Bone stock car, new motor, bad turbo

[turbojimmy]

I'm trying to give my brother some advice as to what to do with his turbo. The car is bone stock right down to the air filter. We just had the engine rebuilt (by a well respected local guy - he did mine, too) and the car is smoking. Turns out the turbo is bad. The guy that built the motor graciously agreed to pop new bearings and seals in the turbo. We took it off and the turbine has already eaten into the compressor housing. It's toast.

So now what?

My brother thinks he might mod it some day, but with a stock converter and injectors what are his options for a turbo right now? He has the appropriate fuel upgrades and gauges (in boxes). On one hand I'd like to recommend he get a turbo he can grow into, but I hated the lazy spool my PT-51 had with a stockish converter.

He doesn't see spending $600+ for a new stock-type turbo when he figures for the same money he can get something bigger. The turbo we have on it is a used stocker so he's wary of buying another used unit.

Suggestions?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[TRiv]

Can't suggest larger turbo but from my experience of buying three stock turbos in the last few months for a project, it would make good sense to at minimum tear down and inspect and clean a stocker. I bought them from three different sellers, about same price, same explained condition, yet they were all in different condition, one of which could have caused trouble. Considering they are now 17-18 years old with uncertain history, a tear down, inspection and cleaning is good insurance, gnttype.org has good procedure to do it.

 

[Drac0nic]

if you can find a bolt on replacement (it sounds like you don't want to alter the vehicle much right now) I'd suggest a ball bearing turbo of similar size for quicker spooling, not necessarily a bigger one, or even a larger ball bearing turbo that keeps abou the same spool characteristics That oughta be good for a bit of time without increasing the boost of it, or at the very least. If you're looking to keep the car stockish go for the one around stock sized and you should be able to have tons of fun on that, especially if it's a DD.

 

[petesgn]

Sounds like maybe a TA-49 would work for you.

 

[turbojimmy]

Thanks all for the replies.

After reading the archives it looked like a 49 was a good fit, but with the BB turbos out now I wanted to post a fresh "which turbo" question (there are obviously bazillions of them out there).

We're gonna send the stock one to the engine guy to see what he says, but I think he's going to concur that it's no good.

Thanks again,
Jim

 

[darkred87T]

Hey Jim what about the GT3255E?

 

[gnx7]

In the parts for sale section there is a freshly rebuilt stocker for $225. You can always resell it later.

-GNX7