JS LSX Turbo complete kits...anyone heard of this?

[ivorton74]

Originally Posted by HemiChallenger71

If your thinking about turbo-ing the lsx in that big body chevy you have a more room than just about anyone for options.

If it were me I would take the time to build my own with reverse truck manifolds or buy a kit based off that. Those log manifolds dont look all that enticing to me. The idea of a "turbo kit" is kind of funny when you think about.

I'm not worried about room at all. That thing has a huge engine bay. I would like the turbo to sit right about where the intake filter is. I see some guys having their turbo sit in front of the motor but the motor is sitting a bit more forward than the 350 was and I would like to keep the truck accessories. The truck doesn't have a/c so don't have to worry about that. Have to find a good intercooler that'll fit behind my grille. The truck is lowered and im still running the stock pan. I may go with an fbody pan. I gotta see where the crossover pipe would go too. I'm running 2.5 dual flowmaster exhaust...I gotta see how that's going to work too. Just so many things to think about.

[tinydb84]

Originally Posted by ivorton74

Where does the blow off valve usually go?

On the cold side before the throttle body.

Originally Posted by HemiChallenger71

If your thinking about turbo-ing the lsx in that big body chevy you have a more room than just about anyone for options.

If it were me I would take the time to build my own with reverse truck manifolds or buy a kit based off that. Those log manifolds dont look all that enticing to me. The idea of a "turbo kit" is kind of funny when you think about.

This^^ Check out theturboforums as well when you get the chance.

[ivorton74]

I just contacted One Guy Garage over in Minnesota and they said about $3500 for a budget turbo kit made with mild steel tubing with a Chinese turbo, intercooler, wastegate and bov with potential for about 600hp and if I drop off the truck it would be done in about 2 weeks. They said if I want stainless steel piping with American made components it'll be more. There's a 71 c10 on their site that has a 6.0 turbo and he said that setup cost about $6000.

[ivorton74]

@tiny thanks again for the link...its a pretty good site. I just joined it

[ivorton74]

Im leaning towards getting a borg warner turbo but which one should i go with? Will a s475 or s480 76mm turbo be good for a stock street 5.3 or are they too big?

[BR3W CITY]

I've seen the s475 a bunch of times on LS's. Realistically you won't see "max" boost on either turbo with that small of a motor, but that doesn't mean they don't work.

the 475 would be making over 450 at ~12-15psi, with a sh!t ton of room to grow. Seen them pushed 20ish psi making near 600. The s400's are physically large tho, just keep it in mind when deciding where to put it.

[ivorton74]

What size piping is good for the hotside, cross-over, downpipe and intercooler? My buddy is going to be building the kit using mild steel and he already has the truck manifolds.

[tinydb84]

Read here: http://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-ind...over-pipe.html

[ivorton74]

Thanks man...that was a great thread. I'll probably go with 2.25'' piping. I saw some good intercooler kits on cxracing's ebay store so I'll probably go with one of those.

[BR3W CITY]

Originally Posted by ivorton74

What size piping is good for the hotside, cross-over, downpipe and intercooler? My buddy is going to be building the kit using mild steel and he already has the truck manifolds.

Its really worth considering trying to go with Alum tubing for the cold-side/charge pipe stuff if you can (really stainless would be nice on the hot side too). Most of the welding needs to happen on the hotside, so for the sake of budget and welding I understand staying mild steel; but for the rest, going to alum (or stainless) offers some real benefits.

Most of the charge piping can be bought in bend kids and fastened with silicon couplers or strap bands (even v bands), so you can avoid having access to a TIG if you don't. Alum and SS allow for a thinner wall on the same size tube, while retaining the strength that you'd need in that situation. This means a cut in weight over the total length of the piping, and a physically smaller footprint..as a start.

Lets say you have 10ft of tubing on your cold side/charge pipe/intercooler etc.

For steel Formula: Wt/Ft = (*OD - *WT) x *WT x 10.69

• which means over our assumed 10ft of pipe; IF you used .049 (exhaust tube) it would weigh about 12lbs. However, using exhaust pipe on turbo systems (even the inlet side) is something I consider sub-par.
• If you stepped up slightly to .065 wall steel, it becomes a little closer to 15lbs.
• If you started to move up to sch5 (.083, something you might source from construction or hvac supply), its around 24lbs.
• If you went all the way to sch40 (like you might see on home built hot sides), its jumps to nearly 57lbs.

Now if I compare that to aluminum;

..i got lazy but,, for the same diameter, its only about .5lb /ft, cutting the calculated weight to only 5 lbs.

Stainless on the hot side allows for thinner wall thickness for weight savings as well, but I won't start doing those numbers unless your interested.

[ivorton74]

Man BREW...you really know ur stuff man. Thats why when i start a thread i always look forward to ur posts. I would go with stainless steel but my buddy said he doesn't know how to weld that so thats why im going with mild steel. Aren't those ebay intercooler piping made out of aluminum or are they cheapo materials?

[BR3W CITY]

I've used the ebay GodSpeed units before, and they were actually pretty nicely made aluminum. There are a few floating around made from galvanized, but I see less and less of those.

[tinsoldier]

Stick with aluminum for intercooler tubings. Buy couple of U bends and start cutting and connect with silicon couplers. You want aluminum for the heat dissipations. Using mild steels or especially stainless steel will soak in heat.

As for the sizes of the intercooler pipings. Don't order the sizes until you have the intercooler and turbo in your hands. Because the inlet and outlet of the intercooler will dictate the sizes of the pipes. Majority of the times, they are 2.5 but sometimes 2 or 3 inches depending on how large the intercooler is. Then also the sizes of the compressor housing of the turbo will come into play.

