The turbocharger, or a just simply the turbo, has been around now for more than a century.

It was
invented by Swiss engineer named Alfred Buchi in 1905 and was first used on the diesel engines of
ships and locomotives from the 1920s. It was used on the engines of production airplanes from the 1930s
and on truck engines from the late 1940s. But it only found its way onto the car engine of a production
vehicle in 1962 when it was used on the Oldsmobile Cutlass Jetfire.

As a forced induction system, a turbo is nothing more than an air pump that is driven by the exhaust
gasses of a car engine. It consists of a compressor-wheel and a turbine-wheel that are connected by a
common shaft. The compressor increases the density of the air that enters the intake manifold by forcing
more air into the intake manifold than what the car would normally ingest. This higher intake air density
contains more air molecules and produces more power when combined with the correct amount of fuel.
This is similar to the way NOS allows more fuel to be burned by providing extra Oxygen as explained by
Ian. The major difference between NOS and a turbo is that the turbo provides a constant supply of extra
Oxygen to the car engine while NOS only provides a limited supply.

You've got three options when it comes to turbocharging a car:

• You can simply buy an OEM turbocharged car such as a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, a Nissan
GT-R, a Nissan 300ZX, a Nissan Silvia spec-R, a Toyota Supra, etc.
• You can buy an aftermarket turbo kit for your car engine. Here there are many options to
choose from. There are Garrett turbo kits, STS turbo kits, Turbonetics turbo kits, and so much
more.
• You can also build your own turbo system, which could be the best approach to car engine
turbocharging as it gives you the option to build a system that meets your performance
requirements and your objectives.

A complete turbo kit consists of the turbocharger as well as the necessary parts required to bolt the
turbocharger onto the car engine. This includes an exhaust manifold, intake runners (plumbing to connect
the turbo to the intake manifold), and can include an intercooler as well as cooling and lubrication feed
lines for the turbo. When building your own turbo system, selecting the perfect turbo for a particular
application can be a real challenge as no one turbo is best suited to all applications.

There are a number of things you need to consider when selecting a turbo. These include:

• The capacity of your engine.

• The number of valves.
• At what RPM to you want the turbo to come in.
• The type of fuel you plan on using.
• The turbo boost you plan on running.
• The amount of horsepower you want.

In this custom-car.us turbo guide, we'll thoroughly explain the mechanics of turbochargers and turbo
systems and show you how to design and install your own turbo system. As always, the DIY route is not
for everyone and if you'd rather install a turbo kit, we cover that too! For now, we'll start with the
turbocharger basics ...

Approximately a ⅓ of the energy produced by an internal combustion engine is lost as thermal energy
that is fed out the exhaust manifold. It is this energy that is used to drive a turbocharger. When the
exhaust gases are forced through the turbine-wheel, the turbine-wheel becomes a reduced-flow area in
the exhaust system and causes some back pressure, which causes some loss in engine power. Of
course, back pressure increases as the size of the turbo decreases and inversely, back pressure
decreases as the size of the turbo increases. So a larger turbo causes a smaller loss in power, but it also
requires more air-flow, and hence more RPM, to spin up or spool up and produce boost pressure (i.e.
above-atmospheric pressure). This is referred to as turbo lag. So a larger turbo produces less back
pressure but has more turbo lag while a smaller turbo produces more back pressure but has less turbo
lag. So what is better? The answer to that depends on what you're looking for — low-end torque, top-end
power, or a bit of both.

A Garret Turbocharger
TURBO LAG

Later on in the series we'll look at turbo sizes, but for now, let's get back to turbo lag. Turbo lag is defined
as the time between the point when you hit the accelerator and the point at which the turbo produces
enough boost to create boost pressure. This may sound like a bad thing but what would happen if you
didn't have a turbo? You'd get no boost! So it's either no turbo lag or no boost. A simple choice, I think,
especially when you consider that the loss of power due to back pressure caused by the turbine-wheel is
hardly noticeable. Provided you haven't done something silly like lower your compression ratio! In years
gone by car manufacturers built production turbo motors with low compression ratios to counter the
thermodynamic effect of compressing air. Any time air is compressed, the temperature of the air
increases. This affects the internal combustion temperatures in the engine. But when a suitable
intercooler is used to cool the intake air, normal compression ratios can be used. With normal
compression ratios, you're still getting close to normal aspirated performance until you get boost and then
you're flying with an up to 50% increase in bhp, depending on the boost you're running! But let's not get
too excited just yet, we'll go back turbo boost first.

