I know that the 5-speeds got a bigger turbo from my limited reading here. I pulled a turbo from an 85 t-bird a few years ago, but never paid attention to whether it was a stick or an auto. How do I go about finding out?

isn't the exhaust housing bigger?? not really sure..

It should say what size it is on the housings. Like .48AR or .63 A/R

Cool. I'll have to check it tonight. Thanks Jester.

Just to clarify, you're looking for it on the turbine housing, some of the compressor housings may have a 60 on them...

For that matter, for a 305 or 350, you could probably get away with either. Both have the same size compressor, the smaller one will just build boost sooner (well, and will be more of a restriction at high RPM's, but why would you wind a turbo motor to high rpm's anyway).

OTOH, if it says IHI on the compressor housing it's the smaller setup from the later cars and some SVO's, which is probably too small.

83, this will be going onto a 2.8

But... those old t-birds only made like 150hp. How do I get additional boost?

I guess that the Jim85IROC threw me off, but I just caught one of your other posts about turbocharging the 2.8.

yea, that is all they made on the turbocoupes, but they flow plenty to make about 270hp efficiently or over 300 if pushed to the ragged edge.

They are actually the same size as the turbo used on the GN's, but the GN used a proprietary compressor wheel and a different exhaust flange.

If you use it and if you decide later that you need more power then you have a few choices: you could convert it the a T-3/T4 hybrid, by basically putting a small T4 compressor housing on the front of it, most turbo shops can do this. If you just think that you're getting too much exhaust restriction you could either convert to the .82AR turbine that was used on the T3's by the early buick turbo motors, Pontiac 301 and some diesel engines or by having your turbine wheel clipped. Or you could convert to a larger turbo: on the cheap I’d consider a hoslett HX35 off of a cummings turbodiesel from a doge ram (I’ve seen them go for $130-250 or so on ebay), it will be slow to spool but will have an awesome top end (I know someone running one on a 2.3L ford turbo motor), and ultimately would be capable of pushing 30+ psi boost into that engine.

Uh no the turbo coupe got the International harvester turbo. the turbo really sucked butt. They are only capable of about 17 psi of boost on the 2.3. with the 2.8 you should get about 10-15 psi. The GN turbo has bigger intake and exhaust houseings. The SVO turbo was a garett that used the t-3 center section. You can make about 240 hp with the international harvester turbo and about 280 with the SVO turbo. Less than a stock l-98 with exhaust work. You really want a Hybrid for your car. You can get a good boost in power but you won't make over 250 hp with out alot of mods and tuneing and an awesome exhaust.

The IHI's were used on 87-88's (I think) and were intercooled. T3's were used on the years before that.

Here's a picture of the turbo:


On the turbine side, I found this: A/R .63
and on the compressor side, I found this: A/R .60

I guess that means I got the bigger one?

oh yeah... I haven't taken the flanges off it yet, but by sticking my finger in there and fooling around, it seems like there's no play on the shaft at all, and the blades seem to spin fairly freely. Maybe I can just bolt the bastard on without screwing with a rebuild.

Man, that things dirtier than mine are. Yeah, you've got the bigger (5-speed) turbo. You might as well stick it on as if it doesn't have much play. If it works you're good, if not you can rebuild it.

I bet it'll clean up reeeeeeal nice tho.

That is a garett turbo t-3 but that thing is pretty foul looking. Man be careful if you take the exhaust houseing off it will likely break some bolts. The bad news is i don't think that thing has water lines to cool the center section. The water and oil cooled turbos last forever.

yep, that looks like the good one. Look familiar:


With respect to the person suggesting that it should be an IHI, they really weren't used till '87 and up.

BTW, that is a water cooled one, it even looks like it's got a piece of the factory orange high temp hose haging off the fitting.

Have fun, don't blow it up too soon...

I'm guessing I won't break a single bolt taking it apart. It's fugly looking, but other than a pile of dirt and a little surface rust, it's real nice. My factory exahust manifolds are way, way worse than that.

Lucky. I broke four of the five bolts off that hold on the exhaust elbow on one of the two I've got. Hopefully you're more lucky with yours.

Nice score!

If you do need to take it apart, soak and I mean soak those bolts with penetrating oil.

I try to impact gun the bolts off with a lot of sucess. Zero for 30 broken turbo exhaust bolts.

Don't rush a stuck exhaust bolt.

If you're having a problem with one, before putting a lot of force on it try soaking it, whacking it with a hammer a couple of times, then try to tighten it a little before loosening it. All of these will help loosen the bolt if it's stuck.

I'm pretty familiar with getting bolts off. I'm all proud that I only broke 1 of the 4 y-pipe to manifold bolts when I took the 15 year old exhaust off my IROC a few years ago.

Hey Jim, if you find anymore of those, e-mail me. We don't have any of those cars around here that aren't running. I need 2 for my project.

Joshua-
You going to put turbos on an 11:1 engine? Or is that a different engine? Anyway, if it helps you out I'll look around here for some turbos. I'm assuming you're looking for the .63 A/R T3? I've got the only two from the local yards, but I might be going to Muncie tomorrow to look around. If I find anything I'll let you know.

Ummm, no. I just got this engine running over this past winter. I am starting on parts hunting for my next project, which will be to TT the engine I have now. I will be dropping the CR to about 8.5-9:1. I will hopefully be able to buy a set of heads to better suit that type of induction. I have a lot of parts to get rid of also, this is part of the funding I have to make this project happen, as I know my allowance each week will be nill after the baby is born.

Makes sense. Didn't think you'd try and put boost on something with that high of compression. I have heard of people running pretty high compression ratios with the vortecs and still using low octane (like 10:1 with 87), so maybe just a little lower compression would work with boost. Out of curiosity, has anyone on here done forced induction with the vortecs or know anyone who has?

I don't know about forced induction, but my CR is 11.07:1 to be exact. I usually run 92 in it, without spark knock that I can hear. I don't really know where my timing is set, i still need to get some timing tape on the balancer, and run a light. I do know the throttle response is excellent. No hesitaion at all. In 5th, at cruising speeds, if I step on I can hear a faint knock until the secondaries open. After that either the exhaust drowns it out, or it goes away.
Nail 3rd and hit the floor, all you hear is a screaming engine, and you can feel your stomach start to press on your spine.