NA to Turbo woes: boost level, EGT, coolant temperature, studs?

[saburai]

I thought it would be good to start a thread documenting everyone's experience who has done a NA to turbo conversion thread. Tell us about it! What was the mileage and condition of your engine before you started? What boost levels are you running? Where do you limit your EGT'S? How hot does it run? Did you stud it? Did you blow a head gasket? How much did you spend? Are you happy? With the conversion that is...

 

[corrado9184]

I have an old 86 F350 4x4 6.9 IDI that had a 7.3 IDI put in it before i picked it up in 2008, i Just Recently put a somewhat Custom ATS093 kit on. Biggest issue i had was fitment because they did not have the original Turbo or down pipe. The cross over pipe was cracked at the factory seam and they had a HC1 Holset as a turbo. I installed it after welding up the crack, adding a wastegate flange and heat wrapping the pipes. In the end the Holset bolted up but was to big to fit , the turbine was over the intake and touching. It has 3 body lift so ended up lifting the turbo to get the required clearance barely. Runs pretty good, i have that wastegate set at 10 lbs of boost and it will hit 10 from 3rd gear and up with the 6.9 pump, no inter-cooler.

With the 4 speed i was running around 1100 degrees at 70mph unloaded, loaded it will try to climb up to 1200 where i back off. i installed the 5 speed and it runs about 850/900 at 70mph, loaded and climbing hills 1150/1180, hit 1220 once when i wasn't paying attention and climbed up to 80mph pulling the load up a hill.

Only other issue used a ebay turbo fitting and had the tee with oil pressure fitting mounted on the turbo, lasted 2 weeks and it broke off!!! Switched to a real fitting and haven't had anymore issues. I haven't had any cooling issues, hottest i hit is 218/220 pulling and it won't climb above that.

I run a boost, egt and coolant gauges, i am getting 8mpg at 75mph pulling my 16ft car hauler trailer with about 4500 lbs on it. Dropping my speed down to 65 i was getting 13mpg. Don't know what i am getting unloaded haven't checked.

 

[gerlbaum]

6.9 R&D stage 1 kit, T4 .59 turbine/60-1 cold side, Omega Moose, intercooler. I've run this way for a year now. I've had my EGT over 1000 once and I have tried. I was headed up Black Canyon hill (if you know AZ) I hit 1200 going 75 mph, and it was 112 out.

For engine temp I do not know because I have a stock gauge. stayed "middle" all summer in the AZ heat sitting in traffic with the AC blasting so I dunno. I do have a 3 row aluminum radiator and I pulled of the metal 6 blade 22" fan for a 9 blade nylon 23.5" fan with a hayden clutch.

 

[genscripter]

I detailed my turbo installation here: http://www.nickpisca.com/diesel/tur...all-for-the-7-3-idi-in-a-1988-ford-clubwagon/

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It's a hypermax van turbo kit. IDI Vans don't have a lot of turbo options. Hypermax sells a bolt-on kit that is quite easy to install for the moderate to advance mechanic. It's not that expensive, and simple design. While there were some kits (differences here, with a list of the pros/cons at the end), the only options are to buy a Hypermax kit new, or find a used kit, which is VERY RARE.

While I'm completely happy with upgrading my van to have a hypermax turbo, there are problems with the hypermax van design. None of the accessories (tranny linkage, tranny dipstick tube, etc) worked as they claimed it would. Also, the o-ring that sits atop the intake neck shrinks over time, and it allows boost pressure to leak out. The hypermax intake hat has some dumb lip, and when the o-ring shrinks, it clashes with the throttle linkage flange and other intake stuff. I've had to file my intake to make this work long term.

ALso, their van diesel filter head spacer forces the filterhead up to my van's rear heater core lines on the underside of the engine bay. While the engine is running, it vibrates against that, and filed down the brass fittings.

