I have a 02' powerstroke with chip, exhaust, gauges and wanted to upgrade my turbo. I've blown up the stock ones(guy at dealer says too much boost) and he told me to upgrade to a garrett ball-bearing turbo. I was wondering if I can convert my turbo with a kit or I have to go with a whole new turbo. If anyone knows a good site for these please let me know. Thanks for all the good info.

 

I'm sure there isn't a kit to upgrade; the tolerances are too fine. I heard a powerstroke with a ball bearing turbo last week. Wow! It spooled so freakin fast I couldn't believe it. I mean F-ing instant boost. If you have the means, I highly recomend it.

 

I've seen them go for not-too-insane prices on e-bay.

 

you gotta have some specialty tools to get all the clearances right, better off buying a rebuilt one or the garret gt38 ball bearing. thats on my list too

 

the garrett gtp38r(BB) will bolt right in(garrett gtp38 is factory), just get a set of new petestal o rings from ford (the ones that come with the turbo are not the latest ones)

 

We just did the BB turbo upgrade on an early 99 so we had to change the up pipes , turbo pedestal , intake plenums , intake manifold and let me tell you it was well worth the 6 hours of labor.

You can look here http://www.dieselinnovations.com/

GENE

 

Thanks for all of the great info! Hope I get this figured out soon, I can't wait to hear the new turbo whine out!

 

Weweld did you have to change all that stuff or did you get a larger turbo? The reply above yours says the gt38bb turbo is a direct swap. Turbos are expensive enough and if you have to change all that c**p that would be REALLY expensive!

 

note he said an early 99, they are different from the '99.5-'03 7.3's

 

OOPS! Didn't clue into that. Thanks