Glad you got the engine sorted out. I have a similar setup on my 05 cdi. Same Turbo, modified intake, deleted Intake flaps and egr, more efficient intercooler. How much did the tune set you back? Looks like my next step.
Marcel, sounds cool! Did you buy your turbo from the same source I did? Are you here in the USA? I'd be interested to know what region.
Getting a good tune from Drew at Mid-Tennessee Diesel is really the best thing you can do, from where you are with this car (regardless of location). His prices are reasonable and he'll definitely want to talk to you. He's affiliated with the guys at Black Smoke https://www.blacksmokeracing.com/software-specialists/ and his phone number is Six One Five-601-17 Two Eight.
Yes, I bought the turbo from the same source after you disassembled yours. It looked like it was put together well. I live in Stanley North Dakota. I will contact Drew and see what he has available.
I installed reman fuel Injectors last year from Autohausaz and they seem to work fine. However, my fuel mileage at best is now 34 from 41 to 43 mpg. I have walnut shelled the intake valves, cleaned the intake, changed the 02 and checked for boost leaks. It acts like the ecu is not learning after 5000 miles of driving. When the Injectors are changed and the trim numbers are inputted into the ecm, the computer resets the ecm to re-learn the fuel trim. As I understand it, I may be incorrect. Any thoughts on this?
Interesting. I believe the whole point of the fuel trim is to establish a solid baseline that the computer works from, as it learns. The point would be to avoid starting completely from scratch. I could be wrong about that, too. I haven't changed my injectors, and so I haven't looked into this, yet. Eventually, I'll take another step with the injectors, pump, and get a turbo that's a bigger step up from this one. Meanwhile, I'd like to hear what you learn as you move forward. I've been doing more with the anti-censorship world, lately, but will get back to the fun stuff with diesels before too long.
By the way, the turbo does actually seem to be at least a small upgrade over stock. I don't know how good the journal bearing really is in there, but the real bearing is the pressurized oil flowing through it, so metal-on-metal should be quite rare. I'll see how mine holds up.
Got a hold of Drew today. We went over the car and decided I should re-install my old injectors. I bought and installed a set of injectors from Autohausaz 2 years ago, and come to find out they are Sprinter injectors. They were advertised as reman units for our car. Drew said that is not uncommon. So, change injectors and make sure car runs good, then tune!
That sure sounds like Drew! His approach is very methodical and logical. I didn't know that people sold Sprinter injectors as upgrades. Sounds like they don't really work as intended, though. By starting with known good components, Drew will make sure that everything works correctly, wring out what's possible with the existing hardware, and then you can start upgrading hardware and tuning further. Drew's pricing is low enough that you can afford an iterative approach and with him you know that things are being done correctly.
Hi, Mark. Followed over from YouTube. Better able to converse here than there?
I'm trying to get set up with tunes from Drew: have talked to him but follow-up email has been quiet on his side- I'm in no real hurry anyway. Want to get a TCU tune for my nice CDI (stage 1 tune only and will stay like this- trying to keep it closer to stock) and for my current project, for which I've already installed an IC such as you did (again, thanks for your vid on this!), I'm thinking about a turbo upgrade. This car has new reman injectors and that cost, along with repairing the Panoramic roof, has broken the bank: project got out of hand once I realized my wife was interested in the car- this meant I had to step up the restoration work big time.
I am really interested in how tweaking your current setup turns out. If Drew can get this down good then I'll feel better about pulling the trigger on a turbo (along with a tune) from him.
One last thing for now- have you ever considered a turbo blanket? Given that these turbos sit directly below the air intake I'm thinking that one could have a fairly significant affect. I mean, I just got done up-sizing the IC in order to help reduce intake temperatures and here we are radiating heat up and around the air filter box! (yes, there's a "shield" but the cumulative heat is most certainly there!
Here's a photo album of my current project (there's a shot of the installed IC and sans bumper cover):
Nice photo album. I especially like seeing a very familiar intercooler installation. Looks like you've done a lot, already. Silver with a black interior will be a very nice, classy ride for you and your wife!
Definitely do the turbo upgrade, in my view. Don't do Kaunas, as that's a relatively small upgrade, compared to the Black Smoke Racing one. Sure, it's another incremental change to the compressor, but overall I should have started wit this one and the pricing isn't bad for a hybrid turbo: https://www.blacksmokeracing.com/product/320cdi-billet-updated-hybrid-turbo/
I think I'm going to upgrade mine to that one, so that we can crank up the boost more. Hot tip: if you buy the BSR stuff from Drew you'll save some money on shipping, while still taking advantage of the dollar's strength. I'm going to go for their street injectors, too, possibly the pump...
I have a fresh tune from Drew that I'll install and try before anything else.
