I was after anyone's opinion who has run a draw through turbo setup.

What I was wondering is what did you do with the compressor side seal. In your average draw through setup everyone says "just get a carbon seal" but it seems to me this is quite herd on anything but a T2/T3 turbo!? Which are too big for an A12.

Does anyone know what seal Topgear ran on his A12 turbo (as writen about in the wiki)?

Does any one have a cross sectional diagram of how the carbon seal works? I first thought it was something like a lip seal but it turns out its different.

Ive still got my heart set on a draw through setup, its just that this seal is a problem.

Would anyone know where I can buy a carbon seal for a IHI RHB5 VF1 or how I can convert another one to fit?

Any help would be appreciated.

As far as I'm aware, topgear just ran a mitsi TDO4 turbo with no carbon seal. He said it wasn't too bad, but it did puff a bit of oil out when openieng the htrottle after a prolonged period of idling. the only time a non carbon sealed turbo will pass oil (Unless it's buggered) is when the throttle blade is closed, the piston ring type seals aren't designed to withstand vaccuum. After all they are meant to be a compressor.
Anywhoo, I met a pommy bloke one day while I was working, who claimed to have worked for both the lotus F1 team, and some turbo outfit in the UK. He told me that all garrett/air research turbo's are carbon sealed. And I read somewhere on here that the turbochargers that were fitted to rotary engines were also carbon sealed. Although the rotory turbochargers may be a little big for an A series.

the carbon seal is a mechanical face seal, as opposed to a piston ring type seal, the Garret T25 series is just a kit to convert from ring to Carbon, I had it done in Mine, the carbon seal can go both draw thru and blow thru, the Ring type is for blow thru only,

surely if u walk into your local turbo placed they should be able to tell you whats available for the IHI, the Garret stuff was on the shelf for mine..

dude.. google is your friend... ihi carbon seal.. first listing.. Info

Ive seen that page no less than 10 times in my non stop Googleing for this problem as it is whats holding me back from doing further work.

I emailed that guy on his blog and am waiting for a reply about where he got it from.

Looks to me like a custom made part as NO other carbon seal setup looks like that (in terms of machined from solid bar stock and surface finish - seems to me he sent out to an engineering company for it).

The conclusion/plan I've come to now is....

NO turbo exists with a carbon seal that's small enough for a A12 (enlighten me if there is and provide contacts for the rebuild kit/turbo).

Other turbos with carbon seals from factory/kits available with carbon seals are the Garret T2,T22,T25,T28 and T3 - All of which are too big (T2 could work with lots of lag/sub par efficiency).

Options for me are to either go to a bearing/seal supplier and see what carbon seals they have so I can machine up my own setup or adapt a carbon seal from a Garret T2,T22,T25,T28 or T3 to my IHI turbo.

Failing that I will have to bite the bullet and source a T2 with a tiny turbine AR and get a carbon seal.

Looking back on this, whenever "draw through" showed up in a forum the general consensus was "oh yeah slap a carbon seal in it" like it was effortless but it turns out only the Garret T2/T3 models really have them available commonly.

Looks like I'm sticking to my name and will source a carbon seal and make my own thrust collar and plate.

I would have thought a t25 would be near on Ideal, ie, Z32, 3000cc, 2 x T25, 7-8psi std, boosted to 14psi 220kw atw.. (reliable KW) as opposed to the Skyline with Ceramic wheels that become fragile over 11psi... and the Garret is a nice compressor, reliable, readily available, easy to source parts, cheap... water cooled, can be modded to run ball bearings.

Kit

I rebuilt mine using Genuine Garret Parts, it was a bit more than that though..

T2 comes on a E15 engine from the factory, it suits an A12 pretty well, i run a T25 on my A14 and it runs really well! neither are overly laggy but they both give a decent kick in the ass when they reach boost! the only problem with the T2, it runs out of puff in the upper limits of the rev range, but has awesome low to mid range power though!

Try and ask a turbo rebuilder like GCG turbos, they will definatly be able to get a carbon seal for you, or at least know where to obtain one fro you.

I've asked GCG yesterday so I'll go and check my email now.

Apparently GCG doesn't know of one for my turbo and said the only option is a $1200 turbo they suggested for me to buy...

All that's left now is to get a carbon seal from another small turbo and I'll machine up a custom carbon setup.

A garret T15 or T20 would work but none are on ebay.

bump

Anyone know if I can use a ball bearing turbo like TopGear has
and stop the smoke on take off? I heard that BBearing turbos
are not suited to drawthrough due to a lack of this carbon seal???

TopGear used one of these turbos fromt
SUBARU LEGACY B4 RHF4 Twin Turbo VF21 or VF33
anyone remember which one?
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Turbocharger-S ... ories&hash=item3f05f833b0