Tilted Turbo
 

Ok, i have searched and found nothing regarding this, and i dont remember reading anything in maximum boost about it... Im doing a DIY, and designing my manifold right now, and i noticed that i could make things fit better by tilting the turbo turbine side down about 15 degrees from horizontal. Has anyone ever seen or done this, or know if it would hurt anything??

Nope, you just have to make sure your oil feed and drain lines are positioned correctly.

i've read 15* is the max for tilting. i can't remember where i read it. ditto on the drain and feed positioning. isn't there a forum called diyturbo.com or something like that? maybe that's where i read it.

the feed and drain need to remain at 0º-10º, other than that postion the turbo at will.

yep, center section can be clocked to keep the oil drain straight, and then you can do whatever with the housings..

I've seen this done before to allow more clearance for a 3" downpipe. I don't recall what turbo it was or what kind of affect it had on durability. Given Bell's comment on your m.n thread about turbo seal geometry being a factor I'd call the manufacturer and ask. More than likely they will shrug you off, but it's always worth a shot.

I can't imagine tilting the turbo on a fore/aft axis would be good. Seems like that would bias oil flow to front/rear of the bearing- on a journal bearing turbo anyway.

Yeah, but the oil thats lubricating the journal isnt swashing around in the core, its sprayed in, onto the journal, then exit, You do not want oil building up in your core (slow spool up, and blow by) If you have enough oil pressure theoretically you can have the turbo any way you want.

You need to watch the oil drain out of turbo if you think the pressure has that much to do with the dispersion. What's moving the oil around is the shaft/bearing spinning. My concern is removing the "used" oil. Placing the center vertical guarantees that the gravity is working 100% towards oil drainage. I have never seen turbo mounted fore/aft in an OE application. Nor have I seen a center section feed anywhere but from the top and drain anywhere from the bottom. I can only assume that the reason for this is the nature of oiling the turbo bearings. I took apart a turbo center section and didn't see any room for spraying of the oil.

Ok M2cupcar, I didn't really mean spray, sorry next time ill be extra clear. The point was that the journal doesnt sit in oil. And the pressure has everything to do with getting to the journal. And that you can if you want have a turbo completely upside down. And instead of guessting just use the law of signs to figure it out. at 15 degrees you would have 96% the force of gravity. (that doesnt sound right, but thats what the calculator gives)

Caterpillar (huge diesels last foever) run turbos that tilt 15-20degrees

I agree 15* from vertical is negligible and the pressure is for delivering the oil.
What I should have said is that mounting the center section other than vertical is less than ideal. The typical automotive turbo is designed to mounted vertically so the oil spends a minimum about of time in the turbo. The t3 center section I took apart had a good taper at the rear of the oil exit but the front wasn't nearly as slanted. In THIS case it would have actually helped oil drain. But if tilted the other way (turbine up) I think it would have cause some pooling just prior to the exit. My guess is the internal architecture of an individual turbo would dictate its tolerance towards what and how much tilting of the assmebly and center section. I'd try and look inside the oil exit to see how it's formed to make a decision. I bet Caterpillar did. - rob

And I still wouldn't mount a turbo upside down. ;)

Just remember that the engine is tilted back, so your 15* needs to be from the horizontal plane NOT the manifold flange plane, my turbo tilts forward when the flange is horizontal but level when bolted to the engine.

Nothing a set of air shocks couldn't fix. :D