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Like the title says I am having difficulty choosing the CORRECT Turbo for my setup going into my '56 Chevrolet Wagon. It has constantly been evolving for the past 30 years I have had it. I am now building a 6.0 out of a 2500HD Truck (2005) with extensively modified 706 heads from a well-respected professional engine shop. 2.0 intake valves from my original 317 heads were utilized. Newest Trail Blazer SS intake with flowed and matched flex fuel injectors and 90 mm throttle body. Last but not least I have purchased Summits "Ghost Cam" for it's idle quality and drivabilty. I am hoping for sleeper status. Killing some bottom end so my wife can take it out on occasion without issues. BUT when I get on it, I want it to impress me beyond my expectations. I want it to pull extremely hard up to the camshaft running out at approximately 7000 rpms and hope the Turbos will not run out of breath so there will be no mistake that I am set on "Kill" when I run someone. Lol ! I am also STRAPPED to what I have bringing up the rear that's a 4l80e with a few upgrades and an 1800 to 2000 stall converter & 3:73 gears. Car was built as a cruiser, but I have the "Go Fast" itch again and it needs to be scratched BAD !
ANY constructive input is welcome. Thanks, Tim
Your converter is going to be an issue with your desired goals. A turbo that's going to pull to 7K is not going to be as responsive down low, and especially not below 3500 RPM or so. You'll have a setup that's going to be a pig off idle, then absolutely blow the tires off around 4000 RPM. Modern torque converters are not slushy feeling when you go to higher stalls, so I'd be looking for something at least 3600-4000 RPM. Once that's changed, then you can get the larger turbo.
Wife's driving is main concern. Like I said my wife will be driving it occasionally so I'm ok with sluggish bottom end. Not a drag car and not looking for 60 ft times. Strictly a street car, probably never see drag radials or slicks on it. 6.0 stock would be plenty for day to day driving and cruise ins. I guess I'm looking for a "2 stroke dirt bike" power band. Lol ! 😆 Thanks for input
Last edited by ONEMILE; 05-23-2024 at 06:40 AM.
Reason: Punctuation
I guess I'm not understanding... At part throttle, a 4000 RPM converter will drive away from a stoplight as easily as a 2000 RPM converter. I've driven both, and never felt drivability was an issue with a quality converter. I feel like people have a misconception that a 4000 RPM converter means the car won't move until you floor it to 4000 RPM and that is 100% never the case. Furthermore, if your wife driving it is your main concern, I would think you wouldn't want a turbo that comes on like a light switch in the middle of the powerband. That could cause someone to lose control, if, for example, they were attempting to accelerate into the flow of traffic after turning. I'm just trying to save you some disappointment from a mismatched combination. Given that you'll never put drag radials on it, I'm guessing your power goals must be somewhat reasonable? Something like 600 HP at the wheels? If so, you can run a much smaller turbo that will light off earlier and be more predictable. I'd say something in the 70 - 72mm range with a similar sized turbine would be sufficient, but others can chime in who have more experience with these specific combinations.
Like the title says I am having difficulty choosing the CORRECT Turbo for my setup going into my '56 Chevrolet Wagon. It has constantly been evolving for the past 30 years I have had it. I am now building a 6.0 out of a 2500HD Truck (2005) with extensively modified 706 heads from a well-respected professional engine shop. 2.0 intake valves from my original 317 heads were utilized. Newest Trail Blazer SS intake with flowed and matched flex fuel injectors and 92 mm throttle body. Last but not least I have purchased Summits "Ghost Cam" for it's idle quality and drivabilty. I am hoping for sleeper status. Killing some bottom end so my wife can take it out on occasion without issues. BUT when I get on it, I want it to impress me beyond my expectations. I want it to pull extremely hard up to the camshaft running out at approximately 7000 rpm so there will be no mistake that I am set on "Kill" when I run someone. Lol ! Bringing up the rear is a 4l80e with a few upgrades and a 1800 to 2000 stall converter. 3:73 gears. Car was built as a cruiser but I have the "Go Fast" itch again and it needs to be scratched BAD !
ANY constructive input is welcome. Thanks, Tim
One of the biggest ones will be your choice of exhaust selection. I had a '56 myself and there's a LOT of room compared to most engine bays these days. Anything you can do for exhaust flow pays big gains in power and reliability. The Ghost cam is a good one with it's -2 overlap and it prevents reversion from some of the smaller turbine China turbos many people run. When you have room for them, T6 turbine housings fix a lot of problems but they are *currently* a little bit of overkill if you just need 700whp or so. The SUM-260053 is a 78mm T4 with good quality. SUM-270001R is one of our Canadian race turbos similar in sizing but higher performing and excellent quality. We of course have bigger turbos depending on space and budget, but let us know your targets.
