I have a Line on a rebuilt Borg Warner GM-5 turbo from a 6.5ltr gm diesel. just a quick google reveals that its approximately a .60 compressor, with a .70 hot side.

whats the word on the street on this little (big) guy? the dude selling wants only $250, for a 5000km rebuild...




will it spool?

this would be for my 242 project...

Won't spool unless you do something about the wastegate, at which point it MIGHT.

The wastegate on a 6.5 is totally backwards to that of a regular turbo: a vacuum pump holds the wastegate closed to make boost, and then when it wants to reduce boost, it drops the vacuum. We did a quick & simple mechanical wastegate conversion on Dale's truck, and it was quite successful.

You'll obviously be building a unique exhaust manifold for it, so I think you can handle the wastegate design.

If it's a T04, measure the turbine wheel and you can probably get a number of different turbine housings to match it, though none will have internal wastegates so I suggest designing your custom manifold for an external right now, in case you want to switch to a smaller turbine housing.

Thanks for posting that.

MIGHT, worries me a bit... since im a noob, I will ask why?

I realize also that a externally gated header is also going to be in the works for this... the idea was to just sit on it until I get around to building a header. and running a 90+ ish for now.

compressor maps and stuff are still a little over my head still, but im reading as much literature as I can.

Should I be jumping on this? Is all I really want to know for now...

It spools pretty quickly with 6.5L of V8 diesel exhaust pumping through it however it's not as big as some turbos I've seen mounted on 4 cylinder power plants. $250 is cheap for a nearly new GM turbo. Tempting to buy it as a back-up for mine although even with 350,000km on it, my turbo is still tight.

Your welcome to it. I can get you in contact with the guy if you like.

The "might" thing depends on a bunch of things, but mostly it's down to the A/R of the turbine housing. The .70 A/R is pretty big - most 5.0 litre Mustang guys run 0.68 housings on their TO4 based turbos - but the beauty of the TO4 (or T4 for short) is that you can change the turbine housings to suit. This particular turbo hails back to the day when wastegates were not used, and turbos were sized so that they were just big enough to hit full boost just before redline. Lots of turbine sizes were needed, and they were very efficient with low exhaust backpressure ratios, but response on the street suffered. This turbo has an internal gate that may or may not be big enough, and a turbine housing that may or may not be too big, for your engine. Big old turbos are heavy and the weight reduces the response just as much as a too-small turbine housing would.

I agree with Dale: $250 is pretty cheap for a new-ish turbo, though you should be prepared to be spending another couple hundred on each a turbine housing and an external wastegate, as well as a bunch on a header. As well, you should MAKE SURE that this turbocharger frame is compatable with traditional T4 turbine housings, otherwise you could be screwed.

The new turbos on the market are better in almost every way than the older turbos, and if I didn't have so much money tied up in bigger turbos already I'd be looking at something like a Garrett GT series. I believe they bolt onto T3 flanges (so you can bolt it up to a 90+ and save some money for now) and are internally gated. They're not cheap, but can save you lots of hassle while getting you a better product.

I've got a T04B 60 trim/T3 0.63 AR turbo sitting in my garage that I don't intend on using. It's a cold side rebuild that I ran for two summers before deciding I wanted a smaller turbo. kind of pointless to have a big turbo when I can only run ~12psi and redline at 6000rpm.
I can probably do a similar price if you're interested, it's set up for a volvo manifold with wastegate.

You've got a 60 trim compressor section? Last I heard you had that T or S1 or whatever trim it was, the same thing that I've got on that full brand new T04 turbo in my garage.

That .60 sounds tempting. might pick that up off you when I grab the pistons...

Bah, sorry, you're right (like usual), it's a 60 A/R, housing, but I think the trim is officially "T3/4" trim. Never did find a compressor map for it, but based on the dimensions it's somewhere between an S and V trim T04b IIRC.
Here's the compressor next to a stock T3 45 trim.

Heres the pics, never realised there was no turbine housing....