95 F150 Turbo 300

[sthorvictor]

whats the axle ratio? cant say much about the spool with that hx35 of yours, mines a chinese knock off with a tiny t4 turbine, but its full boost 22-2500rpm depending on gear and load.. don't think 2500 is too bad for spool all depends on how it feels when your driving it. sounds good though, its wild how well they respond to the turbos.

 

[deere114]

When I turbo my truck I know I'll have spooling issues with my 4.10 gear ratio. I've considered using a hy35 with its 9cm housing but I suspect my drive pressure would be too high. I wonder if your burning e85 makes it spool slower due to lower egt's? I think I may try fabbing a pulse paired manifold when I attemp this to hopefully spool my truck quicker. But even if its sluggish to spool empty, I'm sure it'll be fine with a car trailer behind it.

 

[92f150i6]

I come from the world of 90-99 DSMs (turbocharged Eclipses/Talons). I have a 92 Turbo Eclipse with a 62mm BW turbo @ 24psi that I switched over to e85, I tuned for 11.0:1 AFR, which is considered fairly conservative for these engines. Some guys will lean out to 11.5-12.0:1 AFR for more power. Personally I would lean it out to 10.8-11.0:1, too rich and you will have misfires, I had that problem when I first started tuning e85 in that car. These engines could be different and like running richer too though. Just be aware that when running e85 the engine will rarely ping, even if it is lean. You won't know until its too late and you've melted or cracked pistons.

 

[deere114]

Any updates?

 

[MECH_E]

This is whats left of the original turbo flange gasket.

Not real sure what happened there, I might of had a bolt or two loose on the turbo and it was vibrating. Either way, it didnt hold. I tried using permatex copper high temp silicone to seal between the manifold and turbo, that held for all of about 30 seconds. So I found this gasket from Remflex
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004RT3I2W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
that should definitely seal her up. I'll be installing that this weekend, it takes quite a bit of effort to remove the turbo with this whale of an intake. I also got the parts I needed to get megasquirt to control timing (needed a new BIP373, I fried mine).

So.....no haha. Not much on updates. Im also in the middle of converting a 73 VW Super Beetle to EFI so I get sidetracked easily.

 

[deere114]

Well I look foward to seeing the results once you get the timing dialed in.

 

[MECH_E]

Ordered the wrong gasket like an idiot. Got a T4 when I need a T3. Waiting on the ups man for another solid week...

 

[MECH_E]

Well I've got a unique situation on my hands here fellas...the flange on my manifold is seriously warped, even with the new gasket it still leaks. Apparently I've had this leak from the very beginning. Its quite large, if sealed it would likely drop my spool rpm by 300-500 rpm. So how do I fix it?

As you can see in the picture below, I welded in the bolt threads, so there isnt much in the way of trying to resurface the manifold side.

The turbo side is flat (or at least a lot closer) so it'd be useless to try and resurface it. No gasket or sealant I know of will hold a gap this large (can't quite see it on the truck but I'm quessing its near a 1/16th of an inch.) Also, I dont have enough threads to use a really thick gasket, the nut wont grab the threads, or at least not nearly enough.

So the only option I see left, and I know it sounds kinda rash, is to weld the turbo to the manifold. I'll pull both the manifold and turbo, leave them bolted together, and lay as small of a bead as I can along the joint. Enough of a weld to seal the joint but hopefully small enough that if I ever really needed to separate them, I could grind through the weld in a reasonable amount of time.

Unless someone has some miracle gasket material I've never heard of that will hold boost pressure at 1200+ degrees F, this seems to be my only remaining option. What you think?

 

[crackdhead]

what if you had the manifold flange surfaced on a vertical mill with an endmill... could go around the studs in there and just countersink the stud holes on the turbo's flange to make up for not touching the bolts with the cutter...

oooorrrr.... make a solid copper gasket from sheet anneal it and run stainless safety wire o rings.... its worth a try?

 

[motzingg]

oh wow yeah that sucks.

i was thinking the same thing, hence why i haven't already bought one of the cheaper flanges available on ebay... i'm gonna make my own if i cant find something real thick.

hmm. the only gasket material i know of that might work is called 'garlock' it is a synthetic asbestos type stuff that they use for boilers and high pressure steam applications.

you might be able to shave it down in the high spots, i've seen it as thick as 1/4". you could use a scotchlock pad maybe with some sand paper. put paintmarker on the warped flange and test fit repeatedly until you are making good contact. The garlock will compress a lil bit.

