One of the old skool tricks was to take a 'raw' exhaust flange and put it between the head and manifold. That gives you 3/8"-1/2" of extra room, with no welding or machining needed - just minor grinding at most.. You can get them now for $20-$35.

 

That thought had crossed my mind.

It's just the housing on the turbo I have right now is just SO damn bulky, I think I'm about to give in and order a real deal Garrett...

 

I think the others are saying the ebay 5-bolt housing is the same dimensions as the Garrett 5-bolt. Its not crystal-clear to me...

Now are you guys are saying that the 4-bolt housings take up more space (stick out more) than the 5-bolt housings? I've never had 2 side by side to look at.

 

I'm curious about that as well.


And does anybody happen to have any pictures of how much shaving they did on their block, just so I can get an idea of what needs to be done?

 

I run the eBay turbo with Phil's log manifold and it fits good.. just shave the **** out of your block. Its better than spending hundreds on a Garrett.. unless you have the money to spend

 

Crappy pic from before cleaning my bay

 

the ebay 5-bolt do not have same dimensions as the garrett 5-bolt.


the 4-bolt housing has a more " tanginal" scroll instead of " on-center" than the 5-bolt.


i guess if i were to put it in a way you can visualize. the 4-bolt has " J-lo" *** that sticks out, as a result, brings the turbo further away from the flange.


Now, imagine when bolting the turbo AC style as 93CX has, this places the turbo further into the block.



the EBAY 5-bolt is no where near fitting like a garrett 5-bolt, its a 4-bolt " J-lo butt scroll" with a 5-bolt flange bolt pattern.

 

Thank you for putting it in butt terms.
I have a 60-1 sitting here with a 4-bolt flange(it's a garrett turbo), just to see the difference, I'ma switch housings.

 

Got the new turbo in today and mocked it up...DEFINITELY fits 10x better, I'm only going to have to notch the block a little bit and get a wastegate elbow to move it away from the valvecover/head.

Thanks for all the help with getting the turbo project dc2

 

post some pics up of the finished project if ya can. Id like to see the setup to visualize mine haha

 

I can only assume that the Blox manifold has a little bit bigger face on the flange (where it bolts to the head)...where the block meets the head the block protruded some, so I just took the grinder and made it flush with the head to make it fit.

Other than that, the shaving of the webbing was VERY easy. I just put the manifold/turbo on and marked where it hit and got an idea of how far I needed to grind inwards. I have it so that it's a PERFECT fit right now, but the block and turbo are touching, so I'm going to take it back off and take another 1/8" or so off, just to give it some clearance.

 

i dont know if it helps but my setup works in my ef with ac and ps i had to shave the webbing a bit though cold side facing right side of the car:
-inline pro stainless manifold
-sc50 turbo
-5 bolt downpipe

 

that valve cover looks nice lol. What downpipe are you going with and how tight will it be between the downpipe and the ac ****. Im thinking about making mine but i dont wanna make too tight of a bend and restrict the flow

 

I'm going to have to have one fabricated with a bend kinda like a macaroni noodle to go back to the stock location (that's the only way I can describe it haha). And there's plenty of room between the exhaust housing and the compressor, I'd say a good 5" at least.

And it's just an OEM Type-R valve cover

 

What turbo did you end up getting? I see it's a Garrett, but is it the .50 trim .63 ar you were thinking about getting? 4 or 5 bolt?

Could you explain a little more why you need the WG elbow too?

Thanks man! Just trying to learn from your setup, because it's really similar (exact turbo, if you went with the one mentioned above) to mine.

 

Just do pie-cut bends, aka Whitey bends. I just wish those nogs designing the manifolds would have used more than a volvo T3 on an LS when they finalized the mold. Moving the flange 1/2" over & 1" out would get their manifolds selling like hotcakes.

FYI you may be unhappy with that WG gasket after a few dozen boosted miles. The SS gaskets are the only ones that don't seem to blow out.

 

i agree about the gasket, I just toasted one of those in my car. When i pulled the wastegate off only half of it was left, and the part that remain was all black and it basically crumbled in my hands. The SS gaskets will hold up much better

 

I ended up getting a Garrett T3/T4 (.50 on intake, .48 on exhaust) with a 5-bolt.

For whatever reason Blox put the wastegate location waaaaaay too inward on the manifold and the waste gate actually hits the head/valvecover. I'm not sure what size wastegate they want you to run, but my 35mm is apparently too large. The elbow simply relocates the wastegate away from the head/valvecover.


I think I actually have a SS gasket, so I'll swap that out. Thanks for the tip

 

Thanks for the info man! I hope a .63 exhaust housing will fit too... It sounds like the 5 bolt is the way to go for fitment I guess?

 

5-bolt is the ONLY way to go.

 

Sounds like a lot of problems with that manifold. I would much rather spend the money on one from spoolin or pfab

 

Gotcha...I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread, because I never would have thought there was a difference. Good luck getting it all together!

 

The problem wasn't with the manifold, just the cheap-*** eBay turbo I had prior to the Garrett one.

I'm hoping to hop on it pretty hard and get it done within the next couple of weeks...I haven't driven my car in over a month, which suuuucks.

 

FYI for individuals interested

we make a full 3" AC compatible downpipe for the blox manifold


glad you got our garrett turbo on your car jkov !

 

Thanks for all the help, seeeeriously.

And when I decide to go with a bigger exhaust I'll definitely look into your downpipe first.