turbo cat
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
- Messages
- 629
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 0
- Location
- city of rain wa
- Vehicle Year
- 91
- Make / Model
- exploder
- Engine Size
- 4.0ohv turbocharged
- Transmission
- Manual
4.0ohv turbo build (soon to be twin turbo)
I never had a full thread about my 4.0 turbo setup and a few people have asked about it. My setup is far from perfect ( I dont even have a wideband on it) however I figured I would share my experience with turbocharging the 4.0ohv on a budget. Maybe this will help anyone who is wanting to slap a turbo on the 4.0 but dosent know where to start.
First off when I bought the truck it had a blown HG and I was traveling up a hill when it lost coolant and started to severly detonate "the death rattle". the rattle blew the head gaskets in multiple places, smashed and cracked valves, and smashed the middle cylinders CC sideways into the head. This is when i first learned first hand how strong the bottom end in the 4.0 ohv really is. The bottom end after that abuse was 100% intact and reusable.
However instead of replacing the heads I just dumped in another used tested motor from the yard for 300$. I have turbocharged other motors before and wanting more power from the 4.0 i decided to do so. I had pipe, a 30$ bov, oil lines and couplers just laying around, as well as the tools and welders to get the job done. Iwent to the wrecking yard and pulled a T3 turbo off of a 2.2L turbo dodge for 20$ plus the down pipe.
I had already tested flipped manifolds when the motor was out. So i dug in and first flipped the driver side manifold. It bolts up wit hno mods. there is a small lip that can cause resistance due to flipping the C shaped ports however it was so small i havent bothered with that yet. Sometime in the future I will port match the tiny lip that is sticking out in the path. Since this was my DD I built a temporary exhaust for the driver manifold that dumped up front with a muffler that was laying around.
The next chance i got to tear in was the weekend following. I spent one 3 day weekend getting the kit done.
i used the cherry picked to hold the turbo in palce while I tacked it where I wanted it. I carve the flange out of flat stock that was laying around.
I took a hammer to the 2" pipe to slide it into the flange and weld
Then built a down pipe that originally had a magnaflow on it.
The splash shield had to be trimed for clearance and the overflow was deleted, along with the battery being moved 90* and flipepd the p side manifold
the hotside was ran in front of the radiator and then tied in right before the flange and then i built a cold side from the compressor outlet to the TB
I placed a T where the oil pressure sender is and ran an oil line to the turbo that was made up with crimped fittings by a hydraulic store that cost about 10$. The setup made 5 psi. Was fun to drive. I ditched the magnaflow and noticed and also noticed how lean the setup was running so I placed in a pair of different 19lb injectors and off i went.
after turning the bosot up to 17 psi i blew the HG at the back of cylinder 6 and started to leak water in. After fixing the HG I have turned the boost down to 5 psi and swapped in 21lb injectors and the truck is much more responsive now.
The future plans are -wideband 02-possibly megasquirt-fuel system upgrades-compact coolant overflow-run a line from the rear washer fluid up front to a pump I have-extend the exhaust down the X
I never had a full thread about my 4.0 turbo setup and a few people have asked about it. My setup is far from perfect ( I dont even have a wideband on it) however I figured I would share my experience with turbocharging the 4.0ohv on a budget. Maybe this will help anyone who is wanting to slap a turbo on the 4.0 but dosent know where to start.
First off when I bought the truck it had a blown HG and I was traveling up a hill when it lost coolant and started to severly detonate "the death rattle". the rattle blew the head gaskets in multiple places, smashed and cracked valves, and smashed the middle cylinders CC sideways into the head. This is when i first learned first hand how strong the bottom end in the 4.0 ohv really is. The bottom end after that abuse was 100% intact and reusable.
However instead of replacing the heads I just dumped in another used tested motor from the yard for 300$. I have turbocharged other motors before and wanting more power from the 4.0 i decided to do so. I had pipe, a 30$ bov, oil lines and couplers just laying around, as well as the tools and welders to get the job done. Iwent to the wrecking yard and pulled a T3 turbo off of a 2.2L turbo dodge for 20$ plus the down pipe.
I had already tested flipped manifolds when the motor was out. So i dug in and first flipped the driver side manifold. It bolts up wit hno mods. there is a small lip that can cause resistance due to flipping the C shaped ports however it was so small i havent bothered with that yet. Sometime in the future I will port match the tiny lip that is sticking out in the path. Since this was my DD I built a temporary exhaust for the driver manifold that dumped up front with a muffler that was laying around.
The next chance i got to tear in was the weekend following. I spent one 3 day weekend getting the kit done.
i used the cherry picked to hold the turbo in palce while I tacked it where I wanted it. I carve the flange out of flat stock that was laying around.
I took a hammer to the 2" pipe to slide it into the flange and weld
Then built a down pipe that originally had a magnaflow on it.
The splash shield had to be trimed for clearance and the overflow was deleted, along with the battery being moved 90* and flipepd the p side manifold
the hotside was ran in front of the radiator and then tied in right before the flange and then i built a cold side from the compressor outlet to the TB
I placed a T where the oil pressure sender is and ran an oil line to the turbo that was made up with crimped fittings by a hydraulic store that cost about 10$. The setup made 5 psi. Was fun to drive. I ditched the magnaflow and noticed and also noticed how lean the setup was running so I placed in a pair of different 19lb injectors and off i went.
after turning the bosot up to 17 psi i blew the HG at the back of cylinder 6 and started to leak water in. After fixing the HG I have turned the boost down to 5 psi and swapped in 21lb injectors and the truck is much more responsive now.
The future plans are -wideband 02-possibly megasquirt-fuel system upgrades-compact coolant overflow-run a line from the rear washer fluid up front to a pump I have-extend the exhaust down the X
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