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BoostLogic T61 Install

8K views 25 replies 14 participants last post by  blackbird 
G
#1 ·
After owning a mostly stock Supra for 5 years, I finally took the plunge and installed a single turbo. I went with the BoostLogic kit with a T61, a HKS Type S intercooler and HKS SSQ BOV. I think this offered the best compromise between performance and safety on stock fuel and MAF, at a very reasonable price. BL has been getting rave reviews from it's customers for it's quality kits and excellent customer service. I did the install myself, and learned quite a bit.

Before I go any further, I'd like to say thanks to Phil Panas. Without his help, my car still wouldn't be running. He answered a lot of questions, gave me a hand lifting out the stock turbos, and welded a bov flange to an IC pipe and fabricated an intake pipe on EXTREMELY short notice last Friday, even though he probably had a lot of work to do for the Road Atlanta/AAP mini-meet. Thanks, Phil!

Removing the stock turbos was everything everyone said it would be. There were a few tricky parts, but nothing impossible. The most difficult part was lifting the manifold and turbos out as a single unit. For this, I got Phil's help, as I thought the position would be too awkward for one person to lift them out alone. Ha! When we were lifting them out, the oil lines still attached to the engine (but disconnected at the turbo) snagged on something, so Phil lifted and held the turbos/manifold while I crawled under to release them. Other than that, it was pretty straightforward.

Installing the HKS Type S was also pretty easy. The trickiest part was removing the stock PS cooler while the car was on jackstands. I opted not to use the HKS-provided PS cooler after reading about people having PS issues on road courses, and instead bought a Derale cooler from Summit. I used one of the stock PS cooler mounting brackets to hang it in the driver's side opening in the bumper. It's mostly behind the turn signal though, so I'm not sure it will get enough cool air. Time will tell.

I've never installed a single turbo before (or worked with any other kits), so I really don't have anything to compare the BL kit to. All the piping (intake and exhaust) was ceramic coated except for the header, which I had coated black. All the welds looked great, too. It's advertised as a complete kit, which is (mostly) true. I didn't have to go shopping for any major parts, but I did have to supply several minor fittings, all the hoses, some clamps and a few gaskets. While you may not HAVE to replace the gaskets, you can save yourself a lot of trouble if you use new ones. I replaced the header gaskets, the aluminum crush washers from the oil feed lines and the gasket for the oil return line. Also, the nuts that hold the header to the head are marked as non-reusable in the FSM, but I didn't find this out until I was almost finished with the install and decided not to tear everything apart. I also had to buy a 1/2" vacuum hose connector in order to connect the breather filter to the PCV. If I had installed a breather on the IACV, I would have needed another (3/4"?) connector. In addition, I needed to remove and reuse the O2 sensor studs. Also, BL has not written instructions yet, but Kean was always available to answer my questions either by email or phone.

The BL kit was designed with a Greddy 3-Row in mind, which means it ships with a 2 1/2"-to-2 3/4" adaptor to connect up with the Greddy IC piping. The HKS Type S uses a 2 1/2" straight pipe here, so I had to buy a silicone connector. Also, the BL kit assumes you're running a VPC or other MAP conversion. I purchased a 4"-to-3 1/2" adaptor to fit the MAF, and then had to cut the end of the stock pipe off because the MAF is actually 3 1/4". I also bought a short 3" K&N intake filter, as the one supplied was 4" and too long to be used with the stock MAF.

When I received my kit from BL, I dug through and verified most of the major pieces were there: nuts, bolts, header, turbo, downpipe, midpipe. However, I didn't notice that the 4" intake pipe was missing until I unpacked the entire box in order to begin installing the header. I called Kean, and he apologized and said he would ship one to me. When I asked Kean if the pipe would support the stock MAF, he told me that it didn't have provisions for the IACV, and was a 4" pipe so I would need a reducer. In the meantime, Phil had parts shipped overnight in order to fabricate a pipe for me to use that did have nipples for the IACV and the charcoal canister.

Before I installed the header, I plugged the rear oil line and installed the oil feed line. I test-fit the header, and everything lined up perfectly, but the lower header stud on the #3 cylinder was a tad too long. Kean had warned me about this, and I filed it down slightly. After I installed the header, I bolted the turbo to it. As simple as this looks when the two are sitting on your workbench, it's a much tighter fit in your engine bay. In particular, the stud sitting under the middle of the turbo (front, engine-side) is nearly impossible to get to, and there's not much of a range of motion on any of them. I used a crows-foot on three of them and a stubby wrench (and lots of patience) on the bolt under the turbo. The bolts that sit on the passenger-side of the turbo were slightly too long, so Phil ground about 1/2" off of them and they fit perfectly. When I mentioned this to Kean, he told me that this has been fixed since I got my kit.

