Finally got around to installing the turbo in my van!!!

[turbovanman]

OK, so I've been wanting to do this forever and finally bit the bullet and got it done. I honestly thought it would take me 4-6 hours but was I wrong, I think after it was all said and done, I am into it for 22 hours or so, sigh and still have some things to tweak. Turbo is an HX35W.

I redid my scavenge pump lines 2-3 times, I had originally thought about using the oil cap but didn't realize it was a vent, so welded a fitting to the oil fill and that ended up blowing oil out of the CDR. I also found my used pump was no good but luckily had a Surflo pump kicking around so got it going but ordered a new, better model today. I finally put a fitting in behind the starter into the oil pan. I was going to use a valve cover but punched a hole in the wrong spot and after seeing how much oil comes out at idle, I decided that was too much oil to put there. You will notice I used heater hose for the return lines, I will be changing it to proper rated hose soon, as well as redoing the drain back elbow.

Don't mind the exhaust, I was tired and should have gone home, its an abortion but doing to replace the muffler with something smaller.

Boost control is done by knife edging the TS housing, opening up the wastegate hole and using an adjustable boost elbow off Ebay.

Piping was from CX Racing, my friend welded it up for me and made the hat, 3" aluminum. I have to redo the upper pipe, its rubbing on the dog house and making it vibrate, Turbo CDR is plumbed into the intake hose.

Air intake plumbing is a dryer vent relocation kit I bought years ago, and the filter is an AEM Dryflow, 4".

Mounted the turbo at the end of the collector using an OBX T3 adapter and used a stock exhaust hanger with rubber mounts to support the turbo.

I have a rear main leak, sigh and the trans tail shaft leaks, all the other oil was from running it and the CDR spitting it out all over the engine.

Think I have it covered, so any questions, just ask.

I have to check it over tonight as there is a lot of oil underneath the truck,

Driving wise, night and day over n/a, around town 3 psi right off idle, 5 psi on the highway and I hit 12 psi easily, I don't have an EGT gauge yet so taking it easy and haven't gone passed 1/2 throttle. The engine is smoother and quieter, and hills I had to work at now are cake, can even use LU all the time. I only want to run 10 psi or so as I don't want to be adding studs and doing the head gaskets.

So after driving it and checking it out tonight, turns out the scavenge pump isn't doing its job, should have bought new, and I have a leaking head gasket, which is a blessing as I was planning a long trip in a few weeks and if I hadn't turbocharged it, it would have blown on me then, :mad2:

 

[schiker]

Looks good and like a lot of work. Yeah, I can see it taking way longer than you expected.

I'd be curious to see if you get heavy oil residue accumulate at bottom of CDR hose at the lowest point of the loop. I can imagine it might but don't know if it will.

 

[turbovanman]

Looks good and like a lot of work. Yeah, I can see it taking way longer than you expected.

I'd be curious to see if you get heavy oil residue accumulate at bottom of CDR hose at the lowest point of the loop. I can imagine it might but don't know if it will.

I will keep an eye on it and report back as I find things out. Have to do the heads this weekend, :mad2:

 

[turbovanman]

I just got it running, ARP studs, .010 head gaskets, put the CDR on the valve cover ala a 6.5 valve cover. New scavenge pump, the old one didn't work properly. I'll put some miles on and report back.

 

[turbovanman]

New pictures, fixed a few things, rerouted, welded, put a new muffler on and fixed up my crappy exhaust from before, new scavenge pump.

 

[3500GMC]

Now that's pretty wild.

Gotta hear it.

 

[Will L.]

Looking good. I don't know how I missed it before the pm was sent. My only 2 thoughts:

Like Schiller said the oil/cdr thing.

Air filter under the truck. I was a Mac tools guy for some time and saw ALOT of cold air intake systems that had lower placed intakes wipe out engines due to rain puddles. Even if you don't hydro lock, a small gulp of water hitting the turbo blades might not go well. Really consider moving up the intake.

I and other hummer owners on off road excursions played with air intakes that were in excess of 10' additional to stock, away from the inlet with no noticible power changes. One friend of mine actually put on scuba gear and 2 pipes (exhaust and intake) and put his truck under 15 feet of water! 4" PVC works wonders.

What kind of power difference and mpg changes are you noticing? Best of luck.

 

[turbovanman]

Thanks. So far, with the CDR on the valve cover, slight oiling of the compressor side and I checked for suction at the CDR at idle, has quite a bit.

Thanks for the air filter concern, its quite a ways back and already gone thru a few monsoons.

Finally got my EGT gauge installed, its an MSD Lazer combo that they stopped making, boost and EGT with warning alarms and outputs, pretty cool. Was seeing 800 deg's and 10 lbs, so I gave the pump an 1/8 turn tonight, initial drive around the block, woo hooo.

Only on my 2nd tank, but so far, combined its still 17 mpg, was hoping to hit 20 but I don't have any major hills, which when I go on trips and tow, have to drive it like a 2 stroke, not fun and got 12 mpg. Going thru some serious hills this weekend so we'll see how much better or worse she is.

Power is night and day so much better, I can go up hills that before needed 3rd gear on my commute, now I can use 4th gear and sometimes the TCC. I LOVE the turbo spooling just off idle, makes people go WTF? :hihi: :thumbsup:

 

[turbovanman]

Turned the pump up 1/8 turn, with new gauges installed, I am getting a max of 1050 and 15 psi when pushed HARD up a very steep hill.

