Ok when i bought this car i was told by the owner that it had the original turbo on it. Well I noticed from looking at other pictures that my inlet bell is not a stock one it appears to be the same one that i saw on the Ta49 on kirbans website obviously it bolts on so iguess it is possible that the turbo is stock. But what can i look at on the turbo to see what type it is?
Help with turbo id
- Thread starter jay dcpt
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Externally, when any TA series turbo is installed, it is very hard to tell exactly what it is without having pictures of the compressor wheel to verify. One simple way to tell, would be to remove the MAF pipe/ flex hose and see if the ID of the inlet exactly matches the ID of the inlet bell.
Here's two pictures to better illustrate.
Stock turbo.
Notice the step on the actual inlet of the compressor cover, the area around the very front edge of the compressor wheel. It is smaller than the ID of the inlet bell.
TA-49 turbo that I took off my old Blue car.
You can see that same area is opened up more for the larger compressor wheel. It matches the ID of the billet aluminum inlet bell.
Back in the day, there were a couple of companies who made these inlet bells, and before we had all the turbo upgrades that we have today, we used to buy this inlet bell and get to porting / contouring the compressor cover. That was one of the tricks to maximizing the power of a stock turbo.
The other was to take the turbine housing and port not only the wastegate hole, but also the inlet to match the header as well.
Next, we would take the compressor cover and the intercooler, and grind the discharge & inlet to have a nice taper. If you've ever noticed how thick these areas are, this was done to give the airflow a nice smooth path into and out of the intercooler. Doing all of these tricks were typically worth 15-25 more hp when done right. Lastly would be to port the throttle body and upper plenum using the same theory.
Hope this helps a little.
Patrick
Here's two pictures to better illustrate.
Stock turbo.
Notice the step on the actual inlet of the compressor cover, the area around the very front edge of the compressor wheel. It is smaller than the ID of the inlet bell.
TA-49 turbo that I took off my old Blue car.
You can see that same area is opened up more for the larger compressor wheel. It matches the ID of the billet aluminum inlet bell.
Back in the day, there were a couple of companies who made these inlet bells, and before we had all the turbo upgrades that we have today, we used to buy this inlet bell and get to porting / contouring the compressor cover. That was one of the tricks to maximizing the power of a stock turbo.
The other was to take the turbine housing and port not only the wastegate hole, but also the inlet to match the header as well.
Next, we would take the compressor cover and the intercooler, and grind the discharge & inlet to have a nice taper. If you've ever noticed how thick these areas are, this was done to give the airflow a nice smooth path into and out of the intercooler. Doing all of these tricks were typically worth 15-25 more hp when done right. Lastly would be to port the throttle body and upper plenum using the same theory.
Hope this helps a little.
Patrick
Well i removed the maf hose and the turbo has the same id as the inlet bell it looks exactly like the above photo of the TA49 so is it safe to say that that is what i have on the car? The factory heat shield fits over the turbo which would also lead me to believe its a ta49. Does this sound correct?
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