Then the real battle began. I began installing the pipes that run from the turbo to the intercooler. Another thing I hadn't realized is that the Type S requires you to reuse the elbow that fits through the hole in the fender, so make sure you have enough connectors and hose clamps. I don't know if the BL pipe was slightly too long, or if it wasn't bent at a sharp enough angle, but whenever I got the plastic elbow connected to it, the other end of the elbow was at a bad angle under the fender, and pressing firmly into the fender itself, making it impossible to connect it to the IC pipe. I struggled for four hours to find the perfect alignment of turbo housing/pipe/elbow/IC pipe that would allow all of them to be connected with 3" silicon hoses and have a reasonable chance of being clamped. At 4:30 am Saturday night, I had everything except the IC pipe connected in a reasonable fashion and went to bed. Sunday morning, it took me another hour to get the IC pipe connected, but when I finished, everything looked pretty good.

After the IC piping was installed, I tackled the oil return line. The trick with it was to loosely test-fit everything, mark everything, and then assemble it on my workbench before installing. The return line is a tight fit with the header, but everything did fit.

In stark contrast to the turbo-to-IC piping, the wastegate, dump tube, midpipe and downpipe fit like a dream. The only trouble encountered here was that two of the HKS-supplied bolts that hold the dump tube to the wastegate were too long (or the dump tube flange was too thin). I ground a few threads off them and they went right in. After installing the exhaust pieces, all that was left was running hoses and tightening clamps.

All in all, I found the kit was a good value, and the build quality was excellent. Customer service and support was also excellent, and it sounds like BL is continuing to make improvements to the kit.

Jim
'93.5 T61 6-speed hardtop
 
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#2 ·
great write-up, I'm looking to get a BL kit very soon, this was definitely helpful in what to expect. Thanks alot
 
G
#3 ·
Someone sticky this superb thread!

I hope Kean @ BoostLogic fixes theese rather tiny but annoying issues before shipping out my kit...
It think it would be a PITA to get a hold of all hoses, clamps, gaskets etc when the kit is supposed to be a FULL kit :(

Other than that, I can't wait for it to arrive :D

/Jiray
 
G
#4 ·
Here are the Toyota part numbers for the gaskets:

Exhaust manifold gaskets: 17198-46010 & 17173-46040
Oil source crush washers: 90430-12026
Oil return gasket: 15472-46010

Of course, if Kean included these gaskets, the price would go up by ~$100, IIRC.

You'll want to replace most of the clamps with T-Bolt clamps anyway. Check mkiv.com for the specific ones you'll want. I had to buy some hose to run from the IACV and the charcoal canister back to the intake, which you may not need. Finally, I was installing a BOV as well, so I had to run hose for that, too.

The kit is already good, and Kean was very interested whenever I had feedback. I'm sure it's only going to get better.

Jim
 
#6 ·
I was thinking about doing a BL T61 kit. But it does not meet my end goal(10 sec quarter mile). I am sure it is a great turbo. Does anyone know if a T67 or maybe even a slight larger Turbo can be put on a Stock (fuel, electronics, intercooler) and tuned for about 500 Rwhp until the upgrades can be added. Then the full potential can be attained???

PS. I have an auto TT so I will need Kean's BL tranny upgrade once I suprass the 500rwhp mark as well.( The Greddy 3 row,BL upgrade, fuel, AEM) === 6000k for parts to suprass the 500mark. The turbo itself Kit is around 3500-3800 w/500 in hand? I could start having fun today... I have seen a few people out here with the none fuel/AEM with good numbers on stock setup.

I am still learning this turbo stuff... Thanks
 
G
#7 ·
500 rwhp on stock fuel is a pretty risky proposition. At least add an aftermarket fpr and the FPD bypass to give yourself a little room for error. Even with those, I wouldn't run that much rwhp, but then I have this thing about buying new engines.... :)

Jim
 
#8 ·
I have an auto with the BL kit and a 67GTQ. I was hoping on running it with stock fuel and stock tranny for a little... it didn't even come close to working. Even with the FPDB and C16 in the tank the car goes really lean at as low as 16-17psi. I can't turn the boost lower either unless I want to get a softer wastegate spring. The few times that I did get to romp on it seem to have blown my tranny too, which only has 30,000 (5,000@BPU) original miles on it. I now have a meth kit for a cheap fuel solution and I will get my tranny sent out when the weather gets better.

I doubt you would hit 500rwhp on stock tranny/fuel through an auto anyway. I dynoed 455RWHP with the converter unlocked @17psi but the car was already running dangerously lean.

BTW, whats wrong with the T61? If all you want is a 10second pass, that should be easy with an auto. I bet you could hit mid to low 10s with a 61.
 
