I have the PT88 on my truck right now but the thrust bearing failed on it and the compressor wheel rubbed on the cover a little bit. I also determined that the rear oil seal is going bad because I'm getting a good amount of oil smoke coming out of the exhaust while idling. Sometimes a random cloud or sometimes a steady stream. It's got .013" of shaft play.

I think the PT88 failed because of a couple of forced hot shutdowns at the track (broken harmonic balancer, lost serpentine belts) and my blowoff valve being too small, and then spring too stiff to open after I upgraded it.

I'm really debating right now on just having the center section rebuilt and running it as is (slight grooves on the housing and wheel) or selling it once it is fixed and changing to the S480.

Now I know everyone here loves their Borg Warner units, but I'm curious to what I'll see different in it performance wise, and how the two compare physically. I have a 4" DP and Trick T4 manifold. I finished my build in the middle of June so it really sucks to have to fix something major already. It made 780hp and 680tq to the wheels on E85. Is the S480 good for my engine, being a little smaller? 95% street driven.

 

A s480 is a different ball game from most turbos. Keep in mind that bw makes millions of turbos a year. The quality of BWs is they are meant to take a beating as the primary design and use is for big rig diesels. As far as performance goes they can compete with any turbo on the market. The s480 with proper AR and correctly speced won't be a restriction. A guy on ls1tech used a s480 on a basically stock 6.0 to hit 1170hp/1180tq. It should have great street manners being a tiny bit smaller.

 

Heres my old PT88 sitting next to a s400-76mm with the "race" cover



The PT88 is 20 year old technology, I did not driving it at all. The Borgs are much easy to control. Peak power may be a little less (100hp maybe), but turbo response is much better.

 

Cool, nice side by side shot! The compressor side sure is bigger but that shouldn't be too much of a fitment issue. What about turbine side, any idea? It sucks that I just finished this thing a few months ago, I don't really want to go and redo a lot of it already.

Peak power... the PT88 is rated at like 1,250hp, I think the BW says about 1,150hp. I don't really know how that would effect the power I'm making now or if I would even see a difference with that beside the way it comes on.

 

That difference would be at 25psi+ so if you arent there I wouldnt worry about it.

Turbine housing on the borg, depending on ar is about the same size or a little bigger.

 

Downpipe is gonna need some rework.
The location is different. I think the Borg is farther rearward off the exhaust housing.
The turbo will fit the manifold.

 

Awesome. Thanks for the info. Guess it all depends on how much I want to spend and if it's worth it. Hmm.

 

What's the over haul gonna cost?
Then add in the amount to fix down pipe connection point.

 

I've been looking around for the Precision repair. If I send it back to precision, they won't be able to give me a quote at all until they are able to go through it, which is a 3 week wait, they said. I asked for just a general idea on what I might be looking at, say if it needed "these" parts but he wasn't any help.

Another guy I've been talking to in Michigan told me around $450 for a center section rebuild: new internals and new shaft/wheels. Also the same wait time.

Tough call. I'd have to change the top of the downpipe at the turbo, buy a 4" v band and clamp. Maybe some different fittings for my oil lines? I'm using bolt on flanges right now.

 

Personally, I'd swap to the BW. They just last and last... It will be more response too. Those PT88 are BIG inside and don't spool as well in my opinion. Plus, like you said, Precision is not easy to deal with on repairing them. I've got BW on lots of builds as well as my personal truck and I love them!! They are the best sounding turbo too!

Mine is a S475/83 T4 with a race cover and has made 800 to the wheels (5450lb and 124 trap speed) on my 10.25 comp 6L on 93oct gas and meth and I believe it still has legs if that gives you any idea on what they will make hp wise.