Finally going turbo

[Sharky1]

So after many yrs of driving N/A TD42 I've decided that I'm sick of climbing hills in 2nd or 3rd @ 3000rpm or being stuck behind some slow moron on the highway only to be unable to pass coz every overtaking lane is uphill or the asshole decides to accellerate when there's no double white lines. We're towing the boat 5hrs to denmark next yr so I'm doing it now lol. Eng was rebuilt about 50,000km ago.

Typically of me its a budget build up but I wanna extract max power whilst retaining reliability (to an extent). After speaking to a couple of engineers & patrol guru's I've learnt that many of the chinese journal bearing turbos are fine if you know what to look for & you set your car up correctly & do services & routine maintenance at correct intervals.

The 1st issue was whether to go high or low mount. I wanted low mount but I got talked into high mount when we found a tuned length pipe manifold (not cast iron) that sits the turbo about 2" lower & 3" further foward than stock, which then allows us to get a good fitment of a 3" dump pipe, not to mention better response from less piping between turbo, intercooler & engine. My 2nd concern was piston temp. I dont believe the higher oil squirters make enuf of a difference to warrant stripping my motor but the boost compensator on the diesel pump was a must have. I'm undecided about fitting a lift pump yet.

We decided to get the Kinugawa 3" TDO5 HG-18 turbo (oil & water cooled) good for upwards of 22psi, HPD intercooler, 3" straight thru S/S exhaust, Bogaard turbo timer, Turbo Smart boost controller, boost & pyro (EGT) gauges etc. I had to find an air box from RD28/ZD30/TD42T which was the hardest part to find.

I'm just waiting on the manifold to arrive now & I can fit it all & tune it.

I guess I'm chasing opinions, constructive criticism or warning of dramas I might run into. I'm ex car mechanic (petrol) & have rebuilt a cpl of turbos yrs ago but my knowledge & experience with them is limited & prob outdated.

[nissannewby]

Tuned length pipe manifolds dont really work on a diesel. Cast manifolds are best. Due to the diesels nature the shortest possible distance to the turbo the better as we simply dont have the heat or velocities like a petrol.

[Sharky1]

I was of the same opinion but there are theories for & against, depending on who you speak to. I dunno about the heat & velocities thing tho. High compression & heat from turbo play a huge part. Dispersing that quickly is a great thing. I also got 8mm fast spool to compensate. I could have got the 6mm super fast spool but they tend to run out of legs from what I've read & heard.

[nissannewby]

I hope you atleast ceramic coat the manifold then.

[Bigcol]

I have a similar one to you
and in the swan valley as well

'99DX TD42

I had mine for about 6months as a NA, then brought the motor out of a '06 for the turbo & intercooler - sold the block and parts & used my original motor
used to flog it to get to 100 in 4th, then put it in 5th, and watch it slow down

its been in for 4 yrs, and never had a problem
easier to drive, more economical.... (I get 12.5L/100 driving to and from work) and a paddock full of balls for driving and towing

you wont regret the upgrade

[Sharky1]

Lol yeah I've seen you around Bigcol. I recognise you by your number plates. Your car looks pretty clean.

[Sharky1]

I hope you atleast ceramic coat the manifold then.

I could but why? Pipe manifolds disperse heat much faster than cast iron. Yeah they'll glow red temporarily but they'll cool down quick. On all the race cars I've been involved with, we've never ceramic coated manifolds. I'll be weary of it to start with, especially as I dial it in. I'll be closely watching pyro gauge too. There's a turbocharged 850RWHP VS statesman running 20lb boost sitting in my mates workshop with no ceramic coating on the tuned length pipe manifold, although I do acknowledge its a slightly different setup.

If it gets too hot then I'll think about insulating wrap maybe.

[BigRAWesty]

Funny thing Sharky the aim is to get the hot hot air threw the turbo.. you want the exhaust gas to cool after the turbo or you loose air density and that means less force and less spin.
Sure we're talking nano farts but if your talking tuned pipes on a gq oil burner then it's all sorta relevant.
Another addition is a turbo beanie to help hold heat in untill post turbo..

