Anyone running a Martin Turbo kit?

[bucket]

I just had some kid on Facebook tell me to throw away everything but the exhaust manifold. I blame the parents.

Oh jeez. Did you tell that kid he can take his opinions and shove them up his butt, sideways?

 

[mg1966chevelle]

Oh jeez. Did you tell that kid he can take his opinions and shove them up his butt, sideways?

Almost but I stopped myself. He was probably a professional keyboard warrior without a squarebody, SBC, and no real balls.

 

[Blue Ox]

I still have nightmares about Rajays from a job we did on a boat with twin Isuzus. Long story short it took months to sort out the problems and when we finally got the thing running like it was supposed to it burned and sank at the dock. I think the poor thing committed suicide.

Rajay used to be big in aviation and tried their hand at automotive in the '70s. Parts were challenging to source, but I do know where to get them if you need.

 

[mg1966chevelle]

I still have nightmares about Rajays from a job we did on a boat with twin Isuzus. Long story short it took months to sort out the problems and when we finally got the thing running like it was supposed to it burned and sank at the dock. I think the poor thing committed suicide.

Rajay used to be big in aviation and tried their hand at automotive in the '70s. Parts were challenging to source, but I do know where to get them if you need.

Thanks! Everything seems to be in working order so I should be ok as long as the oil seal in the turbo is ok. That's wild that the boat ended itself as soon as you got it running right. What about a rebuild on the turbo? Would I be able to get what I need for that? The one I have has maybe 300 miles on it. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad but it had oil in it and it was in a garage it's whole life. The guy I bought it from bought it new and has just been holding onto it for the last 20 years or so.

 

[Blue Ox]

If you want me to inquire about rebuild parts I will, but since it's hardly used I wouldn't worry about it too much. It turns okay and nothing is rubbing right? Also, turbos with carbon seals can seem sticky when you try to turn them, but that's normal.

As far as using it you'll probably be fine. Just make sure you prelube it thoroughly right before that first start. No revving until you've got oil pressure and no hot shutdowns! The only thing that cools it is oil, so let it idle a bit before you shut it down, use a good quality oil, and you might want to consider adding an auxiliary oil cooler to deal with that extra heat.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Thanks! Everything seems to be in working order so I should be ok as long as the oil seal in the turbo is ok. That's wild that the boat ended itself as soon as you got it running right. What about a rebuild on the turbo? Would I be able to get what I need for that? The one I have has maybe 300 miles on it. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad but it had oil in it and it was in a garage it's whole life. The guy I bought it from bought it new and has just been holding onto it for the last 20 years or so.

Unless it has some oddball flange, I wouldn't even worry rebuilds. If it comes to that, the market is flooded with T3 and T4 flange turbos for a few hundred bucks.

 

[mg1966chevelle]

If you want me to inquire about rebuild parts I will, but since it's hardly used I wouldn't worry about it too much. It turns okay and nothing is rubbing right? Also, turbos with carbon seals can seem sticky when you try to turn them, but that's normal.

As far as using it you'll probably be fine. Just make sure you prelube it thoroughly right before that first start. No revving until you've got oil pressure and no hot shutdowns! The only thing that cools it is oil, so let it idle a bit before you shut it down, use a good quality oil, and you might want to consider adding an auxiliary oil cooler to deal with that extra heat.

It turns very freely. Not quite like a ball bearing but smooth and doesn't really stick. Thanks for the oil cooler info. I've always wanted one anyway. The truck stays pretty cool as far as coolant and trans temp but I'm not sure about oil temp. I'll check it out with my infrared temp gun though.

 

[mg1966chevelle]

Unless it has some oddball flange, I wouldn't even worry rebuilds. If it comes to that, the market is flooded with T3 and T4 flange turbos for a few hundred bucks.

