Mitsubishi KE75 turbo retrofit how to/not to

[Kernopelli]

Congratulations! A few TBN'ers have actually gone passed the "desire" for more power and moved to the "action" stage of a turbo project.....but not many. Really admire the effort and ability to see this through!

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

Thanks Darryl! It's all about sharing info and helping each other - that's what this forum is all about, right?!

 

[NHmitch]

Thats a great demonstration video! I wish that I knew more about turbo to help, but it looks like a very professional build! I am very interested to see how it performs when you have it fine tuned. It seems like Iseki could have used your help when they sold these in the 80's, and 90s! On a side note, where did you find the tach, and was that hard to install?

Here are some pics and a link to a video of the first tests. I guess the results are mixed - yes, it will build 5 psig boost at full rack under load so I suppose I accomplished what I was looking to do. I was hoping to do this more in the 2000-2500 rpm range but I'll take what I can get. Bottom line, in my opinion, is the turbo still appears to be too big and/or the turbine wheels are incorrect not that I expected it to be perfect, especially with this "trial-and-error" method I chose. I'm going to leave it on but I still have a lot to do before it's finished:

1.) The intake hose is resting on the exhaust manifold so I'll need to hard pipe it over or reroute the hose, or a different one. This will eventually require making a cut-out in the hood so it will close properly.
2.) Definately need something more robust for the oil supply and returns
3.) Need to install the intake filter and exhaust pipe (first task)
4.) Mount the boost gauge
5.) Paint up the piping
6.) Other things I can't think of right now (oh yeah, a turbo sticker in the end )

For clarification, the video shows the tractor in 6th gear with the brake on and me letting out the clutch to put the engine under load to build boost.

VZ21 KE75 first run - YouTube

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

Thanks for the comments Mitch. Unfortnately I don't see a lot of opportunities for "fine tuning". The only things I can think of that would help much are different exhaust piping to the turbo - more along the lines of a symmetrical stainless header. An intercooler would help power output, especially with added fueling. I suspect I'll get maybe a slight improvement under sustained loading of the engine as the temps should build up more in the exhaust manifold. The temps appear to be quite low, I would expect the exhaust manifold to be reaching temps near 1000°F+, but I may never see that. I don't know the temp of the actual exhaust gases though. I still need to test it out more. I don't think I'll do the intercooler or different piping in the foreseeable future. Again, the primary goal was getting closer to sea-level performance and just to see how it would work and I think I got a feel for the results now.

You can get the tach from tinytach.com. It has a sensor that clamps onto an injector line. The hardest things about installing it are the mounting and wiring and neither of those are that hard either.

 

[upsetray]

Have you considered exhaust temp . I was curious whether it will increase operating temp and if will cause any overheating , just thinking .

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

I'm not sure on how the turbo will affect engine heating. One school of thought is it increases efficiency and the extra air may lower exhaust temps vs. non-turbo for the same fueling rate. The other thought is that is creates more power so their will be a need for more heat rejection. I'll post anything different I notice from before. One problem is I don't operate the tractor at full load very often so I may not see it.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

Turbo and miscellaneous tractor projects update in the following video (and a little snow throwing testing):

Brackets and turbo updates - YouTube