I have been tuning engines for a long time and with that experience I tend to look a bit more at how other people tune their cars and bikes than anyone else. Now this is not true for everyone, but most of you will recognize yourself at some level.
About 25 years ago the level of tuning an ordinary street car would ever see was at most 30% increase in power. (Not true for every car out there, but I'm talking ordinary street cars here)
So if you had an Ford, Volvo or BMW the amount of power you could get would have been in the 150hp range and in some extreme cases 250hp. At this point this was the "limit" of ordinary naturally aspirated engines at that time. Yes there was a lot of racing going on at that time, and some of these race engines did get put into street cars and power levels would have been 300+ hp. But the amount of maintenance these race engines required and the cost to keep them running were too much for most people.
Back then you could not just go into a racing store and buy yourself a set of forged pistons and connecting rods. Let alone camshafts and valves to build your race engine.
With the introduction of turbochargers however the power suddenly increased to levels that are still uncommon in today’s cars. At the beginning people where not really sure how to tune turbo engines and intercoolers where something that most people had never heard of. Silicone hoses where did you get that?
You would have to know someone in the maintenence department that did service on trucks or busses that had turbocharged Diesel engines at the time to buy the simple things like, clamps, hoses, gaskets, oil lines etc. Even something like an external Wastegate that are availiable almost everywhere now today you could not get your hands on. And something like real drag tires where not that common either.
But as time passed by, engine tuners got their hands on more parts, most that had the machines and tools started to make their own intercoolers, wastegates and all the parts that were hard to get and the knowledge and the tuning business took of.
Now it still took some time before engine management systems and electric fuel injection where you could really start to extract power out of engines became common and figure out how to tune the software to make that work. To start if you found someone who could tune these you would have to fork out serious doe to get everything working. Well you still might have to do that today, and serious race teams do spend alot of money to get the electrical side working right. Today there are so many more things you can do with a powerful ECU, like traction control, different boost pressures for low and high gears, launch control, shiftcut etc.. This list is very long.
But before all that came chip tuning and fuel injected turbo engines. What was unheard of just 20 years ago would now become a reality for anyone with a few minutes of tuning. Some of you might know the story of the Ford RS Cosworth, Nissan Skyline, Audi S1 Quattro, Lancia S4 to name a few and other icons of the late 1980 and early 1990. The turbo engines back then would give you 200hp and that is still today 25 years on about the same power level you would get from a new car. However today this is a common power figure for a station wagon. And back in the 80s only a few racing breed turbo engines would give you that.
But with a few changes to the ECU with chip tuning and some larger fuel injectors all that was needed then was to turn up the boost pressure and 350hp where unleashed. The only real limit here was only how much air the standard turbocharger could supply.
Sure there where different levels of basic tuning you could do but the effect was the same, more power.
With more and more tuner friendly cars coming out over the years the power figures are still holding almost the same. Just until recently where the powerfigures have really started to go up and beyond what was thought possible only a few years ago..
But what have really changed today is the huge amount of DIY tuners out there. What engine tuners did 25 years ago have now entered the garage and racing parts have now become widely available to anyone. From the cheap Chinese made turbo exhaust manifolds to wastegates and almost every tuning part you can think of to the pure racing parts like forged pistons and engine management systems on sale that anyone can buy.
So what has happened is anyone with a little background in mechanics can now build their own race engine. Power levels have just gone up and up and up.. It’s not uncommon to see street cars today with 500hp and then there are the ones who have gone even higher, breaking the 1000hp barrier.
The one thing that all these engines have in common to achieve such power levels are of course the turbocharger. Without the turbo it would not have been possible. Well a supercharger or N02 injection could do the job too but that’s another story.
However time and time again people forget the most important parts when tuning cars. I’m talking about safety and racing safety gear. I do see that people buy racing seats and that’s good. But most of the time they don’t buy racing seats because of the added safety. It’s because they think racing seats look good. And what about things like auto racing helmets that keeps your head intact. Most of the time people come to the track without real racing helmets and if it’s street racing that’s taking place, no one seems to bother wearing any kind of racing helmets at all.
