T61 Bolt on Turbo by Cx Racing

gachax

New Member
Oct 16, 2007
29
0
1
Latvia
Here's my experience with the turbo.
I fixed all the issues mentioned in the thread, reused the WG from stock CT26 as it seemed to have a stiffer spring. Turned the boost up to 20-24PSI. The full boost comes late - about 4k RPM, but it's significantly more power than CT26 and it doesn't stop pulling till the redline (which comes pretty fast from 4k), though the stock wheels doesn't spin in 3rd as someone mentioned here... I haven't got much experience with big turbo cars, but the turbo lag kills the fun on the street.

Anyway, after about 600km boosting and cruising seals of the turbo got blown out. I inspected the shaft play and it's about 1mm already - the wheel doesn't touch the walls yet but it's very close. So I took the turbo for a rebuild. Guys just called me and said the turbo wasn't properly balanced. And when disassembled they saw that turbine side bearing was overheated, most likely due to the restrictor I put for the oiling. I used the flange for the oiling which came together with lines (a standard kit for T4). Bored out the oiling hole to 2mm which as far as I had found is about the right size for journal bearing type turbos. They say I shouldn't use the restrictor at all, so I was wrong.
The rebuild will cost me about $400 - the turbo was about $650 shipped, so I'm not sure it was worth it. On the other hand it's better to screw up a cheap turbo rather than an expensive one.

chrislockhart, did you use an oil restrictor?



My engine mods, if that's relevant - JE pistons, Eagle rods, ARP - head studs, main studs, HKS 2MM MLS, stiffer valve springs, IC kit from cxracing, MBC, MAFT gen2, RC 550cc injectors, Lexus AFM, Bosch BOV, Apexi air filter, Walbro FP, non-Aeromotive FPR, WB uego and other vital gauges.
 

gachax

New Member
Oct 16, 2007
29
0
1
Latvia
Ok, I think I spread misinformation on the turbo. I got the rebuilt turbo from the workshop, installed it according to the instructions they gave, and nothing's changed (except the money in the pocket) - smoke all over the street. It could be a lot of things causing that and clearly it isn't the turbo. I hate myself now... Supra just finds twisted ways of humiliating me.
 

drewmiller5007

New Member
Mar 24, 2010
36
0
0
taylorsville, NC
hey guys, as you can see below i have sealed off the compressor housing and preloaded the wastegate by 5 turns. i will be letting the rtv sit overnight and reinstall the turbo tomorrow and see what happens. btw this is my second t61 the first one had a bad rear seal so it just poured oil into the exhaust. anyways i am hoping to cermatic coat the hot side soon and see if that helps any.
 

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gachax

New Member
Oct 16, 2007
29
0
1
Latvia
A little update since I've started posting here.
As mentioned turbo is fine, but it 100% was leaking through seals. It could be clearly seen as both sides were in oil and exhaust manifold and the exhaust entrance of the turbo was dry. I went back to workshop and they tested it took it apart, cleaned everything, and tested again and there were no signs of leaking oil. I watched the whole process and the turbo was indeed fine.
I noticed the oil pressure on the balancing machine was 2bar (29psi) at max. On a cold start I get 60psi and pretty much the same when hot under the boost. The oil pump is shimmed, oiling system is not stock anymore - it's with a thermostat and I've got Accusump installed, which means I can theoretically get max oil pressure at idle right after boosting.
The other thing is the oil return line is not really straight and I bet that's the cause for the issue. Hopefully it is, otherwise I have no other options as to mess with an oil pressure and restrictor on the turbo is not really an option as that was one of the reasons for the turbo rebuild in the first place.
 

Poodles

I play with fire
Jul 22, 2006
16,757
0
0
42
Fort Worth, TX
Turbo oil seals are labyrinth seals, they don't actually seal against the pressure. That's why the drain is so important, if there is a backup of any kind, you will leak oil out of the turbo.
 

drewmiller5007

New Member
Mar 24, 2010
36
0
0
taylorsville, NC
so after i reinstalled the turbo i went out and boost seems to come on faster and harder. however when i went out to do a full pull i blew one of my intercooler pipes so after i get that settled i will go out for a full pull and see what kind of psi i can get it to hold with the pre-load of 5-6 turns of the wastegate i put on it.
 

