50-trim: oil feed from head or filter?

[soldave]

I know this question has been asked in various guises but want to be sure of an answer for my situation. Picked up my car from the tuning shop yesterday after having a Bullseye Power T04B 50-trim turbo put on it, along with some other bits. Now although I gave then a filter housing fitting with the stainless steel oil feed line, they have connected the feed line up to the head (I assume because the cars they are used to working with can be fed from the head). My buddy has told me that the head doesn't have enough pressure to supply a journal bearing turbo with enough oil and that it has to be from the oil filter housing (which it could be connected to with the fitting).

So my question is: does the oil feed line have to be from the filter housing? If so then I'll have to hightail it back to the shop tomorrow and make sure they haven't thrown away the fitting that they must have taken off the line.

Thanks for any advice in advance

 

[1992awdlaser]

If it's a non-bb turbo, the center section needs to be flooded with oil. The head won't do this for you so it needs to come from the filter housing. At times the head will only offer 5psi of oil pressure for the turbo. This is not good when the oil is supposed to keep the shaft from touching the bearings and when it is supposed to cool the turbo.

 

[soldave]

Dammit. They better not have misplaced that oil filter housing fitting or I'm gonna be hella-annoyed. It will be ok for a few days if I stay out of boost and drive sparingly though, won't it?

 

[crimsondragon]

I have a BEP t04e 50 trim and it is suggested to get the oil feed from the filter. 60 psi minimum.

 

[1992awdlaser]

Dammit. They better not have misplaced that oil filter housing fitting or I'm gonna be hella-annoyed. It will be ok for a few days if I stay out of boost and drive sparingly though, won't it?

I personally wouldn't drive it. It's your choice if you drive it or not. This is one of those things I won't tell somebody to do. Like telling somebody it is ok to drive around with 10psi in their tire for a little bit. Something might happen or everything might be fine.

 

[TxR6guy]

What he said you should be running it from the oil filter housing not from the head along w/ inline Filter.

 

[soldave]

Sorry for what may be a dumb follow-up question, but the stock small 16G I had on before was fed from the head I believe. Why is it OK for that one?

 

[1992awdlaser]

Because the 16g is also water cooled. The only thing the oil has to do with the 16g is keep the shaft off the bearings. That is also a reason ball bearing turbos use the head for the oil supply.

 

[doggo]

the 20G is the same as the 16G in this regard, isnt it?

 

[TSiAWD666]

What your friend told you was the same explanation I'd heard regarding pressure of the oil, and is the same reasoning for which I'm using a connection from the head for my ball-bearing turbo per Forced Performance's guidelines. I don't know the physics behind it though and so can't justify it any more than hearsay.

 

[1992awdlaser]

the 20G is the same as the 16G in this regard, isnt it?

Yes, the 20g should have the oil feed on the head.

 

[soldave]

Well my tuning shop thankfully still has the fitting. The guy I spoke to said if I head over there after work they'll put the car on the ramp and redirect my feed line so it goes from the filter housing. Looks like there might be a happy ending to this story, for now!

 

[soldave]

Something that may interest you. Got this reply from another DSM forum (not sure if I can name names) about this question. Have a read:

just spoke with Slow Boy Racing and they say the G60 that I'll soon be purchasing gets its oil from the head. I mentioned to them my concerns about the turbo not getting enough oil and they said that they have ALWAYS done it that way. As a matter of fact he made the point that the stock turbo's are journal bearing and Mitsubishi did a pretty good job of making sure they always had enough oil.

Now I don't usually trust SBR as far as I can throw them, but they're telling people to get oil from the head.

 

[v8s_are_slow]

When I put on my 50 trim, I accidently crimped my oil line so I bought another one from SBR but it was too short. So I called up Forced Performance and cause I figured I'd just block off the line at the oil filter housing and use the new and shorter line and connect it at the head. Asked them if that'd be okay and was assured it'd be fine. So I went ahead and ordered the banjo fitting and it's been okay thus far. Not saying it's the way to go but FP told me it'd be fine so I went with it.

 

[soldave]

How much pressure does the head supply it with though? Bullseye just replied to an email I sent them saying that their 50-trim works best with 50-60psi of oil pressure.

 

[v8s_are_slow]

That'd be something I wouldn't mind finding out. Cause I'll be converting back to the oil filter housing if need be. I have a PTE 50 trim though. And no water lines.

 

[soldave]

My Bullseye 50-trim has no water lines either; all oil cooled. This is what Forced Performance has to say on the subject. I know our turbos might be slightly different, but their comment about oil pressure still holds:

There are plenty of people who have oiled their turbo off the head and not had any problems, there are just as many if not more that have done it and had recurring turbo failure that was only vaguely described by the repair shop as "poor lubrication".

Oil pressure in the cylinder head on a stock 4G63 engine can be less than 5psi at times, while this may be enough oil for a factory 14b, T25 or even 20g it isn't enough to feed the high volume oil passages of the modified thrust setup in your FPGreen or FPRed model turbo. The Garrett severe duty 360 thrust setups also have an increased appetite for lubrication. Think twice before feeding either of these type turbos from the head.

Remember that you aren't just trying to keep some oil on the bearing, you are trying to float one piece of metal above another piece of metal on a pressurized film of oil, and at the same time keep the whole mess cool enough not to melt. A constant high volume stream of oil does just that, a measly trickle will send you back to the turbo shop.

 

[v8s_are_slow]

That's interesting since they told me it was okay. But then again, it was the girl who answered the phone. Not sure how knowledgeable she'd be but figuring that she works there, she'd know at least something about that issue. Guess maybe she needs to read that too. Lol.

 

[soldave]

That's interesting since they told me it was okay. But then again, it was the girl who answered the phone.

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j/k

 

[ontario AWD]

I feed my 3231 scm bb from the oil filter housing with no problems.No filter or restricter.Tapping in there gives you the cleanest oil available to the turbo

 

[soldave]

You're not using a restrictor with a bb turbo from the oil filter housing? May be wrong but I don't think that's the best way to go about things.

 

[v8s_are_slow]

That's too much pressure for a BB turbo. That thing won't last long if you run it like that. Run it from the head or get a restrictor plate.....and inline filter. Those BB turbo's aren't cheap and from what I understand, they're not rebuildable either. Or if they are, it cost a good bit.

 

[ontario AWD]

I think i might put it in,just because the extra oil pressure might affect spool up

 

[ontario AWD]

Restricter plate?

 

[v8s_are_slow]

Restrictor plate so you don't have so much oil coming from the filter housing. Used when going off the filter housing instead of the head. BB turbo's are better to go off the head.