Well I am happy and sad, went on a long trip today with lots of hills and some very steep hillls. Mild and flat roads, 4th gear locked up, no problem, 1000 egt's and 10 psi, then the steep hills had to work at it, IE 3rd, 4th, locked up, hit a max of 15 psi and 1050 but seemed like it was hitting a brick wall, wasn't happy how she ran up steep hills, had to work at it. The upside, driving was fairly effortless and she likes to cruise, its hard not to speed, I regularly hit 130-145 km/h and a few times, buried the speedo, she was rock solid and pulling like a mofo. MPG wise, I used just over 1/4 tank, last time, used 3/4 of a tank for the same route. I'll have a better idea of mpg in a few days. After the last steep hill, pulled over for the kids to hit the restroom and the compressor outlet was cool to the touch.

Well got back into day, have to calculate the mpg but its very good I think. Was a bugger to start on the mountain, and realized after I got her started, it no had fast idle, wonder if I knocked off the coolant temp switch when I put the doghouse back on?

The van outperformed my expectations big time, but still need a bit more power and have to figure out why at WOT its hitting a brick wall? maybe it needs more fuel so I'll try that first. Went up some stupid steep hills, worst one had me down to 90 km/h, others had me between 100-120. Had to float the gas around 1/2-3/4 to find the sweet spot then hold it. Thinking back, this pump never really liked to rev out, maybe I should fix my old pump I had on there, 4544 IIRC and man, it ran strong with that pump before turbo of course. Going by engine sound and feel, I think its sweet spot is 2500-3000 rpm.

I pulled into a weigh station, 2710 kg/6000 lbs on the way home with almost full tank of fuel, and was fighting a head wind the whole way.

Just worked out my MPG, 16.6 which is unfriggin believable, That means I picked up almost 5mpg on the same route as n/a before, even used my a/c and the drive was so relaxing. I haven't filled the tank up again as I barely used any from my last refuel so I could be even at 17 mpg but whatever, I am in heaven, lol, defineatly one of the best mods I've done, :thumbsup:

Might be time for some 3.42 gears.

 

[davo727]

Super, thanks for posting all the pics and info. Nifty.

 

[WarWagon]

Was she smoking when you hit that wall? I found that the WG popping open would suddenly smoke and lean you forward out of the seat on my 1995 when I was testing the HX40II. I tightened the wastegate spring down and then was hitting 23 PSI. Just at a specific RPM the WG would blow open and loose power. I was using a spring.

You are loosing fuel out of the pump at higher RPM - but the turbo makes the most difference even on the maxed out small 6.2 IP I am using now.

You can put in 1 full turn on the IP. With those boost numbers you are running out of fuel or popping the WG.

 

[turbovanman]

No smoke and still no smoke. I've put alot of miles on and she's working perfectly, even towed 4500 lbs the other day without skipping a beat, could do 110 km/h in 4th gear locked up, before, I was in 3rd WOT no LU.

I checked the advance at idle, I push the arm in and nothing, so I will be changing out the pump.

I also plan on adding an HX40 compressor wheel and note the good and bad, will also be watching intake temps, then I have an HX40 with a billet wheel to try, then I'll most likely settle on my HX35, HX40 comp wheel and clipped turbine wheel. I'll turn the fuel up later but want to do the turbo testing first without changing too many variables first.

Backpressure readings with my HX35 and a 12 cm housing are a bit high but not bad, crusing at 120 is 6/8, on the gas is 10/14 and WOT in 3rd is 15/25. I also have the vacuum off the wastegate-spooled up faster and running a turbo blanket, which helped make the spool faster.

MPG is still around 17 mpg so I am not complaining as she's so much more fun to drive.

 

[WarWagon]

"No smoke and still no smoke."

Lack of fuel then.

"I checked the advance at idle, I push the arm in and nothing, so I will be changing out the pump."

Pushing in this arm retards the timing. It has a lot to do with the ignition delay of diesel in a hot or cold precup. More throttle means less timing. At idle pushing in the lever makes the engine smoke white and run bad - if it is working. (Yet more throttle and resulting heat in the precups it runs fine with the retard.) Pump needs a rebuild due to advance piston issues. You can hear this light load advance working with advanced timing settings. Add throttle and the clatter goes away on mine. Let off at 70 MPH and you can bring on the diesel clatter. Be aware a new pump will sound a lot different.

I would start with 1/2 turn to 2/3 turn on the replacement pump fuel screw.

 

[turbovanman]

I put my HX40 billet wheel on and make a big difference, literally spools off idle, more power, total win win. Still need to add more fuel and change out the pump. It slightly lowered my IAT's and brought my BP readings in check. MPG still the same.

Had to change out my air intake setup, sucked itself in, now running white PVC piping.

Now running Waste transmission oil and jet fuel, dropped my operating costs down big time.

Installed an electric fan Sat, got tired of the mediocre cooling of the stock clutch fan with no shroud.

MPG still averaging 17 mpg.

Will be remove the stock mechanicl lift pump next Sat and installing a DMAX pump and filter setup, replacing the turbo drain lines with properly rated oil hose then I am done for awhile.

 

[JiFaire]

Cool, TVM ... this is a neat innovation, and it sounds like you've got it moving in the right direction. Thanks for sharing and pics!

 

[turbovanman]

No problem, my pleasure, I'll get some more pics up soon.

I also installed a dual IAT/Boost gauge at some point, lol.

 

[turbovanman]

Some pics, the gauge pic is towing up a very steep hill, I passed some semi rigs, 2nd gear, wot, towing 5500 lbs, total weight including the van was 12,000 lbs.

 

[JiFaire]

Little bit of filter restriction there, huh?

 

[turbovanman]

Just a little, lol.

I just bought some strapping so I can eliminate the zip ties.

 

[JiFaire]

Yep, that oughtta work. Much cleaner intake idea; I'll be interested to hear how it works out.