Need advice on new turbo,PT52 blew up!

[striker_29]

Well I have a 52 and its about 6 months old, not very many miles on it. I have only pushed it into the mid 12's, but so far so good. When I bought it I thought the issues were with the 51's only. Fingers are crossed.

 

[sixgun86gn]

Mine only had about 2000 miles on it.I took it up to Majestic turbo here in Irving.The guy I talked to said that the 52 exhaust wheels are very heavy and when they come to a stop like after letting off the throttle the inertia is probably tearing them up.He also said that he was surprised it spooled as fast as I told him because of the weight of the rotating mass.He is going to tear it down and see if he can machine my housings and install a te 61 wheel setup.It should save me some cash if he can.If it works good I'll let you know.He rebuilt my stock turbo with a 60-1 wheel and it worked great,it still does but lost some on the top end.The reason I was running such low boost is that I was on pump gas and cant seem to get my alky figured out.It either bogs or pops and really hurts performance.Until I can have some one help me with it that knows what they are doing it will stay that way.Also there is a difference between boost and airflow.The 52 flows more air at the same boost without heating the inlet temp as much,so there is a gain.Just more if the boost is turned up.

 

[Brian Schauder]

Hang In There Mark

I've had my 52 on mine for about 9000 miles,15 pulls at the track,and endless full out passes on the street for DS data.It's seen it's fair share of boost too.Haven't had any problems.Guess I'm just lucky(I knock on wood every time I type this).

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

for a certain reason.. ... i cant talk much about the situation....you'll figure out why.

but all i can say about the ones that havent broke is that not all the cast roller cams wiped out either...does that mean they were good?

the only way to do anything about it is for the failed ones to step up..i know who alot of you are but will remain silent like i said i would.

Brian Schauder:" who built your turbo? other people build 51 and 52's also but havent seen any of theirs broke yet but there probly is just some people stand behind their products and some dont..

 

[Brian Schauder]

No,not saying all are good,but some aren't bad that's all.Mines a Precision Turbo.Not exactly sure how old it is though as it was on the car when i got it.All I can attest to is what I've put it through.I'm thinking maybe mine is older and that's why I've been lucky.I'm still knocking by the way.

 

[striker_29]

Thanks for the words of encouragement Brian, hopefully you and I will be ok. Like I said, I have only pushed mine to a 12.5 with a low timing (RA106) chip and ~25 lbs. How far have you pushed yours time and boost wise???

 

[Brian Schauder]

I was having problems with my wastegate(didn't know how it worked) so I was getting really inconsistent boost levels.I was seeing 22-23 in first,24-25 in second and 29-30 in third on one pass!Most of my passes were made with a consistent 22-23 before I started messing with the gate.Went 11.88 at 116 and 11.98 at 114 on radials with high 1.7 60's.It also could have used some fuel too.Haven't had a chance to go back to the track since then as I would like to see what it would do with a solid 25 across the board,and maybe a slick also.It's a stock motor pan to intake with a 100,000 on it.Speed wise I wasn't pushing it anywhere near Red's times,but it sure did see some boost on that one run.At least right towards the finish line anyways.

 

[c&cgn]

I've gone 11.38 @ 117 with my 52 @ 24-25 psi. No problems yet, knock on wood. I have been told that the 51 and 52 DO NOT have the exact same exhaust wheel. I was told it is the same type of wheel (GT350) but that they are actually two different wheels. Can anyone confirm this? Either way, the failure rate on the 51/52's is extremely scary to me and I am keeping my fingers crossed that mine continues to perform for a long time to come.

 

[Monty]

I recently completed the construction and dyno testing of a Twin Turbo SBC 427 using two Precision PT-52's. I ended up making about 1200hp and 1000 ft lbs on pump gas with around 18psi of boost on a mild tune of only 23.5 degrees and a 11.8 A/F ratio. I asked the guys at Precision about the reported issues with the PT51/52 GT350 turbine wheels and they said they have only had failures due to problems caused by the engines the turbo's are applied to. He refuted the claim that the wheels were coming apart or eroding.

Admittedly, I was concerned about reading of these failures as I was planning and building my engine. We only ran about 5-6 dyno runs and the engine only ran a few hours, but the turbo's are still tight and the wheels look like brand new, albiet blackened.

I have a hard time believing that Precision or anyone else is continuing to sell a turbo using a faulty wheel. It certainly wouldn't be good for their reputation or business. The hot rod industry is too fickle for a company to get bad press or a bad reputation. I would imigine the market for aftermarket turbo's is even smaller, and thus more susceptable. The power and breadth of the internet certainly spreads the word.


