I have been looking in the junkyards every few weeks for a couple years now and I can't seem to locate an OEM turbo setup for my 6.9 truck. I found several powerstrokes and I started to remove the parts when I realised the intake manifold was different (duh! ), so that was a pisser. Soo, to those that have done it... where did you end up finding a system? Are there any places that specialize in stuff like this that do business online? I am just not satisfied with the NA power... it's driving me nuts. I may end up swapping a 7.3 powerstroke into my truck if all else fails.

 

The stock system was on 93 and 94 trucks only.

However there are thousands of trucks out there with aftermarket systems on them.

Why are they so hard to find/
Most of them are still on the road somewhere.

 

Man dave... you are a posting fiend!!! haha. Has anybody made a home brew turbo system before? I was thinking... I know where there are 4 or 5 powerstrokes sitting in the junkyard. I could get a turbo for around $75. I'm pretty good at fab, I was thinking I could just make my own exhaust collector and fab up something to screw onto the intake manifold. Where are there sources of oil pressure on this block?

 

That question comes up rather often in here.

Here is an ATS 093 turbo pedistal and turbo looking from the bottom.



You could probably make that piece, but you would have some time in it.

Here is the same turbo plus up pipe mounted on the engine.



The cross over pipe from the drivers side manifold over to the Y mounted on the passenger side manifold is not installed in the picture and neither is the oil supply line that goes from the brass fitting where the oil pressure sending unit would be located.

As you can see, the turbo up pipe has to hug the passenger side head to leave room for the down pipe so it can clear the head and bell housing.

In this picture, looking down from the top you can see the turbo up pipe closest tot he bottom, the down pipe in the middle and the firewall at the top of the picture.



Not much room, and I have a 2" body lift installed so I did not have to bend the firewall to make room for the 3" downpipe.

I don't have a picture of the Y mounted on the passenger side manifold that ties both cylinder banks together to get the exhaust to the turbo up pipe.

Oil comes from either the stock oil sending unit location or the row of plugs on the drivers of the engine block below the oil cooler.

Oil returns to the engine through the CDR valve hole in the valley pan, the CDR is relocated to the drivers side rocker cover.

Not going to say it can't be done, it has.
But most people that start on that project never finish.

The few that havereport boost levels that are usually below what a factory unit will produce.

17,000 posts in 6 years is not really that many per day.

 

Allright, that settles it. I'm going to do it. I don't think I am going to try to copy the ATS setup. There is way too much room in the engine bay to worry about mounting the turbo right on top of the engine. I'm thinking of mounting the turbo on one side of the engine or the other... Probably the drivers side, cause I deleted the ac compressor. I'm wondering... can I flip the exhuast manifolds? If the bolt pattern isn't wierd I'm thinking I can flip the manifolds and run a cross pipe somewhere in front of the engine... perhaps do an electric fan conversion and run it there or run it below the oil pan. All that is simple, easy fab work... especially if the manifolds will flip. That then leaves ample room for a downpipe without having to modify the firewall. It would be a piece of cake to run an oil return line to the oil pan and I can have the local hydraulic shop make me a metal braided oil supply line. The only thing left to do after that is relocate the CDR and fab some kind of collector for the intake manifold. I think I could model it after the air cleaner design and use the air cleaner screw to hold it down. All that would have to be is some fab work with tubular steel.

I think I can do it. Hopefully the powerstroke turbo isn't too big for this engine.

 

Exhaust manifolds would be hard to flip, even if you went side to side and flip.

The bolt holes are not the problem.



Think about where the flip and or rotate will put the outlet.
And remember the oil cooler is right below the drivers side exhaust manifold.


You want the cubic volume of exhaust pipe before the turbo and the intake plumbing between the turbo and intake to be as small as possible.
The greater the volume, the more turbo lag you will induce.
Also you want to keep as much heat as possible in the exhaust between the engine and turbo.
Hotter exhaust means more volume to spool the turbo faster.

 

I think my idea depends on weather or not I can flip the manifolds. I'm going to take some measurements and see if it's realistic. If proper fab is done, the length of the pipes shouldn't be any longer than stock... With that said, I'm willing to sacrifice some spool time for a cheaper/easier install. More than anything, I just want to get the turbo on there. Anything would be better than stock.

 

Ok, so it's going to be close with the oil cooler. Looks like the best bet would be to put drivers side manifold on the passenger side and vice versa. The passenger side manifold looks like it could work on the driver side... barely. If needs be, I can modify the manifold with my heliarc welder. I think I am going to go to the junkyard and grab a set of manifolds to play with.

 

We had this discussion in another thread about a week ago, maybe a little more.

I think the passenger side manifold would bolt right on as long as it is turned with the outlet to the rear.
But if you turn it so the outlet is to the front, I think it will either hit the oil cooler, or have to be removed to remove the oil cooler.
If it is that close, heat from the manifold may be an issue fro the oil cooler O rings.

 

I agree. It's not going to happen. I intend to modify the stock drivers side manifold to suit the needs. A heliarc welder with a nickel rod should be able to weld the cast iron. I wont waste anybodys time with "ifs" so I intend to get a manifold from the junkyard to experiment. I'll report back when I make some progress.

 

For what it is worth, I think if I were going to try something like this I would just make a manifold out of steel plate and pipe.

Make a flange out of some 1/4" plate to bolt to the head like they had on Hooker headers.
Then steel pipe welded to the flanges to make the pipe up to the turbo and cross over.

In the end it would probably be easier to use two small turbos instead of one large turbo, that would make keeping the pipe volume smaller before the turbo easier.

Just me thinking out loud, for what it is worth.

Good pipe bender
Set of torches
Hammers, big and small
Drill press
Grinder
Cut off saw
Big vice

I could see it being done, but it will take some time and probably several attempts to get it right.
And the whole time you are working on it you will have to keep in mind the things you need to get to on the engine.