5/01 - None
2/02 - Thunderbird Turbo coupe Garrett T3 Turbo - Progress has been made in this area of the project now. We did the final installation of the turbo to the turbo manifold, swing valve assembly, waste gate actuator, and final clocking of the exhaust scroll of the turbo. Dennis also installed an EGT Probe into the side of the Turbo manifold for tuning purposes.
3/02 - Dennis installed the braided oil and coolant lines and the Turbo Intake turbine had to be loosened up since it needs to be clocked different from the current position due to interference with the Russell Enduro fitting for the braided oil line to the turbo. He is also working on the downpipe with a 3" flex joint from the turbo to the 3" exhaust that I have.
5/02 - The 3" Downpipe with a header 3 bolt flange is installed and after the muffler was installed it promptly blew out the gasket between it and the flex pipe so we needed to install a different gasket to keep it from blowing out. Downpipe is large enough that it helps keep backpressure off of the exhaust turbine making for a free flowing transition from the turbo to the 3" exhaust and Dynomax muffler.
6/02 - The turbo decided that it didn't want to be on the car anymore so over the course of a few weeks the turbo had lost 2 of the 4 brass nuts that hold it to the manifold and it loosened the other two up to the point that the turbo was moving around on the manifold. After that incident I bought all steel nuts to replace the brass ones which get soft when the turbo is running at 1500+ degrees. I know the steel ones are going to be a bizotch to get off the turbo when the time comes to remove the turbo and either rebuild it or replace it.
7/02 - The turbo started to leak oil and burn oil on the down pipe which was finally diagnosed as a bad seal (or lack there of) between the turbo and the flange that holds the return line to the bottom of the turbo. So I put a gasket in there and buttered it up with high temp RTV silicone and it hasn't leaked a drop since.
1/04 - The turbo is still alive and kicking. Dennis and I have been attempting to push the boost up on the turbo by adjusting the swing valve actuator rod which is threaded but due to the fact that the rod lives in a really nasty area of the engine which is right above the turbo it really doesn't want to let me adjust it much further past 13psi. So Dennis will finally be installing the guts to my Grainger Valve so we can push the boost up further to see just how high it can really go before it bites the dust. Then I will have a good excuse to buy the Garrett GT30R that I have been looking at buying.
That wonderful oil leak off the return line on the turbo seems to have come back again. So rather then JB weld the darn flange again I bought a fancy one piece billet aluminum flange from ATP Turbo with a new gasket and 1/2" NPT to -10AN adapter and I am hoping to be completely rid of the problem since I think I have had it for almost 2 years now.
2/04 - I replaced the oil return flange and I fired the car up to see if the problem with the oil leak was fixed. I wasn't able to tell if it was leaking since I didn't get the chance to take the car out for a drive since there were other issues such as a fuel pump leak and a radiator leak.
5/04 - While I am planning out the new pressure pipes I am going to be installing a blow-off valve to help extend the life of the current turbo and the new one that I buy someday to upgrade it. I have decided on getting the Greddy Type-S BOV since it is suppose to be able to hold up to 30psi of pressure with no leakage and it is relatively quiet as far as BOV's go which is a far cry better then the crazy ass sound that the car made after lifting off the throttle on boost. Just hearing that sound made me think that can't be good for the turbo to spin backwards like that.
9/04 - As I mentioned on my fuel system page the turbo has been tested up to 19psi of boost and by the looks of it the turbo seems to be able to handle the power levels. If other things were going our way we would have been able to adjust the boost higher then we did but in the end we set the granger valve to bring it back down to 15psi and left it alone until the car is tuned properly for the higher boost levels.
10/04 - Yeah the turbo still smokes but there is a new turbo in my future so I don't really care. I am literally saving my pennies and money from sales of stock piled car parts for a new turbo. I intend on purchasing it next year in the spring or summer. I might be the only person you have ever heard of doing the whole rolling quarters for performance parts but you wouldn't believe how much money you can accumulate from never giving exact change when ever you purchase something with cash.
5/06 - So the turbo oil seal died at the same time the headgasket blew. One of the nuts holding the center shaft was sitting in the air filter so I am left to assume the center shaft was allowed to vibrate which caused the eventual demise of the bearings and oil seal. I know the oil seal went because not only did the car smoke like a diesel truck but I found 1 quart of oil sitting in the intercooler hose which runs under the engine. So this was the second incident that caused me to reconsider turbo charging cars and decide to go with all motor 2.4L for the next project.