For the turbo manifolds. Some people will use mild steels to help keep the costs down but those will crack in about 6-8 months. Or those Ebay stainless manifold from China, they will crack just as fast too. If you want the best, some company uses schedule 40 stainless.
http://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Dingo-Motorsports-Turb...

Here is one I really like and will probably use when I am done with my LS swap. But you have to be fluent in turbo for this manifold.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271697172489...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[ivorton74]

Oh yeah... I actually have that manifold on my watch list on ebay and justchevytrucks had a video on youtube about it. It looks like its a pretty decent manifold. The dirty dingo looks good too. I don't really have any other choice but to use the mild steel. I guess i'll be taking a chance with that.
I'll get the aluminum intercooler...cxracing has a complete kit...intercooler, piping, couplers and even a bov with the flange. I'll have to make sure and check the space behind the grille so I don't get an intercooler that's too big.

[BR3W CITY]

Not all BOV's use the same flange, and you'll also need a wastegate flange if your making the hotside yourself, which will need to be welded in.

Mild steel can sag and weaken after seeing 1400+ temps from the heat, but the reality is it'll probably take 3-4years at least to get cycled enough for that to really happen (assuming its not a daily ). By then, you'll have saved up enough to have one of us fancy-weldin folks to make you a stainless one

[ivorton74]

Originally Posted by BR3W CITY

Not all BOV's use the same flange, and you'll also need a wastegate flange if your making the hotside yourself, which will need to be welded in.

Mild steel can sag and weaken after seeing 1400+ temps from the heat, but the reality is it'll probably take 3-4years at least to get cycled enough for that to really happen (assuming its not a daily ). By then, you'll have saved up enough to have one of us fancy-weldin folks to make you a stainless one

Oh yeah I can't forget about that wastegate flange. Still trying to decide what size wastegate to go with too. The truck is a daily driver...well kinda... I will be driving it quite a bit. I have my BMW and my wife's Maxima too. Probably wont drive it too much in the winter time though. South Dakota winters are freakin terrible. I might hit boost and slide straight into a ditch lol. Maybe after a while i'll find someone who can do a ss kit for me but the mild kit will have to do for now.

[BR3W CITY]

DEcide on the turbo, and I'll help you pick a wastegate. Too large of a WG can make it tough to control at low boost levels (this is also partially determined by how the overall amount of exhaust pressure we have to work with, a function of both the displacement, piping and turbo selection). Too small of a wastegate will increase the chance of creeping and spiking.

Essentially, you want the smallest gate possible that still eliminates creep. This is why some will choose to go with twin-smaller WG's in place of a massive dump. Its easier for the smaller diameter valves/springs to have "crisp" control over the boost levels.

As with all things turbo, its 50% thermodynamics, and 50% putting-the-lime-in-the-coconut and guesswork.

Most likely your looking at a 38-45mm gates. The 50+'s are probably going to be way excessive for your overall pressures and boost levels.

[ivorton74]

Ohhhhh....I was wondering why the motor in that pic I posted above has 2 wastegates. I'll be sure to let you know when I pick a turbo. I need all the help I can get. Which brings me to another question...how do u run the oil feed line to the turbo and the drain back? How does the oil get up to the turbo and where on the pan does the drain back go? I'm currently running the truck pan but I may have to go with an f-body pan because the truck is lowered. I also am trying to decide where the cross-over pipe will go. I really don't want to run it in front of the engine but the truck is so low i'll probably scrape the pipe a lot if I run it underneath the pan.

[tinydb84]

The reason the truck in the picture has two waste gates is because it has a divided flange with two charge pipes.

The feed line is usually run off the side of the block above the oil filter (I am guessing you tapped that for your oil pressure gauge). The drain back is usually ran to the pan or timing cover. It needs be entering above the oil line and the feedback line itself needs to be ran relatively straight down (unless you want to run a scavenging pump).

I was sent to a training one time for finance/non-profit business models/executive management and one thing they kept saying was "Perfect is the enemy of good." I am all for everything being perfect in a set up (and I have redone a lot of stuff that I didn't like the first time) but don't get so caught up in the details that it stops you or makes you spend 5k in parts. Case in point: http://www.sloppymechanics.com/ He/they do a lot of stuff I wouldn't but it there is tons of information and real world testing. Be sure to read the wiki page and you will learn way more than trying to piece together info from various threads.

[BR3W CITY]

I gotta agree with Tiny On the issue of project creep. A 2500$ turbo setup doesn't need to become a $5k setup, as long as you know what compromises you can/want to make.

Chinese turbo vs BB brand name turbo, steel vs more expensive materials, vbands vs flanges. You can make concessions in certain areas, as long as your cool with the give-take of it all. The old trifecta of Power-Cost-Reliable..You get 2.

[ivorton74]

I agree with that too. I want to do this project for as little money as I can. If I get a good Chinese turbo that's as good as a name brand turbo I'll go with that. I looked at sloppy's wiki and youtube videos and he's pretty good and he's not making a big deal about anything. It's my first turbo build so i'm just trying to find out how do everything before I end up messing something up. Im good at messing stuff up lol. But if I could do this build for under $3k ill be a happy camper.

[Five O]

Just take your time and test fit everything before you weld it up. Masking tape helps hold the pieces while you study on it.
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[ivorton74]

@five-o...what kinda steel u using for ur piping?

[Five O]

2.5" Mild steel
http://www.mandrel-bends.com/catalog...te-bk-868.html

2 or 2.25 would've worked fine. Probably would've been easier too. I had a little left over but not much. $157 shipped I think

[ivorton74]

what turbo and intercooler u running? I like ur setup