What Turbo Is This?

[stawka]

Guys i recently gave a minor upgrade to my turbo on the RB20. I had the standard RB20 turbo and i bought a new engine for parts, and this was the turbo that came off it...

I know it was slightly bigger, and the intake has more of a groove on the inside and i don't know too much about turbo's etc. I was thinking it's off an R33 s1/s2, or someone mentioned maybe it's off a VG30? If someone can help me that would be great because i need to know what turbo it is to see if i can get my ECU chipped.

Edited September 27, 2006 by stawka

[Revhead]

I'm not sure if I'm reading this right, but...

i need to know what turbo it is to see if i can get my ECU chipped

If you mean that you're going to get someone to send you an off-the-shelf chip by giving them a list of mods, don't! There is NO WAY for them to know how your particular motor needs to be tuned. You might have a 3" exhaust, but there can be big flow differences between similar-sized exhausts. Your fuel pressure or injectors might mean that the amount of fuel getting into cylinders for a given injector opening time will vary. They have no way of telling how mods will interact with eachother, even if they have data on each one individually. I would consider these chips to be a "base tune" - something you use to get you to the dyno, then work with and refine to match your vehicle. Unfortunately they're not usually tunable, ie you can't change them, so you're stuck with this "base tune" - basically, more than likely you will be stuck with a car that doesn't run its best. Be very wary.

Get a programnmable ECU (PowerFC is by far the most popular plugin, but there's no reason you can run Haltech, Motec etc, or remap your factory R32 ECU) and have it tuned PROPERLY on a dyno by someone who knows what they are doing.

[stawka]

Well i was looking at this ECU on Ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/RB20Det-Rechipped-E...1QQcmdZViewItem

Since i lost my part-time job and i go to Uni, i wanted to get a simple ECU upgrade without paying $1,000+ tuning. I thought if my turbo was one off a VG30, then this would be a decent upgrade, but you obviously seem to know your stuff so i'd take your advice. How much would it cost to get my car Dyno'd and a remapped ECU?!

[Revhead]

This statement in his ad should ring some alarm bells: "It is reccomended vehicles to be setup properly on a dyno by a quallified technician under no circumstances is Horsepower Inovations responsible or liable for the use of any of our items or any damage that may be caused by them, and are at the sole risk of the user"

Pretty standard, but even the guy selling the "chipped" ECUs recommends dyno tuning to get the best out of them

If you already have an ECU that can be tuned, a full dyno tune in my experience runs at around $400, give or take, plus parts like spark plugs if yours are fouled etc. RB20 ECUs can be remapped so if you can find someone reputable in your area who can tune it, you're set.

[discopotato03]

To answer your original question its very probably one of the multitude of variations of turbo Nissan put on RB20DET's . I've got one in the cave the same as that and I know its from an RB20 because of the small RB20 type exhaust housing on it . That grove in the compressor inlet snout/boss is an anti reversion groove , the RB25 type turbos have them as well . I think its unlikely to be off an early RB25 because all of those turbos that I've seen had the larger compressor cover (housing) and the casting is smoother and has "NISSAN" cast into it in bold text . Your compressor cover , like mine , is more of a silver colour that pale grey and the cast finish is pretty gritty . Another difference between RB20/25 comp covers is the size and bolt pattern of the compressor outlet adapter , both are three bolt but not interchangeable - RB25 is larger . I reckon its got the S1 RB25 cartridge and wheels in RB20 housings - factory .

Cheers A .

[R33BEN]

?

[ryan_o_grady]

Its off an R32 RB20.