#9 ·
Good write-up. FWIW, I think all of the kits will require a little bit of adjustment, fine-tuning, thread shortening, creative wrenching, etc. At least all of the ones I've helped install or ones I've looked closely at after the install seemed to need a little TLC to make them perfect. I know I did a TON of stuff to my RPS kit to bring it up to my standards. :)

You could probably have saved your money and not replace the header gaskets (where the header mates to the cylinder head). I've had my header off about 5 times and I've never replaced the excellent multi-layer factory stainless gasket, and it still does not leak. :)

BTW, I bought a replacement set ($60!) when I was originally converting to single but the original was in such good condition I re-used it. Plus, I spoke with Larry at SP and he said that he'd rarely found a need to replace the header gaskets.

Steve Hayes
 
#11 · (Edited)
jtanner said:
...Before I go any further, I'd like to say thanks to Phil Panas. Without his help, my car still wouldn't be running. He answered a lot of questions, gave me a hand lifting out the stock turbos, and welded a bov flange to an IC pipe and fabricated an intake pipe on EXTREMELY short notice last Friday, even though he probably had a lot of work to do for the Road Atlanta/AAP mini-meet. Thanks, Phil!...
Glad to help! :) Congratulations on both the sucessful turbo kit install and the great write-up. Welcome to the Atlanta's growing Single-Turbo-Mkiv club!
 
G
#12 ·
It probably doesn't. I had actually thrown mine away before I realized the kit didn't include it. Besides, given how difficult it was to install everything, I really don't want to take it apart because of a bad $20 gasket. :)

Jim
 
G
#18 ·
Ranger, that's it.

nos2Supra: I'm probably right on the cusp of when you should install a fuel system. I'm going to keep the boost down around 15 psi until I can get fuel and/or alcohol injection installed.

Jim
 
G
#21 ·
T67 Precision Turbo including:

BL SUS321 Tig Welded Tubular Header w/ 1 3/4" runners!!
HKS 50mm SS Wastegate
L 3” Performance Coating Sterling Silver Downpipe
BL 3” Performance Coating Sterling Silver Midpipe
BL 4” Performance Coating Sterling Silver Intake Pipe
BL Performance Coating Sterling Silver IC Pipe
BL Braided Oil feed and Return Kit
K&N Filter
K&N Breathers
Silicone Connecters
Clamps and Miscellaneous items.
Installation Instructions

The above is the list of parts that comes with the basic BL T-Kit, right? T61? I thought the BL T-Kit came with a T67? What did you opt to get the T67?
 
G
#22 ·
I'm not planning on upgrading fuel for awhile, so I opted to get a turbo that would spool faster and doesn't totally outperform the stock fuel system. Yes, the T61 is capable of outperforming the stock fuel system, but there's a larger margin of safety with the T61 vs. the T67. Besides, the T61 is capable of meeting my current rwhp goals, so why add more lag?

Jim
 
#23 ·
jtanner said:
I'm not planning on upgrading fuel for awhile, so I opted to get a turbo that would spool faster and doesn't totally outperform the stock fuel system. Yes, the T61 is capable of outperforming the stock fuel system, but there's a larger margin of safety with the T61 vs. the T67. Besides, the T61 is capable of meeting my current rwhp goals, so why add more lag?

Jim
and thats all that counts:bigthumb:
 
#24 · (Edited)
what do you guys think about a precison T63E vs a PT61 for power/spool? I am NA-T and have a PT51 making 427rwhp @20psi and 103 octane. (380rwhp @17psi and pump gas) I am wanting to go with a larger turbo to get more power on pump gas. How much hp do you think the 61 would put out compared to the 63? BTW both have 3" inlet (TO4E housings) ...like an .85a/r

I was wanting the 63 at first, but the 61 would produce slightly less hp i think and i can get it way cheaper. how big of a difference is a 61 from a 63?
thanks,
Derek

oh yeah... BTW i have 525cc injectors and dont plan on doing fuel agian for awhile

T63E here precisionite.com/.......

PT61 here PT61 here ......
 
#26 ·
I like the SC61 with the T04S cover with 4-inch inlet and 2.5 outlet. It has the new GT wheel. boost comes on at 3500 and I see max boost at 4500rpm. Spools better then my stock twins.


SC61



5spd_sc300 said:
what do you guys think about a precison T63E vs a PT61 for power/spool? I am NA-T and have a PT51 making 427rwhp @20psi and 103 octane. (380rwhp @17psi and pump gas) I am wanting to go with a larger turbo to get more power on pump gas. How much hp do you think the 61 would put out compared to the 63? BTW both have 3" inlet (TO4E housings) ...like an .85a/r

I was wanting the 63 at first, but the 61 would produce slightly less hp i think and i can get it way cheaper. how big of a difference is a 61 from a 63?
thanks,
Derek

oh yeah... BTW i have 525cc injectors and dont plan on doing fuel agian for awhile

T63E here precisionite.com/.......

PT61 here PT61 here ......
 
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