I do understand that people feel protected inside their cars and they don’t think they need roll cages and in some cases opt for roll bars instead but you really need to think about this.
Some of the racing safety gear you should look at are the following:
racing suit
racing shoes
racing helmets
racing gloves
This would be the minimum for my liking if your going on a trackday or similar race day event with your tuned car.
In case you don’t have a fuel cell in your car and there is a chance of fire or fuel leak then you should consider racing fire suits also because these will save your life.
Fire is not to be taken lightly. If you have a good fuel system in place to feed your engine and anyone who are looking for power is going to have that. Then you need to understand that at any given time those racing fuel pumps are pumping 2 gallons of fuel every minute. And if you get a leak and have an accident you are in real trouble if the power to the pumps are not cut right away.
So having the right racing safety gear to protect you is always a good choice. Today’s car are much safer than the ones years ago, but you need to understand that when we double and triple the amount of power and turn our 100mph car into a 200mph fire spitting monster of a car you really, really should spend some time and pick out some racing safety gear also.
49 comments:
Please could you help identify my turbo - I believe it is similar to this!
On the casing of the compressor housing is:
GT22
4891639 702989-3
Googling that, shows its a GT2259s (i think) fitted to diesel trucks 3.5L making 160bhp or so.
The hot side has stampings:
BG1 (or maybe 8G1)
TW3
A/R .56
M2
I was sold the turbo on the basis it was a GT2259 that could run upto 280bhp.
Please could you help? Doesn't look like Garrett make it anymore as info hard to come by.
Cheers
Phill.
Hello Phill, about your GT22 turbo you need to remember that Diesel engines need more airflow to run. Almost twice the air is needed to make the same power as petrol engines.
So in theory if that GT22 turbocharger you have can provide airflow for a Diesel to make 160 hp, it should be able to give you around 300-320 hp on a petrol engine.
So in short 280bhp should be possible. You can also confirm this and measure the Inducer size, that's 40.2 mm for the GT2252. If it's bigger or around the same for your GT22 turbo then you know for sure it will be able to make the power.
Cheers
JD
What turbo would u recommend 4 3rz 2.7 Toyota?
Hello, the Toyota 2.7 liter 3RZ engines can use bigger turbos if you like. And they are very strong in stock form if you don't over rev them. I would look at the 62 TRIM Garrett GT2860R turbocharger or the Garrett GT2860RS (disco turbo).
Both would give you a solid 300hp with 15 psi / 1 bar boost. Or if you push the 62 trim GT2860R to 20 psi / 1.5 bar boost you could get around 350hp. Power should start to come in around 3000rpm and hold all the way to 5-6000rpm with that setup.
If you want a bit faster spool then the Garrett GT2560R turbo is a good choice, but it being a bit smaller than the rest around 300hp is about the best you can expect with the same boost pressures.
How would this turbo fair on a 2.8 litre Toyota old school diesel? Hoping to run 7-10 psi
Hello joshicraney22, if it's the 2.8 Toyota L type engines then you should be able to get around 150-170hp with this turbo and boost pressures levels around 7-10 psi.
WHi, what is the best turbo would you recommend for a bmw 530d (diesel) 2004 mod estate?
Thanks
I am looking to set up a small twin turbo setup on a Ford 4.6l 32v modular motor. Goals are ~7 PSI and ~500 HP with boost building as early as possible. Airflow should be ~50lb/min.
The GT2252 seems to fit the bill, unless I am missing something in my calculations. Any input on this sizing or suggestion for better alternative?
Hello Robert, the GT2252 would be a good turbo and give you the air flow you need with 7 psi boost. Another turbocharger you can look at is the GT2056, this one have a little bit smaller 47mm turbine housing vs the 50.3mm housing the GT2252 have, so it will give you a bit faster spool and still give you the air flow you need at around 7 psi boost.
However on bigger engines if you are looking more for top end power and have a high revving engine then it's better to go with a bit bigger turbine housing because a small turbine housing might start to restrict the exhaust flow at higher rpms.
