I was doing some thinking while sizing up one of the cars on my lift, the biggest pain when it comes to finding room for turbo's is the fact that they must be horizontal +/- 30 deg. the reason is drainback and the fact that the seals will leak oil into the turbine.
So then I started thinking , what is so special about a cartrige? the answer is nothing really. You could cad up your own with revised drains, yet use all factory componentry. Im I far off here? I can't be the only guy who sees a need for verticle mount turbos. Why hasn't it been done? Anyone know?
I wonder if I could just use a normal section with a custom drain pickup inside the bearing cavity, then a scaevenge pump like a shurflo? Or in my case A hose right to a scavenge on the drysump?
I think one problem would be the thrust(?) forces. If you had the turbo vertical then you would have the weight of the shaft, turbine and compressor trying to pull the shaft down and eventually you will grind something, especially after a big bump.
The ways it is now it is more or less balanced and you only have to keep it up and not too much from sliding back and forth.
The other problem would be that you would want to run the oil inlet and outlst where the center shaft is to get proper gravity distribution on the bearings.
i would think it would be easier and cheaper to cutout part of your car fender/trunk than to build a new vertical turbo,
Interesting idea though, I think if you did it on a 45 instead of a 90 you might have a good chance of making it work, but I'm not sure, you'll have to check out more on the cutaway pics of turbos that you can find around.
I considered the thrust, I believe that the weight is insignificant compared to the thrust loads caused by violent pressure transients, IE crankin on and off the throttle rapidly. Those dual row ballbeaing fron garret will no doubt be up to the task, and require less oil. The problem is getting just the bearing. I'm sure they are real proud of them, and rightly so.
If you are using the ball bearing turbos, what about running them dry?? Or greased? I would think the only problem would then be cooling, could you get one with a water jacket to cool it? Or better yet, what about a self contained unit like Pro-Charger has, but you still may have the problem of the seal with that one. It all depends on what kind of constraints that you are working with.
Time to get out of that box! Just remember......"There is no spoon."
I found these military helicopter turbos (like the chopper on m.a.s.h) on Ebay once that had oilpacks you changed out every 400hrs of servise. Wonder what the deal with those were.
Last edited by Baldturbofreak; 11-17-2005 at 04:48 PM.
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TURBO tech: center cartriges
