Turbocharger questions

[CharlieM]

Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of insulating the turbocharger on my 1978 Pace Car? Will it cause the life to be reduced? Is the metal likely to crack with this much heat? The only concern without wraping the turbo with insulation
is a lot of heat under the fiberglass hood. Any ideas out there? Do you know of any other corvettes that have been turbocharged?

Charlie

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Insulatin then turbine (not the compressor on the cartridge) is good practice to keep the heat in the turbine for faster spool up (less heat loss from exhaust gas 0> more potential energy/faster flowing exhaust -> better & faster spool up) and it will reduce under hood temps. The metal is cast iron and is designed to be run hot, no problem whatsoever. The cartridge is cooled by the oil.

This is my heap o junk....

 

[Hib Halverson]

Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of insulating the turbocharger on my 1978 Pace Car? Will it cause the life to be reduced? Is the metal likely to crack with this much heat? The only concern without wraping the turbo with insulation
is a lot of heat under the fiberglass hood. Any ideas out there? Do you know of any other corvettes that have been turbocharged?

Charlie

Most likely installing a turbo on a stock 78 engine will decrease durability. The amount of the decrease depends on many factors. Not enough information about your engine was offered for me to offer a guess.

As for metal cracking due to heat...you might experience that with the exhaust manifolds, but again, it depends on a lot of factors.

Turbocharging is a fairly common way to increase the performance of a Corvette.

 

[CharlieM]

Thanks for the response. Good suggestion. My turbo doesn't have any oil lines running to it.

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Better look again because it should have an oil line going to it and one going to the oil pan or oil pump blockoff plate for draining the oil

 

[CharlieM]

I found the one going in the top of the turbo but I haven't found the drain line yet. I will probably need to get it up on jack stands to see the drain line. I have identified that the Turbo is called "ROTOMASTER", RAJAY Product, maunfactured in North Holloywood, Cailf. The exhaust pipe coming from the exhaust into the Turbo is stainless steel as well as the custom made stainless steel headers. I will insulate the cast iron portion as you suggested. Thanks again.

 

[Twin_Turbo]

The drain is directly under it, on the other side of the cartridge (bearing housing)

RotoMaster , air research and rajay are more or less the same thing, these companies bought out each other/merged...soemthing like that. Rotomaster was a turbocharger was elad by the famous Hugh McInness, he also has a great book on turbocharging. I have RotoMaster turbo's also and rotomaster adjustable 3 port wastagetes, the turbo's are T04B S-4 trim.

See the thick hose running to the oil pan? That's my drain

 

[CharlieM]

Hil,

My corvette is a 78 Pace Car with the L82 engine at 220 HP. The carb. is a Rodchester Quadrajet with custom made stainless steel tubular headers as well as stainless steel exhaust pipes and the pipe leading into the Turbo. The intake manifold is polished aluminum but I can't identify a maunfacturer. The Turbo is a "ROTOMASTER", RAJAY PRODUCT manufactured in North Hollywood, CA. Modle # 3AA1EE10B1. Can I get any information on the manufacturer or on this particular Turbo? Any information you can provide would be appreciated as I know basically nothing about Turbochargers. I was told by a local mechanic that this installation on my car would have cost about $4000 when it was installed. The Turbocharger is located on the passenger side of the engine compartment just adjacent to the heater case on the firewall and behind the air conditioner compressor. A tight installation. Two chrome plated (2-3" Dia.) pipes lead from the Turbocharger into the base of the intake manifold below the carburator. There appears to be a oil line leading into the top of the Turbo and the line comes from the engine block behind the distributor. I cannot see a drain line from above but there may be one below.. I appreciate this dialogue because I need a lot of help. I intend to keep this car and give it to my son when I am too old to drive.

