Shannon Plott

I have a 91 w250 w250 non i/c with getrag 5 speed and 3.54 gearing. My exhaust manifold is cracked and i am going to replace soon. Is the bd stainless a good option or is there a better option? I was considering changing my turbo at the same time since this truck has the baby h1c and is a little laggy. Which turbo is the best replacment in terms of a bolt on install? I have a 4" exhaust but the rest of the truck is bone stock. Ive been reading that the hx35 is a good choice but want to confirm it is before wasting any money. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Shannon

NJTman

First thing to do is install gauges.

Pyro
Boost
Fuel pressure

You need some way of witnessing what is occurring with your changes you (safely) make.

Install the 3200 (aka) the 366 spring in the pump.

You need to decide what and how "much" you want power, as you can improve it in so many ways, and to such a great extent, its easy to get out of control throwing parts at it.

Depending on the condition of your existing turbo, you have the option of improving the existing one as well, by changing the exh housing to a smaller size from the 18.5 cm unit, and even adding a,bigger turbine and housing. If you don't put gauges on there, minimum pyro, you potentially can burn things up rather quickly.

Most importantly.....have fun doing it

1STGENFARMBOY

Wasting money is what it is all about.

a bone stock truck is a very fine truck, so you could say anything you do is a waste of money.

however, "wasting money on more power is fun"

so the question is, how much fun do you want to have.


Dar

Shannon Plott

I am thinking that a better or little bigger turbo would help wake this truck up. When I'm towing a small camper or trailer it's easy to get stuck in 3rd gear in the mountains because the turbo spool up is so slow to pick up when shifting to 4th. I have the gov spring and fuel pin but haven't installed them yet. Would the baby h1c be good in a smaller housing like a 16cm? Can the tubine wheel be upgraded on the baby h1c's as well? Not looking for crazy stupid power just want to wake it up. Gauges are coming

Foxmxrcer

I have a 90 w250 5spd truck. I put on an hx35 with a 57mm cold side and 14cm wastegated hot side. I have not messed with my fuel screw. The truck spools a lot quicker and is easier/more fun to drive. I pull about 10-12k loaded trailer with ease, egt's stay under 1200 on steep grades. I also have a 3200rpm gov spring. I tried the hungry diesel fuel pin, but I hated it... It would take extremely to long to spool up, but once it did... Man it pulled hard. If you have the same pin, let me know how it works for you!

Other mods, 4"exhaust, bhaf, 3"crossover pipe, fuel pin rotated (not to the deepest section, probably 10 or 15*from it though), shaved the top of my AFC cover too show less fuel at idle. And maybe a few other small things.

NJTman

I upgraded the wheel and housing, and replaced the 18.5cm to a 16 cm unit. I never see super hot numbers on my pyro, hence the reason you need gauges. Some use a 14 cm housing, but you really need to be aware of your temps when on the throttle, as the smaller ext housing will spool super fast, but tho 's get hot quicker

The 366 Spring will make you say...."whoa! That was cool!". It was a game changer on my ride. The stock turbo, with the bigger wheel, and housing and 16cm ext housing finished it for me. I'm happy here, and no further power mods for now.

Midnite

That's exactly what I did with my 92 truck--I replaced the huge 21cm housing it had with a smaller 16, and it made a world of difference with throttle response. At the same time I advanced the injection pump timing about 1/8". The combination of the two was awesome and improved my mileage and EGT too.

Another option would be one of the smaller wastegated housings. The 12cm would probably be the cheapest since you could get one from a stock HX-35 from a 2nd gen truck.

For the exhaust manifold, there's no reason to go stainless unless you just wanted to for some reason. I'm not sure that there are any performance or EGT wins to be had with any of the aftermarket manifolds. They're definitely stronger and stand up to more abuse (higher EGTs) better than stock. But if you don't ever plan on exceeding 1200 deg. EGT, then honestly if it were me I'd just replace the cracked manifold with a stock one.

Shannon Plott

NJTman where did you get your wheel and housing if I may ask?
Midnite...same question on the housing. I do not have to go stainless I saw it and thought it was cool but not mandatory.
Do I need to look up h1c compressor wheel or search by baby h1c or ? Thanks for all the replies.

bigragu

I’ve had my 3 piece exhaust manifold for years, with no problems. I did purchase it from htturbo.com(High Tech Turbo) because at the time it was said that their 3 piece came put together, while others offering that same manifold shipped it in the 3 pieces, leaving you to put it together.

What cracks me up was back then that was the cats meoww when it came to a manifold upgrade. The ability to expand and contract with the temps would guarantee against cracked mount flanges that the factory ones were prone to.

Now, the makers of these stainless solid, one piece manifolds, all state in their marketing descriptions that the 3 piece manifolds were prone to leaking. I’ve never had that problem.

Those stainless BD ones sure are pretty, and cost a pretty penny, too.

MrFusion

I have the same pin but haven't installed it yet. I'll keep you posted.

Foxmxrcer

Thanks man, that'd be helpful. It seems everyone with an automatic truck likes it... But I can't find many people with a 5 speed that mention anything...

1972RedNeck

If you think moving to a 16 CM was something, you ought to try going to an HX35 or HE351CW.

Personally, I think you should find an HE351CW off of an '04.5 - '07 Dodge pickup. These spool like lightening and cool great. Best bang for your buck BAR NONE.

Different housings on your turbo will make slight improvements, but you will have WAY more money tied up in "upgrading" your turbo and it will always be inferior to an HE351CW.

As for the manifolds, if you want to go aftermarket, the AFE Blade Runner supposedly flows the best. Dad bought one and saw a 35° to 40° drop in EGT's.

If you're going to drop ANY money on a turbo, go straight to an HE351CW (unless you pick up a good HX35W for basically free). Money spent on anything less is pretty much a waste.

NJTman

This is what I purchase from Gillette
Upgrade Compressor Housing & Wheel combo (60mm inducer) for 1991.5-1994 Turbochargers

I bought a 16cm yeah housing off sleezebay

Shannon Plott

Thanks everyone for the replies. I really appreciate all the responses. I will look around and see if I can find anything local first but I like the Gillette package pretty well.

Shannon Plott

Another question...how much of an upgradr would a wh1c be? Can someone explain how a wastegate turbo is different than a non-wastegate? I'm new to the whole turbo world if you can't tell lol..