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I caught the issue before it caused a major diesel leak. I ended up putting in an R&D IDI Performance frame rail filter system anyway, because I wanted the room in the bay.

I redid the electrical in my engine bay too, to make this hypermax kit work. They recommend a certain layout, but I think my design is better.


Recently, I upgraded the turbine with a WW2. Very impressive results. Pushes the boost passed the hypermax design pressure and spools up early. I plan to start a thread detailing my research and implementation of a remote innercooler for this van soon. I've been putting it off while working on my solutions for custom VRV's for the IDI C6.

All my major IDI Van Turbo articles are here if you want more info: http://www.nickpisca.com/diesel/category/turbo/

 

[Oledirtypearl86]

I have an 86 f350 with the 6.9 I didn't drive it a bunch pre turbo but when I did I could hit 1200 egt easy it came with a pyro when I bought it then a buddy had a hypermax kit he sold me cheap so I put that on and had a local buddy build a IP pump for it that was in 2012 after selling my 6.0 I started using the truck and watching the gauges I can pull 9k up a 7 mile grade at 53 mph in 4th gear and keep my egt under 1100 and my hypermax boost gauge says 14 pounds of boost the whole time until loaded I'm lucky to get 10 lb of boost as far as mpg lol loaded I'm 8 to 9 pulling grades on the flat at 55 I'm seeing 16 also it's not studded and stock head gaskets I just make sure it stays cool and service regularly but today I did notice a little clutch chatter so if I have to pill the trans I'm throwing a zf5 in it if possible I'd like to see how she runs with a zf6 if I can get it to bolt up

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

Well since it wasn't specified, my vote for 12-15psi max was billed for the stock 7.3. I would not run that on a stock 6.9.

My pickup is in my sig, bought N/A 12 years ago. I run the heck out of it with 1/3+ of its life pulling a 4.5k trailer. Sometimes cabover camper+trailer. I've put over 100k on it in that time. Now(last two years) with the turbo, about 3/4 of the miles have a 4.5k trailer or the same trailer empty at 2kish. Shes a dedicated work rig now. Way easier to write off the mileage this way!

Got my 94-era Factory Ford turbo kit for $800ish shipped on Ebay. Long story short it was SUPER clapped out and I got a new center section from R&D for $600+10% tax because I live in WA and our sales tax sucks. So nearly $1300 for a stock Ford turbo. Not a good deal.

Before original install i opened up the exhaust with the 3" elbow mod, and 3" homemade pie-cut down pipe. It was a pain but a fun welding experiment/practice.
Could only get 5psi before new center section, then up to 9ish with new.
Maxed out the pump and unplugged the waste gate and got 12+ depending on the day and variables I still don't understand.
Some days i would get up to 15psi but it didnt feel any stronger than 12 or 13. Too much not air.
I bolted the wastegate shut and got much better spool, with 15psi commonly. It still wasnt more powerful with 15 than 12-13 but those are the numbers.

Enter the charge air cooler! Or CAC. (Most commonly and quite incorrectly know as an "intercooler").
After this my boost levels went down a few psi, but power went UP. Egts didnt change a lot yet, which made me wonder...

Thanks to @Thewespaul and others agreeing with him, I cleaned up my crossover pipe and up-pipe seals and added copper RTV to those mating surfaces. The difference is HUGE. Nearly as big as a fully clapped out turbo and a new center section.

I also un-bolted the waste gate and just run the turbo with the gate tube un-hooked. So it blows open at around 12-13 psi depending on ambient temp. But the engine pulls harder than ever and spools harder than ever, too. I can get 3 psi at 1300rpm which is just awesome compared to anything before the exhaust sealing and CAC.

So that's my story. I hope it helps others! I un-bolted the WG on Wes's advice that it's a good safety measure to keep from over-spooling the turbo. We have yet to get to the bottom of that but I'll leave it as-is for now. This pickup runs great!!
I may have to edit this later as it's late and I kinda went down the rabbit hole, lol...