I got my TCU upgrade from Kaunas, but I'm betting that a lot of people sell the same tune. Before further engine upgrades, I think I'm going to get an Ultimate NAG52 board from Rand Ash: https://ultimate-nag52.net/products/ultimate-nag52-tcu-v1-3-with-connector-and-case with the zener diode upgrade: https://ultimate-nag52.net/products/ultimate-nag52-v1-3-tcc-zener-addon-board, or perhaps he'll come out with V1.4 boards soon and I can save some time with a soldering iron. This will allow laptop-programming of the transmission, in addition to fixing things like the slow 3-4 shift that these transmissions suffer from. I like shifts to be a bit firmer, too, as I used to put shift-kits into transmissions back in the day.
I've never seen anybody bother with a blanket. Sure, the filter is over the turbo and there's heat, but the air is rammed in from the front and has a short resident time inside that housing. If you think it's worthwhile, set one up on yours and do back-to-back 0-60 tests, or something like that. See if you get a difference.
I'd thought that the Kraunus turbo was the same: under the impression that BSR was, at one time, getting them and other stuff from Kraunus?
BSR also offers TCU tunes. And Drew being a vendor is also capable: I talked to him about this. This was essentially what got me to get in touch with Drew- not having to send a TCU so far (although it's just a spare one- I'll be swapping around as I have TWO cars I will do the upgrade to).
I think that Darskside Developments has the largest hybrid available for the om648: awesome but expensive!
I just watched this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrFeaNGDnOk) on turbo blankets and found it fascinating. I suppose that based on the findings (there's reference to a study by University of Austin on this very thing) 0-60 times SHOULD be quicker due to the quicker spooling resulting in higher torque earlier on: the study, performed on a Cummins 6.7L hit around 10% higher torque earlier (this would tend to translate to about some 50+ Nm for our CDIs). As the guys say at the end, it would be best if the turbos were designed up-front for having a blanket. I suspect tuners would also want to know and adjust accordingly.
I would be very surprised if BSM bought parts from ETK, but I can't say for sure that they never have. What I can say is that the hybrid turbo specs are different, compressor sizes (with basically stock turbines) go from stock 44/59 to Kaunas 47/68 to Black Smoke 50/72 (mm).
Just looking at the compressor side: stock 44/59, Kaunas 47/68, Black Smoke 50/72, Darkside 54/73, so you're right that they're big. Also quite a bit more expensive than BSM.
Glad you got the engine sorted out. I have a similar setup on my 05 cdi. Same Turbo, modified intake, deleted Intake flaps and egr, more efficient intercooler. How much did the tune set you back? Looks like my next step.
Marcel, sounds cool! Did you buy your turbo from the same source I did? Are you here in the USA? I'd be interested to know what region.
Getting a good tune from Drew at Mid-Tennessee Diesel is really the best thing you can do, from where you are with this car (regardless of location). His prices are reasonable and he'll definitely want to talk to you. He's affiliated with the guys at Black Smoke https://www.blacksmokeracing.com/software-specialists/ and his phone number is Six One Five-601-17 Two Eight.
Yes, I bought the turbo from the same source after you disassembled yours. It looked like it was put together well. I live in Stanley North Dakota. I will contact Drew and see what he has available.
I installed reman fuel Injectors last year from Autohausaz and they seem to work fine. However, my fuel mileage at best is now 34 from 41 to 43 mpg. I have walnut shelled the intake valves, cleaned the intake, changed the 02 and checked for boost leaks. It acts like the ecu is not learning after 5000 miles of driving. When the Injectors are changed and the trim numbers are inputted into the ecm, the computer resets the ecm to re-learn the fuel trim. As I understand it, I may be incorrect. Any thoughts on this?
Interesting. I believe the whole point of the fuel trim is to establish a solid baseline that the computer works from, as it learns. The point would be to avoid starting completely from scratch. I could be wrong about that, too. I haven't changed my injectors, and so I haven't looked into this, yet. Eventually, I'll take another step with the injectors, pump, and get a turbo that's a bigger step up from this one. Meanwhile, I'd like to hear what you learn as you move forward. I've been doing more with the anti-censorship world, lately, but will get back to the fun stuff with diesels before too long.
By the way, the turbo does actually seem to be at least a small upgrade over stock. I don't know how good the journal bearing really is in there, but the real bearing is the pressurized oil flowing through it, so metal-on-metal should be quite rare. I'll see how mine holds up.
I will keep you in the loop on how things go. Appreciate the information.
Got a hold of Drew today. We went over the car and decided I should re-install my old injectors. I bought and installed a set of injectors from Autohausaz 2 years ago, and come to find out they are Sprinter injectors. They were advertised as reman units for our car. Drew said that is not uncommon. So, change injectors and make sure car runs good, then tune!
