Turbo Question TE61, TE62, TE63 ???

[salvageV6]

I am thinking of buying a new turbo when I get my tranny rebuilt and 3000 Vigilante put in the car, single disk lockup.

First car in sig. Only have Bosch 42 greentop inj.

I will be going with a ball bearing turbo for better street manners.

Will a 63 work?

If not anyone use the 62's these days?

61 should work well.

How does a PTE54 fit in here?

TIA all opinions welcome.

My PTE51 will end up on the GN I guess.

 

[Two Lane]

Salvage,

Some thoughts for you:

1) You'll likely want to go to 55#s at a minimum...or larger.
See what John Craig or Chuck Leeper suggest.

2) Non-ballbearing 61s have good street manners on lesser equipped TRs than yours, so the BB 63 should be fine...& fast!

I think traction is going to be your only problem...what suspension mods do you have planned?

HTH

 

[V6POWER]

Have you considered getting your heads worked rather than getting a larger turbo?

 

[salvageV6]

Yup have a set of heads here to go out to Frank G. someday.

Waiting to blow it up for that however don't want to disturb GM's nice work.

Have boxed control arms and good bushings from HR Parts in there. Air bags, cargo coils and bilsteins. Stock upper arms and pinion snubber.

Most like heads will be put into the car when it gets a complete rebuild when the body goes to the boneyard.

Rather than buying a 44 for the GN I was thinking of upgrading the good car and making use of the Vigilante I have and forcing myself to get the tranny rebuilt and perhaps upgraded. I hate the thought of someone touching it but it does have 142K on it.

 

[Scott Atk]

I believe it was Jack C. that told me my PT-54 was equivalent to a 62. Someone correct me if Im wrong please.

 

[HRpartsNstuff]

Your turbo selection really depends on how fast you want to push it. I saw mid 12's in your signature. A TE61 should get you low 11's without too much trouble. I really like the 61 for street & strip use at the mid/low 11 area. A 62 is not that much more, so I would just go to a TE45A if you need more than that. Let me know if I can help sort it out for you or get you prices on any of them.

Also, I would pass on the ball bearing style. After talking to John Craig on this, he said the BB turbo's are fine on almost every other brand of motor. For some reason (oiling system likely), the BB turbo's don't last near as long on the Buicks. John said that he would NOT use one on a TR if he owned it, and he can build any turbo he wants for his own use. With that in mind, and the extra cost, and the fact that a 61 or 45 work fine on the street with a good combo, I would skip the BB's. Hope that helped & didn't start a huge debate.

 

[turbolc2]

Turbo

If you want street & strip,61 is the way.It takes tweeking & cool temps,but you can run a 61 with a d5.If it was my car,a good set of heads would be next.Typically heads are worth about 3 mph if they are done right,& the combo works together IMO.

 

[Bens87tr]

I was running a 62 for a while with bluetops with good results. It would work well with that converter. Went 12.4 with it. Of course that was the run in which I had to borrow a screwdriver from you Al on the return road. Blew the intercooler hose off!! Maybe one of the newer 50 series would be better, the 62 is an old design.

 

[Intercooler]

Originally posted by Bens87tr
I was running a 62 for a while with bluetops with good results. It would work well with that converter. Went 12.4 with it. Of course that was the run in which I had to borrow a screwdriver from you Al on the return road. Blew the intercooler hose off!! Maybe one of the newer 50 series would be better, the 62 is an old design.

So is that 44 you are running but I don't see anyone complaining Old or not they work and in most cases better than the 50 series.

 

[salvageV6]

I guess the 61 would work well with the 3K stall converter.

Without ball bearings I could get the heads done by Frank G. and be ahead in the long run.

Sounds like a plan.

Ben next time I go racing (Oct. 4 another rental) there won't be tool boxes in the car. Gotta shed some weight.

$68 at LVD check it out hope you can make it! Too many Chevies gonna be there need more Buicks.

 

[Bens87tr]

Originally posted by Intercooler
So is that 44 you are running but I don't see anyone complaining Old or not they work and in most cases better than the 50 series.

Very good point.

 

[HRpartsNstuff]

I had ran 11.20-11.0's with a TE-61 and a D-5 converter a few years back. This was after a lot of tuning & lots of boost, running on the edge. It was a bit slow on the spoolup, but OK. It would have been MUCH better with a 2600/2800 stall for sure. It will work awesome with a 3000 stall, excellent combo.