Getting ready to upgrade my stock turbo, which of these is the better bang for the buck? Pros or cons of each? Thanks

 

Don't know much about the BD turbo... but can list some of the advantages of the GTP 38R

Direct bolt in... might need to swap the pedestal if you have an early 99.

Seem to be nearly indestructible for most applications... which is great if reliability is an issue. It's possible to destroy any part... but you just about have to go out of your way to beat on a 38R to hurt it, which works well for my heavy towing and daily driving. It spooks quickly, but seems to bog a little around 13-1500 RPM. (there's a whole thread about effective rpm ranges, stall speeds and the physics associated with both... use the search box if you're interested)

Not sure how much thought you've put into mapping out what you plan for your truck - but take your budget into account... and be realistic about how much power you want to make when selecting a turbo.

There are turbo's capable of making more power than the 38R, but to be able to put them to use requires a huge investment in supporting mods. (head studs, biggest injectors, biggest hpop, biggest fuel pump, stronger rods, etc etc)

The 38R would run well with a relatively stock setup... and get better as you can afford to upgrade. (My 38R gets happier with every upgrade... and is now requesting a fuel system to keep up with the hpop, injectors and tuning.)

I don't know anything about the BD turbo - so I'm genuinely interested in what folks have to say about it, how well it holds up, what it needs to work, etc.

 

Love my 38. Depends on what you want. A simple van turbo with a WW might be more than enough for you. No experience with the BD neither. My 2c. Good luck.

 

Hey I find myself asking the same question. It has been a few years since the Thruster 2 has been on the market what are guys finding? Cheers

 

For the extra $100, I'd go 38R. Oh wait! I did!

I'm not a turbo expert (not even close), I have never even seen the BD Turbo Thruster 2 in real life, nor have I seen a performance graph. At first glance, it is a glorified stock turbo - it has the same basic design. The 38r went with roller bearings and this aids with spool-up time. The 38R is also as common as dirt any more, so there are plenty of people to ask for feedback. You can see for yourself here (raw boost is upper-right and MAP on a boost fooler is lower-left):

 

Your "stock" turbo?

You mean the one in your sig... with the ATS Ported Housing, the Wicked Wheel, the "high flow outlet", and the "blank pedestal" with the EBPV missing? The one that belches through a bigger Banks downpipe, is fed through Bellowed up pipes, and breathes through an S&B intake that is snorkeled directly to the outside air via a zoodad hole in the rad support? Is that the "stock" turbo you are upgrading?

If so, then a few questions are in order first, because maybe neither one of the turbo "upgrades" in your original question will yield enough of an upgrade for you. Or maybe your existing collection of turbo upgrades is a sum of parts not quite cohesively functioning as a whole, which might be addressable by changing just one part or two. Something to think about.

What do you not like about your turbo now?

If it is a performance issue, how did you determine that "upgrading" your current inarguably already upgraded turbo would address your intent?

By "high flow outlet", do you mean that you changed the exhaust turbine housing to a higher A/R? Say from a stock 0.84 A/R to a 1.00 A/R or a 1.15 A/R? Or do you mean that you have a Banks "Power Elbow" installed at the outlet of your stock exhaust turbine housing. I noticed you have a Banks Monster exhaust and Six-Gun tuner, so it would not be unreasonable for you to have either piece (or both), as Banks makes both. Which one do you have, or do you have both? This would make a difference in terms of the value you would receive in buying a new drop in turbo of which part of the cost justification over stock is a different turbo housing to reduce EGTs at boost levels higher than the limitations set in the stock calibrations.

Moving to the inlet side, you have an ATS ported compressor housing... AND a Wicked Wheel. Why do you have both? Each one addresses surge individually. More may not be better. If you can kill a deer with one shot to the head, adding another bullet to the breast doesn't make the deer any deader. It just makes for more mess to clean up and more lead to dig out of the meat.

Speaking of bleeding, a wicked wheel combined with a ported housing may "bleed" so much boost, you might find that whatever you are missing in your current set up might be adequately addressed by putting the stock full bladed compressor wheel back on, and allow the ATS ported housing to do it's job back bleeding surge and stall tendencies through its radial ports.

If your center housing rotating assembly (CHRA) is tight, with no excess radial or axial play, then maybe all you need is 1.0 housing (if you don't already have one) a tougher spring or a tighter setting on your wastegate control, and to ditch the Wicked Wheel.

But if you are going all out, maybe you should consider skipping the incremental advance / intermediate step of drop ins like the GTP38R and/or BD Thruster, and go whole hog with a T4 mount like an H2E. That's where the Six Gun runs out of ammo, and you need a shoulder fired, retirement drowning Buck$zooka.

But leaving your specific needs and situation aside, and comparing the Garret GTP38R versus the BD Thruster in a vacuum, the following question comes to mind: Who actually manufactures the BD Thruster? We know the Garrett turbo is made by Garrett, an OEM supplier to the engine it is fitted on. Is BD an oem supplier? On the scale of Honeyweil? Get my drift?

 

Y2KW57, Well said, and great catch on the ATS and WW.

 

I'm in the same boat as you. I just can't bring myself to spend that kind of money on a turbo that can't be rebuilt. I've seen first hand on come apart. I know in my application that my turbo is what is holding me back now.

But what it comes down to is how much do you want to invest? New uppies and T4 mount and such or just try a few things.

If you are having major issues that may be the way to go. If you're just looking for some more I would consider going to a billet wheel either from Clay or Bob. I'm running Bob's wheel on a stock intake housing, 1.0 exhaust housing, deleted stuff.

43 PSI any time I want it and I'm just getting the slightest amount of haze at WOT in the hottest tune running 238/100's. I know people are saying that a stock turbo won't hold up to that kind of boost but it's been a year of racing, towing, driving and use and not one problem.

$250 is easier to spend than $2000 is and beside if its still not what you want you can sell that whole set up if you totally change the turbo.

Just another idea to throw out there.

 

Have you made absolutely certain you have no boost/exhaust leaks? My stock turbo at 30+ PSI boost popped the intake plenums loose. It took some effort to find that leak.