LB7: Stock Turbo Mods for Compounds

[Bdsankey]

Anyone have any experience with billet wheels or porting the turbine housing on an IHI? I am wondering if it would be worth having some porting done or even swapping to a billet wheel when I run my S475/96/1.10 over stock on my stock fuel LB7 (may jump up in a year or two when these need help).

The goal is the "ultimate" tow rig. I know upgrading to a new chassis will yield stiffer frame and an extra couple gears but I love the early generation 01-02 trucks too much to upgrade to anything but a 15-19 Denali (second favorite body style). I don't know if the added benefit of turbine flow from porting or even upgrading turbine size will be of much benefit to the 475. I also am trying to come up with a better solution for a wastegate actuator that will allow me better drive pressure control. My goal is to get drive pressure as close to 1:1 as possible on the towing file where it spends 80% of its time. I also don't know if it's beneficial to go to a billet wheel to help with flow. I DO NOT want to hurt driveability as it sits now, just looking to add some more air to cool the entire thing down.

 

[Chevy1925]

port and polish. nothing more. billet wheel will hurt spool up in stock turbo, tried that

stock gate works fine, just run an air pressure regulator to modulate boost. you will never get the gate optimum under boost vs starting from a stop. it will be laggy. let the small turbo run a total of 22-24psi and the big turbo to do all additional boost after that.

 

[baggedLB7]

Here's a post I made in another thread. I love my set up.

475 over stock.
Towed great then I put a billet wheel in the 475 and got a little quicker spool which also made it easier to stay on top of the chargers while towing up hills.
Then I ported, polished, and put a batmo wheel in my ihi and it made a big difference in spool up and now staying on top of the chargers while rolling slow on the hills is like nothing. I dont think I could be talked into another route for towing on my lb7 with out driving it first.

Most guys dont think the little gain in spool from the billet wheels is worth the money but after towing with both I would do it in a heart beat again.
I did the port and polish and the batmo in my ihi at the same time and was nothing but happy with the increased spool with it.
But I'm also running high elevation so that might play a part in it.

 

[Bdsankey]

port and polish. nothing more. billet wheel will hurt spool up in stock turbo, tried that

stock gate works fine, just run an air pressure regulator to modulate boost. you will never get the gate optimum under boost vs starting from a stop. it will be laggy. let the small turbo run a total of 22-24psi and the big turbo to do all additional boost after that.

That was my initial plan (air regulator) but didn’t know if the stock gate had enough pressure. Thanks for the input. I’m curious how a properly designed billet wheel will hurt spool up but I know you’ve tried it so I won’t argue it. Being low elevation with a Goerend R I thought it could help. Is Russ still doing turbos? I just found his massive write-up.

Here's a post I made in another thread. I love my set up.

475 over stock.
Towed great then I put a billet wheel in the 475 and got a little quicker spool which also made it easier to stay on top of the chargers while towing up hills.
Then I ported, polished, and put a batmo wheel in my ihi and it made a big difference in spool up and now staying on top of the chargers while rolling slow on the hills is like nothing. I dont think I could be talked into another route for towing on my lb7 with out driving it first.

Most guys dont think the little gain in spool from the billet wheels is worth the money but after towing with both I would do it in a heart beat again.
I did the port and polish and the batmo in my ihi at the same time and was nothing but happy with the increased spool with it.
But I'm also running high elevation so that might play a part in it.

Thanks for the insight! That’s essentially what I’m looking to do.

 

[Chevy1925]

Here's a post I made in another thread. I love my set up.

475 over stock.
Towed great then I put a billet wheel in the 475 and got a little quicker spool which also made it easier to stay on top of the chargers while towing up hills.
Then I ported, polished, and put a batmo wheel in my ihi and it made a big difference in spool up and now staying on top of the chargers while rolling slow on the hills is like nothing. I dont think I could be talked into another route for towing on my lb7 with out driving it first.

Most guys dont think the little gain in spool from the billet wheels is worth the money but after towing with both I would do it in a heart beat again.
I did the port and polish and the batmo in my ihi at the same time and was nothing but happy with the increased spool with it.
But I'm also running high elevation so that might play a part in it.

Swap the stock wheel back on the stock charger Tim and it will light off even faster.

 

[gmduramax]

Swap the stock wheel back on the stock charger Tim and it will light off even faster.

But it’s not pretty :rofl:

 

[baggedLB7]

Swap the stock wheel back on the stock charger Tim and it will light off even faster.

Wish I had one. The reason why I went with the whole rebuild' port and polish' and batmo is I had lost two of the three bolts that hold the mouth piece on and the third was almost out and my stock wheel had gotten chewed up.

 

[NC-smokinlmm]

My batmo IHI came up fast I couldn't imagine it spooled slower than stock?

 

[Bdsankey]

My batmo IHI came up fast I couldn't imagine it spooled slower than stock?

According to Russ’s testing it did the stock wheels are efficient at low shaft speeds but I never would have guessed that efficient.

https://www.duramaxdiesels.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65762

 

[Chevy1925]

The batmowheel does not like the port and polish near as much as the stock wheel. Add in the restriction of the large turbo and it compounds it. A non ported/polish housing, the batmowheel does better at spool up.

When I first installed the batmowheel ported/polished turbo, I thought it spooled up faster till i drove a fairly stock truck. Night and day difference. So I swapped the stock wheel back in over the summer and man does it light off fast. Faster than my L5P from a dead stop (damn tq limiters)

 

[Bdsankey]

The batmowheel does not like the port and polish near as much as the stock wheel. Add in the restriction of the large turbo and it compounds it. A non ported/polish housing, the batmowheel does better at spool up.

When I first installed the batmowheel ported/polished turbo, I thought it spooled up faster till i drove a fairly stock truck. Night and day difference. So I swapped the stock wheel back in over the summer and man does it light off fast. Faster than my L5P from a dead stop (damn tq limiters)

Think it’s worth putting a quality billet wheel in the 475?

 

[Chevy1925]

Probably. I just went straight to an 80mm since the cost was about the same. A tighter exhaust housing or even t4 housing really makes it come on fast. Just wouldn’t push it past stock fueling

 

[Bdsankey]

Probably. I just went straight to an 80mm since the cost was about the same. A tighter exhaust housing or even t4 housing really makes it come on fast. Just wouldn’t push it past stock fueling

Not planning on going past the 500-550 mark. Might go 45s in the future to pull pulsewidth and timing out. The torque is tuned out of the bigger tunes. Atmospheric is currently a cast 475/96/1.10 t6.