BOOST PRESSURE

We've said that turbo lag is the time between the point when you hit the accelerator and the point at which
the turbo produces enough boost to create above-atmospheric pressure in the intake manifold. The boost
level at which the turbo produces enough boost to create above-atmospheric pressure in the intake
manifold is called the boost threshold. This is the point at which the exhaust gas flow over the turbine is
high enough to overcome inertia and spin the turbine-wheel fast enough so that the compressor-wheel
can begin creating boost pressure. From that point on boost will increase but it is important to remember
that the quality of the fuel you run and the temperature of the air pumped into the intake manifold will
influence the amount of boost you can run. With normal pump fuel, a stock engine and an intercooler, you
can safely run at 7-12 psi boost. A wastegate regulates the boost pressure by allowing exhaust gases to
pass around the turbine-wheel so as to limit the exhaust gas flow that drives the turbine-wheel.

But more about wastegates at a later stage; here's something to ponder on for now: A properly installed
and tuned turbo operating at 10 psi can reduce the 0-60 mph time by a third, despite turbo lag! Yes, you
read right a 10 second car will do 6.66 seconds if the turbo is done right!

There are a number of factors, such as turbo lag, boost threshold, heat, back-pressure, low-end
torque, and top-end power, that you must take into account when selecting a turbo. A large turbo will
suffer from turbo lag and won't produce much low-end torque but it also won't put too much heat to the
intake charge, won't have much back-pressure, and will produce loads of top-end power. A small turbo,
on the other hand, won't have much turbo lag and will produce loads of low-end torque but will also have
lots of back-pressure and will add lots of heat to the intake charge. You can't have the best of both worlds
but you can select the best turbo to suit your needs.

Deciding which turbocharger best suits your needs in a bit complicated. You need to know what your
objectives are — street car, a purpose built ¼ miler, a race car, or a rally sprint car. Once you know what
you want, you should have a better idea of at what rev range you want your power band to be. Once you
know that, then it becomes easier as you can select a compressor-wheel to match your rev range.

SELECTING THE COMPRESSOR WHEEL

The compressor-wheel is most efficient at a particular boost pressure or pressure ratio (PR) and air flow
(cfm). At this point the turbo will put the least amount of heat into the intake charge; anywhere else,
including at lower boost pressures or revs, it will put more heat into the intake charge. The idea id that the
point of efficiency should coincide with your most useful rev range. So it's a matter of determining the
bore diameter of the compressor wheel that is most efficient at your most useful rev range; and by most
efficient, I mean at least 60% efficient. Each compressor-wheel has a compressor map that maps
efficiency at various pressure ratios and air flow rates but you need to calculate the air flow rate for your
engine. You can use the following formula to calculate the air flow rate:

PR × CC × ½RPM × VE

In this formula, PR is the Pressure Ratio. This is the absolute pressure produced by the turbo divided by
atmospheric pressure. Atmospheric pressure is 14.7 psi at sea level. If you're running 7 psi of boost, your
absolute boost pressure is 21,7 psi (7 psi + atmospheric pressure). This will give you a PR of 1,47 (21,7 ÷
14,7), which means that approximately 47% more air/fuel mixture is being forced into each cylinder.

We halve the RPM because a four stroke internal combustion engine requires two revolutions to
complete one power cycle

CC is engine capacity but in cubic feet and not in cubic inches. Why cubic feet? Because cfm is cubic
feet per minute. You can convert engine capacity to cubic feet by dividing cubic inches by 1728.

VE is volumetric efficiency. This is the total amount of air/fuel mixture that each cylinder ingests during
the intake stroke and is expressed as a percentage of the actual volume of the cylinder. You can calculate
the VE as follows:

2 × mass airflow rate

air density × swept volume × RPM

Yes, I know, it's getting a bit complicated! Fortunately we can use a rule of thumb that states that modern
engines have a VE of 80-90% while older engines like the Datsun L-series engine have a VE of 60-70%!

SELECTING THE TURBINE WHEEL

The turbine-wheel uses exhaust gas energy to spin the compressor-wheel fast enough to produce the
required air flow rates at the desired boost pressure. A larger turbine-wheel will produce more power to
spin the compressor-wheel at the required air flow rates, although s smaller turbine-wheel will spin faster.
A smaller turbine-wheel will also offer greater restriction to the exhaust gas flow, causing back pressure
between the turbine-wheel and the combustion chamber. So the basic size of the turbine wheel will be
determined by the air flow required from the compressor-wheel. The important element here is the
extruder bore size, i.e., the inner diameter of the turbine outlet. An extruder bore with a 2 inch diameter
will be sufficient for a compressor-wheel air flow of 250 cfm to 400 cfm; an extruder bore with a 2½ inch
diameter will be sufficient for a compressor-wheel air flow of 400 cfm to 500 cfm; an extruder bore with a
2¾ inch diameter will be sufficient for a compressor-wheel air flow of 500 cfm to 600 cfm; an extruder
bore with a 2⅞ inch diameter will be sufficient for a compressor-wheel air flow of 600 cfm to 800 cfm;
and an extruder bore with a 3 inch diameter will be sufficient for a compressor-wheel air flow of over 700
cfm.

