Relocating the turbo

[psn]

The Turbonetics T66 just won't fit in the original location. Everything hits the compressor housing. I need to do some cutting and welding on the headers anyhow, since it's a T4 flange turbo, so it's not an issue. I was thinking of just rotating the turbo ~45deg clockwise, so the compressor wheel is roughly pointing to the driver side headlights. Where I cut the header tube will determine the final location of the turbo, so I'm thinking of bringing it closer to the fender. Obviously that means the crossover pipe will need to be modified also.

I have two sets of headers to play with, stock and what I'm guessing, KB headers (not the HUGE PORT ones and definitely not stainless.) No heater, A/C or plastic inner fender well in the way, battery in the trunk and front mount ic, so there's plenty of space.

I'd like to hear some ideas and see some pictures of what others have done to get me started.

 

[bison]

Rotating the turbo has been done. I don't see the point in any of that modification. The time involved and the expense if you pay someone to do it is a waste imo. The exhaust post turbo would need to be altered and more time and $. It would be cheaper to go with a different compressor cover/compressor or just run a 3 bolt.

 

[psn]

Rotating the turbo has been done. I don't see the point in any of that modification. The time involved and the expense if you pay someone to do it is a waste imo. The exhaust post turbo would need to be altered and more time and $. It would be cheaper to go with a different compressor cover/compressor or just run a 3 bolt.

All this will cost me is time and I like doing stuff myself, including exhaust and downpipes, so I do see a point in this.

 

[bison]

All this will cost me is time and I like doing stuff myself, including exhaust and downpipes, so I do see a point in this.

Then have at it and post pics.

 

[psn]

Then have at it and post pics.

Sure. In a few days I should have a pic of an initial setup, so you can see what I had in mind.

This seems to be familiar subject to you, got any advice or link to pics what others have done, I tried search but couldn't find anything.

 

[bison]

If you look in cars for sale do a search for threads started by gnbrett you will see a nice example that uses the h compressor cover and a tang 4 bolt ex housing.

 

[psn]

If you look in cars for sale do a search for threads started by gnbrett you will see a nice example that uses the h compressor cover and a tang 4 bolt ex housing.

That looks very good. I was thinking of bringing it a little closer to the head and fender.

 

[lrayzer]

Guess I am glad I put a 3 bolt T66 on, just some mild cursing required.

 

[psn]

Guess I am glad I put a 3 bolt T66 on, just some mild cursing required.

I almost bought a Precision 3 bolt turbo, but then found this bb T66 locally and decided to give it a go.

I think it's just as pretty as the Precision units.

 

[psn]

First try, turned out ok, maybe a bit higher than intended, but compressor housing is still over an inch away from hoodliner. Just some minor modifications to the header and tacked it together, so it can easily be altered if needed.

Also had a bunch of 3" bends and straights, so I quickly made a mock up of the downpipe. Sorry, no pic of that. Played with the same pipes a bit more and had the IC tubing done too. Of course the final products will be made out of stainless (dp), and aluminum (ic).

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

 

[87-WE2]

Looks great!!

 

[pacecarta]

if you flip the upper rad hose around you wont have issues with the waterpump pulley cutting it up

 

[psn]

Looks great!!

It does look like that the turbo is there to stay. Fairly simple mod. Especially the tubing from turbo to ic, two 30° bends, one 90° and a 45° silicone 3"-> 2,5" reducer.

 

[psn]

if you flip the upper rad hose around you wont have issues with the waterpump pulley cutting it up

Gotta give it a try, I was wondering what to do with it. Old hose had a small cut in it. It's a pain to get the upper hose to fit to the radiator, because the outlet is so big. It's a 31" x 19" cheap chinese chevy radiator, but quite effective.

 

[Pittsburghkid]

What do you plan to do with the MAF pipe cause it looks like it could be in the same place as the up pipe?

 

[Cheeseburger]

Strange that it would not fit properly in the stock location, who's headers are you using?
I used to run a 76 in the stock location without issues.....

 

[psn]

What do you plan to do with the MAF pipe cause it looks like it could be in the same place as the up pipe?

I don't know yet, maybe locate the air filter to where the battery used to be. I can do pretty much anything I want with the maf pipe, cause there is plenty of space to play with. I will route the up pipe from behind the driver's headlight, since the outlets of the ic point to the side, not down.

 

[psn]

Strange that it would not fit properly in the stock location, who's headers are you using?
I used to run a 76 in the stock location without issues.....

I was told that they are KBs. Look a lot like these. http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/pictureguides/downpipes/oldatr.html

They had a four bolt T3 flange, so some other modifidations might have been performed also. Maybe that's why it wouldn't fit. but to my recollection at least the water pump was on the way.

 

[pacecarta]

waterpump would have been easy fix... just cut that heater outlet nipple down and plug the hole with a threaded plug or freeze plug

 

[psn]

waterpump would have been easy fix... just cut that heater outlet nipple down and plug the hole with a threaded plug or freeze plug

I still need to plug the hole, but the nipple wasn't the only thing that was in the way. It was just too close to the engine. It was hitting the valve cover or intake, I can't remember. I needed to make new downpipe and ic plumbing anyway, so this really was the easiest fix for the problem. And so far seems to be even easier than I thought.