Chris, thanks for the insightful post. You guys are killing me over here...

 

I'm not sure I've ever driven my car and NOT had it over 100....



For a more efficient turbo, with lower lag, and better low end, would you guys recommend the zero clearance option no matter the size? Just curious...

A

 

Btw, what's the "zero clearance option"? I've seen it mentioned a few times but am not sure what it is

Edwin

 

Let me add my two cents. I have the 16/16G setup. It's a great deal for the price. It's way faster than I need and for the most part I'm completely satisfied. I, like you, don't drive fast very often. However, I'll get into the throttle every now and then just to get it out of my system and I'm good.
Now the flipside. The only time I want more power is when I visit this site and see what others are doing. Then I start thinking, hmmm...more power. The quest for power is addicting. The big question is, can you be happy with the 16/16 turbos and having a crazy fast car or do you want the 24/18 turbos and have a stupid fast car?

 

A few things that I want to address:

Rebuilding: SealG mentioned having the turbos rebuilt if they have over 10k miles. Blouch will inspect, disassemble, reassemble and balance them. If anything is not within spec (seals, bearings, etc) they will replace it (and bill you). THat being said, this never happens. The 996TT K16 and K24 turbos are super reliable and failures are virtually unheard of. Bottom line...there is really nothing to worry about with used K16 or K24 turbos.

EBC (Greddy or other): Don't listen to what anyone here says, talk to your tuner. If you are indeed going to use Todd at Protomotive, he will direct you the right way. He knows the setup and the tuning and what will work best for you. He already gave you his recommendation of turbo based soley on what you desire for the car. Do not listen to these here knuckleheads.

Which turbo: As above, go with Todd's recommendations. The K24/18Gs DO have more lag than the K16/16G setup and anyone telling you otherwise is clueless. Look at the mass and size of both turbine wheels and the size of both turbine housings. Physics is physics. People will say the tune will make a difference which is true, but in your case the tuner is the same so he will be able to exploit the virtues of each setup equally.

Porting and clipping the K16 turbine: Not necessary as it spools up great as is. Blouch knows their stuff. If it helped they would recommend it. Good for them for not taking your money to do something that will not benefit you.

Good luck!

 

And here we have the crux of the commercial value of these forums to the vendors and sponsors... it creates the perception that the reader is the only one 'not modding', and reduces the 'risk avoidance' behavior (ie common sense) that protects many owners from going down the mod path even thought it can be riskier and more espensive than many understand.

Me?

Guilty.

A

 

A turbo is a fan. As air is forced into it (or is moved by the fan) any air leaking around the fan blades is 'wasted' and causes lag and loss of power.

When they are manufactured, there is a pretty tight fit between hosing and fan- but with zero clearance, they disassemble, spread epoxy inside the housing, assemble and spin- the blades shear off the wet epoxy- they disassemble, clean off the blades, let the epoxy cure then reassemble.

The result is an assembly with close to 'zero clearance' between blades and housing- higher efficiency and less lag.

To my thinking, there isn't a single reason NOT to have ZC... in other words they make whatever turbo you spec, better. No down side or trade off.

Personally I'd have Kevin at UMW build me turbos if I was upgrading- buy my K24s are fine for now. Definitely need a suspension change....

A

 

I think what you're doing is smart. Ask a lot of questions, talk to people and hopefully get a few rides in modded cars. The problem a lot of people have is they know what they'd like but have very little experience to base their decision on. Morover, it's not so much that they don't have good info, rather it's that we can talk and try to offer our perceptions of our kits but until you experience it for yourself it doesn't paint the full picture. That said, go for a few rides in cars with different turbos and see what you like and don't like. You're not in a hurry to do anything so take your time and think things through. Regardless of what you eventually decide you'll need to put money away for a new clutch.....sooner or later. I say just take your time, remember to breathe (grin) and you'll be just fine. This forum is a gold mine for information and guys willing to bend over backwards to help you.

 

I'm by no means an expert, but Tym Switzer has really taken care of my TT. I had him upgrade the K16's to some kind of hybrid K16 (I didn't ask exactly what he did to them), and as soon as that was done we had to do the clutch. He couldn't even tune it on the dyno with the stock clutch.

All said and done, he achieved my goals of having a stupid fast car for hauling my butt back and forth to work, putting out 580rwhp. That's about max you can do on the stock fuel system, and I know people also say that K16s stop pulling at higher RPMs, too, but I'm too scared to look because I'm slammed back in the seat when I hit 100mph in 3rd.

My advice: Talk to a shop that's respectable, explain your goals, and let them put together a package for you. It should be painless except to your wallet!!! You will need a new clutch, too, btw.

 

Thanks for the wise words Chris. I gave Akram a call and he's going to talk to Todd K about the K16 hybrid package. Hopefully I'll get something rolling by next month.

Did you open up the package for the bumper? Any first impressions?

A,

Thanks for the turbo lesson... much appreciated. That makes sense. I'll have to ask Blouch about it when I send in the turbos.

You're right... there are a lot of guys here and locally that have been willing to help. I have to get on the good graces of some to ask for a ride in their K24/18 set up (anyone? ) and I have to find someone with the k16 hybrid set up locally, which I am not aware of anyone having that right now.

WOW! 580rwhp on K16s? That's extremely impressive. How long have you been running that set-up? Any issues?

Thanks for the advice... I know that eventually, I'll need a new clutch but I am a little confused b/c both Todd K and Akram said I won't need a clutch just yet. Regardless, I'll be setting aside some funds to get the clutch replaced when the time comes.

Edwin

 

What kind of dyno is that and what does a stock car baseline at on that dyno?
From what I have seen, the limit of the stock fuel system is 600crank.

EDIT: Found it. https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/1952434-post1.html
Your car dyno'd 383RWHP stock on a dynojet, so doing the math on that, it's about 612hp crank, so I think we're talking the same power level as limit of the stock fuel system.

 

I have been running this setup for about 2 months, and haven't had any issues at all with the engine, tranny or clutch. I have had some issues with the suspension, though, but Tym is taking care of that for me right now!! Apparantly I like the twisties a little too much, and the stock struts just wouldn't hold. I kept bottoming out the rear, and knocked it out of alignment. Part of that is my driving, part is the crappy roads around here

 

I actually removed the ECU myself and sent it to Todd at Protomotive. He quickly got it back to me via FedEx overnight... twice! The second time he reprogramed it for the factory solenoid when I removed the Greddy... Todd's a great guy!

 

I didn't mean any slight against you or Todd or Proto. I was just trying to point out that alot can go wrong during the "shake-down" run on any new setup.
Best to have someone monitoring data real-time so they can pull the plug if things look suspect the first time you get on it.

 

Excellent advice indeed!