Hi. My wastegate actuator rod length has been fiddled with and I want to set it back to stick. What's factory pree load on this model?
Hello, the best way to set the actuator rod is to undo the nut on the arm so everything is lose, take off the actuator clip (careful not to lose the clip, but if you do manage to drop it you can use a piece of steel / copper wire to secure the arm again)
Adjust the actuator arm length by hand so that you can without much effort remove it and put it back on the wastegate linkage. At this point the turbocharger should only be able to make a few psi boost. So now you can shorten the actuator by a turn or two so you barely can by hand get it onto the linkage to reach the stock boost levels.
However the best and correct way to do this adjustment would be with a boost gauge fitted, that is the only real way to know what boost you are getting. But if you don't have one then this is a quick way to get close to stock boost levels.
Please advice me is the GT22 M53 the correcttturbocharger for Mercedes Benz Vito W447 third generation 2.2cdi?
Hello, I think the MB Vito W447 engine use a BorgWarner turbo and not Garrett. Some of the new Vito engines also have a combined twin turbo setup. It's two small BorgWarner turbos that have a shared turbine housing with the pressure side of the compressor housing joined. If this is the case then you should see the part number A651090168 and BorgWarner on a blue label located at the end of the turbo compressor boost pipe. If you follow the intercooler boost hose you can see the label on the turbo.
Bonjour un gt22 et il bon pour une 306 2.0L HDI
Hello, for the 306 2.0l HDI I would go with the GT2056 instead.
Hi, which is bigger turbo for my td27 engine garrett tb2557 or garrett gt22
Hello Diesel dave, the TB2557 turbocharger have a 39,65mm compressor inducer and use a 53mm turbine wheel. The GT2252 turbo almost the same, however it's got a little bit bigger compressor wheel with 40,2mm inducer and have a 50,3mm turbine wheel. So they are very similar however the GT2252 would give you a bit more power due to the slight bigger compressor, but also give you a bit faster spool times due to the smaller turbine housing used.
Thanks for your reply, would not be worth changing to that turbo then, how about changing from tb2557 to gt2860?
Hello dave, the GT28 turbos all have the same 53,9mm size turbine housings also, but the bigger 47,2mm compressor on the GT2860R turbo would probably give you +100hp over your stock turbo setup. The biggest advantage the GT2860R have over the TB2557 and GT22 turbos is the ball bearings used, so spool times even with the bigger compressor will be similar to the stock turbo.
Make sure you don't get the GT2860R turbo with the 44,6mm compressor as it won't give much more power over stock turbo setup. You can look at the GT2859R that have a 44,5mm compressor also but you won't get much more power from that turbo either over stock, it's advantage is the improved spool times only.
Thank you for your input. Lastly If you were to suggest a turbo for a td27 with a tuned boost compensated injector pump what would it be. Thanks again td27 is a 2.7 diesel nissan engine for referance
Hello dave, if you are not going with any bigger injectors and only a tuned injector pump then I would suggest the ball bearing GT2859R turbo that have the 44,5mm compressor. It is more efficient at higher boost pressures around 2 bar / 30 psi. It should be good for another +40hp over stock setup.
You can also look into the newer VNT-turbos that Garrett have, however they have a very strict policy and don't let you repair or buy spare parts for those and are only sold as complete units.
I just found your blog, really nice to see someone with experiance answer direct questions, great job! In that respect I'm looking at adding a turbo to a 2000cc air cooled VW engine that I'm building for my 1800lb street kit car (Laser 197). I've done all the chassis, brake, and suspension mods 1st so as to prepare the car for increased performance. Here is what I've added to the engine. Web Camshaft 86 grind (warm street) good for up to 5500RPM. 8.5/1 forged pistons. Matched the ports in the heads and the intake manifolds by myself. Carbs are 2 X 2bbl. 40mm down draft HPMX carbs. Ideally I'd like to have boost come in at a really low RPM so as to give it a real kick driving around on the street. Would you recommend the GT28 for my application? Thanks!
