Turbo Charging A Tundra!

400 miles in 20mph winds. 12-12.6mpg at 75mph. Cruise control all the way. Climbed up to 7700’ elevation and thank goodness I’ve got the turbo. Sea level I’m at 3.8-4psi and up here I’m best 1.4psi and I needed all the help I could get climbing and passing people.

Now for a week of this.

 

Looks peaceful.

More snow coming?

 

Possibly but not probably.

 

Engine Masters season 6, Episode 15, "Exhaust for Turbos" was an interesting watch.

 

Running the SPD which is 3” equal length true dual and no cats. Flows a lot and it sounds awesome.

 

I'll need to hear a sound clip or video while towing, from inside the cab. I was running a 20 or 21" DD because it gets a little loud under 8k lbs of load.

Jesse and I are brainstorming on some options but figured I'd share the episode that helps discuss some of the concepts and supporting tests.

 

I haven’t towed yet but I can tell you a 100% it quieted it down a lot. Instead of just exhaust note and noise it’s now just exhaust note. Kinda miss the rowdiness.

If I remember, I’ll try and get some vid on my way back home this week.

 

Awesome!!

 

Thanks for your assist today, Jesse @TurboKits

I'm getting ready to send my truck to one of their vendors/partners and I needed help reviewing the list of tasks, requests and specs for the swap. Per usual, responsive and helpful. Appreciate you, bud.

 

What were the main findings?

 

Essentially that a turbo despises any downstream restriction, be it downsizing the pipe or adding a muffler. For mufflers, Flowmaster 40s suck, Summit turbo mufflers absolutely blow, but Flowmaster Pro Series flowed almost as well as straight pipe.

 

Oh, and there was a direct correlation between lack of HP and lower boost levels (duh!), but this also correlated with manifold pressures before the turbo. The higher the pressure, the lower the boost.

 

Interesting about the mufflers especially after a quick look at the designs.
I've seen the Laminar Flow inserts sold separately by different vendors and they seem decent at cutting sound down from what I've seen tested on YT.
I'm surprised the deflectors on the 40 were so restrictive unless they are packed with other material.
The chambered turbo muffler design is also a surprise wonder if their version was packed with steel wool or just chambered with the perforated tubing.

 

It was an interesting watch, for sure.

 

Considering a turbo is exhaust driven, any restriction in the flow can cause issues. Once you go forced induction, scavenging isn’t as big of a concern as it is NA because the extra pressure will force things out. It just wants a nice big wide open exhaust.

 

Makes me ponder a 3.5" or 4" downpipe and exhaust, though I'm sure it's fine as-is. 3.5" is supposed to be ~36% more flow over a 3".

The downpipe will be an experiment later down the road. The exhaust though...

 

I wouldn’t worry about it. If you were going for max power and ET’s, it would be worth it but for a daily, not worth the hassle.

 

Downpipe and all that, agreed. Exhaust, meh. If I'm building, might as well build once. We'll see where it goes. I've got a few weeks at the least.

 

SPD. Runs and sounds great.

 

You owe me video.

 

I’m parked on the side of a mountain until Thursday. Although we did idle down a road and did some exploring on foot.

 

You bring up a good point with that photo. I don't want loud or rowdy. I'd like to hit logging and fire roads and take the kids moose watching. That's even a little difficult with the 20/21" DD.

 

Pardon my ignorance on this question, but with the turbo you could have a boost controller setup to keep the same 3.8-4psi up at elevation unlike us supercharged v8s correct?

 

Happy to help bro!

 

Yes he does and we are still dialing in the tune, I think we are on Rev 7, had all of the drivability dialed in and were just starting to turn up the wick when he went on his road trip. So I think once we finalize the tune, yes, he can easily, with a few clicks of a button have upped the PSI through his in cab, electronic boost controller. I think leaving it as is, to not add complications during a road trip was more so the plan this time around.

 

Okay awesome. Yeah this is the only reason I'd consider selling my maggie 2650 and going right away to stage 2 turbokits.com setup, lol

 

100%. No sense in risking damaging the truck 800 miles from home and really several hundred miles from any major city where I’m currently located.

 

If you want quiet, this isn’t it.

 

That's what I was assuming but was trying to keep an open mind.

If it didn't tow almost as much as it was daily driven, then maybe, but that just isn't how this truck is used, so here I am. I'm also doing away with the dog leg, so I'm not caring about any sort of bolt-on option. Downpipe #2 directly in to a single, straight pipe with a single muffler, likely keeping a side exit. There's a few options out there, just need to figure out how to test them and then make sure the one I like the most isn't the Summit Racing Turbo muffler that kills over 120HP on the dyno. It's got Jesse's 3" Banks Power system on it now that he's letting me borrow. It may end up being what I run. If not, it will be the template for something different since it is already 100% fitted.

Regardless, my first step: Get the truck shipped this Thursday so the prep for the engine swap can begin. Second step: Complete 500 miles of break-in before towing season starts. Third step: Logs, tow testing, enjoy. Then I can explore the more fun upgrades I was excited to pivot to before the water/methanol issue happened (valve body, warming puck bypass, exhaust options, etc.)