Silvia Club of NSW

Here are some pics of the turbo I've put together using the exhaust housing from a dead Apexi AX53B60 and the core / compressor housing from an IHI VF23, as used on some STi rexs.

The turbine wheel appears to be the same as the Apexi one, but the housing is larger (25mm vs the IHI's 20mm) and the IHI's compressor wheel is thicker (as in taller from base plate to nut), so I had to use the IHI compressor housing.

It's a pretty nice ball bearing turbo, and they seem to use a much lighter compressor wheel than the Garretts, which is probably why they get good response out of them, but do have issues with failing wheels if overboosted.

Obviously this one will be needing some extra custom pipe work for the air side of it as well as the coolant / oil lines. I've started modifying the IHI wastegate actuator to fit, because with the Apexi exhaust housing on it nothing actually lines up properly.

Hopefully it'll be worth it!

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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

You are a crazy man

Good to see what that dodgy Spexi turbo I was sold will be used for something in the end. Remember I'd like any components you don't use back for cool looking paper weights, etc.

Can't wait to see what this does. What do the turbos support on a dyno when in IHI spec?

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S13 Silvia Tuning - The Definitive SR20 Modifying Site

not too sure what the turbos do in normal IHI spec, but being on a boxer engine with AWD and a smaller exhaust housing it's not too comparable...

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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

What is the reason for swapping the rear housing? I'm assuming as it has t2 flanges so can be bolted to an sr manifold.... and the APEXi was rooted.

It'll be interesting to see the response with the larger rear housing. Higher power potential than the original IHI but a bit more lag which i'm assuming will be negated by the higher compression on the mongrel car it'll find it's way onto.

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meh

yeah the rear housing swap is mainly to make it easier to bolt up, but also the IHI's housing is a bit too small for the SR I think.
They need to use the smaller housing on the boxer because of the much longer manifold runners - causing a lot of exhaust energy to be lost before the turbo.

This won't be going on the high compression engine though, it'll be on the new engine which is a DE with DET internals and a thicker metal head gasket - so in comparison to my current setup it'll be pretty laggy!

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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

Ah, so you're going for lag on the next engine. You'll be sorry, i was.

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meh

I'm not going for that much lag!

I expect it'll be 3500rpm or before it makes full boost, and it'll be a bit sluggish off boost compared to my current engine - but it should make good top end power and have good transitional response.
When I'm driving on the track I rarely drop below 4000rpm anyway

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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

It's been about 14 months and i'm still waiting for my turbo to spool up. An extra half a litre might help that a bit.

Maybe your's will get there sooner

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meh

heheehe I certainly hope so!

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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

If you lend me a couple of pounds of boost, I'll lend you half a litre of displacement.

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Tips for being fooli sik:

Go chrome or go home
Sneezin's Pleasin'
Da flutta is bred and butta
NOS is boss
Try to be different, just like everyone else
No boost? Ya just loost

Nice, I like it did u rebuild it yourself ?

nah, these cores are not really rebuildable according to GCG, but it's cheaper to get another one rather than rebuilding anyway.

I've just mixed and matched some parts to get what I think is the best combination, and to make it fit the SR easier.

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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things