CONSIDERING THE A/R RATIO

The A/R ratio is another important consideration in choosing the turbine-wheel. The A/R ratio is the ratio
between the cross-sectional area (A) of the turbine scroll at any one point and the distance or radius
(R) from that point to the center of the turbine-wheel. This ratio is always constant so each point along
the turbine scroll will have the same A/R ratio. A turbo with a smaller A/R ratio will tend to create more
torque while a turbo with a larger A/R ratio will provide more power because more exhaust gas energy will
be acting on the turbine-wheel. Generally, an A/R ratio of 0.7 will provide better low-end response, while
an A/R ratio of 1.4 will provide more top-end power.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Other important factors that you should take into account when selecting the turbo include cooling and the
location of the wastegate. As I've mentioned in our turbo lubrication section, a turbo with a water cooled
bearing section will have a longer lifespan and will be more reliable because it solves a few major
lubrication issues. We discuss wastegates in our turbo boost control section but the short of it all is that a
turbo with a remote wastegate produces more power, but a turbo with an integrated wastegate is much
cheaper.

Lubricating the shaft inside the turbo is not too difficult and most turbo manufactures provide adequate oil
feeds to the shaft's bearing housing. However, the extremely high temperatures that the turbine creates
will cause the oil in the bearing housing to disintegrate and loose its viscosity and lubricating qualities and
will cause coking in the turbo bearing housing. Coking will impede the flow of oil to the bearing and will
exacerbate the problem. Four things contribute to coking:

• High temperatures in the turbo's bearing housing

• Using engine oil that is not capable of operating in high temperatures
• Using engine oil that has a wide multi-viscosity range — the additives used to achieve multi-
viscosity are the material that causes coking
• Not changing the engine oil frequently enough

There are two simple solutions to this problem:

• Change the engine oil more frequently

• Get a turbo with a water jacket around the bearing housing. It might be a good idea to look out
for a turbo with a water jacket around the bearing housing when selecting a turbo

The best engine oil you can use in your turbo engine is a synthetic, straight viscosity oil that is suitable
for the temperature range of both the climate in the area that you live, and the engine.

The important thing is to change the engine oil and oil filter regularly. Even if the turbo has a water jacket
around the bearing housing, you should still change the engine oil more frequently than on naturally
aspirated engines, and you need to do this diligently! Changing the engine oil every 2,000 miles should do
the trick.

You also need to ensure that the oil pressure to the turbo does not exceed 70 psi or else that oil will
push past the oil seals in the turbo and cause frequent, if not continuous, smoking. If your oil pump
produces more oil pressure than the turbo’s seals can handle, you should install a restrictor in the oil
feed line, or a bypass system to reduce the oil pressure to the turbo. A bypass system is more reliable
but in both cases you must ensure that the oil pressure to the turbo is adequate at idle and at full
operation.

The oil seals in the turbo do not operate properly if they are bathed in oil, therefore, you should ensure
that the oil return line to your oil sump is big enough to allow for proper drainage. The oil return line
should have an inner diameter of at least a ½ inch. The oil drain hole in the turbo should also be aligned
as near vertically downward as possible.

Best practice to ensure that your turbo lasts is to cruise at low RPM where no boost pressure is created
for the last 15 minutes of your journey to let the turbo cool down properly. Some people suggest that you
let the engine idle for 30 seconds before turning off the engine, or install a turbo timer to automate the
task, but the oil pressure at idle speeds is too low to provide sufficient lubrication. You need at least 1,500
RPM for enough oil pressure to ensure that the bearings and shaft receives sufficient lubrication while the
turbo cools down. It is for this reason that we do not recommend installing a turbo timer. You should also
change the engine oil every 2,000 miles, and use a high-quality, synthetic, straight viscosity oil.
These three simple things will ensure that you prolong the life of your turbo and that you never need worry
about coked up turbo bearing failure again.