Thanks for the Reply. I am STRAPPED to what I have now as far as Drivetrain goes. ( $$$ ) I really need to leave the car alone but as you all know "WE" can't leave well enough alone. Project is strictly motor setup only, but I will keep your suggestions in mind.
I was following a build with a young man (can't remember his name) on here a while back, that was helping your Summit team and you all came up with the Name "Ghost Cam" due to its quiet idle Characteristics when tuned properly. I'm big on "Stealth" or "Sleeper" cars. I will look into the turbo suggestions you have given me. Does your team produce "Mirrored" pairs of Turbos ? I am leaning heavily towards that type of "Visual" buildup.
Press the easy button, go with a 78/75 with .96AR for better spool. Cheap, works, meets your power goals. VS racing, summit, ON3 performance all have good budget stuff. I have a high compression 6.0 with the 78/75 but with 1.25AR and it starts spooling around 2700rpm with the converter locked on the highway, without converter locked it starts spooling at 3800rpm(turbos are load dependent).
My combo would be pretty lazy without my 3000 stall, which is why I recommend the .96 for you with no stall converter. Dont go smaller than a 75mm exhaust wheel on a 6.0L(hence the 78/75).
And if you want a 2 stroke like power band, youll have it! Mine is like a light switch from 300whp to 600whp once the turbo hits. The doubling of the power output in less than a second terrorizes your tires. Good thing about boost is it can be turned off/down easily for the wife.
Its a lot of fun but you need to know how to handle a car for sure especially if its just going to have street tires on it. My f body hooks up at 55mph with worn(read bald) cheap and skinny tires at 12psi boost.
I was following a build with a young man (can't remember his name) on here a while back, that was helping your Summit team and you all came up with the Name "Ghost Cam" due to its quiet idle Characteristics when tuned properly. I'm big on "Stealth" or "Sleeper" cars. I will look into the turbo suggestions you have given me. Does your team produce "Mirrored" pairs of Turbos ? I am leaning heavily towards that type of "Visual" buildup.
Yep, that’s Mavn. Great guy and did a lot of great testing with it. We don’t do mirrored turbos yet but it’s something we should offer. If you are on a budget, something like this kit is awesome. $1280! Again it’s a well built turbo that makes all the steam you will ever need. It’s a cast stainless manifold so it will stay nice looking and never crack. We have the crossover pipe if you are running a T-400 and you can use it as a “starter” if you are running another trans.
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DefaultSUMMIT, I do like and appreciate your recommendations. I do especially like the specs on your SUM-270001R . I think that I have a grasp on what I can go "budget" on and the Turbo at this juncture is not 1 of them. Reality check tells me 1 single will do just fine. BorgWarner MatchBot has good info but I want real world input like I was offered by WLINK14 on his particular experience and I do appreciate it. 🙂 #1 QUESTION... Does the Summit Team use or have access to similar programs like BorgWarner's Matchbot ? I want my cake and eat it too. As far as the manifolds you sent a picture of, my feelings are I don't think I like putting all of that heat on 1 bank of the motor and will save $ by using stock Truck manifolds, I can fab the tubing locating the Turbo ( yet to be identified ) in a more central location yet to be determined. I Like that we agree on "the '56 has plenty of room under the hood". SUMMIT , what supporting quality pieces do i need and something you can depend on without just throwing money at it. I have been a big summit customer over the years ( At least I think so 😉 ). I still need a recommendation on a Quality Waistgate , Bypass etc. Without breaking the bank ? Let me know what you think 🤔 Thanks, Tim
Actually our manifold is the only one in the market that Doesn’t stress one bank more than the other. A truck manifold goes on the drivers side and our turbo manifold has two plenums inside leading up to each half of the typical divided turbine housings. Each plenum has its own wastegate to balance pressure.
As for compressor maps, outside of Borg and Garrett- none of the aftermarket turbo manufacturers have compressor maps. We’ve looked into the process for creating them but no one really looks at them anyway. The reason is we are to the point where exhaust turbine flow is more critical then intake flow. It’s where the advancements are coming from. It’s a super-fine balance to spool the turbo with the drive pressures without over-spinning the compressor AND flow as much as possible for minimal turbine inlet pressure ratio.
