Guido, did you make your flanges or have someone do them for you? If so, who? What size is the exhaust turbine inlet on the PT-88?

I'm at that point and thought it might be easier to just have them made.

A pair of PT-51's are on the way

 

Kick *** turbos!

I made my own flanges. i can give you a dimensional picture of it when I get home tonight.

I would not make them until your turbo's arrive though.

I also made the flanges that bolt to the head. Those were a bit of work but I managed.

How are you making your headers? What size tubing? How thick flanges? Wastegates internal? Intercooler? engine management?

Glad to see someone else is serious about making a quality turbo setup.

 

Better watch the turbine wheels.

 

You can buy those flanges from Turbonetics for that turbo, in either mild or 304 stainless steel, as it used a Buick GN turbine flange.

If you want some made from 321 stainless, let me know. Hwne I had mine CNC made, we went ahead and had several sets made since the majority of the cost is in the CNC setup time. Once the CNC program is made, actually producing the components is of minimal cost, even from 321 stainless.

With regards to the GT 350 wheels used on the PT51/52 turbos, there have been a few isolated claims of turbine wheel failure, most notably by a couple of guys on the Turbobuick forum, but if you consider the number of turbos out there with these turbine wheels, the number of failures is EXTREMELY small, and I am not convinced that all the claims made by certain individuals are entirely accurate and complete. I spoke with an engineer at Gale Banks that used to work at Garrett and asked him about it. He told me that the GT350 series of turbine wheels are more lightweight and aerodynamic than some other turbine wheel desingsa. He said that as a result, the GT350's are a little more susceptible than some other heavier wheels to damge as results of flaking ceramic coating or other foreign objects that could potentially pass through it. Most turbine wheels are made of inconel, so there's no material reason that the Gt350's are more susceptible than others. He also pointed out that these wheels are used in some OEM applications and have gone hundreds of thousands of miles without incident.

 

I'm going to make them out of weld els. I'll be using the 1.6" id stuff for the primary tubes. It will be sort of a log setup but not quite. I'll post pictures when I get them made. I plan to mount the turbos in a similar position as in the banks kit, by the valve cover between and above the # 1 and 3 exhaust ports.

I may do a Stainless setup for it some day but for now I like the simplicity of the weld els.

I've actually already got the Turbos... I've had them since this past spring but havent had a chance to get them installed. I meant on the way as on the way to being actually on the car, lol probably 3 years from now.

The plan is to use 3/8" for the flanges. As far as waste gates go, I've got Terry houston down pipes for them... I hope they work as good as they look.

I'm still undecided about the intercooler thing. I like the simplicity of the pumbing with the air/water but at the same time I also prefer air/air for its lack of needing a water pump. If I do go Air / Air, I'll use two intercoolers kind of like the ones from the procharger setup but they will run in parallel until they merge together at the outlets. I'm in Germany so I'll be looking around locally to see whats available for intercoolers.

As far as engine/engine management goes: AFR 195's, Victor JR converted to multi-point, 72# injectors, Cam is a smallish custom grind from PT at 214/218, 112 lsa. The lift is around .530... Hyd roller. Short block is just a simple rebuild and is going to have to be upgraded before I add lots of boost... its a 355 right now. I've got Gen VII DFI.

I also still need to work out the fueling situation. Right now I still have the stock fuel lines up to the front of the car with a 255lph in tank. I was thinking of modifying the tank to run dual in tank pumps. Any suggestions? What about fuel line? What size do I need? I've seen all sorts of equations for fuel pump and injector sizing but never a pressure vs line size vs hp equation for fuel lines. When I get around to building a better short block, I'll be looking at about 20# boost.

Thats the first I've heard of turbine failures with the PT-51's...

Monty, does your guy have the program for a standard SBC header flange?
I looked on the turbonetics web page and they did not have the 3-bolt turbo flange listed. Is it something I have to call for?

 

Alot of places sell good SBC head flanges. I've used http://www.burnsstainless.com and Specialty Products Design with good results, they sell all the flanges, tubing, band clamps etc you will need.

I'll look in the Turbonetics catalog in the morning when I get to work and let you know the PN for the GN flanges.

 

there's a guy on turbo buick selling a dual intank pump kit for a thirdgen.....made by red armstrong

should be good for 1000hp
stock lines

 

Wow, I had no idea someone made a dual intank setup, thats perfect! Are you sure the stock lines will work?

 

Turbonetics GN turbine discharge flange PN is 20248 in mild steel, 20248S in stainless, probably 304.

 

Yup, you just have "stage" the second pump. Meaning that you cant run both of the pumps at the same time because the return line would be too small for both of the pumps

so you have the one pump come on at a certain psi level via a hobbs switch

Jack @ Racetronix also makes one....$500 for everything. Its plug-n-play. I really wanted to do it but didn't have the money at the time. I picked up a free sumped gas tank and borrowing a friends 2 bosch pumps so it was an easy decision for me

 

My turbo uses a T4 flange instead of a 3 bolt flange dan. it wouldnt work for you anyway.

 

I'll have to give racetronix a call. Sounds perfect.

I just got my weld-els... I can't wait to get welding. I think its going to come out great.

 

Right on. Someone else doing a TT project. Make sure you post lots of pics. It's a fun project.

Brad...