I wonder if the other turbo companies are also using the GT 350 turbine wheels and if they are experiencing any abnormal failures? Anyone called Turbonetics, etc to ask?

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

Originally posted by Monty
I asked the guys at Precision about the reported issues with the PT51/52 GT350 turbine wheels and they said they have only have failures due to problems caused by the engines the turbo's are applied to. He refuted the claim that the wheels were coming apart or eroding.


I have a hard time believing that Precision or anyone else is continuing to sell a turbo using a faulty wheel. It certainly wouldn't be good for their reputation or business. The hot rod industry is too fickle for a company to get bad press or a bad reputation. I would imigine the market for aftermarket turbo's is even smaller, and thus more susceptable. The power and breadth of the internet certainly spreads the word.

would you expect any different explanation??

of all the ones i know of none of the motors have a problem including mine and i went thru 3 on my motor 2 in a 24 hour time period. i put my factory stock turbo on the motor after that and beat it to heii and back and it still works and i now have a
lt 70-1 turbo on the car and was out all weekend in race trim running the car at high boost all weekend and since then...at this moment the car is sitting in race trim in the driveway where i parked it last night after many tunning passes.

not one thing has been changed since the 51 came apart on my car i just changed the plugs in it for the first time yesterday so i would have new plugs to tune by.

and lets not forget the ta-49 i ran on my car between the first and second 51 blowup that another board owner has on his car now and has no problem with..and thats the 49 i went 121 in the 1/4 with

i will add here that im not trying to slam precision .....all other products including the ta-49 and been great ...but i have a major problem with the 51 and 52 turbo's and i believe ALL vendors should stop making them or switch to a different turbine wheel.

 

[Two Lane]

No way, Jose'!

After Reds' experiences (nightmares) & hearing the same things from others on similar threads for months, I would be concerned about being hit by shrapnel if a 51/52 turbo was on a car in the lane next to me!

 

[KEVINS]

I agree... Red is not the only one having problems with these turbos and the vendor has the $$ to ignore the issues and is obviously going to ignore it for a long time...

ks

 

[nitrousmike175]

I guess i'm luckey to i have a 52 on my car and i haven't had a problem yet. BTW my car is 121 MPH car and i beat the hell out of it and i don't let off the gas easy at full boost. Now that i have said this it will break tommorow.

 

[sixgun86gn]

Mike ,I was the same way with mine.The turbine sheared right off of the shaft and spit right into the DP.That I think was caused by throttling it one too many times to get traction.I think I will get a blow off valve also.

 

[BobbyBuick]

I have a te 44 on my GN it ran 11.69 with blue tops and a STOCK IC no neck nothing other than a drimmel tool.Its hard to beat this turbo for all around street performance.that turbo comes on right now.ITS A PROVEN LONG LASTING RELIABLE HARD HITTING TURBO
Im running a TE45A on my other car with msd 50s it went 10.58 @ 127 .I cound run it on the street but I dont think Id like it as well as it will needs a convertor to get it started and low end is not as fast however look out in trird gear.Remember that is a 66 wheel in their.A friend of mine had one on the street with a 12" convertor and it looked doggy out of the hole.like I said my opinion that 44 is hard to beat.limited enginnering has been great to me .thats all I run!

 

[turbov6joe]

My dad has a PT-52 on his new motor right now, but has also had a PT-52 take a crapski after a short time. He sent it back to Harry and they rebuilt it back new PT-52 standards. He has had good luck with it thus far (fingers crossed).

 

[nitrousmike175]

Originally posted by sixgun86gn
Mike ,I was the same way with mine.The turbine sheared right off of the shaft and spit right into the DP.That I think was caused by throttling it one too many times to get traction.I think I will get a blow off valve also.

I'm looking into a blow off valve for my car also. If you come across one for a good price email me.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[turboaddict2]

oh great now I want to replace my pt51 with a John Craig turbo! I guess I wouldn't mind doing that in the future

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

 

[Boostisgood]

In my experience....... the PT-54 i had spooled a bit slower than a buddy of mines PT-51! My 54 broke the center shaft with only 8,000 miles on it. I now use a 70 BB (.63 housing) turbo from cottons and it spools as fast as my 54 if not somewhat faster! I would recommend the TE-45A. A great street/strip turbo! Capable of 10's and make for an good spooler with a mild convertor. You should be able to run 11.40-11.50's no problem at all with good tune! I am aslo a firm believer of the TA-49 and the TE-44. Better spoolers, but considerably tougher to get into the 10's.