[firm351]

You dont want the pipes to disperse the heat. You want as much heat as you can to get to the turbo as its heat expansion that makes the turbo do its thing.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

[nissannewby]

As above mate. Keeping the heat in the gas will see optimum results. The gas has our potential energy so any of that lost due to heat or flow is wasted energy. Also as I said earlier a diesel does not produce the same heat nor the velocities a petrol does. This is why the shortest possible distance is best. Also stop comparing petrol turbo setups to a diesel. A street driven petrol car is lucky to spend 10% of its life on boost. A turbo diesel on the other hand spends 95% of its life on boost. For the most part we do not exceed 4000rpm.

Ceramic coating helps to retain the heat in the manifold. This will mean more drive pressure is available.

[Sharky1]

Funny thing Sharky the aim is to get the hot hot air threw the turbo.. you want the exhaust gas to cool after the turbo or you loose air density and that means less force and less spin.
Sure we're talking nano farts but if your talking tuned pipes on a gq oil burner then it's all sorta relevant.
Another addition is a turbo beanie to help hold heat in untill post turbo..

Yeah to a certain extent. But even then a manifold that gets hotter quicker is gonna do that better. Go too hot & you'll overheat the turbo. Too cool & it wont work efficiently. Like I said until I get it on & dial it in I won't what its doing. I don't wanna ceramic coat coz if creates other issues. Often it doesnt take well either. I'd sooner wrap it with insulative exhaust wrap if need be which is cheap & easy & just as effective if not moreso. I doubt the turbo will run too cool. Yes I agree diesel emissions are cooler than petrol. But its a mega high compression motor & a turbo by nature gets hot. The majority of ppl have issues keeping them cool.

I didn't want a cast manifold coz they sit the turbo 2" further back & higher up than the one I have which makes for lesss room & in most cases you can't fit a 3" dump pipe on. If I went low mount I could have used a cast manifold but then there's much more piping from turbo to manifold which is where it counts more on exactly the same principle of why positive displacement blowers work more efficiently than centrifugal ones.

[nissannewby]

So what afrs do you plan on aiming for? Do you have a power and torque figure in mind?

Interesting you keep talking about heat, a manifold that begins to glow red has a setup issue. Pressure= heat, pressure differential is how any form of forced induction works. So if the turbo is incorrectly sized you end up with high manifold pressure which equals heat and then a glowing manifold. Glowing manifold equals wasted energy.

[Sharky1]

You brought the heat topic up man. Yeah most of what you say is true but you're presuming all is gonna be wrong just coz it's a pipe manifold & that's not necessarily the case.

Man it's a budget build. If I was gonna blueprint it I'd spend a cpl of mths researching & planning everything & I'd blow more than $5k on the whole project. I'd custom build my own turbo & it wouldn't be a chinese one.

I expect to gain about 200NM of torque & prob 80HP at a guess. Like I said I haven't blueprinted anything here.

I dnt have time to do all that R&D stuff these days so I handed the project over to my mate who is a well known engineer in Perth who builds race cars & specialises in diesels. He gets flown around the world as the race team engineer for one of the cars he built. I'm just paying for it & fitting most of it.

[jff45]

Sigh... :)

[Sharky1]

I guess when u jump on ebay & search GU TD42 turbo components, you have to hope the manufacturer has put in the research & development. I know I'm taking a gamble here & I'm mixing & matching. We know what we're doing to the point that we're not going to run into any major issues. Of course things can always go wrong. It's a mechanical item. Could I get better results? Yeah probably if I spent more time doing my homework & more $$ custom building it for ultimate performance. Will I get good gains for what I'm spending? I believe so. I guess we'll find out in the next cpl of weeks. My manifold should be here by end of next week. Then we're fitting it the week after & hopefully it can be tuned that week too. I'll let you know the results. I won't have dyno figures or anything coz I'm a single dad & I run my own business & at this time of year its a stretch just to do this much.