 

[Turbo_B]

Some friends have had good luck with orange RTV. Can hold a torch to this stuff and the outside will get black but the inside stays soft. Put some on both sides of your gasket before installing the turbo.

 

[MECH_E]

crackdhead - I would totally try that if I had access to a mill...as hard as it would be that is the most permanent solution.

motzingg - Yeah definitely take this as a lesson, dont use cheap ebay flanges. Although this may not be the flanges fault, I welded this thing several times trying to find the best method for the cast iron. Even a nice 5/8 or even 1" thick flange may have warped with all the heat I was putting it through.

Turbo_B - I tried running the orange RTV stuff by itself and that obviously didnt work. That was before I realized the warp was there or how large the gap was. Perhaps with it on both side of the gasket it will have something to hold onto and wont blow out with boost.

As always with these kinds of "Help Me" posts, I already had an idea in mind and being a stubborn guy, I may just weld her up. This truck is already a frankenstein build that no one with a sane mind would buy, so why not permanently fix the turbo to the truck ;-)...

 

[sthorvictor]

You can cut the studs flush to the manifold, then oversize drill and tap them install bolts again, cut them and peen. drill and tap again for your final location to the size you need. Then you can then use new bolts to mount the turbo after the repair, or studs again to re mount the turbo. draw file the flange then finish with some emery cloth on the file on the flange surface. May take some time to knock the high spots down. i do it in the shop a fair bit on larger diesel engines for alot of the exhaust/emissions sealing surfaces. Hope that you get something sorted without welding the turbine housing may make life easier down the road

 

[crackdhead]

Oh well when i said have it milled i meant just take it to a shop... I figure it to be less than 100 bucks...

But the post above mine seems like the way to go...

 

[deere114]

When my sisters exhaust manifold had 4 broken studs and she needed the manifold back on and to work the next day .... So I broke out the jb weld and buttered up the head, manifold, and both sides of two gaskets stacked up. Torqued whatever bolts were there, warmed up the truck and re torqued. 4 years later she sold the truck and it never leaked. However the back pressure an higher egt may ruin it from a turbo. Worth a shot?

 

[motzingg]

Hey I was just getting started with my manifolds, wondering if you had to do any clearance grinding between the EFI manifold and Carb exhaust?

 

[MECH_E]

I did some grinding on the alternator/smog pump bracket but it might not have been causing an interference, it was just too close for comfort so I did some grinding on the bracket. No other grinding really but there are a few other concerns.

-You have to make a plate to block off that big opening for what I presume is intake heat.
-I also welded shut the port near the near of the manifold, egr port maybe?
-The EFI heat shield will no longer fit without some mods, i currently dont have anything.
-If your bolting this to a EFI head, there is no good way to ensure you've aligned it well.
-Install is a PITA, I ended up using an engine crane to hold it in place/better align it.

I sure hope installing this on a carb head is easier, i believe it has an extra bolt somewhere to help align it but I havn't checked.


In response to everyone else, I'm gonna hold off for a bit and tidy up a few other things. I think the exhaust leak is only affecting the O2 sensor at idle or light load. Any real load and the turbo is essentially blocking the gases and forcing them out that leak. On an NA motor, an exhaust leak can really mess with O2 readings, but I think in a turbo application its a little less serious. Putting in a GM IAT sensor in a much better location so it doesnt heat soak and gonna hardwire up a air solenoid so I can manually have a high idle at startup. I know I can control it with megasquirt but I just dont want to mess with that right now.

 

[motzingg]

yeah i already did the bracket clearancing to fit the serp. belt setup on with the carb manifolds. I think i had to grind around the intake too, carb intake, that is. Without that grinding the belt alignment was off and it shredded a belt in the first week i had it running.

I think there is an alignment dowel on the carb head that the EFI head is missing. The manifold still floats alot but you bolt the two together and that takes care of it.

 

[MECH_E]

Latest video of a quick highway pull. This is with the glaspack exhaust, you can hear the turbo spool finally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbE5vH87v5s

Also, I'll probably try and install my new clutch this week, or soon at least. I dont know if it has actually slipped yet (the tires break traction so easilly) but it grabs so late that I'm sure its about done. Got a fresh 11" one ready to go in.

 

[deere114]

Seems to be running good. Fix that leak? I thought my clutch was done when I got my truck to. Never slipped just engaged late compared to what I'm used to. After doing an 11" clutch and new master/slave it engages right in the same spot. Just the way it is with this hydraulic clutch I guess.