twin turbo vs. single turbo / is it that difficult to fab your own kit ?

68 & 00 GT

New Member
May 14, 2003
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HOUSTON TEXAS
What are the pros and cons of a twin turbo set up over a single turbo ?
Obviously you have two smaller ones over one larger turbo. From what I understand is that two smaller ones can spool up faster, and earlier in the rpm's to make power earlier. Also would twins make more RWHP than a single ? How much more ? I only want to get to around 500 RWHP eventually, maybe even only 400-450RWHP. Obviously I will build my engine to hold it once I pump up the boost to do so, but would a single do me just fine here, or is a twin set up still better ? I don't mind not using the twin set up to it's full potential if it's better for low end, and just know I can run more boost If I ever decided to go crazy with it. I always understood on Supras a single was better than a twin set up.
How hard are the set ups to build yourself ? I've seen people doing it down here. I have a friend with a 5.0 and he is building a single turbo set up for it, and he want's to put twins on my 4.6 if I buy the parts he'll do the labor for free since he wants to eventually sell the kits. Would I be crazy to let him do this on my Stang as long as his 5.0 works like it should ? Shoot the turbos, and an intercooler aren't that expensive from what I'm understanding. Can I just make it work, and then get a dyno tune ? I never really talked to him seriously about putting a turbo on my Stang but he seems to know what he's doing here, and it's sounding very, very nice. Is it really that difficult to fab it up yourself ? I saw a guy do this recently at Houston Performance recently on his Cobra, and his set up was operating correctly. He drove up there on a 3 lb. of boost to get it dyno tuned only so he could safely pump up the boost. I was like WTF ! You da man ! :hail2:
BTW-it was not the same guy that wants to do mine that did his Cobra.
Obviously I'll wait to see my friends 5.0 run first !
 
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I am no Turbo expert at all. From what i've seen, you need an exaust manifold that will connect to your turbo and be out of the way,, next you have to have room to run the exaust off the turbo and be out of the way. I imagine if you have some header parts to work with and can weld and bend pipe, you can make the basic plumbing. I imagine that is where a lot of the cost is anyway. I love Turbo's , but if you would be happy with 400-500 hp, the cobrakiller kit is hard to beat, you can always increase boost. Turbo's give you the gobs of tq though.
 
You could fab up a twin turbo system for a GT, but the space for them is very limited. There is barely room for a single turbo. Just for the single i had to move the power steering res., power steering lines, brake lines, battery, fuse box, coolant res., and coolant hoses. i'm probably forgetting a few little things in there too.
With a single setup a T64 would be big enough to support the 450/500hp you are looking for and with the right choice of turbine housing could spool up at less than 3000rpm. You could always go with a larger turbo if you wanted to make more power too.
A twin setup requires a lot more tubing and fabrication work than a single would, but it doesn't require a crossover tube, which does get in the way. It does look cooler and it would be awesome to say i have a TT Stang, but i don't think it is very practical, especially for a street car.
Personally i am happy with just the single and can't really imagine doing a twin setup.
I have tons of pictures of my turbo install if you want to look at them. Maybe it will give you an idea of what is involved and what kind of room you have to work with.
 
Sweet -
Can you e-mail the pics to [email protected]
Thanks for the input. Didn't think about it that way. Lack of room for it all. I saw a Cobra the guy made his single turbo for, and it looked like it fit so well with the turbo between the water pump, and radiator guess I thought squezing another in there would not be much more difficult. Geez our mod morots are wide. :D
 
There are a couple of TT kits for our cars. Both of them support 800+rwhp. Logic tells me that is twice as difficult and twice as pieces that can brake. Do i want one? YES.

How complicated should be, i think the most complicated thing is the headers itself, some people use the existent ones (Ford or JBA) and modify them. The rest, shouldn't be difficult... well... relatively speaking. There is a TON of time you have to spend under the car.

Zinc2000GT, can you send me some pics too, plz? to [email protected] .? txs !!
 
:eek: back from the dead ! I was like WTF I didn't just start a thread.:scratch:

Lately I've been just following the T&J up comming kits.

BTW- I think i still have his zip file w/ TONS of pics. pm me your e-mail, and I can try to send it to anyone tomorrow, or Monday.
 
68 & 00 GT said:
Ha ha .

Hey Zinc I can't remember what your RWHP was w/ your turbo. How's everything still doing with your kit / set up?
My horsepower numbers were a little dissapointing. I only put down ~340hp/380tq at the wheels. Of course that was while i was running a failing walbro pump and the supplied tune. I've got a few issues to work out and then i'll have the car dyno tuned, hoping for 380hp/420tq. I think with a good tune and the 03 cobra pumps it shouldn't be too hard to make that kind of power.

Everything is going rather well with the kit. I've got a small exhaust leak i need to fix and i've got some issues with my turbo timer, and of course the tune, but other than that the car is running great.
 
I've thought about this...Even though it would make the car sound like a chevy possibly...would it be possible to buy an xpipe, cut the X portion out and fab up a flange, mount the turbo there, and then reroute the exhaust back out into duals. Single remote mount turbo with a decent sized turbo would produce decent power I'd assume, and also less hassle than a twin setup either in the engine bay OR twin remotes.
 
twins spool no faster than a single due to todays advances in bearings and lightweight materials.

I suggest single turbo up till about 800HP, then it is just unefficiend to run a single huge turbo past that (unless you want to drop mad cash for some custom stuff.)

Fab work isn't hard if you are good at welding. You can even use a flux core welder if you dont mind having uglier welds. I designed mine to retain the stock manifolds. Overall cost was about $1,500, including the turbo, all piping, connectors, and intercooler.
 
I will be having twin 60s installed in the next couple of weeks on my car, looking to make 650rwhp. A buddy builds them out of his garage and has done a few local stangs. On 7psi they have made 390-430rwhp on stock shortblocks using a single 60. Basically for around $3k you take him a stock car and he'll give it back tuned and ready to go making 400rwhp.