Charlie

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Apart from the model # there should aklso be a designation of what turbo series you have, it's on the same little red id tag on the cartridge where you pulled the # from. It's T03, R04...something like that. 4000$ could be, depending on the rest of the systems. Turbos are not cheap. Do you have a header or a cast iron manifold for the turbo? Your oil feed is taken off the top port on the rear of the engine, it's where the plug for the vertical oil passage is (the one drilled from top to bottom separated by the hidden plug, it connects the oil pump to the upper oil gallery) The drain is always on the bottom, the drain on turbo's is a gravity drain unless the turbo is below oil level (pan), then you have to use a pump.

 

[CharlieM]

I looked but still can't see it. I am too big to get under the car. Your engine is very impressive. Do you race the car? I will look for it now that I know where to look when I get it up in the air. Thanks again for the information on Rotomaster. I will contact them.

Charlie

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Just feel around the turbo, it's right under there, you can't miss it. My car is still a work in progress ..it does not drive Can you post a pic? I'm quite interested in seeing it. You can't contact rotomaster, they are out of business/went up in Garrett/AiResearch. Hugh McInness has written a book, there's some rotomaster specs in there. If you just look up the model you can find info on the internet, the garrett, airresearch and rajays are virtually identical.

 

[CharlieM]

The information on the red tag is as follows:
ROTOMASTER INC.
RAJAY PRODUCT
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA
model # 3AA1EE10B1
serial # 207355
Part # 600506-05
Pat # 3010697 3043636


Charlie

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Turbonetics lists:

600586-0005 3AA1EE10B1

You might want to contact them what it is, it's listed as a model # turbo, not a custom combo so it's easy to check what it is. They are lsited as 700$ a pop.

 

[M&W's72vette]

rajay

I am using a pair of rajays on my twin turbo project. Mine are 3AA1EE80B1

 

[CharlieM]

I will contact them. Thanks for the direction. I found the drain pipe under the Turbo. As soon as I get pictures I will get them to you. Maybe the 0 is an 8. The numbers are very small and hard to read.

 

[Twin_Turbo]

M&W, I'd like to see pics of yours also if possible, what are you using for headers and such? What turbos do you have? The part #s don't say anything, what model are they?

 

[M&W's72vette]

My turbos are Rajays and are good for about 400 hp per turbo. I bought stainless to use for the exhaust but decided to try it first with mild steel to make sure it worked out ok. I used block hugger headers and have a 3 inch pipe that comes off the collector and runs down under the frame and back up into the area between the inner fender and firewall. coming out of the turbo, a 3 inch pipe goes back down underneath the fender and down the side of the car. I am going to use the fiberglass sidepipe covers over them. How is your turbo project coming along? I got the cold side pretty much fabbed up and am starting on the fuel system. I also am building a new guage pod in the middle of the dash so instead of 5 guages it will house 9. I tried to post some pics but it tells me the files are too big so here is a link to one pic, I had others on the turbomustangs site but they changed servers and the old pics were lost.

Mike
http://www.turbomustangs.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34304

 

[Twin_Turbo]

My engine has been done for quite some time, apart from the plumbing from the turbos to the intercoolers and back to the carbs, currently working on the airboxes for the carbs and then I'll have to weld up the pipes from and to the intercoolers, I've done it all in aluminium to save weight. I'm building an interior from scratch, I have 9 autometer gauges in the center and a big tach & speedo and boost gauge in the main cluster. I have been working on my suspension (all home built, nothing original) for the last couple of months so I haven't done a whole lot on the engine, still need to finish plumbing the fuel system but I have all the components, also need to finish plumbing the accumulator (for turbo oiling after shut down) and the dry sump system...still lots and lots of stuff to do.

Your system looks like it's coming along nicely, however...you have tucked away those turbos pretty well...better get some ehat shielding & insulation so you won't burn the fiberglass there. What are you using for intercoolers??

I have mine set up differently with side mounted turbos and the intercoolers in the back, I can't mount them up front:

The pic is kind of dark but you can see all the components if you turn up the brightness on your monitor

 

[M&W's72vette]

Looks good, do you have any pics of your dash setup?

Mike

 

[Twin_Turbo]

No, not yet...the interior is gutted and I only have the gauge panels finished, will shoot some pics when done.