Getting ready to turbo my 6.2L!
 

As some of you may know, I've been assembling a turbo system for my '81 diesel for quite a while now.

It all began in the fall of 2001, when I aquired a used Garret turbocharger from an individual. This turbo had been used on a 6.9L/7.3L Ford diesel, probably from an aftermarket ATS kit.

Since then, I have been slowly getting all the rest of the bits and pieces I've needed. There's a lot of parts needed to install a turbo! I bought a new Banks (www.bankspower.com, specializing in diesel performance) turbo exhaust manifold, machined an adapter to bolt the turbo to the manifold, bought a new round air filter assy. off ebay, a new Banks crossover pipe, fabbed up an oil return system, purchased a new steel-braided oil feed line and Autometer boost guage from Summit racing, machined a 3" exhaust outlet for the turbo, bought 3" pipe to make a downpipe, purchased a like new high-performance diesel 4" muffler, and bought a new 4" chrome tip off ebay.

Last night I brought home one of the last big purchases: all the rest of the 4" exhaust system. I got a 3" to 4" adapter, a section of 4" pipe, and enough mandrel-bent elbows to go over the axle. I was giddy! I found a local supply store that handles exhaust systems for big trucks, and they have all kinds of exhaust system components in 3" and up. I was able to walk the aisles and just pick out all the pieces I needed!

The cost for the entire 4" exhaust system, including muffler and downpipe, comes in around $200. Not too bad, considering a new system for a Duramax or other new diesel truck costs around $400 to $600!

The very last piece I'm working on is the pressure chamber, the part that replaces the air cleaner and fits over the top of the intake manifold. I was going to have one made out of some aluminum tread plate I have, but it was going to cost too much. I now have the machine shop working on making me one out of some aluminum pipe. Haven't got the price on that one yet.

I plan to start assembly next Saturday. It's taken me 3 years to get this all together, but I've definitely saved a lot of money. Instead of $2000 for a Banks Sidewinder turbo and $400 for an exhaust system, I estimate I'll have around $500 to $600 invested in the whole setup.

I can't wait to get started!

I know most of you aren't into diesels like me, but I still wanted to share my project with my board buddies!

Casey

One of these days I wanna build a performance diesel too :D

Those things are nuts on the road, I was driving home last night when I stopped beside a Ford Diesel, I instantly knew that this was more than just any diesel when the guy revved at me with his like 4 - 5" dual exhaust, lol I figured what the heck and revved right back, light turn green, I floor it, broke loose for a second, then hooked up and took off (bedless, so traction is limited, lol) probally one of my better launches, I beat him for like two seconds as his turbo(s) spooled up, at which point I heard one of the best noises of my life as those dual exhaust things kicked in and that diesel chirped the tires and went flying by me with a big black cloud sounding something like a mix between an open header 572 and a 747 jet plane, lol I was cheering as he went flying by me :p

Nothin like gettin spanked by a diesel thats faster than most performance gas motors, lol! Esspecially when its a lifted 1 ton with at least 35" tires on it, and yes, it was a duallie :D

Casey, keep us updated on your project! i came across a complete 6.2 "with blow by" for $150 in one of the local trader ads. im thinking of picking it up, rebuilding it and using it as a basis for my K30 SWB powerplant. turbo is one of the things that i have been looking into for it. i'd love to see how its done.

dont mean to hijack here, but...
think its worth picking up?

Yes!! That's darn cheap for any 6.2L engine, running or not! I paid $400 for my non-running 6.2L (which was probably too much, but it was all I could find locally at the time), so I think you ought to snatch that motor up. It's always nice to have a spare, if nothing else. I have a spare 6.2L that I have in my shop. I saw it in the paper one day for a good price, and picked it up just to have on hand. In fact, I'm using the spare engine to help fab up all my turbo parts to make sure they fit before installing in the truck.

Casey

That sounds really cool. I just sold my 87 (like 30 minutes ago...) so I'm down to one diesel. I think fuel prices are going to remain at or above 2.00 for the forseeable future, so having a vehicle that gets over 20mpg is a good thing. I love my 86, but I'd like to have more power too. I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a used banks system but now you've given me some ideas that maybe I don't need one of those...

I would love to have a diesel in my crew cab that got like 15mpg pulling my car trailer too!

Keep us posted on the details, and show us some pics. I think there are a lot of people here who would love to hear and see more!

6-15-04 update:

On Saturday I got started with the install. As of last night, I now have the turbo mounted in the truck!

