I was just wandering if it is necessary to have the water jackets hooked up on these turbos or not? Can they safely run without water hooked up and without the turbos cooking?

 

JWT Kits use Garrett turbochargers. You MUST use oil AND water.

 

I am looking at buying a car that has been running on this setup for 15k miles and the owner said he has the water to the turbos bypassed. Should I shy away?

 

 

run from it.

 

Just so I am understanding why, Is it because the oil feed can not sufficently cool the turbos alone? The owner says he has been running it this way for 15k miles with no problems. The Car is for sale in the For Sale section on this site.

 

One more time ....RUN AWAY ....You have been warned!!! If you are getting them for free....by all means take them.....

 

With both arms swinging in the air!!!!!!!!!

 

Garrett turbos aren't designed to be oil cooled, they have to use an oil restricter even. They flow significantly less oil Garrett's journal bearing oil-school counterparts.

 

Is it possible the turbos are ok if there is no signs of trouble?

 

Go to JWTs web site ask them the question, they usually respond quickly. If its a great deal and you can afford to replace the turbos if required in the near future then consider it. You would also have to run coolant lines to the turbos so a bit of work to be done. BB turbos as stated above don't have enough oil running to them for sufficent cooling by oil alone. I think new garrett centre sections are about $1000. If things like that were skipped what other short cuts have been taken on the car? You might run into more problems down the road caused by cut corners.

 

Thanks all for the help in this. The water lines are run but just bypassing the turbos. He said they were disconnected temp. due to a leaking adapter

 

The JWT water lines are crappy. Forged had to replace the rubber hoses and plastic parts after just 6 mos of use. All stainless steel hose and metal fittings now. If the car has been driven under boost with no water lines, I'd be pretty worried about how much life is left in the turbo's bearings. You generally have to drop the motor to get to those turbos. Labor is expensive. You've been warned! Good luck.

 

I emailed JWT and asked them. i hope to hear from them soon.

 

The only BB turbo's I know of for the Z that don't come with water lines is the Power Enterprise kit. I have no idea how they work w/out water. I asked a few installers when I installed my kit and they said to put the water lines on.... they weren't sure how they held up w/ just the oil lines to them???!!! There are plenty of cars for sale in the forum... people are having a hard time selling right now so you can get a good deal.

 

The car in question is on the forum. Im waiting on a reply back from JWT

 

In case anyone wanted to know JWTs answer. They believe that there could be damage to the Nylon Cage in the turbo charger given that internal temps rise VERY quickly even under short periods of boost. That was strait from an engineer at JWT

 

They have good technical service they have helped me in the past.

 

Incorrect, you SHOULD use them by all means....but it's not a MUST.

The water jackets in water cooled turbochargers are not necesarily meant to cool the turbo DURING USE ( though there cooler the better, this is not their purpose ). They are meant to keep the CHRA ( Center Housing Rotating Assembly ) cool AFTER SHUTDOWN when oil is not flowing.

On non watercooled turbos, when the car shuts down, oil flows stops and the oil that stays trapped inside the turbo. If the CHRA is extremely hot, the oil left inside the housing will eventually ( in time ) develope into a hard and thick tar like substance which will obstruct the flow of oil to the turbo and eventually cause it to fail. This is something that has always existed and is the reason why turbo timers exist.

With the introduction of water cooled turbos ( especially the affordable ones we can get now adays ) this issue is pretty much solved and the need for turbo timers is non existent.

Can a Ball Bearing turbo ( like the ones in question ) be used without the water lines? Absolutely. Will they last? Absolutely....assuming that during the time they have been used without water lines the car has had proper cooling time before shut off and the car was not heavily raced for extended periods of time ( circuit racing ).

If the car is running fine now, I honestly wouldn't worry about it. Just hook them up yourself. Garrett wants you to use the waterlines and I would recommend it as well....that doesn't mean the turbos will blow up without them though.

FWIW...I'm speaking from personal experience. I have done this myself and have friends that have done it as well and have yet to see a turbo fail because of it.

 

I appresciate the information. I told the seller (Who seems like a damn decent individual) what JWT had informed me of, and he without hesitation, took the car into a shop and had the turbochargers checked and the water jackets hooked back up. I have gotten alot of mixed feelings on the subject, but everyone agrees that its better to have them hooked up. So why live life on the edge.....