Help identifying this (Nissan?) turbo ?

[Derek727]

Hi all - I'm a newby to the forum - my reason for joining is this -

 I've purchased a hill climb project (1940's MG TC) that was fitted with a (I'm told) a second hand Aussie Nissan/Datsun turbo.

It was a well known car that had 100 rwhp, sounded great, and the throttle was like an on/off switch - so naturally it needs to live again... 

The shed it was garaged in burnt down years ago and I recently purchased the car in bits, and the turbo apparently suffered a bit in the fire and was thrown out.

The previous owner has passed away and nobody could tell me what model turbo was fitted - except they remember it was a Nissan/Datsun.

The engine was 1250cc and the photo was taken in 1997 (might help date the turbo) - can anyone tell me what the turbo is, or might be, or steer me in the direction of finding out ?

Thanks for any help.

Derek

 

 

[Duncan]

Welcome Derek, and it would be good to hear more about how the project goes.

I take it that is the only pic you have of the turbo? Do you have the exhaust, manifold or intake where they connected to the turbo that you can measure up?

The key things to identify it are size, turbo to manifold type (T3, T4 etc), dump pipe size and possibly the intake connections. 

Hopefully there are people on here with better memories around the older datsun turbos who might be able to assist. I can't see a wastegate and it looks like it is only oil cooled, not water cooled, which probably narrows it down a heap. The core itself also looks pre 90s to me, so probably first generation datsun turbo like fj20, puslar turbo etc

[Derek727]

1 hour ago, Duncan said:

Welcome Derek, and it would be good to hear more about how the project goes.

I take it that is the only pic you have of the turbo? Do you have the exhaust, manifold or intake where they connected to the turbo that you can measure up?

The key things to identify it are size, turbo to manifold type (T3, T4 etc), dump pipe size and possibly the intake connections. 

Hopefully there are people on here with better memories around the older datsun turbos who might be able to assist. I can't see a wastegate and it looks like it is only oil cooled, not water cooled, which probably narrows it down a heap. The core itself also looks pre 90s to me, so probably first generation datsun turbo like fj20, puslar turbo etc

Thanks Duncan

Unfortunately that is the only photo of the turbo I have.

The manifolds are still bolted to the engine and I have the exhaust pipe with the flange in the pic - I was looking on the net at the different turbo model gaskets with their measurements last night and the next time I get to look at the motor (it's 70 klm away)  I'll measure it for hole spacing , inlet and dump pipe diameter. etc.

I just realized that in the photo there is an adapter plate between the exhaust manifold and the turbo that I don't have, so I'll see if the exhaust gasket lines up because I found a round turbo outlet gasket for a skyline R31 87-89 RB20DET with measurements on the net so maybe that will be lucky - but I may be on the wrong track if the exhaust is adapted too.

I will post updates as I get work done on it - it's a full restoration job from the chassis up, which is a shame in a way because when it's going I hope to take it to the salt flats some time. (I live at Ipswich)

Cheers

Derek

 

[GTSBoy]

Question. Do you want to recreate the car with the exact same turbo? If so, then fair enough. But more realistically, if it just needs to be a turbo that looks roughly the same, there are a bunch of options and the choice comes down to picking one that matches the boost & flow requirements.

That's a 1250cc 6 cylinder? Any T25 or T28 based turbo from a Nissan would be ample. Anything from an RB20 upwards would likely be too large, and also hampered by a ceramic turbine on most of them. Ceramic turbines are to be avoided.

[Ben C34]

But keep in mind it needs to be able to be used in a suck  through carby application, which rules out pretty much every turbo on a factory car in the last 25 years at least

[Ben C34]

53 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

That's a 1250cc 6 cylinder?

It's a 4cylinder, the inlet ports are Siamese so there is 2. I bet that thing would pretty much stop idling after a few minutes based on where the carby is

[GTSBoy]

1 minute ago, Ben C34 said:

It's a 4cylinder, the inlet ports are Siamese so there is 2. I bet that thing would pretty much stop idling after a few minutes based on where the carby is

Uh! Open eyes.

I pretty much vote now for using a Pulsar turbo.

[paulR32gtr]

I spent a lot of time messing around with these. It looks very much like an early oil cooled version of the Garrett AiResearch M10 T2 as found on leaded N12 Pulsar ET Turbo E15ET engines.

Exhaust housing has been rotated from the standard position to suit. T2 exhaust flange.

See photos here. Particularly the second and third photos. In the second photo you can see that metal block on the exhaust housing, that you can see in your photo. Also third photo shows the core and oil inlet that matches yours. Used circlips for both comp and exhaust housing, and would suit your stated HP. 

http://www.micra.com.au/community/message.php?messageid=1934

 

[Duncan]

good call. right size, era, style, and has the same ridged castings on the core

[Derek727]

Cheers Paul and Duncan - that does look right - gives me something to start looking for.

Thanks GTSBoy and C34 for your help and tips too - I got some learning to do.

Derek

[Derek727]

This also looks like it if my wallet was overflowing... 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Turbo-for-1983-1984-Nissan-Pulsar-with-a-1-5L-E15ET-engine-OEM-1441117M05/303430951358?hash=item46a5e4e1be:g:1GAAAOSw2LFeD7n7

[paulR32gtr]

I should have held on to all mine! I think I gave the last one away to clear out space.

That one has watercooling. But for that price you could EASILY get something far more modern, brand new, ball bearing etc

I did have a high flowed one with a slightly larger compressor wheel that was ace. All the response of the stock turbo but able to handle an extra 4psi over the stock one.

I have a load of stock ceramic exh GTR turbos lying around... I wonder if they will/have come back into fashion with the way GTR part prices are going.

[Ben C34]

Car seems pretty cool, post up some more pics when you get a chance

[Duncan]

Definitely keep hold of those GTR turbos. Can't believe how many I turfed over the years.

BTW yes that turbo is expensive (esp in USD), but realistically a properly rebuilt turbo probably does go for 1000, and you need to consider those might be pretty rare these days.