HTT Borg Warner EFR Turbo

RockinJW

RockinJW

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Jul 5, 2006
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Just fitting the down pipe and installing the left side trans dipstick tube away from firing it up on my LB7. Has taken me a little more time than I'd planned, had a baby two weeks ago and haven't had the drive to be out in the garage tinkering...

Borg Warner doesn't have the turbine housings really available to run them on a diesel yet, so High Tech Turbo is making their own T3 gated stainless housings to fit. It is a very cool turbo from what I've seen. Uses a ball bearing cartridge that is water cooled and they use gamma-ti turbine wheels which are super light, so rotating weight is down improving spool up. Borg also has some cool options in them like a built in blowoff valve in the compressor housing and it's pre tapped for a shaft speed sensor and some stuff for better gate control.

I'm using the standard HTT T3 mount kit, just had to make a few modifications to make everything fit due to the difference in this turbo from a the turbo that is usually used with the kit. I'm excited to get it on the street though...just wish I had some rods and more fuel so I could really push it. This uses a 68mm compressor, so I'm sure it would support 700hp pretty easily...I've only got the fuel/tuning for around 550hp, but I'm very interested in it's drivability at this level...

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I believe the compressor on that turbo is the same 67.7mm compressor found in the popular s400s floating around. Should be cool to see what it can do with a BB cartridge and the different turbine. Hopefully the turbine is big enough to support the exhaust flow of these motors.
 
NickTF said:
I believe the compressor on that turbo is the same 67.7mm compressor found in the popular s400s floating around. Should be cool to see what it can do with a BB cartridge and the different turbine. Hopefully the turbine is big enough to support the exhaust flow of these motors.
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Thats correct, the EFR's have had a reallly bad problem melting the turbine wheels. The problem hopefully has been corrected.
 
I heard something along the lines of anything over 1700*F and the exhaust wheel starts to disappear/melt...whatever. (Don't remember where I heard or saw that though)
 
I just dont see the built in blowoff/recirc valve flowing enough and handling the abuse on our trucks.
 
It's a time at temperature thing....1700F for a while, 2100F maybe a couple seconds LOL There is a phase change in the gamma TiAl that irreversibly transforms it to something not so good for a turbine...

Do they warranty the turbine wheels if you melt them? Anyone know? I assume not...wonder what the replacement cost is.

If you need quick spool then these things are great, keep it cool....if not....stick with inconel.
 
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those were made for gasoline engines but cant take the temperatures that arr normal for gasoline engines? Another useless overhyped creation.
 
Fired the truck up for the first time tonight. Appears to be leak free so far, drove it around to get a heat cycle on everything. Will check all the bolts in the morning and finish up the exhaust system as well. Didn't seem to have any troubles making boost, off idle response seemed very quick from what little I drove it.

Sent from my XT907
 
Gamma TiAl loses oxidation stability around 1650* F which basically means that the surface will begin growing scale almost like rust on steel. But unfortunately the effects are more than superficial and lead to degraded mechanical properties.

I think it's a fantastic material for 80% of consumers, it weighs less than half of inconel. The aerospace industry is implementing it on the low pressure stages of turbines where the heat has dropped a bit. For trucks that rarely touch 1500* I think it has a lot to offer. But hotter race trucks, inconel for sure. They're doing a lot of research on alloying and surface treatments right now so the future looks promising. Give it 20 years and I bet these are everywhere.
 
BW EFR testing has had them up to 1742*F full load sustained for days...

I have had Our II EFR's over 1860*F in 1/8th mile testing. So far there doing well.
 
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I've got a couple hundred miles of daily driving on the turbo so far and am really impressed with it. You'd never know it's a 68mm compressor under the hood, spools every bit as quick as my stocker did. EGT's are maxing around 1300-degrees, but I'm still running stock fuel and somewhat mild tuning.
 
This is an internally gated 13cm T3 turbine housing. I've got it gated at 30-psi right now until I get the Borg Warner speed sensor installed so we can measure shaft speed. Haven't checked drive pressure yet...
 
DIESEL_POWER said:
BW EFR testing has had them up to 1742*F full load sustained for days...

I have had Our II EFR's over 1860*F in 1/8th mile testing. So far there doing well.
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I have heard they have some coatings that are extending the life.

The testing you refer to, curious if it's constant RPM, or some kind of garbage truck fatigue test. It'll be interesting to see how hot they can have it handle both scenarios.

I hope the material works out....it would be beneficial to just about everyone. I still don't see it being the end-all for every app though.
 
nwpadmax said:
I have heard they have some coatings that are extending the life.
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Thats what ive been hearing, couldnt get your hands on them for awhile, one of the big BW master distributors wouldnt even sell them from the failures they were seeing.
 
There are no coatings or special processes that are diferent than the written feature list of the turbo's.

I just got off the phone with BW on this. They dont know of a wheel coating that will (1) with stand that temp and (2) will stay mated to the TiAL Wheel as it expands and gaines ductility with Temp.

there testing has been extensive on this turbo.
 
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