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Identifying T3 Turbo

ilikepie911

New member
Joined
Mar 23, 2008
Location
Canada (Ont)
My friend has a 240sx with a 2.4L 4 cyl, and he is planning on turboing it. He purchased a rebuilt Garrett T3 taken from a Volvo 740 (not confirmed), with a compressor A/R of 0.42, and a turbine A/R of 0.48. The turbo is both oil and watercooled. It had the exhaust side bored out a little bit during the rebuild.

He was wondering if it was the 45 or 50 trim, and if it is possible to identify that without having to take off the compressor housing and measure the inducer and exducer. Here are the compressor maps for the two.
t3-45.JPG

t3-50.JPG

He is planning on pushing about 200-220whp with this turbo but is reluctant since it seems so small. Are there any dyno graphs on the B230ft with this turbo with stock boost and overboosted? That would really help put this into perspective.

Thanks in advance. :)
 
th_DSC_0133.jpg

This came off of a 1990 740T It is not a Garret it is a Mitsu TD04HL 13g or c one of the two idk. You might want to take it apart and rebuild it anyway. If it is a Garret T3 and it came off a Volvo its probably something like 25 years old.
 
Age is not important as this Garrett T3 has not been used since it was freshly rebuilt. The issue is identifying whether it is the 45 trim or the 50 trim, and how much power can safely be pushed with a large 2.4L 4 cylinder without being seriously inefficient. A small FMIC will be used to keep the inlet temperatures as low as possible.
 
700 series with the .42 a/r housing should always have a 50trim wheel. The 240 got a 45 trim wheel in the .42 a/r housing. I have at least one of each. The housings look identical, but the 50trim wheel is obviously just a tiny bit larger. They're both really small, though.

Since the turbo you speak of is rebuilt, I would say just run it as-is. It should spool quickly and make pretty good power at ~15psi, although it will need a different turbine housing if it has one specifically from a 740, since the flange has a recessed area that mates with the raised lip on a Volvo manifold. A standard flat T3 flange was only used on Volvos in '81, but they're common on the '80s Fords.

A 60trim wheel and .60 a/r compressor housing from a Ford T3 would be a cheap & easy upgrade. For more money and more airflow, a T04B or T04E compressor housing and matching wheel would be the next step up.
 
700 series with the .42 a/r housing should always have a 50trim wheel. The 240 got a 45 trim wheel in the .42 a/r housing. I have at least one of each. The housings look identical, but the 50trim wheel is obviously just a tiny bit larger. They're both really small, though.

Since the turbo you speak of is rebuilt, I would say just run it as-is. It should spool quickly and make pretty good power at ~15psi, although it will need a different turbine housing if it has one specifically from a 740, since the flange has a recessed area that mates with the raised lip on a Volvo manifold. A standard flat T3 flange was only used on Volvos in '81, but they're common on the '80s Fords.

A 60trim wheel and .60 a/r compressor housing from a Ford T3 would be a cheap & easy upgrade. For more money and more airflow, a T04B or T04E compressor housing and matching wheel would be the next step up.

At 15psi of boost (PR of 2.02), as per your suggestion, the requirement for the KA24DE engine that is going to be boosted is 37.82 lbs/min. That is far beyond the map, even on the 50 trim. Doesn't seem feasible. How much whp do guys regularly push with these turbos on the B230FT motors?
 
At 15psi of boost (PR of 2.02), as per your suggestion, the requirement for the KA24DE engine that is going to be boosted is 37.82 lbs/min. That is far beyond the map, even on the 50 trim. Doesn't seem feasible. How much whp do guys regularly push with these turbos on the B230FT motors?

they don't make much more than 200whp normally. You'll want to snag a t3-60 trim compressor wheel and either the nissan housing or ford housing. should drop onto that turbo and will flow a little better. Buddy of mine used a volvo turbo briefly on his 240sx before upgrading to a 60 trim wheel and housing, it did alright. He only ran about 7psi.

it doesnt really matter in the end, you'll break the pistons in the ka regardless of what turbo you choose :-P
 
What do you expect when most people half ass it and use an SAFC, without any timing compensation with a CR of 9.5:1. If done right, the stock internals can hold huge amounts of power. The record is 528whp on totally stock internals. Many people commonly run about 300whp on their daily driver KA-T's, many of them with over 200k on the engine before boosting. lol

Stop the hating and misinformation :p

And thanks for the answer, 200whp seems a lot better than the stock 120-130whp, should be a hell of a difference. That makes this turbo perform about the same as a T25, as per used on the redtop SR20 motors, correct?
 
i came across this uber old thread tonight doing research. A friend of mine who is a toyota / lexus tech and volvo fanatic swears that the ka engines, sr20det engines are outright garbage and the bottom end is made of chocloate. I do realize the former is a truck engine, but I'll take a mechanic and perf. fabricator's word that nissan 4cyl turbo and non turbo engines used in 240/silvia are geerrrrrbage
 
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