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Retrofit Turbochargers

Retrofit Turbochargers

A retrofit turbocharger is a turbocharger which has not been designed for any application in particular but can be made to fit any vehicle with the correct supporting modifications and accessories. When considering fitting retrofit turbochargers we highly recommend that you source a conversion specialist. If you need guidance with this please give us a call as we may be able to offer advice or recommend a specialist tuner to assist you with completing your project.

For over 30 years, we have developed our designs and builds for all of our retrofit turbocharger applications and now offer a large range of retrofit products and accessories for your project. These include oil flanges, outlet flanges, gaskets, exhaust inlet silicone hoses and oil and water fittings as well as the turbochargers themselves.

To specify the correct turbocharger for a retrofit application the following considerations need to be made: engine capacity, maximum RPM, application or usage i.e. street car/drag/race etc., projected horsepower and torque requirements, boost pressure requirements, and if the engine is to be intercooled or charge cooled.

If you are considering a retrofit turbocharger conversion on your naturally aspirated engine (an internal combustion engine in which air intake depends solely on atmospheric pressure), please read the following modifications that your engine may have to undergo in order to complete the retrofit turbocharger installation effectively:

  • Fabrication of both the inlet and exhaust manifolds in order to fit the specific retrofit turbocharger.
  • Engine compression ratio will have to be checked and lowered where appropriate, preferably this would be between 7.5:1 and 8.5:1 to allow a significant boost pressure to be utilised. In order to accomplish this, you will have to look into one of two ways. Preferably fitting of forged low compression pistons or alternatively machining of the standard pistons.
  • Other modifications that will be needed are in connection with your vehicles fuel. This entails injectors as well as mapping of the ignition system and fuel pump pressure which will have to be modified for the increased requirements of the retrofit turbocharger.
  • Finally, camshaft specification should also be checked to ensure that the duration and valve overlap is not too great for the retrofit turbocharger. Preferably this would be a camshaft of mild duration and overlap.

To specify the correct turbocharger for the application we would require the following basic information:

  • Engine capacity
  • Maximum rpm
  • Application or usage i.e. street car/drag/race etc.
  • Projected horsepower and torque requirements
  • Boost pressure requirements
  • If engine is to be intercooled or chargecooled

If you are determined to still go ahead with turbocharging your vehicle, you must first locate a conversion specialist and seek advice from them. Turbo Dynamics do not carry out this type of work, but simply provide advice, turbocharger matching and supply and some ancillary products (such as turbine inlet and outlet flanges, oil pipes, fittings and flanges, high pressure silicon hose lengths and elbows and dump valves). We can provide drawings of flanges giving dimensions for fabrication of the manifold.

Conversions can be very costly (typically between £2500 to £5000), so get a quote from your conversion specialist before considering the project further.