Ok, need some turbo advice...

[baller760]

Well, this weekend I'm replacing the timing chain and the water pump along with the oil pump screen and the rear main seal. So I decided for fun to check out my turbo. Well all I can say is $*#&#*#$!!!!! It's a stock turbo but the propeller blades from the intake side are all chewed up and there is a tremendous amount of shaft play. So, now I'm in the market for a new turbo and I figured why not a bigger one. So now I'm looking at my goals. I want a semi-streetable car (I will probably drive it less than 5000 miles a year), I want to run mid to low 11's, and I want to do this with alcohol injection b/c race gas around here is $7.45 a gallon! I will probably end up getting a converter down the road but not for a little while as I need to get this turbo first. Also, I don't want to have to upgrade too many other things minus the usual bolt-ons and such. I have been looking at 3 turbos. the TE-44, the GT3255 E, and the GT6152. The latter being the most tempting b/c it has so much potential but then I might need a little too much converter for it so I'm skeptical. I'm also assuming it's much easier to get into the mid 11's with that turbo compared to the TE-44 and Gt3255 E. What do y'all think?

 

[baller760]

Btw, this will be run through a jersey style TH 3'' dp and probably a duttweiler neck modified stock intercooler.

 

[sdteb]

low 11's

what is low 11's 11.0's? with either the 44 or 32 you will have quite a challenge on your hands to do this..i have a 44 and dads car is a gt32...the 32 is aGREAT turbo....you can get into the 11's with it...just how far i doubt without lots of other things like ported heads etc...good luck...i wanted to get into the 10's with my 44....mid 11's is all i have so far....and i have lots of work done to the motor.......so i gues go with the bigger turbo and get a stall

 

[JCotton]

You're definitely on the right track, 60-61 turbo makes sense. You don't want to have to run 28lbs of boost to get there. If you wanted to keep the convertor reasonable, Ball Bearing turbos are an option. A convertor upgrade will be necessary. 61's will require somewhere around a 3000-3500 stall, which should work fine on a street car. It depends on how the turbo is built, there are many options and variables that need to be taken into account.

 

[baller760]

what is low 11's 11.0's? with either the 44 or 32 you will have quite a challenge on your hands to do this..i have a 44 and dads car is a gt32...the 32 is aGREAT turbo....you can get into the 11's with it...just how far i doubt without lots of other things like ported heads etc...good luck...i wanted to get into the 10's with my 44....mid 11's is all i have so far....and i have lots of work done to the motor.......so i gues go with the bigger turbo and get a stall

By mid 11's I mean 11.4's-11.6's. By low 11's I mean anything below 11.4's in the 11's. Could be 11.0, 11.1, or 11.2. I guess a 61 would be a good choice but how much converter is too unstreatable?

 

[Marc87GN]

By mid 11's I mean 11.4's-11.6's. By low 11's I mean anything below 11.4's in the 11's. Could be 11.0, 11.1, or 11.2. I guess a 61 would be a good choice but how much converter is too unstreatable?

Strange that we both sold 99-00 GTs and now we have GNs. Anyway, I agree with JCottons approach in that I never wanted to use a turbo that would have to be maxed out all of the time to make the power I'm looking for. Currently, I have(in the trunk-long story) P&P heads/intake & PT6152E. I have heard that a PT61 is good for mid 10s which should be an easy low/mid 11s turbo. Also if you get the PT6131E, which I believe uses the same exhaust wheel as the TE-44, you can get away with a little less stall than 3200.

I have a 3K stall converter, but I have not used it yet. I ran a 3200 in my GT for 3 years and it was very streetable and good at the track to the tune of 10.90s. I would hope these cars are similar.

 

[Slo86GN]

My 87 GN had a 3500 non l/u PTC race convertor in it and I drove the car w/o any problems. It wasn't a daily driver due to the low miles/condition of the car, but on the occasions I did drive, the stall wasn't that noticeable. That's why going with a 3200 isn't going to phase me one bit with the new GT6152 turbo......it will be almost invisible in everyday usage.

A GT3255 will get you into the 11's, but like Marc said, you will have to lean on it a bit to get there. Go with the 6152e or 6152s (4" inlet, 2.5" outlet) and you can get into the 11's w/o having to really stress out any parts. My 87GN had a Limit TE45a, ported heads, PTE FMIC, and a mild cam.....would run high 11's on street tires and 16-17# of boost.....throw the slicks on it, a little race gas, 21# of boost, and it ran low 11's @ 119mph. No muss, no fuss, easy 11 sec car. So I'm going to build my T in similar fashion.....low 12's/high 11's on street tires/pump gas...add an alchy kit, turn the boost up, and get booted off the track for no roll bar...lol.

 

[baller760]

That's exactly what I want to do. Have a high 11 second car on 91 pump gas with maybe a little 100 octane mixed in and then when I use the alky, have it run in the mid to low 11's. Okay, I've decided on the GT6152 and I want to purchase it. However, I was looking on fullthrottlespeed.com and they have a limit engineering version and a precision turbo version. The limit engineering one was in the high $600's in price and the precision was about $100 more at $800. What's the difference?

 

[Slo86GN]

I dunno.......the one I ordered was part #457GT6152S, which has the 4" inlet and 2 1/2" outlet.....I think it's under the Limit Eng turbos. Price was $719 plus I ordered a new HD actuator with it, which added another $60. Still not bad for a 10 sec capable turbo.