Ok first off MODs I hope this is ok to link this.

This is a few months old but the info is pretty good, not perfect but about as non-biased as you can get and about as good as you can get testing a bunch of products.

One of the biggest decisions (I think the biggest by far) is turbo upgrade and size. All these Forums have one major question and its what turbo is right for ME. Well that is about as loaded a question as you can get, and so many get it WRONG the first time or like me the first few times.

Next we get into the box Borg Warner version vs the pricey custom built with pixy dust charger. I'm not going to get into this too much, but I will state do your research and make your own decision.
I think their are companies out there that take a lot of our money, do very little but rebrand a box BW charger and sell it off as custom.
I think their are a lot of guys that are die hard Box BW fans, but they seem to change chargers a lot.
I think their are some honest questions that need to be asked when looking at Billet wheels vs Cast or FMW, and more money does not make it better, and. Billet is not always better.
I think some wheels should be heavily researched and possibly steered clear of (Batmo is all I will say, do your own research).

Finally no matter what you decide, research the companies customer service and the way they handle things when something does go wrong. No matter who's it is, mechanical parts will fail especially when they are parts that spin at 10s of thousands of RPM. When something fails are they going to tell you its installer error, contaminated oil , not enough oil pressure, etc.

Anyway here is a great basic comparison, enjoy.

http://www.dieselpowermag.com/tech/1...r/viewall.html

 

The last thing to consider is Journal Bearing vs Ball Bearing. The only advice I have is the cost gap is closing and its worth it to call a vendor or two about a similar BB variant.

Good luck fellas, hope this helps.

 

Thanks for posting that up Rye. I read that article when it first came out and it is very helpful for most of us who are overwhelmed with all of the choices out there. We have a very honest turbo builder here in town and he wants to know every detail about the truck.....where it is now power wise.....and where you're going in the future with it......then he proceeds to help you with the right blend of parts for the charger. That says a lot about him in my book, especially when so many people think that bigger is always better, and how easily he could sell them what they don't need and make money hand over fist.

 

Interesting read.

 

Thanks Rye, You're quite the well of information!

This is good info for newbies into the diesel perfomance world such as myself.

Funny you were to mention the Batmo. I was leaning heavily towards it after reading all of the praises when it first hit the market, and then changed my mind after digging in a little further a few days ago.

 

I really like my Garrett BB single and ordered a twin setup with another BB turbo for primary. Soulezoo is pretty much the authority on BB twins lots of good info to research.

 

Thank you for putting that up!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Long story short, your last paragraph is spot on. Speaking from current experience :

 

Love the article.

Also love how the companies largely rebutted the results by "well if you wanted **** we have other turbos that we would have steered you to". So that was why the mag called them the day before and asked them for the recommendation. Love it.

 

Is it just me or is that article useless in finding a good turbo?

The silver 62 can't spool on the dyno at 1700 rpm and its the best towing turbo? That would never fly on my ride and my trailer would be black on the right side.

For a daily driver and solely based on the data there, I choose the stock HE351......

 

Don't think its useless at all. Its hard to find any data on aftermarket parts and even more so a side by side. While it's not perfect it gives a lot of info to compare. Knowledge is power.

I wouldn't have posted it if I found it useless, I challenge anyone to find me better, NON BIASED info.

 

^^^ I have to agree. I have not seen a better side by side demonstration. The mag also has to be careful as 3 of those turbos are from 3 of their biggest advertisors. (ATS, BD, II)

As Rye says knowledge is power and allows one to also see the evidence of cause and effect of bigger compressor wheels and bigger turbines and exhaust housings. There is no one size fits all solution in turbos and the test graphically illustrates that.

Ball Bearing turbos were not selected for the test> and while it disappoints me to a degree, I think I understand why.

While I like the BB turbos, I'll be the first to say they aren't for everyone. In the same regard a Silver Bullet isn't for everyone.

However, then it would not be an apples to apples comparison. Right off, ease of installation would be the lowest ranked.

Next, something not well understood amongst most folks is that for the same air provided by a BW turbo, you have to have a little bigger compressor on the Garretts. Also, surge can become an issue as they spin so easily. This is compensated through the use of larger turbines and housings... not necessarily a bad thing as the advatages of such show up on the silver 62. But because they spool so easily, under the same conditions, one would find the BB turbo spooling as early as the HE351 and airing it out like the silver 62 (provided careful selection of the turbo-- this is not meant as a blanket statement of fact). This is the main advantage of the Garretts.

The guys here running the gt3782r (I see two in this thread already) can speak to the early spool of their turbo first hand. While that turbo is nearly as responsive as the stock turbo, it doesn't supply the air of the silver 62 or the ED 63 or BD. It will do better than the Aurora 3000 or the Fleece though. The 3788r will do all the above, but tends to suffer from the aforementioned surge problem.

 

It is the only comparison I have ever seen. Period. It was a solid test. Yes, some things can be done to the laggier chargers to help with spool up, but for the beginner it was a solid test. On the forums you get so much misinformation about chargers, it is not even funny. One persons laggy is more than likely not the next persons.

I wish Garrett made a single charger that would compare to a ED 63/68/14 with better spool up. It would be between the GT3788 and GT4094.

 

I guess I was a little harsh when I said useless....It was good to a side by side comparison....even if the data was incomplete.

For my daily driver that tows at 30K...."Can't spool, can't stay"! If the EGT's get too warm at high elevations, can't tow at that HP level....must detune a little.

Nothing worse than trying not to loose your spool from just a quick gear change, not being able to recover while blacking out traffic behind you, and staining a nice white 5er on every trip. 100 deg at 5,000ft? I'm was screwed before I found BB Garretts!

If it can't spool at 1,700, it's NOT a towing turbo!

 

I tow this like a champ, no issues. 18,000 GCVW empty.

 

Nice rig there Spooler!