I'm not familiar with CFD analysis. You are way above my head, but your guess at cost being the biggest factor I would assume is spot on. I do think that you can do too much analysis. regardless of the conditions that you can test, at the end of the day you're still making an educated guess. There are so many variables that can change the outcome, so I believe the more analysis my lead to diminishing returns.

I'm not the biggest cam guy, but I do know (that is questionable) a couple things. First you'll want to look at your back pressure. If its higher than 1:1 you can rule out any cam with overlap. Second, I typically try to get the most duration I can get with being streetable, which in the ls world looks like 220~230ish @ .050. Your LSA will really dictate overlap for the most part, so you'll have to crunch the numbers if you think you've picked out the right cam. For lift in an LS, I'm good with keeping it under .600 so as to keep a beehive type spring. I"m not a big fan of dual valve springs.

The ramp rate will make or break a cam, but you're not going to get that info from a cam card or from the mfg.

There is a plethora of off the shelf cams that can meet your needs, so at that point it's really about price, availability and some sort of name recognition.

I've personally got my eye on Howard cams just because they are in stock, cheap and have the same specs as more expensive "custom" cams. I believe my setup is very close to 1:1 exhaust pressure. I still have yet to confirm, but I'm looking at a cam with 5 degrees of overlap. I'm also trying to kill my torque down low so i can push peak torque up and hold it longer. It'll help with traction and hp.

The truck has been on the dyno. Forgot to get a graph when i was there. it made 340 whp / 370 ft/lbs @ 6psi. Nothing impressive.

 

Thanks for your info, Boosted. I sure appreciate your responses.

 

You're welcome.

 

no build thread.

im in the beginning research/parts collection stage.

truck has been my daily since 08, never touched it, decided this winter to start building it, after i got rid of some of my other toys.

its got a lq4 with 243 heads and ls2 cam in it. probably just gonna buy a kit, im living in a rental house and cant to any kind of welding stuff here and its too big of a project to do at work.

post more vids.

 

If you need any help hit me up.

I'll get some more vids. Been pretty busy with work and being broke haha.

 

Little update guys....

Turbo has been on this engine for 800 miles (start up mid March 14'). Purchased the S480 in 07' (2jz build that went poo poo) and it sat on my coffee table until earlier this year.

Turbo seems to be shot.... Beat the **** out of it last weekend. Everything was fine. I was checking fluids and decided to check shaft play on the turbo. Noticed that that if i push to one side, the turbine with scrape the housing. I half ***'d measured shaft play and it is around 0.010" which i assume is out of spec.

I have a 1/4" steel feed going to it so the id is close to 3/16 id (-3) and a -10 an drain. The turbo does get oil (cracked the fitting and it bleeds). Engine idles at 30psi, 60psi low load driving and 80 psi full throttle. I'm running 10-40 conventional oil. Oil temp is 200 fully warm and will creep to 220 during a thrashing.

Compressor is fine, I have yet to pull the cartridge and check out the turbine.

Anyone have problems with running a -3 for a feed? I do have the feed coming off a sandwich adapter which i've run about a 100 times on other vehicles.

depending on the turbine, i might just slap a bearing set in and let it ride. If it's bad i'm going to swap to a newer 87mm and get into the new housings. So you guys know, the airwerks turbine housings are $180ish. Bullseye housings.... $300 lol.

Also going to up the feed line size to 5/16 (5 an) which id on that is 1/4".

I guess life didn't want me to have a reliable dirty grandpa truck haha. I suppose i needed to spend my money on something.

 

Did you check it with the engine off or running? The shaft floats on the oil film during operation which requires oil pressure. If you checked radial play with the engine off it will rub even if its fine. Axial play, however, is what usually breaks on these when they have too much backpressure (not the case here, just in general). Axial play should be close to zero with it on or off.

 

checked with the engine off lol. I understand the shaft rides on a film of oil therefore removing some of the play with the engine off. 0.010" seems like a lot. I used to rebuild garretts all the time and they had nowhere near that amount of play.

