Information on the ATS Turbo Kit

[nycxjeremyy]

Does anyone here know much about the ATS Turbo Kit?



Been trying to gather information about it recently, id like to know as much about it as I possibly can, I am well aware that these kits are on the less common side of things, hence my reasoning for finding our more about it.

(Photos + Videos of said Turbo: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ctr5Bt25vyo4uv8q6 )

One of the things Id like to know if the pressure im running is proper or not (it runs at 3PSI at highway speeds) if it has a wastegate or not, and most importantly, if theres anything else I can do to help it perform better

Im mainly trying to look at specifications of this Turbo (rebuild kits if possible)

If anyone has information on it, please do tell, anything helps, thank you.

(1985 6.2)

 

[MrMarty51]

Get the exhaust manifolds, crossover pipe, gaskets and a decent turbo for the 6.5 engine.
I think it all should fit Your 6.2.
Since You dont have an ecm there should be no error codes to set so You can run a manual wastegate, just keep boost pressure at about 12 but not over 15 PSI.

 

[jrsavoie]

Get the exhaust manifolds, crossover pipe, gaskets and a decent turbo for the 6.5 engine.
I think it all should fit Your 6.2.
Since You dont have an ecm there should be no error codes to set so You can run a manual wastegate, just keep boost pressure at about 12 but not over 15 PSI.

Do those fit in the old square bodies?

 

[ak diesel driver]

Not if it has AC

 

[Will L.]

Don’t replace them just because it isn’t the most common- heck the common gmx turbos are not very good. The factory crossover is a p.o.s. So unless building custom headers to get to the turbo flange, I say run what is there.

3 psi cruising at steady speed on freeway can be desirable-Theoretically.
Not knowing characteristics of the turbo we can only guess.

Now if you have your foot on the floor at any speed/rpm and it can only build 3psi that is an issue.
The smoking at ideal isn’t good, but the turbo isn’t involved in that unless the turbo is leaking oil into the intake- and every time that happens the smoke volume gets worse with rpm regardless of load. That doesn’t seem to be happening so I think the smoking is unrelated to the turbo.
Address the smoke as its own subject.

The pressure from the ATS, other owners said 10 psi is recommended but without ats documentation that is just best available speculation.
If it is getting up there when accelerating hard- no worries.

The turbo itself appears really small so Seeing the turbo map would tell how good/bad it can perform. If you spent a ton of money on sensors and recording everything we could determine how good/bad that turbo is compared to other options. But I rather some lower cost normal gauges like tach, egt, psi and when it’s time to spend the thousands of dollars- do that on a new turbo.

But we don’t know where your main needs are to even say which turbo would work great. I know a guy with a K5 who NEVER gets his truck above 40 mph.
5.88 gears and 40” tires. Only time he spends more than 20 minutes in it is when he is offroading. So a tiny quick spooling gm5 works great for him.

 

[dbdiesel]

This is somewhat old here but I do have the ATS kit on my truck, and I don't believe I carry 3 psi at highway speeds. When I installed the kit I tested it on a long hill nearby and I was not able to carry any more speed at the top than before NA. I have not turned up the fuel yet that is my next step. The turbo is a reverse rotation from the standard turbo so it is not easily replaced. I can see up to 7 psi on WOT up the hills, but I have not checked drive pressure.

 

[Will L.]

@dbdiesel
I have added turbos to both 6.2 & 6.5 that were naturally aspirated. I never had good response from them until I turned up my fuel on the db2. It’s not a hard task, requires no money spent. If you don’t know how I can post a link to a video.

Contrary to some info out there, it will not make mpg worse- it infact makes it better. What happens is you end up using less throttle to do the same amount of work and it lights up the turbo sooner so your acceleration improves. So rather than 100% (or whatever you run it at) throttle trying to climb a hill for 60 seconds and not accelerating to the desired speed, you get to that speed in 40 seconds then back of the throttle a little to level out the speed.

Using a boost gauge to say when “too much” is applied doesn’t really work because each turbo will perform differently than the next as well ae difference of injectors. You would have to read cylinder pressures to really know.
But the obvious becomes when you are building heat so watching a pyrometer and the ect gauge can let you know when it is being “exercised” vs being “overworked”.

 

[MrMarty51]

This is somewhat old here but I do have the ATS kit on my truck, and I don't believe I carry 3 psi at highway speeds. When I installed the kit I tested it on a long hill nearby and I was not able to carry any more speed at the top than before NA. I have not turned up the fuel yet that is my next step. The turbo is a reverse rotation from the standard turbo so it is not easily replaced. I can see up to 7 psi on WOT up the hills, but I have not checked drive pressure.

I installed a drive pressure gauge on My 6.5 with the DS4 pump.
Drilled and tapped the exhaust manjfold just a little below the turbo.
Plumbed the drilling to about 6 foot of 3/8ths” copper tube.
Run that to the passenger side with a coil or two then plumbed the gauge tube onto that.
The copper tube shows no sign of heat at that distance and its pretty cool watching boost and drive pressure climb.
As straight through of an exhaust system as possible is a big help too.
Bigger is better.
I did eventually install the muffler into the Diamond eye exhaust just to tone it down some. The muffler with the kit is straight through but its enough to soften the roar.

 

[MrMarty51]

At most, with the A Team Turbo, drive pressure will climb as high as 1.25 PSI for every PSI of boost but most of the time it is closer to 1 to 1.

 

[Will L.]

But the ATT, A Team Turbo, is double the size (or more) of the ATS, has NO wastegate, etc.

Thats why boost is a horrible reference unless two engines are built the same with same turbo, running same altitude, same gear ratio, etc.