manifold and downpipe and go T3/T4 when I have all the other mods in place for 500+ HP.

 

[kmfdmk]

I would say the extreme limit would be maybe 450 RWHP out of a 57 trim on 550's and MAFT-PRO. Maybe a little more with an AEM EMS since you can modify your timing curves and it's a more advanced EMS, not a piggy-back EMS. I got 406.9 hp & 393 tq. My lower intake, head, and exhaust manifold were all ported/semi-polished/port-matched.

I will say this, the 57 trim spools VERY fast and very nicely. I love the fact that at 2800 rpm it starts pushing hard and by 3200 rpm it's rocket time! On a nice cool day, with it tuned properly I would spin through 1, 2, 3, (and chirp 4th). It's a HOTT turbo (meaning it's great). I just can't get them to last for anything. For what I've lost on downtime, renting/borrowing vehicles, shipping and being on the third, soon to be fourth turbo (which may not be a CT style) I should have just went T4 from the very beginning.

If you're worrying about spooling a T4, then look @ SoundPerformance's amazing spool valve. Sorta like a wastegate, except it goes between the manifold and the turbo. Once it sees a certain amount of boost, it opens all the way, letting the turbo and manifold flow more. Great idea actually. But it's not cheap.

And you'll need an UNDIVIDED Manifold, with a DIVIDED Turbo inlet.

Spool Valve.

 

[Max Vador]

or you can build your own manifold if you're handy with a welder. just hit up a junkyard and grab a couple other headers for cheap and you're bound to find the bends you need. then just match and cut them and weld them to the new flange you need it to fit. or make a bigger collector to mate with a T3/T4 flange. it's a nice budget way of MacGuyver'ing your manifold but i've seen it done many times and it works.