I think the flange on it is pretty standard but then again it's the first turbo I've owned. Eventually I want to go with Holley Sniper EFI and an intercooler. That's when I'll be upgrading the turbo unless this one is no good. In that case I'll just remove the turbo and save for the modern blow through setup.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

It looks like a T4 from the flange, between bolt holes they are 2.75" and 3.250"

 

[Blue Ox]

Don't forget that it's not just the turbo housing that gets hot. Between the temperature rise of the charge air, burning more fuel, hotter exhaust and increased friction from the higher component loading turbocharging creates heat for everything to deal with. Oil cooling can help pull a significant amount of BTUs out of the engine and help keep the oil from breaking down as well. Just my opinion, but I'd consider it a must for a turbo engine. Also consider running synthetic oil for the same reasons.

 

[hatzie]

Don't forget that it's not just the turbo housing that gets hot. Between the temperature rise of the charge air, burning more fuel, hotter exhaust and increased friction from the higher component loading turbocharging creates heat for everything to deal with. Oil cooling can help pull a significant amount of BTUs out of the engine and help keep the oil from breaking down as well. Just my opinion, but I'd consider it a must for a turbo engine. Also consider running synthetic oil for the same reasons.

The 6.5L turbodiesel blocks have squirters at the bottom of the bores to spray oil into the bottom of the pistons. It cools them off somewhat.
The exhaust valves and seats of some turbo motors are Inconel alloy and the more exotic of those are sodium filled to shed heat and put up with higher temps in general.

Your regular SBC BBC and other motors that weren't purpose-built to run turbochargers don't have those features so you want to be mildly careful to not run your EGTs too high. You don't want to melt the crowns and fire rings of your pistons and you don't want to melt the exhaust impeller of the turbo either. An EGT gauge helps.
With a gauge you can see when the EGTs start climbing too high and back off the throttle. You can do any some or all of the following long term... re-tune the wastegate control, add an intercooler, and/or run water/alcohol injection to cool the air charge like GM did on the 1963ish Jetfire Oldsmobile Turbo V8.

 

[Blue Ox]

The above is very true, although the earlier 6.5L did not have piston cooling jets. That came a few years later in production.

I didn't want to get too deep into purpose building a turbo engine because it is quite deep, but hatzie is spot on.

 

[mg1966chevelle]

The 6.5L turbodiesel blocks have squirters at the bottom of the bores to spray oil into the bottom of the pistons. It cools them off somewhat.
The exhaust valves and seats of some turbo motors are Inconel alloy and the more exotic of those are sodium filled to shed heat and put up with higher temps in general.

Your regular SBC BBC and other motors that weren't purpose-built to run turbochargers don't have those features so you want to be mildly careful to not run your EGTs too high. You don't want to melt the crowns and fire rings of your pistons and you don't want to melt the exhaust impeller of the turbo either. An EGT gauge helps.
With a gauge you can see when the EGTs start climbing too high and back off the throttle. You can do any some or all of the following long term... re-tune the wastegate control, add an intercooler, and/or run water/alcohol injection to cool the air charge like GM did on the 1963ish Jetfire Oldsmobile Turbo V8.

Thanks! In that case I think I'm gonna get a pyrometer, an A/F ratio gauge and a boost gauge and mount them on the pillar before I even install the turbo. I have some very nice dual electric fans that will help with the oil cooler. This water/alcohol injection is very new to me. I'm gonna do some research on it now.

 

[hatzie]

Thanks! In that case I think I'm gonna get a pyrometer, an A/F ratio gauge and a boost gauge and mount them on the pillar before I even install the turbo. I have some very nice dual electric fans that will help with the oil cooler. This water/alcohol injection is very new to me. I'm gonna do some research on it now.

If you run H2O injection to control temps you have to be very careful to make sure you don't run out. That's what killed a lot of the Turbo 215 motors in the 1963ish Olds F85 Jetfire. They got a poor reputation for reliability because most consumers were not diligent about keeping the alcohol/water reservoir full. The combustion temps got out of control and the pistons melted.

The Jetfires were inexpensive mid-price cars that probably didn't even have a temp gauge. The Olds engineers tuned em close to the hairy edge of destruction and compensated with H2O injection rather than a more expensive approach like an intercooler. I guarantee they didn't have an EGT gauge or even an idiot lamp for EGTs.

 

[4WDKC]

A friend uses meth injection to keep his turbo ls cool, he just uses windshield washer deicer.