Hi guys. Bob, I need your experience here. I purchased a Buick turbo unit that is NOS. It looks pretty much like the photo you have posted on your web site. How much disassembly is possible with this thing without getting in trouble. Can I seperate the compressor from the turbine easily, or will things fly out that require laser alignment tools to get reassembled again?
Can I take the bolts out of the two housings, and rotate the center section, the turbo, and the compressor to change the orientation of the exhaust fittings and the oil lines? The output from the compressor on mine is a "U" shaped pipe that goes up, and then back down into the manifold. It has an O ring on it, and looks like it will simply snap into a hole in an adapter plate on the manifold. It looks like you changed the compressor orientation so the output points directly down into the intake. Is that true? How is the stock "U" shaped output removed from the compressor? I am afraid to just start pulling on things. Also, is the three bolt flange the exhaust output on the turbo? I was surprised that there are no water cooling fittings on the bearings. What are your thoughts on that? Any further advice.Thanks much. Vader.

Vader,
Is your turbo an '84-'85 or '86-'87? Mine was from an '84-'85 so what I am going to tell you applies to these although the '86-'87 is probably similar. There were earlier models as well but they were for carbureted engines.
The '84-'85 did not use an intercooler so discharged directly into the intake manifold. The '86-'87 discharged into an intercooler. I'm not familiar with the "U" shaped pipe that you describe, so I don't thing that the turbo you have is for an '84-'85. The adapter on mine looks like the one shown in this drawing. http://www.engraver1.com/help/turbomount.gif

When I got my turbo from the junkyard I replaced the center section with a re-built one and had no trouble removing the compressor and turbine. The only complex part is the center section itself and you won't need to take that apart. Yes, I did re-orientate things for the oil line and the exhaust location. There was no problem "re-clocking" the various sections except that the wastegate actuator bracketing had to be re-configured.
The three-bolt flange is the exhaust input to the turbo. The exhaust output is the two- bolt flange on the "elbow" that attaches to the turbine and has the wastegate flapper valve in it. You can't see the two-bolt flange in the picture but you can see the elbow. It's the piece that the wastegate actuator rod is going to. This piece is not always included with the turbo but it would be pretty obvious if you didn't have it. There is no water-cooling on these turbos. All you need is an oil supply.
As far as tips are concerned be sure to use a slip joint in the pipe coming from the exhaust manifold up to the turbo (up-pipe). This pipe gets very hot and expansion might either lift your turbo or crack the manifold. For the oil return see my earlier post on that subject http://slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php ... ght=#38895. Also for the fuel injection and electronics you can use everything described in my EFI article. All you have to do is use a MAF from an '84-'85 turbo Buick and the larger injectors; and perhaps tweak the fuel pressure. You'll also want to be sure to use the knock detector.
Bob D

Thanks Bob. As usual, your answers were very informative, and quite helpful. I don;t know the year of my turbo. I bought it from an individual who had bought it at a swap meet. It has never been used. The story is, it was on a show car, and only ran enough to get the car off the trailer. It was jet coated, and looks great. There is no carbon inside the turbo. I am planning to use an inner cooler, and maybe this unit was intended to be routed to one, I don;t know. I had printed out your digragm, earlier. Thanks for posting it. In any event, I must take the trottle body off, and install it on the manifold after the inner cooler, so everything will look different on my install.

Could you describe the constuction of your slip joint. I must build a header to bring my two Dutra headers into one prior to the turbo, and I can;t quite see how I can get a slip joint in there anywhere. As I read the various web sites discussing turbo header construction, I haven't seen mention of a slip joint. Can the turbo simply hang from the exhaust manifolds via the header, and be allowed to float with the change in the header? Would this be too much weight on the exhaust manifolds? There are two of them, and they are fairly robust.

Here is another concern: the inner cooler will be in front of the radiator, and pipes must be routed from the turbo to the inner cooler, and then back to the throttle body. What kind of material can be used for the piping that is both flexible enough to allow for vibration of the engine, and strong enough to handle the air flow under boost? I know you did not use an inner cooler, but you are obviously a clever, inovative guy. What are your thougths on this? Maybe a flexible coupling of some kind. Radiator hose is designed to take 16 lb pressure at least. Maybe that would work. Also, any ideas on how big the pipe should be? Anybody else want to chime in here?

Thanks again. Vader

Hi all,

I was wondering the same thing. Is there a good way to use two dutra duals on one turbo? I have thought about using a single, later ribbed /6 manifold, but I am worried about cracking and expansion problems. Two duals might be a better approach, as it would allow for more freedom of motion, but the joint between them needs some careful thought and engineering.

Thanks,

Greg

Vader,

Silicone hose couplings are used on turbo cars. My friends always used regular large diameter, thin wall steel tubing with silicone hose couplings. I did a quick search and found this company: http://www.samcosport.com/parts.asp

_________________
'68 Dodge Dart 4dr Sedan

The slip joint was needed in my case because the turbo is mounted on top of the intake manifold. My exhaust manifold is not modified. The "up-pipe" comes from the exhaust manifold flange and connects to the turbo. Because both the exhaust manifold and the turbo are attached to the engine something had to be done to provide some give when this pipe expands with heat. I used a two-piece pipe with one piece mated to the other half way up, but without a clamp, and with a liberal amount of high temperature never seize. So far, so good. If you attach your turbo directly to the exhaust manifold you won't need this. I know that quite a few others have done this but I would worry about a cracked manifold every time I hit one of our many New England potholes!
Personally I think you would be much better off with a one-piece exhaust instead of the dual exhaust. I think the advantage of the dual exhaust is lost with a single turbo. In fact you want to restrict the exhaust somewhat before the turbo to get the exhaust velocity high. This is why my "up-pipe" is only 2" diameter while the "down-pipe" and exhaust pipe is 2 1/4" diameter.
I know that intercoolers are the "in thing", but remember that the extra plumbing will impose lag. Do you plan on racing? I guess it depends on where you want your punch, low-end torque or high end HP. On street cars this plumbing should be kept at an absolute minimum as you can see in this picture of an intercooled Buick.
http://www.buickgn.com/Mark_Hueffman_Gr ... _Pic_2.jpg
. The location of everything was re-designed in 1986 with the goal of keeping this distance at a minimum. The pipe to the throttle body from the intercooler is only about a foot long while the one from the turbo is so short that it appears that all that is needed is a silicone connector to the intercooler. (The pipe coming from the driver side is the air intake with the MAF sensor.) Personally, if I ever go to an intercooler, I think I will explore the water-cooled type. I think there might be more options on where to put it, and in that way keep the distances at a minimum.
As Patrick also said, intercooler plumbing that I have seen is metal and is usually about 3" in diameter. It should be rigid to prevent it from collapsing under vacuum, which is the condition about 90% of the time. The silicone hose is used at the mating locations. I think I also read somewhere where plumbing PCV pipe was used. I think I would at least give that a try. It would be cheap and a lot easier to fabricate than metal. If it didn’t work out you would at least have a template to use for fabricating the metal pieces.
Vader, I've also enclosed this link that might help identify what turbo you have.

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/picture ... guide.html


Bob D