2543arvin

Moving to Japan!!!
Nov 30, 2006
879
0
0
Jacksonville, NC
I just recently sold this turbo and went with a Precision 6262. I fixed all the issues with this turbo that has been described here and it still felt way too laggy for this size turbo. I had full boost at like 4300 RPM and on a stock rebuilt head, I didnt exactly have 9k RPMs to work with. I know a lot of you are going to say that this turbo is great, but I have to speculate that you havent used many turbos. The 6262 is around 900 new and can be had used for fairly cheap.

After adding up the cost of going with Precision it comes to around 1300 for everything:
Turbo- 600 (used with only 200 miles)
Manifold- 250
Tial Wastegate- 300
Downpipe- 150 (fabricated)
Oil Lines and misc-50

Even though the CX racing T61 is very inexpensive, it is a very laggy turbo for the street and I could accept that if it were a 67 mm turbo or something bigger but for its size, I wasnt happy with it. And I made 472 whp at 20 psi, so its not because it wasnt making power, its just that it was power on the dyno and not on the street. To each his own, but I figured I would put my 2 cents in.

Thanks,
Brandon
 

dubsupra209

CENCAL SUPRAS
Mar 6, 2009
1,810
0
36
34
Merced, CA
2543arvin;1716366 said:
I just recently sold this turbo and went with a Precision 6262. I fixed all the issues with this turbo that has been described here and it still felt way too laggy for this size turbo. I had full boost at like 4300 RPM and on a stock rebuilt head, I didnt exactly have 9k RPMs to work with. I know a lot of you are going to say that this turbo is great, but I have to speculate that you havent used many turbos. The 6262 is around 900 new and can be had used for fairly cheap.

After adding up the cost of going with Precision it comes to around 1300 for everything:
Turbo- 600 (used with only 200 miles)
Manifold- 250
Tial Wastegate- 300
Downpipe- 150 (fabricated)
Oil Lines and misc-50

Even though the CX racing T61 is very inexpensive, it is a very laggy turbo for the street and I could accept that if it were a 67 mm turbo or something bigger but for its size, I wasnt happy with it. And I made 472 whp at 20 psi, so its not because it wasnt making power, its just that it was power on the dyno and not on the street. To each his own, but I figured I would put my 2 cents in.

Thanks,
Brandon

defiantly agree with you about the precision 6262 is very well priced
 

suprafanatic

New Member
May 25, 2007
1,607
0
0
36
Greenwood, IN
so does anybody have anything good to prove with this turbo? getting another 7m that stock with a fully built motor, looking to get a bolt on turbo.... looks like these turbo's got more expensive since the last time i looked at them 2 years ago on ebay. Any advice with this turbo at this point?
 

jagpride

New Member
Nov 17, 2009
72
0
0
34
So Cal
IwantMKIII;1752377 said:
You may be able to squeak some power out of adjustable, but for the most part they are a waste of time w/o some cams to pair up

I am not talking about making more power. I am merly saying we should move the powerband lower to gain more response. That being said I know if we do make the powerband lower it would hurt the top end a bit but seeing that the turbo is already kinda big i dont see how it would choke up on the top end. Theres alot of guys in the DSM community that use adjustable cam gears to spool big turbo's quicker seeing how they have small motors. Just a thought
 

7mgte88

New Member
Jul 7, 2010
11
0
0
Maine
Hey guys. Thought I'd add some experience with this turbo on my girlfriends Supra.

Specs:

1988 Supra 5 Speed
T61 turbo
CX racing intercooler and hard pipes
HKS SSQ (recirc)
K&N filter
BIC downpipe, no exhaust right now after the downpipe

Everything else engine wise is stock.

I did all the mods to the turbo prior to installation, it didn't hit full boost until 4k. At this point it still had some home-made 2.5" exhaust system with one high flow cat and Magnaflow.

Just put the BID DDP on and holy smokes, it makes full boost in first. It spools SO MUCH better now.

Tomorrow I've got a Walbro 255, RC 550 injectors, MAFTPro. Should wake it up a bit more...

BTW it's hitting fuel cut with 9-10 psi depending on the day. With the stock turbo it was set at 18psi and never saw fuel cut. The T61 flows a poop ton more air eh?


Girlfriends loving it, especially now that it hits boost a little better.
 

drewmiller5007

New Member
Mar 24, 2010
36
0
0
taylorsville, NC
what about a different wastegate? i heard it mentioned on here before but have any of you guys bought a different one and had any results? i have mine holding 15psi now on the top end but still can only squeeze out 10 in 1st gear then shoots to 15. i too am running open downpipe.