Have an Idea..

[my78r100s]

Hey there- I really appreciate all the info and support that this site, and you guys, give. All is mostly well in my Powerstroke world, although Parts Plus gave me the wrong starter solenoid so the starter is on the floor in the garage- No worries, my local Auto-Electric guy had the right one on the shelf, so it'll be going tomorrow. That being said, I came across a product on ebay that is an DC powered "turbo" that is basically a cheap squirrel cage, guaranteed to cause lots of problems, but I think the idea has merit. I built an electric car last summer, put a little over 1K miles on it, and sold it last weekend. I also did the HHO "Smack's Generator" (with PP results!!) so I'm kinda into abusing equipment excuse me- USING equipment in a way it wasn't designed for. That being said, an immediate spooling of 3 PSI constant in an ICE does wonders for fuel economy. The bugger is, plumbing. I don't want to spend the time or the $$$ to break my wife's Cherokee... What I'm looking at doing is using a REAL turbo, powering it w/ a DC motor, using throttle position and manifold pressure to control it, gating it and seeing what happens. What I need is the intake side of a turbo to adapt a gear reduction/ motor onto, then start playing. Anybody got something that fits the bill, or experience trying something as stupid as this? Thanks, Mike

 

[BJS]

interesting idea,

not to discredit the idea but a few hurdles I see is where in the intake system is this going to go? What level of intake restriction will it provide during "normal" boosted periods? will you trigger an error code with lower rpms and reading boost(map out of range)? 3psi is a rather significant amount of air volume to be induced with an electric charge.

 

[my78r100s]

Hi Brandon- The idea is to keep a constant boost of 3 PSI period. Tricking the MAF or MAP is pretty simple... Wattage is the key for something like this, and the actual issue at hand is coming up with a turbo... Regards, Mike

 

[BJS]

I would suggest looking at the TDI turbos though they are integrated into the exhaust manifolds or look at the turbos that are being utilized on the ricer motors which will provide you the ability to get 3 psi easily but when flowing higher volumes of air would be a restriction to the intake path unless you are planning on doing a second intake.

would you see it as a possibility to extend the shaft of the stock turbo with a pentration through the intake boots similar to that used for the prop shaft of an inboard motor, use that to induce the boost at the low end combined with a clutching mechanism that would allow the turbo to spool freely on exhaust gasses when the volume is sufficient.

 

[my78r100s]

Hi Brandon- I tried to find a link for the product that gave me the inspiration for this product, but no luck. A picture would make it a lot easier to explain.. To clarify, if you took the exhaust housing off a turbo and attached a motor to the shaft of the intake side of it, that is what I'm looking at. A DC motor with a variable speed controller regulated to say 3 PSI of boost will drive the fan. I don't think initially I will allow for any free spooling of the fan, but a dc motor with any mass attached to it has very little drag when powering down (ie decelerating) and spins quite freely. The chicken scratch kit I saw on ebay had no variable control, just a plastic(!!!) squirrel cage with a 3 amp @ 12vdc ((36 watt) motor and he claimed 2-3 PSI of boost. I figure maybe it boosted that until you started the motor... So, a real housing/blade combination and a variable speed motor is quite doable, just need the housing and the appropriate RPM motor, and.... It either works or it doesn't. It's actually quite simple, put a K&N filter on the intake, hook the outlet up to the existing intake tube, no worries...
Mike

 

[JLDickmon]

Turbonator
you're not talking about one of these Giambrone devices, are you?

 

[my78r100s]

No, definitely not that. I looked again on Ebay, search for item number 150343779383 and you'll see what I mean... a picture's worth a thousand words...

 

[JLDickmon]

Dude.. no.

we had a discussion about these last(?) year, and we figured it would take one the size of a commercial HVAC unit spinning at like the speed of sound to keep up with the air requirements of a 7.3..

the tag line

* Better Vehicle Handling

should be a tip-off that this is a scam

 

[BJS]

on a normally aspirated engine it would be a bit easier to get that extra air in there however when you throw a turbo in the mix you have two problems.

The plumbing design that you have described will actually hinder performance because the fan/turbo will be an intake restriction and resist flow when not actually providing boost.

While a turbo intake housing would be an effective fan the problem is that they spin at 10's of thousands of rpms to make boost

 

[my78r100s]

I think you're missing the point- it will always be providing boost, no restriction. Motor rpm is not an issue either, and needing a unit the size of an HVAC is not the case (4 liter motor). It appears that nobody has actually done this, so I guess I'll take my ball and go home (LOL). I am not deterred, just wondering if anyone has a defunct turbo unit for sale for a reasonable price? It's going to get cannibalized, just needs a decent intake wheel and housing... Thanks, Mike