Who all can mod a ATS/Factory Ford turbo... cheaply?

Macrobb · Mar 28, 2020

Alright, so I'm sure I'm going to get some complaints here, people telling me I shouldn't do this but...

I'm looking for someone who can get me an upgraded compressor wheel(60-1 mod?) for my factory ford turbo setup.

Only... I don't want to go through a full rebuild. I *just* want a "pre-balanced" or "zero-balanced" wheel(*note), and someone who can mod the housing to match. I've got a spare housing I can send off for this project, but don't want to spend the extra money for all the 'upgrades' and rebuild on one of these.

Anyone know who can(and will) do something like this?

Heck, I'm wondering if there's just a basic forged wheel out there that's the right size for some other application, that can be gotten cheap off-the-shelf and just installed... then I'd just need to have someone machine out the housing for the profile.

(*note: Wicked Wheels are balanced like this - individually, and you can slap it straight into the factory housing with no extra balancing or anything. That's exactly what I want. I did it with mine, and it's worked great for the last couple of years.)

IDIBRONCO · Mar 28, 2020

Did you try asking Russ?

Macrobb · Mar 28, 2020

IDIBRONCO said:
Did you try asking Russ?

Not yet; I don't think I have his phone number anymore.

IDIBRONCO · Mar 28, 2020

Wes or Justin could do it too, but they may be busy enough for it to take a while.

Thewespaul · Mar 28, 2020

Rob I’m already working on a diy upgrade like what you’re talking about doing, it won’t require a core charge since it comes with a new backing plate, housing, compressor wheel and rebuild kit to upgrade your stock turbo, with the parts availability being iffy right now and me being slammed with this move it will be awhile before I have them ready, but it’s in the works.

Macrobb · Mar 28, 2020

Thewespaul said:
Rob I’m already working on a diy upgrade like what you’re talking about doing, it won’t require a core charge since it comes with a new backing plate, housing, compressor wheel and rebuild kit to upgrade your stock turbo, with the parts availability being iffy right now and me being slammed with this move it will be awhile before I have them ready, but it’s in the works.

Awesome! Sign me up to the waiting list!

aggiediesel01 · Mar 29, 2020

The concern I see with your desire is that the original rotating assembly was likely balanced as a set. If you swap even a component balanced wheel on, the assembly may still be out of balance. The shop I had balance an assembly for me a few weeks ago told me that because of the style of assembly in these turbos they should be balanced as an assembly; whereas the turbos like in the powerstrokes were designed around component balancing.

If you're going to the trouble of breaking it down far enough to swap wheels and a backing plate then just spend a bit more and put new rings on each end and check the bearings and thrust washer/collar. And balance the rotating assembly. Should be able to do that pretty reasonably.

Look at my turbo album for details of what it takes. It's not hard, just a little dirty.

https://www.oilburners.net/media/albums/factory-turbo-ats-093-rebuild.72/

Macrobb · Mar 29, 2020

aggiediesel01 said:
The concern I see with your desire is that the original rotating assembly was likely balanced as a set. If you swap even a component balanced wheel on, the assembly may still be out of balance. The shop I had balance an assembly for me a few weeks ago told me that because of the style of assembly in these turbos they should be balanced as an assembly; whereas the turbos like in the powerstrokes were designed around component balancing.

I'm not sure how far I'll go, but I do think I'm just going to go for it. The Wicked Wheel works great(and evidently is well enough balanced), and I never even pulled the exhaust side loose - just got an impact onto the shaft, vice grips on the old wheel and off she came.
One heck of a lot easier than trying to actually remove the turbo from the engine, that's for sure.

That being said... this may require me to actually do that, assuming I have to replace the backing plate...

Speaking of balance on a powerstroke... I'm guessing there's a lot of support in that bearing. I've worked on two trucks, one at 500K miles and one at 230K. Both compressor wheels were... not pretty. The 500K mile one looks like it's been sandblasted, with serious chunks taken out of multiple fins(like 1/8" pieces at the tip). The 230K one has a couple of big divots.
And yet, /somehow/, these turbos are still running, still making plenty of boost.
(We got 283 RWHP out of the 500K mile one at the dyno last year, with just a tuner).

aggiediesel01 · Mar 31, 2020

@Macrobb
It's hard to tell the differences from these pictures but the 093 turbine is the first one and the Powerstroke turbine is the second (it's actually KC turbo's s366 upgrade but close enough). The actual shafts are nearly if not totally identical but the turbine wheels are considerably different. Mainly in weight. I didn't weigh the 093 turbine but the other one weighs 544g and I don't remember the 093 being this heavy. Wheel on the PS seems thicker @ 1.450" ~ 37mm and dia. is 2.995" ~ 76mm. I haven't looked at the maps for these turbos in a long time but I'm pretty sure I remember the PS one spins a significant amount slower than the 093. Bearings look to be identical in spacing on the shaft and physical dimensions of the bearings are identical. Oil rings are identical.

093 turbine shaft (this one has 300k+ miles on it)