'Hybridising' a Turbo

[hewlett]

I've come across an alternative to buying a new, larger turbo. Hybridising promises to be cheaper, a company will take my 2.5 STi Impreza's TD05-16G and play with it: Bearings and seals changed, 360 degree thrust bearings, changed actuator, strengthen compressor housing, providing about 40 to 60% boost. For about £800, any thoughts on whether this could be a sensible option over buying an off the shelf unit?

[Dakkon]

I had a stage III hybrid conversion done to my MR2Turbo, made a hell of a difference, oads more torque, could up the boost without worrying about it (assuming your internals & air fuel mix are modified to suit of course).

All depends what your end goal is, if you go for a bigger turbo you get more lag, but if you stay with a smaller turbo and more boost you get a lot of heat, so you would need to spend money on and intercooler or water injection.

[MarfGTxx]

hewlett said:

strengthen compressor housing

huh

I take it they are changing the compressor and compressor housing? Otherwise you'll be paying £800 for what basically amounts to a rebuilt turbo...

The "character" of the turbo can be changed greatly by hybridising. Check what others have to say who have used one before jumping in with both feet.

I fitted one to my GTxx which had a compressor housing and wheel from an Isuzu trooper 3.1TD mated to the standard exhaust side. It didnt spool hard until 5000 rpm where the stock turbo was on boost by 3500, admittedly the performance on boost with the hybrid was great and didnt tail off like the stock turbo, but was too laggy for road use.

So after alot of research I made up my own hybrid using the hotside from a maserati 2.5 V6TT and the cold side from an 80's Mazda 323 GTX. End result? Near stock spool with the same top end punch as the Isuzu hybrid.

Built the thing myself with some help from a mate with a lathe, then sent it to AET turbos to be reconned/balanced.

Edited by MarfGTxx on Thursday 7th June 18:43

[MarkK]

MarfGTxx said:

hewlett said:

strengthen compressor housing

huh

I take it they are changing the compressor and compressor housing? Otherwise you'll be paying £800 for what basically amounts to a rebuilt turbo...

The "character" of the turbo can be changed greatly by hybridising. Check what others have to say who have used one before jumping in with both feet.

I fitted one to my GTxx which had a compressor housing and wheel from an Isuzu trooper 3.1TD mated to the standard exhaust side. It didnt spool hard until 5000 rpm where the stock turbo was on boost by 3500, admittedly the performance on boost with the hybrid was great and didnt tail off like the stock turbo, but was too laggy for road use.

So after alot of research I made up my own hybrid using the hotside from a maserati 2.5 V6TT and the cold side from an 80's Mazda 323 GTX. End result? Near stock spool with the same top end punch as the Isuzu hybrid.

Built the thing myself with some help from a mate with a lathe, then sent it to AET turbos to be reconned/balanced.

Edited by MarfGTxx on Thursday 7th June 18:43

Should only need the compressor housing strengthening if they are fitting a bigger wheel and they need to mill away the inside of the compressor. TD05 is a pretty big turbo though so you wouldn't think it would need any.

[liner33]

I had my stock turbo on my Skyline modified but a turbo company , they machined out the housings , fitted larger steel internals and increased the size of the oilways cost about £900

The benefit was the lack of lag, unlike most the of the aftermarket stuff it makes 1 bar of boost by 3250rpm and runs well till 6550rpm where it starts to fall off. Comparing dyno sheets it seems to make a lot more torque that aftermarket ones although it wont run as high up the rpm range.

[hewlett]

Thanks all. The guy I bought the car off says he thinks that the turbo I have has been modified, I guess the only way to find out is to get it onto the rolling road, set up and are what boost it will give - planned for next week.