Turbo Sizing Question
 

Hey Guys, I have been searching for hours and my head is really spinning. I am helping a friend build a 93 for a tow rig.

Here are the planned upgrades:

Head Studs
Exhaust Brake
60lb Valve Springs
Piston Style Fuel Pump Upgrade
Gillett Diesel Fuel Pin & Gov Spring
SDX 5x.012 Injectors
Pump Tweaks

I have all of that figured out, but I am really stuck on turbocharger options. $1200+ isn't in the budget for a new turbocharger, so I want to look at some more economical options. $500-600 is going to be all that is left for the turbo. The stock turbo is in great shape, low miles. Is it worth putting on a 60mm Compressor Wheel and maybe an 18cm turbine housing or am I better off with a turbo from an 03/04 truck or?

If I am better off upgrading the stock turbo, what kind of turbine housing should I look at? Wastegated or not? Not 100% on what the advantage of a wastegated housing is. Sizing options? The truck is a 5spd and will see plenty of towing.

Thanks for any help guys!

well first off there isnt a fuel pin in a ppump thats for the rotory VE
the factory h1c is a giant POS swap it out for a good used 2nd gen turbo at the very least. a HX35 or WH1C but even with this better stock turbo the 5x12's will get quite warm towing heavy loads. you might save up for a super b or a 62/65/14 ish turbo to run wit the larger injectors and just buy them at the same time. the HE351 turbos are quick spooling and move a bit more air but have a VERY small 9cm exhaust housing so there is no real top end. so if your foot is in it things are going to get hot. and they arnt quite bolt ons like the earlier models.

Could also get a used hx35 and rebuild it with a hx40 housing/wheel to make a hybrid.

you can but you run the risk of the big wheel on the little shaft and breaking it.
250 hopefully good turbo pluss the $450 upgrade = the $700 he doesnt have to spend and for a few more $$$ could have a MUCH better turbo. the hybrids are in my opinion a bandaid.

I dont know if this is an option you want to take but back in december I bought a brand new HX35W from a company on Ebay that goes by the name CXRacing. It was cheap. $300 cheap but all new parts. I checked it over good before installing it and everything seemed very true and reliable. I have since run it in a couple of truck pulls and also pulled my 28ft gooseneck with a cpl 14-16K loads on it and it has been amazing. Obviously time will tell but so far this has been a very good economical turbo. They are much better known in the street tuner world if you research them and they have decent reviews there. They are based out of california FYI. I have an auto but do put my truck through the paces I like to think as much as lots of other guys do and this has been good so far. Just an option.

From what I can see the mods your planning on sound great. But my opinion stay away from the hx35:td: it's only a hair bigger on the compressor side than the stock H1C it just has a smaller exh. Housing.:nope: I would go for upgrading the stock turbo with the 60mm compressor housing and the 16cm exh. Housing :):choochoo:

I have seen videos of the CX racing turbos shrapnel under a load at about 40psi. There is a place in Los Angeles called jm turbo that are supposed to be pretty good and are around the same price as the CX turbos. I'm doing research on them and have called them a couple of times but they are usually busy. I'm thinkin about running one of their hx40's on my 97

60mm wheel and w/g 14 housing would make a good upgrade combo or u could go full blown hx40 if u can find the right one

which would suck for towing... a hx40 has a 65mm turbine which is fine but hte housing is a 16 hich is to damn big in most cases when heavily loaded. a hx35 is a 56/58/12 and is a good turbo up to approx 350 ponies. there is absolutly NO need for a truck that works to be over 350hp you just start breakin stuff all the time and running things to hard. so depending on the end HP goal is where you need to consider your turbo size. the smaller housings get you off the line much quicker and cleaner but loose up top but if i understand correctly you are not looking for up top power you want down low pull like a train and chug along power right? if that is the case stay pretty small with your turbo choice and away from the hx40 for your application. 65mm wheels are great for towing but no bigger than a 14 housing.

x2 I wouldnt suggest the hx40 for towing. I was just throwing some info out there on off brand turbos.