Intercoolers reduce intake heat

Although it is not a performance part per se, an intercooler is nevertheless a fundamental part of a
turbocharger system. While there are two types of intercoolers on the market — air-to-air and air-to-water
intercoolers, only air-to-air intercoolers are practical on street and endurance type racing cars. Air-to-
water intercoolers work wonders on extremely short runs and are ideal for drag cars. You can think of an
as a radiator that cools the compressed air that compressor-wheel pumps into the intake manifold. This
compressed air is referred to as the intake charge.

Heat is a byproduct of the compression of air and whenever air is compressed, such as when
turbochargers and other forced induction systems are used, the air (intake charge) is heated. This is
called the thermodynamic effect of compressing air. On an internal combustion, air temperature is
important because it affects air density and because too much heat will result in pre-ignition, knocking and
detonation. The role of the intercooler is to reduce the temperature of the intake charge. Cooling the
intake charge provides two major benefits: it makes the intake charge denser — denser air produces
more power; and it inhibits detonation. However, the intercooler has one major disadvantage: it causes a
drop in boost pressure! This is inescapable; the best you can do is to minimize the pressure loss
caused by the intercooler.

There are a number of things you can do when designing your intercooling system to keep pressure loss
at a minimum. You can incorporate a plate-and-shell core rather than an extruder core as the plate-and-
shell core produces less flow resistance. The internal flow area of the core also affects pressure loss.
Selecting an intercooler with the correct internal flow area is important to keep pressure loss at a
minimum. Here I have found that a turbo system that produces a flow rate of 400 cfm requires an internal
flow area of approximately 20 sq in. You can use the following graph to estimate the required internal flow
area based on your turbo's flow rate.

Once you've estimated an idea of what internal flow area you require, you can determine the actual core
size that you require. This is a bit tricky. Typically, only about 45% of the intake charge will come into
contact with the heat exchange elements of the intercooler core. So we must first divide the required
internal flow area by 45% then divide the result by the core thickness. This gives us the following formula:

internal flow area ÷ 0.45

core thickness

While we're talking about core thickness, remember that the intake charge flows through the length of the
core and the cooling, ambient air flows through the thickness of the core but that every subsequent inch
of core thickness is 40% less effective as the air flowing through it heats up. Thus, a thinner core
intercooler with a larger fontal area is more efficient than a thicker intercooler with a smaller frontal area.

You can also improve the efficiency of your intercooler by fitting a duct to it. Without a duct,
approximately 25% of the air molecules will pass through the core; the rest will follow the path of least
resistance around the core. Any improvement here will greatly increase the efficiency of your intercooler.

If you're running high boost pressures on 91-93 octane gas and a fairly high compression ratio, you may
also want to supplement your intercooler with a water injection system.

On turbocharged cars water injection can also be used to cool the intake charge and reduce the
possibility of detonation, though some engine tuners to frown upon it. Nonetheless, water has a very high
specific heat capacity, which means it can absorb a lot of heat energy without a significant increase in
temperature. As a result, water injection systems have been around in one form or the other since 1936
and were used on a variety of aircraft engines during World War II. However, water injection is only
required if you're running high boost of more than 12 psi, and should be used in conjunction with a good
intercooler.

The water injection system basically consists of a storage tank, a water injector, which is similar to a
fuel injector, a high pressure pump, a pressure sensor connected to the intake manifold, and an intake
air temperature sensor. Calling it water injection is possibly inaccurate as it can wither be pure water,
preferably distilled water, or a mixture of water and methanol. Either way, atomized liquid is usually
injected into the intake system when the intake air temperature is exceeding a certain value and the
engine is on boost and is usually injected downstream of the intercooler.
HOW WATER INJECTION WORKS

Atomized water rather, that vaporized water is injected into the air intake system as water only boils at
212° F at sea level while temperature of the intake charge would be much lower, having already passed
through the intercooler. When water is injected into the air intake system it absorbs quite a bit a heat from
the intake charge. When the atomized water, together with the intake charge, enters the combustion
chamber, the high temperature of the combustion chamber causes the atomized water droplets to
vaporize. During the process of vaporization a large amount of heat energy is absorbed, resulting in
anther drop in intake charge temperature! Unfortunately, vaporized water also displaces a large volume
that would have been filled with air molecules, but the lowered temperature in the combustion chamber
more than makes up for this loss in volume. Indeed, the lowered temperature in the combustion chamber
allows us to run higher boost pressures and, consequently, allows us to make more power!

