49 or 51?

[southern boost]

i have a 49 and want to know if it would be worth it to put a 51 on a my car or not. thanxs randy

 

[turbo buicks]

i dont have either of these turbos and i kinda just want to get my post count up so im kinda talking out my A$$ here, BUT, i have heard from various board member that the pt-51 had/has many problems with blowing the turbine wheel. someone also said that if you are going low 11's on a 51 then be sure to count the number of exhaust turbine wheels after every pass just to make sure they are all there i rode in a car w/a te-44 (non-stock appearing version of ta-49) and it spooled fast and the car has gone 11.6 on a bone stock longblock so if i were you id keep the 49. if it aint broke, dont fix it. i dont think theres much of a difference between a 49 and a 51 at all, IMO

 

[Wes]

what do you mean "worth it" ? no ...you wouldnt notice a difference ....if you wanna go big ...then go big .... nevermind if ppl have said they have had probs with the 51...fact is ...you wouldnt notice much with the 51 over the 49 ... FWIW i had a 51 for a couple of months before i stepped up to the cpt-65 and i never had probs with it...my friend now owns the 51 and beats the sh*t out of it daily with no probs ...

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

whatza 51


really i did that .....very bad choice.. i did find some power gain but definatly not worth the trouble..

if you want to step up skip the 50 series and move on to the 60 series

 

[QuickWE4]

I think a lot of it depends on your goals....there are several posts out there on this very topic.

The 51 seems to be on the fringe in terms of needing stall or not needing stall, and it's a very subjective discussion.

I had a TA51 which I had upgraded to directly from the stocker. Now, I had a puck alignment issue which hurt my spool a bit, but nonetheless it seemed that it probably would have been happier with a bit of stall - 2800 to 3000. I originally went with the 51 because of the top end potential of the turbo as opposed to the 49, and I thought that I'd be able to dial down the boost a bit with the 51 and still achieve similar results.

I swapped it for a 49 because I determined that it was better for my goals - a street driven/show car with no track time. Plus, I was reasonably sure that I was going to end up wanting a little more stall. Therefore, I think the consensus is that if your car is largely a street machine, the 49 is probably one of the best all around turbos, and its very happy with the stock D5. The 51 moves into that area where you start needing a bit of stall unless you're happy with a laggy first gear.....

Just my .02

Rich

 

[RobV6]

Just an Opion

I had a 49 on my GN....Car was stolen. However. That 49 did everything well. I would spend the money on a converter or heads. Or injecters

Lots of guys forget traction too. Seems like combination with the 49 wouldn't be worth going or spending on a 51..........Just my .02 cents

 

[Steve Wood]

Seems like a very small performance increase for quite a bit of money.

 

[TIMS87GN]

How does the 49 behave with a 2800 converter? I assume no lag at all? I am thinking of a 49 for x-mas but cant rule out a larger size. See sig.

 

[Chris Taylor]

If you want to talk about a power increase; I ran a T63e in place of my TE-44 while John Craig was rebuilding my 44. I have a Pat's mod. D5 3000 stall. Bad lag on the bottom but you had better hold on when the boost hits. I was running 112 race fuel with 26 psi of boost and could break the street tires loose around 55 mph.

 

[salvageV6]

With a 9" Art Carr converter couldn't he go right to the TA60?

No reason to go from a 49 to 51 unless one of them is broke.

 

[southern boost]

Alright here my thing you guys ,yall(i'm from the south)that the 51 wouldnt be worth the effort and that ta60 or 61 would be a good piece,but when i talk to john craig the other day on the phone he said to stay where i'm at until i did head work and a cam change. I believe that steppin up to a ta60 or 61 would be a big increase in a postive way, so what are your thoughts on this pls honest because i'm seriously lookin at a turbo change . thanxs randy

 

[dconnor]

You've still got a lot of room to grow with that 49, it'll support solid 11.4's with the right supporting parts. I'd look at improving traction, etc... before slapping on a bigger turbo!!!

Doug C.

 

[turbot2112]

i got a ta 60 from john craig and im running a 2800 10 inch converter and i love it. havent been to the track yet though. it is a bad ass turbo.