I started by removing my current exhaust system, removing the right hand side exhaust manifold, removing the mechanical fuel pump, removing the lower radiator hose, and installing the new Banks manifold.

The first problem I ran into was that the new Banks radiator hose wouldn't fit. I ordered the hose from Banks because their instructions say that I needed it to clear the crossover pipe. Well, since my truck is a converted from-gas-to-diesel truck, the radiator doesn't sit in exactly the same place....it's about 3 inches closer to the passenger side where it normally would be due to the a/c condenser lines coming in on the other side. The factory style hose has enough give to it to line up and work just fine. The Banks hose wouldn't even begin to fit. So I just left it off until I got the crossover pipe installed.

Next, I discovered that the turbo wouldn't bolt up to the manifold because it hit the inner wheel well! Looks like the Banks turbo sits up higher on it's mounting than this Garret turbo does. A block of wood and a sledge hammer allowed me to "massage" the inner fender to give me enough clearance. That problem was solved.

After setting the turbo on the manifold, I had to re-work my oil return. No biggie really. I ditched the mechanical fuel pump, got a block-off plate from the dealer, drilled a hole in the plate, and welded a 3/8" pipe fitting to the plate. I made the rest of the return system out of 3/8" steel pipe.

Next, I installed the electric fuel pump. No problem there.

Next, I installed the crossover pipe. Ran into another problem: the pipe Banks sent me was designed to bolt up to the EPR valve on the driver's side manifold. I lost that valve years ago. I thought it would still fit, but I lacked 1" of getting it to line up, due to the pipe hitting the motor mount. I ended up cutting the pipe and welding in a 1.5" section of pipe to make it longer. Got the crossover pipe installed.

Next, I was able to try the radiator hose again. I got a new factory style hose and it fit just fine. The clearance is tight to the crossover pipe, but with some heat-shielding, should be just fine. Anybody need a brand new Banks radiator hose?

Last thing I did last night was install the turbo permanently onto the manifold. Now I can start fabbing up the exhaust down pipe. I'm really surprised how low the turbo sits in the truck.....it rides right above the frame rail. It does sit lower than the Banks turbo would sit.

I've had to move some of my wiring to make room for the turbo, so I'll have to do a little re-wiring.

I'll probably do the wiring next, then fab up the down pipe, then install the oil feed line, and then start working on the pressure system. Still have to work out where to install the air cleaner.

I do have the pressure chamber in my hands now... machine shop made it for me out of 6" pipe and welded a top on it and a 2 3/8" pipe on the side to hook up my pressure pipes to. I could have made it myself, but I just didn't have time to track down all the pieces and weld it up. I also bought a nice looking 6.5L "Turbo Power" engine cover to dress it all up.

I'm making progress! It's a slow process, but it will be worth it! Having a complete kit from Banks would have been nice and much, much simpler, but I am saving so much money this way that it makes it worthwile, plus I'll have a very unique truck when I'm all done.

Casey

i agree with Captkaos, show us the pics!

Casey, bro, you CAN NOT leave us hanging like this. i think there's a federal law against it even. lets see some pics already!!!!

Sounds cool as all get out.

i agree with swervin!

6-16-04 update:

I finished all the wiring, and hand-made a custom 3" downpipe for the turbo. That went really well! Much easier to make than I had anticipated.

Okay, okay! So you want some pics? :lol:

The first pic shows the turbo mounted onto the exhaust manifold. In this case, I had to replace the passenger side exhaust manifold with one that had a turbo mounting on it. There is a crossover pipe which runs from the driver's side manifold directly into the passenger side manifold right below the turbo. All the engine ehxaust is directed through the turbo, and out the rear of the turbo.

The second pic shows the exhaust downpipe I made bolted to the turbo.

The third pic shows the new exhaust system compared to the stock system.

I'll have more photos updated in my Chevy photo album soon.

Casey

Okay, more pics can be seen at:

http://community.webshots.com/album/153303040IeQyIu

Casey

Casey, have you thought about the CDR valve and what you're going to do with it? Obviously you cannot connect it to the intake manifold anymore. The newer 6.5td's have the CDR valve connected to the turbocharger air intake plenum, and obviously don't have a hose barb in the intake.

Also, how are you planning on limiting max boost pressure? How will you control the bypass valve (you DO have one?) With a stock 6.2 you need to be very, very careful with turbocharging as you could easily grenade the whole engine.

SHE RUNS!!!