Thrust is totally fine. I plan on pulling the cartridge in the next week. crossing my fingers on the turbine wheel.... Those babies are quiet a bit more expensive than a garrett wheel.

So I've been talking to a local BW dealer to seem about turbine pricing options and rebuild kits and what not. He had a bunch of great info on the feed/drain. He's in Tampa, but I believe there are a few other locations in the US.

I highly recommend this guy (at least from the preemptive buying convo). Super responsive and they seem to stock all BW units with competitive pricing.

Mike Franke
mfranke@se-power.com

· It is hard to confirm what may have gone wrong without inspection, but both oil supply and drain paths are too small.

· The turbocharger is designed for -4 (1/4” i.d.) oil supply, so a -3 (3/16”i.d.) line is going to be too small. Also consider that the hose has an i.d. of 3/16”; the adaptor fittings used could very well be smaller, which could create an issue. At the very least, you’ve got 25% reduction in flow path diameter working against you to begin with. The actual flow path restriction is greater than the size would indicate, and, again, we’re making the assumption that the fittings themselves aren’t also another restriction.

· The oil drain path is also far too small. Again, remembering that the “dash” number of AN line is the inner diameter of the hose, this would mean that the i.d. of the hose is .625”(5/8”). This, in itself, is already too small, as the actual specification for the S400 requires an oil drain path minimum diameter of .750” (3/4”). Compounding this is that all AN-style hoses require fittings to thread into the hose, which means that, no matter how large the actual hose i.d. may be, the restriction point will always, absolutely be the fittings and adaptors themselves. So, with that noted, the oil drain path has already been restricted by, at the least, 20% (due to the hose), but, when we take into account the fittings that are in the line, I would bet a hot burrito lunch that your actual minimum oil drain diameter is closer to .500” (1/2”), which is an immediate 33% reduction in flow path diameter. The actual flow restriction is far greater than this, based on the surface area of the bore.

· I would not recommend AN-style hose for oil drain path, as the above ‘hidden’ restrictions will always be a factor, but if you absolutely must run this style of line, the absolute minimum allowable hose assembly would require -16AN hose (1.0” i.d.), as the corresponding fittings will have the required inner diameter of .750 (3/4”). Instead, we strongly recommend the use of formed tubes, and, if necessary, high-temperature oil cooler hose, as we can provide thin-wall tube assemblies that will allow for full oil flow.

Why is this so important?

· Restricted oil drain paths generally require restricted oil supply paths, as, when a restricted oil drain path is present, oil control at the turbocharger is terribly compromised, and oil loss, whether seen as visible exhaust smoke or external leakage, is not uncommon. This is not a failure of the turbo, but a failure to adequately drain the turbo, which in turn creates a pressure differential and overwhelms the sealing system in the turbo. A very common practice to “fix” this issue, whether before or after the fact, is to then restrict the oil supply flow to the turbocharger, which, in some cases, will actually (temporarily) solve the problem. However, restricting the oil to the turbocharger is not a wise practice, as the oil is used to both lubricate and cool the bearing structure, and, generally, a restricted oil supply will cause a premature, expensive failure. So, for this reason, it’s important to look at the turbocharger itself; the design of the turbocharger actually “tells” you what the supply and drain path sizes must be. The inlet is threaded for ¼”NPT, which is a .250” (1/4”) inner diameter path, so your oil supply line must have the same path diameter. The oil drain port is of a .750” (3/4”) diameter, which, again, should be held throughout the entire oil drain path, all the way to the crankcase.

 

Oil Feed recomendations from Bullseye

Wild Bill Devine - Bullseye Power
wildbilldevine@hotmail.com

We recommend a -4 feed fitting with -4 braided steel line, min oil pres under full tilt should be 55 to 60 psi. Anything over 5 thousands is too much end play

 

You made me go out and check mine. All good here!