Hello, the air cooled VW engines normally spool turbos very well probably due to the bigger piston design among other things. If you go with the smaller turbine GT2854R turbo you might get it to spool around 3000rpm. But still if you are going to stick with a carb setup you might have a hard time getting the fuel mixture right, so that might hurt spool times a bit.
Ideally you want to use smaller carbs or use small chokes on a turbo setup to help keep the speed of the airflow high so that the fuel atomizes better.
Hello. I have an Isuzu 4JB1 with a Garrett GT22, 736210-000, A/R .42 M24 turbo. What would an upgrade to this be?
Hello AJ, if you only want a small boost in power like 20hp then a non VNT upgrade would be to go with the GT2259 turbo that have a 42.8mm inducer.
However if you can find the 42.5mm inducer Garrett GT2360V turbo from Renault or Nissan you would get around the same +20hp, but better or similar spool to what you have now.
For more power the 44.4mm GT2359V turbo from MB should give you +30-40hp and still give you good spool.
Hi¡ could you please recommend me a turbo for a vw up 1.0 engine. Original is natural aspirated. Thanks¡
Hello, for the Volkswagen Up engine the Garrett GT1241 turbo would be a good choice. You should get around 100hp with 0.5 bar / 7 psi boost. And with the same turbo setup you could push it to 130hp with 1 bar / 15 psi boost.
The high compression ratio of 10.5:1 or 11.0:1 on some Up engines makes it important you have a good intercooler fitted even if you run low boost. If you want to run high boost and make 130 hp then I would also switch over to E85 fuel to be on the safe side.
JD, I have a stroked Toyota 22re (2.5L) and I am looking for low/mid-range power. I am looking at the GT2252 and GT2554 and am more concerned with quick spool and efficiency around 25000 rpm (about 12-15lbs of air/min). Would either of the meet the needs of efficiency towards to lower pressure ranges (6-9psig @ 5k altitude). Any recommendations?
Hello, for a 2.5l Toyota 22re both the GT2252 and GT2554 are good choices. But I would go with the GT2554 turbo if quick spool and low boost is most important to you. The GT2554 does have a slightly smaller turbine housing AR and you have the Dual Ball Bearings that are going to help the turbo spool up quick and be more responsive between gears.
However if you want to run higher boost and have a high revving engine then the GT2252 would be the better option, but you would also have less low end power due to the Journal Bearings and better flowing turbine housing.
Hi JD!
I have a BMW 330D E92 180Kw 2010
I have updated the engine management with BSR so today I will have 220Kw
At the same time as I bought this tune, I also upgraded IC from Wagner tuning model adapted IC (Intercooler)
Today I ordered an original turbo (GT22V) which I intend to make into a Hybrid turbo.
They talk about how they can increase efficiency by 20% from the original turbo.
Do you think that sounds reasonable?
I have not made any other mod modifications to the engine.
So DPF etc etc is still std
How much power increase with a Hybrid Turbo for my setup is reasonable to expect.
Thanks for a super good blog!
Hello RS, you should be able to get around 250kw with the current setup and a good tune. And yes if you also make the GT22V turbo into a hybrid turbo similar to a GT2365V turbo you should get around 300kw, and that is a 20% increase in power.
Hi DJ!
Ok it was a little surprise.
Namely, I have been worried that the current set up is turbo-wise.
began to be already more or less on the verge of being effective.
Because how is it!
The closer you are to what the limit is for what a turbo unit / compressor can deliver efficiently, the more heat is also generated.
So that's why I bought and sent in to get a Hybrid turbo made.
But perhaps now in retrospect it was unnecessary.
With the tuning setup that I had intended to settle for.
Would larger diffusers make a difference in the current situation?
Without, of course, killing DPF prematurely
What turbo would you have chosen?
For the setup I have chosen to run.
But gives more effect than the original.
But is still pug and play
JD said...
Hello RS, you should be able to get around 250kw with the current setup and a good tune. And yes if you also make the GT22V turbo into a hybrid turbo similar to a GT2365V turbo you should get around 300kw, and that is a 20% increase in power.