WATER AND METHANOL

Some engine tuners prefer to inject a mixture of water and methanol into the intake system. Usually 50%
methanol by weight is used. This provides the desired detonation suppression while also providing
maximum horsepower. Methanol is both hygroscopic, which means it absorbs water, and miscible,
which means it mixes well with water. It is also much more volatile than water, which means it vaporizes
much quicker. This vaporization further reduces the temperature of the intake charge, but it occurs before
the combustion chamber is reached. Once the combustion chamber is reached, the atomized water
droplets vaporize so temperatures are still reduced in the combustion chamber. But methanol is also a
fuel and thus provides extra horsepower as well.

DISADVANTAGES OF WATER INJECTION

There are some disadvantages to using a water injection system, some of which can be catastrophic!
Firstly, a failure in your water injection system would mean a complete lack of detonation suppression,
which could quickly lead to engine failure! To prevent such a scenario, you need a failsafe system that
will cut engine power when the intake charge temperature downstream from the water injector reaches a
certain threshold. Secondly, the minerals in tap water will quickly clog up the water injector and will result
in a failure to deliver the correct amount of water. For this reason you should use distilled water in your
water injection system. As with any other system, you need to ensure that only quality hoses and clamps
are used in order to ensure the reliability of you water injection system.

Finally, determining the correct amount of water that needs to be injected can be pretty tricky as you do
not want high boost pressure with too little detonation suppression! The safest way of reaching the correct
amount of water injection for a particular application is to start with a lower boost pressure and slowly
increase boost pressure. If detonation occurs, back off immediately and increase the water injection if a
greater boost pressure is required.

A turbocharger increases its airflow rate much faster than an internal combustion engine can adapt to the
increase in airflow. If left unchecked, the turbo will almost instantaneously produce extremely high boost
pressures with catastrophic results on the engine. To prevent this catastrophe, we need to regulate the
boost pressure that the turbo can produce so as to prevent overboosting. This is where the wastegate
comes in.

A wastegate is a mechanical device that controls boost pressure by regulating the exhaust gas energy
that flows around the turbine-wheel by bleeding off excess exhaust gas energy. In so doing the wastegate
controls the speed at which the turbine-wheel can spins. The turbine-wheel drives the compressor-wheel,
which in turn produces boost pressure. The wastegate is held shut by a spring. As boost builds, the
wastegate actuator diaphragm pushes the wastegate open against the spring. The size of the diaphragm
and strength of the spring determine how much boost is required to open the wastegate.
There are two types of wastegates on the market: integral wastegates that are built into the turbo; and
remote wastegates that are integrated into the exhaust system ahead of the turbo. The remote
wastegate allows for a bigger valve and a smoother flow path which provides better boost control and
produces better performance. A remote wastegate can also be controlled by a manual boost controller
or by an electronic boost controller. The manual boost controller begins opening gradually as the boost
pressure builds up. This affects the efficiency of the turbo system and increases turbo lag. An electronic
boost controller, on the other hand, can be programmed to open at a preset boost pressure and can even
be programmed for increased boost under certain circumstances. Needless to say, the electronic boost
controller is the way to go!

The exhaust feed for the remote wastegate should be integrated into the exhaust header so that it is
exposed to as much of the pressure in the exhaust system as possible. This means that the pipe for the
wastegate should be connected at or after the collector where all the primary exhaust pipes join together,
or after the last exhaust port on a log-type header. Also, the wastegate should be located at an angle that
does not restrict exhaust gas flow to the wastegate. The exhaust gas must be able to flow to the
wastegate so that the wastegate can detect the correct exhaust pressure in the system. A Y-pipe that
provides symmetry and easy flow paths would be ideal.

The exhaust gas flow from the wastegate into the tailpipe should also not interfere with the gas flow from
the turbine. Any interference will increase back pressure! For best performance, the pipe that feeds
exhaust gas from the wastegate to the tailpipe should be at least 18 inches long. A completely separate
tailpipe for the wastegate exhaust gas would be even better as this provides the best wastegate response
and the lowest back pressure. When going this route remember to allow for tailpipe expansion as the
tailpipe from the wastegate will experience fluctuations in temperature. However, in most road cars
legislation requires that your wastegate feed back into the main exhaust system ahead of the catalytic
converter.

Whether you use a electronic boost controller or not, you should have an emergency boost control
device in case the wastegate fails. This device can be a simple vent valve or a boost-sensitive electronic
switch that cuts the fuel supply. A boost-sensitive electronic switch that cuts the fuel supply can be set to
1 or 2 psi above the wastegate setting. Should the wastegate fail, the cut-out switch will stop the fuel
supply, which will cause the boost pressure to drop.