Thanks all for your kind comments from fellow Porsche nuts . And Shaun, so good to hear from you. Hopefully we’ll meet up again next April 30th in Carlisle at the swap meet.
OK, onto next “Project”-My nicely modified but aging 7006 turbocharger was blowing a bit of smoke (again) by fall last year and since it had undergone so many rebuilds by different “experts” over some 20 years of service, I decided to retire it in place of a Garret GT35R. I was told that it was a direct replacement with a few extra parts.
Well,.......sort of.....not exactly.....HoHum……
1. The total distance from the exhaust intake bolt-on face to the face on the exhaust side is a bit longer so the turbocharger pushes the muffler and tailpipe out from the motor and off-centre towards the passenger side. All this becomes problematic on the RST as the muffler is already very close to the rear bumper centre section and the exhaust pipe is intended to stick out in the middle of the rear;
2. Bolt pattern is slightly different and the four supplied smaller diameter bolts raised my concern that the turbocharger could shift over time and not be centred to the exhaust manifold. I solved the issue by sourcing bolts with a thick “neck” portion then stepping down by 2mm for the threaded portion;
3. I extended and modified the heat shield inside the rear valance towards the driver’s side; and,
4. By far the most potentially disastrous issue was the installation of the new oil feed one way valve sitting on top of the motor in the triangle of death. I had never had this type of valve but it seemed like a good idea to prevent that puff of smoke on startup. I primed the oil feed line, turned the motor with the electronics off until I had 6 bars on the oil pressure gauge, turned the electronics back on and fired up the motor.......no oil coming out of the bottom of the turbo by the unscrewed line leading to the scavenger pump. I turned the motor off and could still hear the turbo impeller whirling away momentarily on its ball bearings. OUCH! Thoughts of ruined bearings and a backward valve installation ran through my mind but not so it turned out. By this time I was fed up, removed the ball and spring from the valve, re-primed and repeated the startup procedure. Still a puff of smoke on startup but I didn’t care at that point.
Performance wise the GT35R has a smoother acceleration curve at the low end but quite frankly I think it runs out of steam earlier at the top end than my old boat anchor 7006. I’ll never find out as my track days are gone. Probably more appropriate for my current style of driving.
Cheers,
Johan