Who would you recommend for do that kind of tune? ( With DPF installed )?
Send me a email if you don´t want to say it here
would really like to get out all the ponnys without brick the engine
Hello RS, don't know about DPF but Celtic Tuning seem to be able to get around 340bhp/250kw with their stage 1 tune. So there is no need to change to a bigger turbo if you are happy with that.
https://www.celtictuning.co.uk/services/bmw/3-series-e9x-2005-2011/diesel/330d-241-bhp-2009-2011-ECU-remap-chiptuning/stage-1#t3-content
But you are right that at this power level with stock turbo you are at the limit. So a good intercooler is needed to keep the temps under control, otherwise on hot day you might be down on power.
The GT2365V is a popular turbo and is a good choice to get around 300kw/+700nm and still have good spool. However you should also be aware that at this power level, with over 700nm torque you run the risk of damaging the gearbox.
Looking to turbo my 2003 Honda civic with the 1.7l engine....would REALLY like to go twin turbo for the cool factor. I'll be making my own header, downpipe, etc so not worried about it being more complicated. My goal is 200whp and quick spool for a peppy daily driver. Not worried about max power, but as of now I'll be forced to stick around 8-12 psi. I know this gt2259 would be great as a single setup, but would you recommend your opinion of the best single turbo? What about 2 gt15 turbos? Will they get me anywhere close to my goals? Wouldn't mind dealing with 3-3500 rpm spool if it meant I coukd use twins. Thanks for all that you've done on this site!
Or what about two gt12?
Hello, well for 200whp if your Honda engine is otherwise stock you need to aim for 0.9bar / 13psi boost. If you want to go with a hybrid turbo you could do a GT1548 with a 41mm billet wheel. You could push that setup to around 220whp with 1.1bar / 16psi boost if possible and still have a quick spooling engine. If you like the idea of twin turbo you should consider doing a compound turbo setup similar to UniqueBoost on youtube.
Twin Turbo Honda S2000 -Compound Turbo S2000 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4zn3hZQhU8
Then you could combine a GT12 turbo with a GT22. However you would need to also fit a turbo bypass valve to the setup because the GT12 won't be able to flow the necessary air to get to 200whp and would become restrictive in that setup.
Hi, JD,
I hope you can help me to clear couple of things. :)
Long story short: The plan is to turbocharge a mk3 Toyota mr2 with the stock 1.8 1ZZ engine.
The existing setups seen on forums mostly use gt2560R or gt2860R (or similar) turbos, but to be honest I think they are too large, especially for the goals what I'm after: a relative safe low boost (6-10 psi max) to achieve 200-220 hp with the smoothest power delivery possible (so minimal lag for driveability).
According to my calculations I'd need about 23lb/min air delivered at 7 psi and roughly 26lb/min if I go to 10 psi.
After checking the compressor maps I'm a bit confused: GT2560R could be ok, but the smaller GT2554R seems to be too small for that.
On the other hand if I go for a smaller turbine, GT2056 and GT2252 seems to be also ok, but I don't get why. Why the GT2056 seems to be more out of range than the GT2252? GT2056 has bigger compressor so it should be able to deliver more air easily doesn't it? Same with the GT2554R which also has larger compressor than the GT2252 and still, it is out of range when the GT2252 is not. How's it possible, what am I seeing or calculating wrong?
Other part of my question: if I go lower than GT25 series (GT22 or GT20), can the reduced size of the turbine cause too much backpressure on the 1.8 engine at this boost level?
Which one would you recommend to my goals? Which turbo is the happiest at this boost level?
Thanks!
Hello Zoltan, you are right about the larger compressor wheels should deliver more air. However due to the blade design and exducer sizes of the wheels this is what makes the difference. If you look at the GT2056 with the 41.5mm inducer wheel you can also see that the wheel also have a much bigger 56mm exducer design. This helps the overall air flow and also helps give it a higher pressure ratio over the other turbos.
The GT2554R should flow more only looking at the 42.1 mm inducer, but with a smaller 54.3 mm exducer and blade design more focused on low pressures it can't quite make it in the air flow department.
