Wet v\'s Dry sore Turbos?

Grizzly · December 15, 2011, 09:32:50 PM

Hi all.

Has anyone had experience with Both wet and Dry core Turbo\'s on fd\'s around the 500hp range?

I know most of the early HKS To4e\'s and R\'s where Dry cores but most of the newer breed of Turbo are Wet, i\'m just doing some work for a guy i know and found his Turbo has been Apex\'d so wants a rebuild, the Turbo thats on it is a T04R (dry core) and it has always been a little smoky on overrun. I had a chat to the people that are quoting for the turbo rebuild and there saying some thing that produces as much exhaust heat as a powerful rotary needs a water cooled core for long term reliability? It does kind of make sense but there are loads of people running Dry cores out there, just interested how long the life expectancy of for example a HKS Dry T04R next to say a Garret Wet T04R would be at 500hp? I know the Dry core T4 was originally designed for low temp Diesels but they must have done some mods so they can handle the extra heat? Or is the water core that mod?

Sorry if i\'m rambling a bit but before giving the yay or nay i need to Justify its worth doing while the Turbo is in Bits? (might be cheaper to buy a new one)

Grant Monkhouse · December 15, 2011, 09:48:37 PM

Surely the turbo is oil cooled?

m1tch · December 15, 2011, 10:00:47 PM

I think he is meaning oil and water (wet core) or oil cooling only (dry core)

Grizzly · December 15, 2011, 11:28:35 PM

Yeh sorry, all turbo\'s are Oil Lubricated (kind of goes without saying) but some also have a water feed in and out which is supposed to give some extra cooling to stop oil cooking onto the Bearing and leaving carbon deposits (or so i\'m told)

I just wanted to know if there was a real deference in reliability between the two types or if it was just hype?

Grizzly · December 15, 2011, 11:47:23 PM

if a mod see\'s this can you change the title to Core not Sore....

Geez i need to read my posts before hitting that button...

Grant Monkhouse · December 16, 2011, 08:35:10 AM

I think the water cooled turbos tend to be ball bearing turbos, which need that extra bit of cooling so the bearings don\'t get cooked. Whereas as a journal bearing turbo will be fine with just oil providing lubrication and cooling.

The new borgwarner EFR turbos have a water cooling jacket but BW themselves say you can run their turbos without it if you want.

BlitzBoy · December 16, 2011, 09:15:53 AM

My HKS T51R is only oil cooled, (non BB) , seems to handle the heat of the rotary so far.
Of course Oil and water cooled turbos with BB are better technology and will spool better.
But oil cooled only turbos are cheaper to rebuild

Grant Monkhouse · December 16, 2011, 09:20:57 AM

:Thumbsup!:Thumbsup!:Thumbsup! My BW s366 is also oil cooled only.

Quote from: BlitzBoy;802781My HKS T51R is only oil cooled, (non BB) , seems to handle the heat of the rotary so far.
Of course Oil and water cooled turbos with BB are better technology and will spool better.
But oil cooled only turbos are cheaper to rebuild

Ed_RX7 · December 16, 2011, 11:19:38 AM

Blimey!!!!! you love BW dont you...seems like every other sentece has BW in it......LOL...im only messing fella!!!

I concur with Blitz on this one!!!!!

an easy solution....find out the temp limits of your turbo brfore you purchase it....get yourself an EGT gauge...job done!!!.... then you should have no issues with either one you go for...( providing you heed the gauge of course!!!!!)

Grant Monkhouse · December 16, 2011, 01:16:31 PM

Quote from: Ed_RX7;802798Blimey!!!!! you love BW dont you...seems like every other sentece has BW in it......LOL...im only messing fella!!!

I concur with Blitz on this one!!!!!

an easy solution....find out the temp limits of your turbo brfore you purchase it....get yourself an EGT gauge...job done!!!.... then you should have no issues with either one you go for...( providing you heed the gauge of course!!!!!)

Haha, yeh I do talk about them too much don\'t I? Lmao. I must apologise though as they are really the only turbo iv looked up about due to me owning one. I would know more about others if I researched them a bit. All I know about garretts is that the R versions are really expensive!!

cyman · December 17, 2011, 12:02:57 AM

when i rebuilt my to4s i had a long chat with the chap that supplied me with the bits i needed i also bought a brand new garrett bearing housing which he could supply in either wet or dry for me. after much discussion about the rx7 which do have issues with dissipating heat from time to time and have an engine that doesnt like excessive heat build up. i decided that going wet really didnt hold any advantages and would only be adding more heat into the water system which sort of goes against what most rex owners try to achieve the turbo guro cam to the same conclusion.

this conclusion seems pretty correct for normal and front mount cooling setups but if you have a v mount that easily handles everything you throw at it cooling wise with excess cooling to spare then going wet will not do any harm.

for me i run dry bearing housing running 450bhp with no issues with heat and my front mount cooling even on track.