Turbos on 7.3s

Buck1

Buck1

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Apr 26, 2006
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For a little bit of change of pace, lets talk turbos:ft: on a 7.3. What's people ran that works and does not work? On the ones that work, what horsepower limit would you put them at (provided appropriate supporting fuel)?

Me First.

Past Install
H2E - No brainer:bow: , good all around turbo. Beat the crap out of it for 20K miles pulling trailer and such. HP - Gonna say High 4ish range to low 5ish, no spray though (ask Dockboy). My truck ran 450 while installed.

Current Install
Junkyard HX55 - Modded with S100 Exhaust Housing. Kinda laggy down low, lights about 1800-2000 rpm. Backpressue is 1:1 so trying to be patient with it. Runs hot at the moment, cause I don't think I get it spooled soon enough. Once spooled, seen Low 40s as highest boost pressure. Also have a non-stock cam installed:bang , so thinking that could lend to some of my issues. HP - Hopin for 6ish, but we will see. Gonna say minimum 5ish to get her lit. Appears to be good sled turbo, but kinda a female street turbo (needs loving and tenderness). Suited well for a stick, not much fun in an Auto.
 
The biggest I've strapped on a 7.3 was a GT45R...yea..it was laggy...but once it lit you better be holding on to something. The truck would go sideways at 80 mph on drag slicks on the street.
 
Interesting thread, I'll give it a shot.

H2E- I installed the h2 with beans stage 2's. Awesome tow setup- no surge, no barking on shifts, good spool, good egt's and no smoke. dynoed 425 and ran high 13's in the 1/4.

Installed stage 3 hybrids- smoked like a pig but pulled hard, probably upper 400's low 500's. I ran this setup for about 1k miles and popped the old wore out engine.

Modded h2- Cleared up a TON more smoke than reg h2. I could still tow with this turbo but it was a little laggier and if i was in the throttle hard enough on a loaded acceleration i could make it bark a little on the shifts but still no surge. Dynoed 550 with 238cc hybrids and stock hpop. ran low 13.1's @ 103-104 mph.

71mm hybrid- I haven't logged many miles on it yet and haven't towed much. Its definately NOT a towing turbo, it can be done but you have to pay attention or bad things will happen. It does surge some and will bark like a sumbicth while up shifting loaded. It spools great and egt's are good also. Empty is where this turbo shines, it has awesome street manners and makes driving a 600hp beast easy until you mat the go petal, then you'd better have it pointed in the right direction. I can drive through town in my extreme w/o any smoke unless i get into it hard. I think this turbo spools better than a stock h2, making it very fun to drive. dynoed 596/1200+ and we were having traction problems on dyno all day so i want to get on a different dyno or hit the track to see if these numbers are accurate. Oh still havent hit it with*nx* LOL
 
Whats the inducer on that 55 buck? Did I ever get you that low smoke program?
 
what would be a good turbo for my 95'? i pull a 3 horse gooseneck trailer fully loaded so i don't want to get too goofy with my horsepower #'s. what would be a good hp/tq to shoot for being as it's my daily driver and i pull with it?
 
You really don't need a bigger turbo until you get some more fuel via big chip or injectors or both.
 
Beaner, inducer is a 2.6. I am thinking either the cam or turbo needs to be changed to get some street manners. No low smoke program yet, but I know you are a busy man too. If you get time, I wouldn't mind trying something out from ya though. I want to bring current setup down and get a second opinion. Something needs to change, just not sure what. I doesn't help that I had a handshaker in the truck all of it's life and switched to an Auto when I rebuilt the motor. My seat of the pants meter needs to be re-calibrated.

Luke, what makes the 71mm an untowable turbo? Talkin with Bean and Casserly, my setup is very similar to yours.

Right now I am trying to find the "unicorn" turbo. Lites easily, tows good, low egts, and decent smoke reduction.

Right now bout the only time she don't smoke is when she is resting.

All else fails, I do have one more option to help clean up the environment *nx*
 
2.6 and she wont lite? Time for a new turbo option. The one that Luke has IMO lite faster then a stock turbo or simlar. It doesnt tow well cause of surge at about 20psi when under a load but egts are still good. You can still tow with it but just have to get used to getting around the surge in that range, it is definetly more of a competion turbo more then a everyday tow/hauler.
 
I agree with the other guys, till you do injectors and chip etc, the stock turbo is a good all around turbo. Bean sells a smaller housing that will help with a stockish truck and spool up.

Just remember once you start, you don't stop, or at least I didn't.:drool1: Forget THC and Nicotene, the new drug is Cetane.
 
Buck1 said:
Luke, what makes the 71mm an untowable turbo? Talkin with Bean and Casserly, my setup is very similar to yours.

Right now I am trying to find the "unicorn" turbo. Lites easily, tows good, low egts, and decent smoke reduction.
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As bean mentioned it likes to surge around 20 psi, it can be controlled but you have to pay attention. If you want a good sized turbo that still can be used in a towing situation id suggest beans modded h2, i towed alot of miles/ weight with good results.
 
Luke how much back pressure do you have. Maybe open up the exhaust side for a few more horses.
 
What kind of Stalls are you running? Im running a turbonetics T70 BD's and donkey pump and a 2400 stall. The couple of times i towed with it were only about 8,000 pounds, to me it spooled fine and the EGTs are very similar to driving unloaded. Im not real sure how much air it moves but it dyno'd 480 and 900 and some before the TC gave out, should have more numbers by this summer.
 
On a truck without even a chip I agree stock turbo is your best bet You don't need a bigger one. just open up the exhaust a little like you said and that will help some.
 
Is there any way to have a VV Turbo on a 7.3? Holset, Garrett...anything VV?
 
Burner said:
Is there any way to have a VV Turbo on a 7.3? Holset, Garrett...anything VV?
Click to expand...
I guess by VV you mean variable vane? If so, then yes. You can put a turbo from a 6.0 on a 7.3, but you have to custom fab. all the piping. You also have to have a way to control the vanes. I know that someone on TDS has done it. It will give a little more boost, but a good turbonetics or BB is still a better option.
 
mech2161 said:
Luke how much back pressure do you have. Maybe open up the exhaust side for a few more horses.
Click to expand...

Havent had time to check, its on my list of things to do.
 
alright i will join you luke in my experiences.

garrett bb w/ swamps 175's worked really well unloaded and only got it to surge once, pulling my wakeboard boat up through a pass, but pulled hard all the time and made 381 rwhp.

added stage 3 hybrids and it pulled like a freight train made about 450 rwhp.

went to aurora 5000- laggy as hell but when it lit with the stage 3's pulled VERY hard. didnt keep it long enough to tow cuz it overspun, bent the shaft and it only stayed on about a month. but egt's werent bad.

went to TN 66mm ceramic bb unit and worked great with hybrid stage 3's. egt's stayed very low.

added b-codes w/o pumps and found out very quickly it was not enough turbo. egt's sky rocketed.

went to TN super 72mm and added pumps and it worked AWESOME.egt's were relatively good.back prssure at WOT was 48back-40 boost. but for giggles i went up to the 76mm compressor and added some lag, but keeps street manners somewhat in check in the stock setting. egts's with 76 are about 750 cruising in medium setting on the highway. but lit this thing pulls much harder but is borderline undriveable in city traffic and entering freeway's and slow accel uphill. back pressure was 55 and boost was 47. now with ported heads not sure but boost dropped about 5lbs.
 
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