I got the oil feed line installed and bled, and decided to fire it up to see what happened.

Everything seems to be A-okay. The blower is definitely working! Now I can start assembling the pressure system and work out the air cleaner.

Rock,

Yeah, I'm planning to reroute the CDR hose directly to the air cleaner assembly or intake hose, whichever works out best. I don't have any boost control. The turbo is sized to match the engine, I hope, just like the Banks setup. The factory 6.5L and some Banks systems for Fords use a wastegate. I don't know of any diesels using a pressure or boost valve. I'm hoping it will produce around 10 psi max. If it goes over that, I'll have to work out something. I know the 6.2L can handle up to 14 psi without grenading, from experience others have had. The Banks sidewinder is setup to produce around 7 to 10 psi, so I'm hoping this ATS turbo for a 6.9L Ford should be just right.

Casey

My bad Casey, i meant a wastegate. The word to word accurate translation of a wastegate from Finnish to English is a bypass valve.

6-21-04 Update:

PROJECT FINISHED!! :burnout:

I've been really busy the last several days, so I haven't had time to update ya'll on my progress.

The next step was to make a pressure system from the turbo to the pressure chamber mounted on the intake manifold. I made one from ABS plastic pipe and fittings. I'm not sure how well it will hold up under the heat, but so far it's working good. I will probably end up replacing it with a metal system, but at least now I have a pattern.

I then made the air filter system. The orginal tractor-style cartridge air filter assembly I had purchased was too large to fit anywhere underneath the hood, at least not in a way that pleased me. So, I ditched that and used a universal-style 3" cone-shaped filter, and mounted it underneath the passenger side battery tray. I also cut a hole in the radiator support for a fresh, cold air intake. You can see pics of this in my photo album.

I welded a 1" hose fitting into the air intake pipe, and ran a hose from there up to the CDR valve.

I installed an Auto-meter Sport comp boost guage.

After that, I was pretty much finished with the turbo installation. I then went on to building the 4" exhaust system, which was really much easier than I anticipated.

So, now the moment you've all been waiting for: the results!

Well, at full throttle acceleration, I've seen a max. so far of 11 lbs of boost at 1000 degrees EGT. Yippee! :burnout: That's what I was hoping for! I didn't want too much boost, 'cause I wanted reliablility more than anything, but I also wanted more than the typical 7 psi boost that Banks owners usually get. I've noticed the EGT's run around 200 degrees cooler than before at cruising speeds. I can mash on the throttle and get an almost instant 5 lbs of boost before she starts building with the rpms.

I used to have EGT's in excess of 1300 degrees. I can't wait to hook up a trailer and see what happens now!

And the sound! Oh my, the sound of the engine/turbo/exhaust is absolutely brilliant! I can hear the turbo sing to me even at idle and just cruising around, but then she really begins to whislte and whine when under power. And the Kennedy muffler lets just enough sound through to deliver this deep rumble that lets you know you've got something underneath the hood.

I'm so giddy! I can't believe I've actually pulled this off after all this time.

I'll continue to update you on performance issues as time goes on.

I have updated pics showing the turbo and exhaust system at:

http://community.webshots.com/album/153303040IeQyIu

Casey

SWEET. How much a seat-of-your-pants difference is there compared to when it was N/A? I think this is one of the coolest DIY projects Ive seen done to these trucks in a long time. You should be proud

pc

Cool. Very cool. The satisfaction of doing something like this is a gigantic high.

PC,

The seat of the pants feel is very noticeable when getting into the upper rpms. When first taking off, it takes a moment for the turbo to spool up and start making serious boost. But when you get moving, it just keeps pulling and pulling, when before it would just slowly accelerate at a constant speed. Now, the faster I go, the faster I accelerate!

On one of the local big hills, I could only manage to maintain speed or slightly accelerate when going up in third gear. Now I can mash down and she just keeps on going with no end in sight!

Thanks guys!

Casey

Congrats Casey! I bet you could turn up the injection pump a little more and fine tune the injection timing to gain that last bit of power.

Very cool!! Congrats.

casey..... when are you going to dyno that thing? :lol: looks awesome man, i remember at the meet way back when, when we were doing the drive by... you kinda squilled the tires... would love to see that thing run now. I drove a CUCV (85 i believe 1 1/4ton truck) that would chirp the tires when it shifted and while turning..it was only a NA 6.2.... too bad we dont have those anymore.. :banghead: :whine:

Hey Arveetek. Did that engine cover come off a Nintendo? :)