Not sure where to post this so I'll put it here.

I was just wondering if anyone had already posted or heard about the new turbo design thats being developed. My brother showed me an article in the new issue of chevy performance magazine that has a car with a new kind of turbo kit on it. (At least its something I've never seen before). Its referred to as a Rear Mounted Turbo.

They attach a turbo where the muffler should be on the exhaust. They say that since the turbo is mounted at the rear of the car there is no added heat build up and the system is cooled by fresh outside air. Since the turbo is mounted behind the rear wheel there is said be to a better weight displacement and they even say the turbo temps are reduced up to 500 degrees when compared to an the traditional engine compartment installation. This setup also eliminates the need for a turbo timer as the engine itself no longer needs to cool for the turbo to cool.

The turbo set up includes a garrett turbo and a tial wastegate with all the necessary piping, and the whole set up is mounted under the car.

The dyno tests the did with the car (camaro) yielded a 125 hp gain at 7psi.

At the current moment the company STS only has this kit installed on a camaro, but I can't wait to see if they can develop a design specifically for other cars like ours.

 

Ill try to post pics from the magazine but my scanner isnt working right now. If anyone here has a copy handy the article and pictures are in the feb issue of Chevy High Performance on pages 22-28

 

im interested please post pics

 

This was in a turbo mag issue a while back. Since it's post catalytic converters it's technically CARB legal. Lemme see if I can't find it.

 

wow... lots of hp gain

 

The idea sounds good as far as eliminating the heat issue, but I'm not sure about the rest of the problems that come with mounting the turbo underneath the car. I'm sure these questions will be answered but for now...

How much clearance does that leave you between the turbo and the ground, and more importantly the oil feed and return lines? You could potentially snag something and disconnect one of the lines and that'll be about it. I'm thinking they run the lines as close to the underside of the car as possible to avoid this. The fact that the turbo itself is that low still bothers me though.

How efficient is it to reroute the turbo that far back? The compressed air has that much further to travel before it goes back into the cycle. I would imagine that the distance has to effect the overall performance.

Sounds like an interesting idea and definitely different. I'm interested to see/hear/read more about this particular setup.

 

My buddy is ordering this kit for his trans am . . neat design . . its basically spooled by your exhaust . . . ill try and find the article to for his car . .

 

What is the cost in comparison to say a conventional turbo system? That's what I am interested in...

Fox

 

Yes. Oct 2004, with Al's Evo on the cover.

P.68 "Remote-Mount Turbos"

http://www.ststurbo.com/

 

All automotive turbines are exhaust driven.

 

The main things I don't like about it personally: Length of oil lines or having to mount a separate oil system and cooler. Expensive components exposed to road grime, scraping and possibly even theft, silicone couplings and clamps exposed to the same, wastegate and blow off valve- same things, air filter mounted under the car increases chances of submersion, probability of severe inefficiency in regard to spinning the turbine due to distance from the motor itself, probability of severe pressure drop due to hugely increased intake piping length. I DO think it's a neat idea. I do think it's a neat idea. I do think it's a cool kit. I don't think I'd EVER put one on a car that I owned though for the reasons mentioned above. It's not that difficult to keep down underhood temps, so I don't think temp alone is the real reason this kit was designed, and I don't think it's a very good reason (by itself) for purchasing one of these kits.

Discuss.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and the one VERY important thing that I forgot...though you're dropping the temp at the turbine itself, you're still putting very hot exhaust components right near the fuel tank in many cars. I dunno about anyone else, but that does NOT make me feel secure.

EDIT AGAIN: According to their own numbers and my own figuring, the turbine's heat shouldn't be enough to pose any real danger bring in proximity to the fuel tank. I still worry about plastic fuel tanks and heat though.

 

actually this isnt that new, v6 mustangs have been doing it for awhile.

 

You beat me to it. Turbos and components that exposed to potential damage just doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

 

^i had the same concern about components being sunmerged...and exposed

 

very valid points. I have the same concerns myself. I'd be interested in seeing something like this developed or adapted for our cars just to see a comparison between this design and the traditional underhood turbo as far as gains.

On another note concerning the clearance issue, this turbo kit might have a bright future for those with SUV's or trucks that are interested in going turbo. They would most likely have sufficient clearance.