(Do you like the pun ) Someone posted up a link to an engine a little while ago and it had twin turbos on it, one of the turbos being a mirror image of the other. I said at the time this was a bloody good idea and wondered why it had not been done for the Z32. I figure why not do it!! The LHS turbo installation is a bit of a mess if we are honest, that ugly mo fo of a 90 degree bend on the compressor outlet is just a little on the "lets just get it done" side of things. RHS is pretty good as far as jamming a turbo in a tight spot goes. First idea is we need to make a mirror image turbo to suit the LHS of the engine and a mirror image exh manifold to suit - just the RHS one made to suit the LHS. Primary concern: cost!! this will cost a fair bit of coin! Secondary concern: what turbo!? I figure the good ole disco potato but will people want a bigger turbo seeing as only those chasing bigger power would go for this as an option. Lets say I went with the disco potato and made the exh manifold a mirror image of the MSP/AMS manifolds and set up the intake flange to suit the stock/AMS/Ash spec intakes, the comp outlet could be just the standard 2" pipe as per stock disco potato. Would need to make a downpipe to suit - similar to the 3" expanding pipes? Cost? This will cost more than just a stock turbo and manifold but it shouldn't be crazy expensive, it can all be done here in NZ and a cheap version and expensive version would be easy enough to sort. Cheap bastards could just have cast iron manifolds, quality seekers could run with the fancy Garrett type material (inconol - spelling!?) I'm not sure I would bother ensuring this would fit LHD cars, the down pipe would be the main issue, the turbine housing should be no problem as it will be closer to the block than the standard rotation turbos. Figured I might look at getting it sorted for the LHD cars then the Yanks can figure it out for themselves - the same as we have to for most of the stuff So who hates the idea? seriously I don't want to know, if you're not keen I don't want to know. Who is interested or can lend some ideas etc in the early stages?
I think the worst bit will be getting the wheels made. Should be possible, but will cost a heap of $$! Manifolds will be easy (comparatively). Will the normal Garrett BB centres take spinning the other way? How about looking around for other turbos available with a mirror image option? I haven't really seen many apart from some of the old school turbo kits from the 80's/90's which were mainly for pretty serious V8's. Size may be a issue.
I've been talking with a local turbo guru and he mentioned the old TD06 20G and 16G, I haven't clarified yet but I think these might have had both rotations available. If this is the case then the rotating assemblies from these could be used BUT roller bearings are the only way to go IMO, going back to bushes would defeat any gains made. The bearings and core wont have a problem going backwards but like you say would need wheels made, can be done here in NZ. Thought about manifold + turbine housing in one cast unit as per the R35 GTR but this would just make hard work for machining etc - not worth the gains that could be there. I've had a quick look around at stuff on the market but it's expensive and huge turbos no good for the Z32 application.
Good info thanks Very early in the development stages so everything is just a bunch of ideas at the moment, the different exh manifold is actually pretty smart and if it can be made to work would possibly make more sense than the mirror turbo.
Some time ago I came across someone who turned the Turbo outlets upside down and running to the intercoolers along the chassis rails ... trying to find the pictures, too hard to explain without them.
Yep, some of the old Evo turbos are mirrored. Some of the Evo tuners have been releasing BB TD's recently, but most of these are massive turbos and big $$. Might as well put on some high mount GT35's for the effort, size and cost of it all going down that route
Had an apiffi ..... apif .... apiv ...... Had a good idea this morning! Backing the thought train right back to the start and heading off on a slightly different track, same end result but much much cheaper Will post pictures when I have some prototype action going on.
