Yeah, I was thinking of that as well. This truck doesn't get driven as much as I'd want to, I only put around 1500 miles on it since june. but when I do drive it, a turbo would be helpful.

I wouldn't mind putting it in the engine bay like the rest of them, but I like to be different. And there are some benefits to having it out of the engine bay.

As to the OP, try searching PSD turbo and see what comes up. Sorry for 'jacking this thread with my imagination. lol

 

The remote idea wouldn't be bad. It would make the exhaust work WAY easier. I think I'm going to keep it up top though. Oil return is a big issue if you mount it down low. Have to buy/mount a pump to circulate the oil. A waste gate, either in the exhaust or mounted to the Y pipe would be the way to control boost. I have a turbo off a 97 and I'm pretty sure it has one built in the turbine side.

 

I know this much if a stroke turbo would work anywhere near easy, at the prices I have seen them go for we all would have one or two or three. lol

 

Didnt think about the fire issue down low. That could cause problems.

 

It would'nt be a saturday afternoon project, but I'm going to have my truck apart, so I think I'll modify the fire wall a little to make it easier to get the hot side ran. Just a y pipe up the back of the motor, bracket for the turbo, and get the down pipe going back down under the truck. Mine won't be smashed shut like the factory lol. Guess I'll see how I make out.
Thanks
Jeremy

 

Seems to me that this would be something neat to do just for fun..... and I considered giving a try at some point but decided against it for the following reasons:

1) Oil Return. Would have to rig up a scavenge pump of some sort having the turbo mounted below or level with the sump

2) Protection. I personaly am not terribly concerned with hard strikes with my truck... it's not even 4X4 and I have no intention of trying to use is as such. My big concern is exactly what Starmilt said. WATER. I could see a little splash of cold water on a smokin hot turbo leading to some bad things. Can anyone say thermal shock?

3) All the plumbing required. Granted it would make the exhaust easier to rig up but that's a lot of intake! And I suspect some pretty horrible turbo lag. I figure the turbo lag wouldn't be an issue for me because I'm slow enough that I be fine with taken a little longer!

Just my 2 cents........ I do think it would be kinda neat to rig up just for fun if you had the parts laying around and didn't have to soak a lot of money into it.

 

Ya, I passed on one with everything there for $200 a few months back.

 

Remote mounting the turbo also causes you to lose alot of heat, heat wrap and double walled pipe only can do so much.

 

keep in mind, my experience is in gasser turbos, put the concept on remote is the same...moving it out of the engine compartment will trop the turbo temp (as in casing and turbine) by a several hundred degrees, as well as drop the charge air temps going into the engine...but you also need the turbo and plumbing sized properly because your air volume to spin the turbo further down the line will be different.

Although all of my apps have been on cars, I have never had an issue with water causing damage, other than once when I had a small leak in the turbine intake line and it ingested water...no motor damage, but the turbo had to be rebuilt...and that was driving through 10" of standing water in a car that sat 4" off the ground...water was easily over the exhaust pipes.

Keep in mind, you cant compare remote turbos to cats....cats are designed to get hot for a chemical reaction, turbos simply use air movement (which depending on the situation can be very hot) to turn a fan.

 

i would think that it could be done responsibly. In this and many other threads i have learned a lot about turbos. I never knew that it pulled air rather than pushed air in. I always thought they rammed air in. I still dont understand them that well but with more air, more fuel, anything goes faster. I wonder the limitations of installation points for a turbo in light of recent conversation. As long as it is on the pipe and there are no leaks or weak points, i would guess anywhere but i amy be way off. More spelunking to do i guess!

 

Being that 99% of the time a turbo is mounted right off the manifold the majority of the rules/guidelines/whatever are based on this...and those do change alot when you start moving further down the pipe. Obviously there are the plumbing issues (oil cooling etc), but you also have to adjust your turbo size (air will not be as hot coming in, hence you will get less spin from it), and your charge air pipe (like your comment on turbos pulling vs pushing, worthless but invaluable trivia, the longer the pipe the smaller the relative diameter to minimize lag).
Honestly, from playing with remote mounts for several years, I would not go any other way....to the point that I would put them in the bed of my truck before the engine bay. Once you get the calculations right you can make some mean and nasty instant boost without heatsoaking both your charge air or your motor...lower egt's, lower oil temps etc. In all of my raceing apps I have learned there are twwo envelopes you can push when making power...heat and pressure...push one or the other, cuz if you push them both its easy to make things go boom. Personally I prefer to push the pressure side as you can get alot more power there than heat.

As far as the question of "if its so great how come manufacturers don't do it"...look at the time & cost to properly fab on in, and your answer will be clear...mounted in the bay is very easy and cheap by comparison

 

I guess it depends on what you expect of your truck and how you use it. Personally since I use mine for any and everything I want to and do go offroad, sometimes in some serious places, an underbody would not be an option at all. I have been in driving conditions too where everything under me was one big block of ice. In the bed would be a better option for me but I also haul any and everything I want hence the reason I don't drive a bronco, so that is not an option either.

 

well yeah i was wondering if you pulled the math out, you could theoretically mount a turbo at the floor of the truck bed haha. Would be an interesting sound coming from the bed area of a truck for sure.

 

one thought I was honestly considering....removing a section of the bed floor and mounting them just before a pair of 4" stacks.

Star....and this would be why I did not do remote mounts on my XJ...I have seen it done on wheeling rigs, but it takes some SERIOUS though and coin to make it happen right

 

right, if all you do is extreme off road, you would want to rethink the remote idea. If you just do highway hauling and similar, you would be good to go remote. You could probably make a box out of diamond plate that would house it with stiff metal screen to allow for ventilation and not let crap in.