Need turbo choice help.

[tjthorson]

OK, I *thought* I had this figured out.

I am running a TE60 and Bluetops on a MJW low timing (17) chip with a 2800 stall converter and a brand new tranny rebuild. I have a THDP, full 3" single shot exhaust.

It just takes too long to spool after the rebuild. I think the old flaring, slipping tranny was contributing to help the spoolup. My TE60 is absolutely perfect, has about 5000 miles on it, I just thought it was too big.

WHat are my goals? Mid (w/slicks) high 12's on street tires and 93 octane. No more. Budget just doesn't allow for high octane fuel (alchy injection in the distant future )

From a stop light, if I step into it, the boost doesn't start pulling until at least 25 mph. Seems to be about 4-5 seconds. I have it set on 21 lbs boost.

So I thought I would find someone with a good TA49 or TE44 and just do a swap. They may be looking to go up, I am looking to go down. Its win-win.

So I have a few emails and everyone has differnet opinions. SO I thought I would ask here before I make a choice. Will I still be at roughly the same power level with the 49 at the same boost? Or does it really heat up the air that much more then the 60? I never boost it at the line, I just want to step into it and go. I don't do any cop attracting, boosted launches. I want more streetability. Will a 44/49 give me that? Or will I have less power then my 60, but not gain the street manners I am looking for?

Opinions? Experience?

 

[Intercooler]

Sounds more like your tune or setup than the turbo. The stock turbo will do what you are asking.

 

[John Larkin]

If you're into "sweat equity", then you might consider having the converter re-stalled. But the big question is like Jesse said, how's your tune? If you're rich on the bottom, then it's gonna spool slow no matter what, and act about like you described (take off like crazy at 25mph). Secondly, 21 lbs of boost on non-race gas or without alky, even with a low, low timing chip sounds very aggressive.

 

[tjthorson]

I Know, I know. We have been through this before. I cannot explain why i can run such high boost on my car. It has been verified with 2 different boost gauges. i can crank it up to 23 and never see any ESC counts, let alone KR. (I didn't want to keep going until I saw knock) When we went through this before, we settled on the fact I may have an agressive aftermarket cam with lots of overlap, and I know for a fact the heads were ported. The previous owner mentioned there was a "ruggles" cam but couldn't remember which one. The motor is .030 over already also. I get about 70 ESC counts when I start the car and never see any after that. Light taps near the knock sensor with a socket extention gets the lights on the knock sensor going.

With the stock turbo and stock injectors, I blew a headgasket. Turns out I was running over 24 lbs of boost, but the boost gauge I had only showed 15. I was doing a highway 3rd gear blast, saw the red go on the knock sensor, and heard boom!

So, now I get panicky if I even see ESC counts (which I never seem to do, but I haven;t pushed it)

Maybe I will have Mike lean out the chip on the bottom end to help the spool. Maybe the 60 is a fine turbo to run after all.

 

[rob nolan]

I RUN A TA-49 ON MY CAR IT DOES PRETTY GOOD ON YHE STREET I LIKE IT BUT DOWN THE ROAD I'M GONNA GO BIGGER AFTER I GET MY TRANSMISSION REBUILT AND A CONVERTER PUT IN I HAVE MORE MODS ON MY CAR THEN YOU DO A TA-49 & TE-44 IS A GOOD ALL AROUND STREET TURBO I HAD A BUDDY OF MINE RUN 11.51 AT 121 WITH A TE-44 AND THATS PRETTY GOOD WELL GOOD LUCK ROB