With the 1.8 liter engine you should be good with backpressure if you are only looking at running around 10 psi boost. Keep in mind the GT22 and GT20 turbos are journal bearing so for the fastest spool times the GT2554R should be the overall better option. However if you can find a GT2056 turbo it should also come close in spool times due to the smaller turbine housing used.
Hi JD,
Thanks for the advice, it's really useful.
So a proper GT2056 could be the best solution on a budget. Maybe from an Iveco Daily? Although those are diesels, I don't know if that could be a problem. What do you think?
How about a TD04L-13T from a Subaru WRX/Forester as an alternative? They seem to have very similar parameters as the GT2056. The only problem is that they have different flange than T25 (but that could be sorted if neccessary, it's just not plug-n-play:)).
Or a TD04HL-15T from a Saab? Or is that too big? Would that be too laggy?
Hello Zoltan, if you can find an Iveco GT2056 turbo and also can check that it's got the same size turbine/compressor wheels fitted then there should not be any problems. You could use the TD04L-13T also however stay away from the TD04HL-15T turbo if you want early spool, the 15G/15T turbos have big turbines and it makes them slow to spool on smaller engines. You won't have full boost until 3.8 - 4000rpm with the 15T/15G.
TD27 with possible upgrade to BD30 or qd32.
I've read that a GT2056 has pushed 30psi thru 2.5" FMIC plumbing without being laggy. (Cool, not sure if I will go that high but maybe... also thinking W2A.)
But the GT2252 is also rated at the same 260HP. I'm aware that it has larger turbine and smaller compressor. But how do they compare performance wise? On either one I might go with a 6+6 billet wheel.
Update: I just read this: https://www.offroadexpress.kiwi/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=46115
And it has me thinking the GT2252 might be the better option if I want to avoid that problem?
Hello, because you have a pretty large 2.7 liter TD27 engine you might run into surge with the smaller GT2056 especially if you also want to upgrade to a 6+6 billet wheel. And if not surge you should expect to lose some top end power due to the smaller turbine at higher rpms anyway. The larger GT2256 turbine would help with this and you won't lose as much top end power at high rpms with a bigger turbine.
A good rule of thumb when doing hybrid turbos is to try and keep the compressor wheel inducer size and turbine wheel sizes around the same size. That way you make sure the air going in also can escape without much restriction.
Hi man!!
My Subaru Levorg fb16dit engine runs the garrett mgt1549s with 170hp and 250nm torque.
His big brother, the 15wrx with the fa20dit runs the garrett mgt2259s, both turbochargers are twinscroll.
I wish upgrade my car and reach about 240hp and 320nm with low spool. The Subaru is my daily and i drive 50/50 city/highway, so that i prefer low and mid power. I do not know if i should buy the mgt2259s or make a hybrid turbo from my oem turbocharger... In this case, which hybrid??
What is your advise??
Thanks in advance, you are really useful.
Hello Tommy, with the stock mgt1549s turbo you should be able to push around 200hp if you do a remap with around 1-1.2 bar / 14-17 psi boost. But that is the limit of what you can get out of the mgt1549s turbo. If you want more power the mgt2259s turbo would be a good option also. But you would need around 1.4 bar / 20 psi boost to get around 240hp.
I’m not sure the on the A/R size but it looks like the mgt2259s turbine is about twice the size of the mgt1549s so you will have more turbo lag with the bigger turbo. My advice is to try and get a good remap first with the stock turbo and then decide if you want to do an upgrade to get 40hp more with some added turbo lag.
If you want to build a hybrid then a compromise between the two would be the gt2052 that have the smaller 0.50 A/R turbine housing. And then use the gt2252 compressor housing or a similar size 40mm inducer compressor.
Thanks by your fast answer!
I wish a little more than 200hp, however, a local turbocharger specialist said to me that the mgt1549s could be hybrid to 1852 but no bigger...
I like twinscroll, can be the gt2052 twinscroll??
Many thanks, i will follow your advices 🔝🔝🔝
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