i am eventually going to put a turbo on my 6.9 what problems might i have its in an 87 f250 ext cab what should i do to the motor to keep from blowing it up i know i need to get a pyrometer and boost guage is 2.5 exhaust big enough or do i need 3inch it has 2.5 duals on it now what is a good turbo should it be wastegated or none? thanks justin

 

Head gaskets could be a problem if you push 15 psi of boost, but 10 psi is already enough to pin you in the seat. Thread in head studs are the solution, but not needed if you go easy on the boost.

Minimum exhaust should be 3", I ran a strait 3" from the turbo to the tailpipe. Others have run dual 3" or single 4" or even dual 4"!

The the setup I used worked well, but I have no experience with larger (or dual) pipes, so I can't say if it would really make a big difference.

Fitting a 3" downpipe will mean bending the floor seam at the firewall back but the larger pipe is worth the trouble.

The turbo I have is the ATS 088 system, which has no wastegate. I have never really noticed much in the way of hesitation. The system can produce 10-12 psi of boost right now, boost which is limited only by engine rpm and fuel flow, so in theory a wastegated setup is safer.

Wastegated turbos tend to produce more back pressure and more EGTs (not a big difference I think), but also get better boost at lower rpms. Most seem to preffer the wastegated setup because it is more responcive.

Now having said all that, I'm not sure if you can even get a non wasegated setup anymore, everyone seems to have gone to the newer style (I got mine used).

 

The Hypermax 'pulse' system is still non wastegated, and the cheapest of all the kits out there. I prefer the ATS kit, but a recent attempt to order one left us severely disappointed. They are having supplier issues with a new revision of their kit.

I have an 87 6.9 with a turbo. No problems at all with boost levels above 15 psi.

 

im not planning on running boost levels over what my dads powerstroke does i dont plan on running on it very hard but it will get worked my dads 97 pete with a 550 cat had a wastegated turbo on it and it was cracked it only got 15psi of boost thats downshifting and gettin on it we put a new none wastegated turbo on it and now you dont have to downshift if you do it will get 40psi of boost but normally runs at 35psi pulling a 45% grade hill

 

bubba,
45% grade?!? Dayum, I don't wanna be anywhere *near* that thing!

 

sorry i was about asleep and really mad when i put that on there on hill you used to have to downshift 2 or 3 gears to pull them you dont have to downshift at all can you run a 2.5" pipe from the turbo or does it have to be 3" right now it has true dualls all the way out the back how does the kit run the exhaust?

 

You can not run as much boost as a Power Stroke does.
Power Strokes have a base compression ratio of 18 to 1.
6.9 engines have 22.5 to 1.

When I rebuilt my engine, I milled the piston tops off and lower the compression to 20.25 to 1.
At 25 pounds boost I am running a higher effective compression ratio than a Power Stroke running 30 PSI is.
A Power Stroke running 30 PSI boost tops out at 54.73 to 1 compression.
Your 6.9 with 30 PSI would be running 68.41 to 1.
The head gaskets would be gone before it made it to 30 PSI.

I ran 15 PSI in my 6.9 for a while, when I tore the engine down every fire ring has compression erosion.
15 PSI puts the compression ratio at 45.45 to 1 on a 6.9.
18 PSI puts it at 50.05 to 1.

Head studs are the only way to go if you want to go over 12 or so PSI boost.

 

Would head studs actually prevent erosion to the fire ring?

 

so if you dont go over 10psi you dont have to do anything to the motor,and if you want aver 10psi you have to put bigger head studs in it and headgaskets will the exhaust run the same way as a powerstroke would it be better to split it into duals before or after the rearend?

 

Since the clamping force of the studs keeps the head tight on the headgasket, the fire ring is not eroded.
That is the whole reason for going to studs.

10 PSI is probably more than safe, I don't have any way to know exactly where the erosion started to occur.

With my stacks, I split it at the back of the cab.
That call would be more like where is it easier to split and what kind of money do you want to spend on the exhaust.

 

i dont want to spend much on exhaust but i want it to sound good and look good

 

I had an ATS turbo Installed on my 83 no extra work to the engine just the intake turbo and exhaust. the truck lasted 283000 before I turned her over for a new one.

 

i was looking at hypermax and banks the hypermax is 1500 but dont come with the guages or exhaust and on there the guages would be 350 banks is about 2500 and comes with everything or 2700 for an automatic

 

You didn't mention if you interested are in buying used. If you are, you can sometimes find complete systems on Ebay, or even the odd wrecker, usually for a lot less than new.

I lucked out when I picked mine up in the local classifies for a couple hundred bucks, it came with gauges, but all the bent pipes (downpipe, crossover, and tailpipe) were up to me to figure out......

 

i would buy a used one if i found a kit with everything but exhaust they havent had anything on ebay wortha crap latley