taurran

iTrader: (18)

Hey folks, I've been holding off on this for a bit due to some circumstances, but I figured that many of the Turbonetics owners may be interested in what's going on with my car. I know it's a bit late, but my car has been a PAIN lately in more ways than one.

Over the past year or so, I've had steadily increasing smoke from the exhaust of my car (like others out there with the kit). It seemed to increase after I put on my turbo blanket. Like others, I looked first at the seals on the turbo. I called Reggie to organize a turbo swap, and MIA and the rest discussed possibilities in measures to fix the smoking issue.

What was decided upon was a water cooled bearing housing. It appears that heat may be a deciding factor in seals on this setup, so the thought is that a water cooled bearing housing would prolong the life of the turbo seals. In the end, it was decided to swap out the old turbo with a *new* 60-1 with a wet bearing housing.


Rob was in Florida that week so we went ahead and swapped the turbo out. Here are some pics from the swap process:

Turbo removed:


New turbo installed:


Water lines routed. These are tapped into the cooling system in the same location that the APS turbos are. There are feed and return radiator hoses behind the motor on the driver and passenger sides. We simply cut them and T'd the lines off of them:


Up close of wet bearing housing with water lines installed:


And I couldn't resist an artistic shot of the turbo:


Finished shot:



Okay, NOW the hard part (the followup):

After the turbo was installed, I seemed to still be having smoking issues. There was less smoke, but still some. Obviously, because it was a BRAND NEW turbo there is something else going on here. I drove up to Zdayz and the turbo performed well the whole time I was there despite an exhaust leak that I had from my wastegate relocation install.

My plans upon return were to install a catch can and change out the PCV valves and hope for the best. The last option would have been a compression/leakdown to see if there was a possibility of a cracked ringland on one of my pistons.

Another thing to note is that during the original turbo install we pulled the plugs and found that the #1 cylinder plug had oil on top. It may be possible that we needed to change out the gasket under the drivers side valve cover that might be getting blowby into the plug tunnel.

With the wastegate relocation kit, my car was boosting a PERFECT 6.3psi on wastegate pressure, and right on the money with my blitz boost controller active. I was running my 9psi setting within .1psi in every gear. My main problem was the exhaust leak which I'd been temporarily dealing with. It was bad enough to effect boost response and power delivery (running rich down low), but the car was functioning fine.


HOWEVER, on the way back from Zdayz, after 2+ years of boosting happily on the stock turbonetics kit, my motor decided to let go. Now, before the critics jump on me, I'll say that I believe the root cause of the failure was of my own fault. It sucks really, but the car is already about to go under the knife and be built with a single turbo setup that should put the rest of the previous attempts to shame. The goal is 550-600whp. Wish me luck (although I don't think we need luck).

Unfortunately, in the end it means that I wasn't able to determine the cause of the smoking issue, but I DO believe the wet bearing housing will ultimately improve the longevity of the turbo and prevent heat from causing premature seal failure. This also means that I don't believe many of the recurring issues with smoking turbonetics kits is the turbo at all. If it keeps smoking after you've swapped it out, it's definitely something involving the PCV, oil return, or crankcase blowby.

Despite that, look for the possiblity of these water-cooled bearing housing turbos to ship with future kits and replacement turbochargers.

Thanks for your time, and discuss!

taurran

iTrader: (18)

Oh, and another thing we did was create a monster AC line. This lower AC line was built custom to be 8 inches longer than the replacement Turbonetics line, with a thicker rubber line.

The custom line was wrapped in DEI heat shield (the silver stuff), and then a layer of DEI Cool Tube Extreme was added on top of it. This stuff is basically a flexible hard line shell around it all capable of withstanding 1200 degree ambient temps.

The result was a monstrous AC line that we affectionately referred to as the "John Holmes" AC line:

2004Black350z

iTrader: (37)

Nice write up! Still another reason why every tuner has turned me away from turbonetics kit. Good luck Man!

MI 35th

iTrader: (16)

subbed for more results will discuss later!

taurran

iTrader: (18)

Well I hope it doesn't turn into any sort of flamefest, but reread what I concluded. The turbo didn't seem to be the smoking issue.

With some small precautions this kit can function just fine. I don't see any reason for "tuners" to be turning people away based on the fact that they can't spend $40 extra to shield an AC line.

Just my thoughts on that...

saberphx

iTrader: (5)

Make another A/C line and ill buy it.

IslandZavage

iTrader: (8)

sorry to hear the bad news, but congrats/good luck on the build..look forward to seeing what your end results are...

seeing the tires in the pix remind me i need new ones..lol..

Ed 718

iTrader: (32)

awesome writeup Craig and if you need anything let me know...........

2004Black350z

iTrader: (37)

oh no no flame man! im just saying I have had a few tuners turn me away bc they said that every kit would have sumthing fall off or break or other troubles. Maybe there just telling me that so they can sell me a more expensive kit idk. But Good luck im subscribed to see more news.

taurran

iTrader: (18)

Thanks, hopefully in the next few months we'll have some real big ST numbers to show it can be done.

IslandZavage

iTrader: (8)

r u doing the work yourself?

Ed 718

iTrader: (32)

The best thing I can recommend is to do your own research as every kit differs in power number and or price. The worst thing you can do is ask " which kit is the best " as everyone will be biased towards the kit they run. There is a ton of info on these forums and actually doing research will help you in the long run so you don't dump money into something that is not what your looking for.

taurran

iTrader: (18)

Nope, a shop will be doing the build and install. Truthfully, changing out the turbo on this car is irritating enough much less pulling the motor. I'll definitely be keeping the community in the loop on the process of the build and results.

We're not going to be doing this half-assed like the other attempts we've seen in the past. It's going well beyond just swapping out the compressor wheel and hoping for more power. More details soon...

priscilla ls1

iTrader: (15)

If your going to build the engine why not go twins?

2004Black350z

iTrader: (37)

Good info andI already made one thread about JWT TT kit today but just to let u and everybody on here know Ill make another one about pros and cons for every kit members have. Sorry 4 hijacking ur thread man!

35ounces

iTrader: (5)

I don't see why you concluded that the turbo was not the problem. You never resolved the issue.

In my case a new turbo resolved the smoking issue and so far no new issues.
Knock on wood I have not had a problem with the AC line.

Very interested to see what you do now.

taurran

iTrader: (18)

I'm not a fan of wasting money.

Next question please.

taurran

iTrader: (18)

Why? Simple process of elimination.

It may have been a contributing factor, sure, but it was still smoking even after a BRAND NEW turbo was swapped in it still displayed smoking. Unless my exhaust was just gunked up with that much oil residue, then it wasn't the complete problem.

Sure it wasn't resolved, but from what we've seen we can still rule certain issues out. Oh, and I'm mainly referring those "those people" who have had turbos rebuilt and seem to think that it's still a turbo issue after swapping them out multiple times. Obviously there's more to it than just a bad seal.

priscilla ls1

iTrader: (15)

oohh really? I think deep down you really want to go twin's but you don't want to be a sell out to your online fans. Just do what you feel is right man.

taurran

iTrader: (18)

If I wanted to go twins I would. And if so, I CERTAINLY wouldn't go with a mincy little PETT setup.

Besides, I've never been one to want to be like everyone else. I think when people see what we're doing they'll change their tune about the viability of a built ST.