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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Why 1.2 bar?


Ark

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OK chaps, I've been wondering:

 

why is 1.2 bar considered the maximum safe boost for stock twins?

 

Before anyone leaps in and answers, consider this: In order to raise the twin-boost to 1.2 bar, the first turbo is also raised and makes 0.74 bar by itself. So why isn't the maximum twin-boost 1.48 bar?

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beyond 1.2 the blades of a j-spec ceramic turbo are in danger of shattering.

 

when they are both on they share the load anyway equally

 

see what you mean about when just #1 is on (mine makes .8 bar with just #1 online!) but although the pressure is high the flow is lower = lower turbo rpm, lower rpm = lower centrifugal forces on the blades...

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Pressure is not additive. In parallel mode each turbo sees the full 1.2 BAR. This means that the blades on the output side are pushing against ~17.6 psi of pressure this translates into a fair amount of force on the blades and quite a high level of resistive torque on the turbine shaft. There is a danger of twisting the shaft of the turbine at higher boost levels at least with the UK/US turbo. I never heard of the issue with the ceramic blades shattering but I am less familiar with J-Spec. Reports indicate that above 1.2 BAr the turbines become quite inefficient (creating more heat than pressure) anyway.

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Pressure is not additive. In parallel mode each turbo sees the full 1.2 BAR.

while this statement is true at a high level (i.e. boost pipes), it is nowhere near the truth at 'blade' level

This means that the blades on the output side are pushing against ~17.6 psi of pressure this translates into a fair amount of force on the blades and quite a high level of resistive torque on the turbine shaft.

which blades?

turbine or compressor?

Anyhow, I can't think of either pushing against this. Exhaust blades see a lot more pressure/heat, and compressor blades see a lot less.

.. There is a danger of twisting the shaft of the turbine at higher boost levels at least with the UK/US turbo.

Reminds me of "twisting the chassis" in F&F:d

This can happen at any boost level, if surge conditions are allowed to develop for long enough.

I never heard of the issue with the ceramic blades shattering but I am less familiar with J-Spec.

They are glued to the shaft (with special glue ofcourse!) and pop off at will:Pling:

Reports indicate that above 1.2 BAr the turbines become quite inefficient (creating more heat than pressure) anyway.

Turbines remain efficient at way over that pressure.

 

It is compressors that lose efficiency when airspeed across the blades exceeds their design range.

Even then, boost pressure is not the factor, it is shaft speed and inlet temps (after the airfilter) that are the problem. Boost is only loosely connected to the issue, airflow is much more relevant.

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I never heard of the issue with the ceramic blades shattering but I am less familiar with J-Spec.

They are glued to the shaft (with special glue ofcourse!) and pop off at will:Pling:

Isn't the wheel and shaft a one piece ceramic design then? I thought the shaft was ceramic too. (not sure, just ISTR)
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ceramic shaft? what ceramic would sustain this sort of shearing forces?

 

Alloy wheels are fixed to the shaft via a process of cold welding (a *lot* of pressure all of a sudden)

Ceramic wheels use proprietary glues, which are a closely kept secret. This is the real reason aftermarket 'refurbishers' fit steel wheels, they cannot fit the other ones;) .

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Pressure is not additive. In parallel mode each turbo sees the full 1.2 BAR. This means that the blades on the output side are pushing against ~17.6 psi of pressure this translates into a fair amount of force on the blades and quite a high level of resistive torque on the turbine shaft. There is a danger of twisting the shaft of the turbine at higher boost levels at least with the UK/US turbo. I never heard of the issue with the ceramic blades shattering but I am less familiar with J-Spec. Reports indicate that above 1.2 BAr the turbines become quite inefficient (creating more heat than pressure) anyway.

 

Thats a little strange mate, i was always under the impression that runnning the turbos in parallel helps prevent the shaft from twisting....isnt this why big twins run in parallel??

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Pressure is a function of airflow. The turbos flow a load of air down the intake system, and it builds up against the back of the valves to a certain pressure. The faster the engine goes the more often this pressure is alleviated by a cylinder taking in air, so the more air the turbos have to flow to keep the intake system pressurised.

 

When both turbos are running they both 'see' 1.2bar but are flowing half the air volume necessary to generate that pressure. If only one turbo was running it'd have to flow twice as much air volume, and that's beyond the capability of that sized turbo.

 

I haven't heard of a 1.2bar turbo failure for a while, so I think they can take it more often than not. Considering how many people on here are running this level of boost.

 

-Ian

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pussies! you should all be running at 1.4 bar, or 1.6 bar as Dude would say :D

 

So long you have an uprated fuel pump and adequate cooling ;) you'd be asking for trouble running at high boost in this hot weather! then you'll have to worry about detonation and other things that might cause the engine to blow up lol

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ceramic shaft? what ceramic would sustain this sort of shearing forces?
It was on http://mkiv.supras.org.nz/specs.htm I saw it. It says:
The Japanese twin turbo uses ceramic (exhaust side only) shafts which can be replaced with no modifications by the steel CT20A (large version) turbine shafts. These steel shafts are found in 2JZ-GTE Aristo's and some turbo diesel Toyotas.

I don't know if it's correct but I remembered seeing it somewhere.

 

Admittedly it doesn't say they are one-piece but it does say ceramic shafts are used. Which seems rather odd, as you said.

:shrug:

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One of the main non-technical reasons why 1.2 bar is the highest reccomended boost on stock J-spec tubbies is that after about 1.15 bar the extra heat generated by the turbo's operating out of their design bracket starts to actually lose you power. This showed up on my Thor dyno graph. You could se that by the time it was generating 1.2 bar the power started to fall off very rapidly. So in short yup you could operate the turbo's at 1.4 or 1.6 bar but all you are doing is exponentially losing yourself power and overheating your turbo's and possibly your engine :D

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... So in short yup you could operate the turbo's at 1.4 or 1.6 bar but all you are doing is exponentially losing yourself power and overheating your turbo's and possibly your engine :D

That's very true, the extra heat registers as extra 'boost' but the number of oxygen molecules doesn't go up.

Centrifugal compressors are quite sensitive to the temperature and thickness of the medium they compress.

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It was on http://mkiv.supras.org.nz/specs.htm I saw it. It says:

 

Quote:

The Japanese twin turbo uses ceramic (exhaust side only) shafts which can be replaced with no modifications by the steel CT20A (large version) turbine shafts. These steel shafts are found in 2JZ-GTE Aristo's and some turbo diesel Toyotas.

 

 

I don't know if it's correct but I remembered seeing it somewhere.

 

Admittedly it doesn't say they are one-piece but it does say ceramic shafts are used. Which seems rather odd, as you said.

:shrug:

 

only thing about the above is that i've got some 2JZ-GTE turbo's from an Aristo and the have ceramic blades but presumably steel shafts as per above.

 

be interesting to compare my turbo's to a J-spec supras.........

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..be interesting to compare my turbo's to a J-spec supras.........

UKSpec turbos also have larger A/R ratios, so that alone will make them feel like they boost later, but keep higher boost easier. (not a lot, but measurably)

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