I pulled the shroud off the turbo a couple days ago. This thing is PRETTY SMALL. Does anyone know what the size it is?
It is a 1996 GMC Suburban 1/2 ton 4wd. It has the 8 hole axles and is supposed to be a 10,000 pound tow package. I am just wondering if I could upgrade the turbo to like a T4 or something that would move more air and hopefully get me more power.

Thanks for all who respond, if anyone does.

Happy Holidays

Big Ed

 

I believe that these turbos are very similar in size to a factory Grand National turbo, which means they are basically a T3/T4 hybrid. I'm not sure of any specifics on these turbos, but I have a friend that uses two of them on his 350. The compressor wheel is around 55ish mm. and the turbine side is similar to a large T3. Maybe try a search on "GM-8" to see what comes up. HTH.

 

The turbo is a T3 turbine and to my knowledge cant be upgraded. You can get the banks manifolds for the N/A diesel and put a T4 based turbo on it.

 

HX-35Ws have a T3 flange too, maybe you could try one of those or an upgrade turbo. If you havn't gotten an exhaust/intake on it and are running stock pieces you're probably not taking advantage of what you have.

 

It is definitely not running up to what I would have expected. But being it's a 96 model I haven't even been able to locate either a power programmer or a company that can burn a chip for it. I saw an article on the 6.5's the hummers are using and they found bigger injectors for it, but as far as a performance item, it is very hard to locate items for it.

Since I have the exhaust housing off of it, I will go out and take some pictures of it so you can see what I have.

Ed

 

You may not, 6.5Ls are generally conisdered "dogs" by most people. Like I was saying, I bet some intake/exhaust tract mods even home made ones would probalby liven it up a good bit, and increase mpg. The stock air box on it probably sucks and the stock exhaust is probably not optimal to say the least; I'd get a cone filter and home brew a CAI for it if you can't find one.

 

I ran an 1/8th mile both with and without the filter housing on the inlet of the turbo and it seemed to be almost identical. Only one of the times was recorded and it was a 13.10... I would have had to have a 100 shot of nitrous to get into the slowest class they had which was 12.0.

I have the pictures taken and will be trying to get them up in a few for people to take a look at.

Big Ed

 

peninsular diesel makes big power with the 6.5 diesel, 300+hp and they have proven to be reliable! look them up, they sell turbos, inj. and everything to get you going!!!!!! Hope this helps

 

I was looking into a turbo 6.5 for a car hauler buddy of mine, and came across this site;

www.ssdieselsupply.com/

Check them out, they have power packages, as well as being the inovators of some of the fixes for the common 6.5 diesel stigmattas. I know that you can get marine injectors, a exchange PCM, a 4" exhaust, a resistor and a CAI that should put you reliably around 285 hp. They are great to talk to, and the price is right, especially since no one else makes any real hop up parts for them.

Good luck, and copy/paste the above link to their web site.

Nate

 

how do they spool, and what kind of power does it make with those turbo's? i have an opportunity to trade a nitrous system for a pair of them and was curious about how well they might work. thanks in advance.

 

From what I can tell, they are t3/t4 hybrid units.
for a 6L V8 turning 3500 RPM max single turbo system, mine starts to have a leap in pull at about 1500 RPm or so, so 3000 on a twin system. Just a guesstimate.

 

His particular set-up spools a little slow, but I think it is more an issue of picking the right converter. Right now his converter is a little tight for how soon they spool, but I believe he gets full boost between 3000-3500. He goes by 'turbobubba55' on this board. He used 1-1/4" weld-el's for his primary pipes, then 2-1/2" down pipes to generic turbo mufflers followed by 3" tailpipes. The pair should be good for 750hp or so, and the GM turbo is one of the few diesel turbos that is sized suitably compressor/turbine wise for use on a gas motor.

I found some info in one of his old posts:
"these turbo's spool quite quickly. from a dead stop idling- they start to spool about 2500 rpm, and i've got my current 12 psi by 3000 rpm. i'm using a th350 auto with 2200 rpm stall. i can foot brake stall it to about 2900 rpm, but trying to launch like that is like driving on ice."

 

very good to hear, the thing i love about turbo's is you don't have to refill them, gas and go.

bitchin sig by the way