That sure sounds like Drew! His approach is very methodical and logical. I didn't know that people sold Sprinter injectors as upgrades. Sounds like they don't really work as intended, though. By starting with known good components, Drew will make sure that everything works correctly, wring out what's possible with the existing hardware, and then you can start upgrading hardware and tuning further. Drew's pricing is low enough that you can afford an iterative approach and with him you know that things are being done correctly.
Hi, Mark. Followed over from YouTube. Better able to converse here than there?
I'm trying to get set up with tunes from Drew: have talked to him but follow-up email has been quiet on his side- I'm in no real hurry anyway. Want to get a TCU tune for my nice CDI (stage 1 tune only and will stay like this- trying to keep it closer to stock) and for my current project, for which I've already installed an IC such as you did (again, thanks for your vid on this!), I'm thinking about a turbo upgrade. This car has new reman injectors and that cost, along with repairing the Panoramic roof, has broken the bank: project got out of hand once I realized my wife was interested in the car- this meant I had to step up the restoration work big time.
I am really interested in how tweaking your current setup turns out. If Drew can get this down good then I'll feel better about pulling the trigger on a turbo (along with a tune) from him.
One last thing for now- have you ever considered a turbo blanket? Given that these turbos sit directly below the air intake I'm thinking that one could have a fairly significant affect. I mean, I just got done up-sizing the IC in order to help reduce intake temperatures and here we are radiating heat up and around the air filter box! (yes, there's a "shield" but the cumulative heat is most certainly there!
Here's a photo album of my current project (there's a shot of the installed IC and sans bumper cover):
https://www.benzworld.org/media/albums/saving-another-e320-cdi.27518/
Nice photo album. I especially like seeing a very familiar intercooler installation. Looks like you've done a lot, already. Silver with a black interior will be a very nice, classy ride for you and your wife!
Definitely do the turbo upgrade, in my view. Don't do Kaunas, as that's a relatively small upgrade, compared to the Black Smoke Racing one. Sure, it's another incremental change to the compressor, but overall I should have started wit this one and the pricing isn't bad for a hybrid turbo: https://www.blacksmokeracing.com/product/320cdi-billet-updated-hybrid-turbo/
I think I'm going to upgrade mine to that one, so that we can crank up the boost more. Hot tip: if you buy the BSR stuff from Drew you'll save some money on shipping, while still taking advantage of the dollar's strength. I'm going to go for their street injectors, too, possibly the pump...
I have a fresh tune from Drew that I'll install and try before anything else.
I got my TCU upgrade from Kaunas, but I'm betting that a lot of people sell the same tune. Before further engine upgrades, I think I'm going to get an Ultimate NAG52 board from Rand Ash: https://ultimate-nag52.net/products/ultimate-nag52-tcu-v1-3-with-connector-and-case with the zener diode upgrade: https://ultimate-nag52.net/products/ultimate-nag52-v1-3-tcc-zener-addon-board, or perhaps he'll come out with V1.4 boards soon and I can save some time with a soldering iron. This will allow laptop-programming of the transmission, in addition to fixing things like the slow 3-4 shift that these transmissions suffer from. I like shifts to be a bit firmer, too, as I used to put shift-kits into transmissions back in the day.
I've never seen anybody bother with a blanket. Sure, the filter is over the turbo and there's heat, but the air is rammed in from the front and has a short resident time inside that housing. If you think it's worthwhile, set one up on yours and do back-to-back 0-60 tests, or something like that. See if you get a difference.
I'd thought that the Kraunus turbo was the same: under the impression that BSR was, at one time, getting them and other stuff from Kraunus?
BSR also offers TCU tunes. And Drew being a vendor is also capable: I talked to him about this. This was essentially what got me to get in touch with Drew- not having to send a TCU so far (although it's just a spare one- I'll be swapping around as I have TWO cars I will do the upgrade to).
I think that Darskside Developments has the largest hybrid available for the om648: awesome but expensive!
I just watched this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrFeaNGDnOk) on turbo blankets and found it fascinating. I suppose that based on the findings (there's reference to a study by University of Austin on this very thing) 0-60 times SHOULD be quicker due to the quicker spooling resulting in higher torque earlier on: the study, performed on a Cummins 6.7L hit around 10% higher torque earlier (this would tend to translate to about some 50+ Nm for our CDIs). As the guys say at the end, it would be best if the turbos were designed up-front for having a blanket. I suspect tuners would also want to know and adjust accordingly.
I would be very surprised if BSM bought parts from ETK, but I can't say for sure that they never have. What I can say is that the hybrid turbo specs are different, compressor sizes (with basically stock turbines) go from stock 44/59 to Kaunas 47/68 to Black Smoke 50/72 (mm).
Darkside's turbo is here, I think: https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/products/garrett-gtd2872vr-turbocharger-upgrade-for-mercedes-gt23v.html
Just looking at the compressor side: stock 44/59, Kaunas 47/68, Black Smoke 50/72, Darkside 54/73, so you're right that they're big. Also quite a bit more expensive than BSM.