If you see a sum-2600 series turbo, gate or Bov, it’s overseas -but GOOD overseas. We warranty things we sell so we can’t have parts with a failures.
The 2700 series parts are made for us by a partner in Canada. These are literal state-of-the-art designs and go through quick evolutions. We’ve stacked all the performance and quality into these sub $2k turbo’s we can and the piston style gates are the toughest in the market. This is what you will find in diesel pulling applications.
The branded versions of the 2700’s are commonly found on S400 based cars in the 7’s and 8’s. Ours are sized in the 1200-1500 whp range (loose open converters included) to match our Pro Ls engine parts and generally make enough power to split blocks when pushed so it seems like a logical place for us to be.
After a couple years of customer feedback, we’ve given the 2700 series turbos a rating based on the “typical” 5.3/T-400 builds our customers do. We’ve added that to a table that shows the 2600 and 2700 series turbos stepped up by inducer size. The table can be found in images on the turbos. It is a bit hard to find on mobile but the screenshot below gives you an idea.
OK, If I go with the suggested kit which Turbo would you suggest ? What type boost am I looking at all things listed and spoken about here considered ? I don't think (at this time) more than total maximum boost of 10 lbs.would ever be needed. More than likely I would be happy with 5 to 7 lbs. I have raced many different forms or avenues of racing (if I said that right) from 1/4 mile to 1/8 mile to to hill climb timed racing. With that said, I would hope that I have ( in my mind ) the driving skills to handle anticipated horsepower increases when it " comes up on boost". I just don't want to leave any stones unturned when I put this package together. 671 and 2-4s are instant and I have already "been there done that". Now I am venturing into uncharted waters and need someone to trust. I know you all understand. 😁
Hi there, that particular cmb-03-0264 combo comes with a VS racing 78mm inducer and T4 75mm Turbine exducer. Good turbo, fairly compact and very popular sizing for apps like yours looking for about 800 to the wheels when it’s wicked up.. You are correct that 10 lbs. is going to provide you with a lot of power and you will be able to push 20 with good fuel as you get used to the power and tuning. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/VSG-VSR7875NXTCS
My '61 Pickup has a 7875 and an all-stock 6.0L. It is an absolute giggle-fest on the street at 9psi. I have zero plans to race it; it's just ice cream and smoke shows.
Yep, that’s Mavn. Great guy and did a lot of great testing with it. We don’t do mirrored turbos yet but it’s something we should offer. If you are on a budget, something like this kit is awesome. $1280! Again it’s a well built turbo that makes all the steam you will ever need. It’s a cast stainless manifold so it will stay nice looking and never crack. We have the crossover pipe if you are running a T-400 and you can use it as a “starter” if you are running another trans.
That cast twin scroll manifold right off the head with a 7875 / 1.25 divided AR would spool super-fast.
Would be an absolute hoot in a streetcar and last forever.
The only issue would be constantly going through tires if you call that an issue.
Once I got the rolling two-step working on my own car, I've had to drive it less because burnouts are just too easy and way too much fun lol.
I'm no expert but the 7875 is pretty good all around. There's better and there's cheaper but its a good value for the money. I would probably do a billet version with 1.25ar turbine housing on the 6L. (.96 for better spool as stated earlier). But I like the 4" exhaust outlet on the 1.25ar for when you want to turn up the boost in the future. All that exhaust has to get out too.
VS Racing also has a similarly priced 80mm turbo with a bigger exhaust side that should fit if you really want to try to push it to 7k. Then they have some similarly sized ball bearing turbos that would work for a few hundred more that might marginally help spool. I would call Viren and talk to him about your goals, he's a friendly and helpful guy. But yeah, its going to be pretty hard to get super spool AND rev to 7k. 6k on 12psi has been very entertaining for me though with a 5.3. A 6l has to multiply the fun.
Also to whoever mentioned the locking converter spooling earlier, makes sense but I'm sad now I didn't get one!! ...I'd probably just get in more trouble.
I forget if you said what your compression ratio was going to be but as long as you run a good fuel, like e85 the 10-1 maybe more is no problem. And that is one way to help with spool without hurting top end.
Last edited by ScottStaypuff; 05-29-2024 at 09:52 AM.
05-22-2024, 10:07 PM
Newbie needs answers on Turbo selection 
The SUM-260053 is a 78mm T4 with good quality. SUM-270001R is one of our Canadian race turbos similar in sizing but higher performing and excellent quality. We of course have bigger turbos depending on space and budget, but let us know your targets. 
