Ceramic Turbines?

tpunx99GSX · 04-22-2005

Does anyone know of what turbos come with Ceramic Turbines? I was reading up on turbos on howstuffworks.com and saw that this is a good option because its lighter so spoolup is faster.

Raptor · 04-22-2005

They are nowhere near as cool as styrafoam turbines.

LightningGSX · 04-22-2005

Some Skylines had ceramic turbine wheels, as well as plastic compressor wheels.They are very fragile, and like to shatter

white 2g awd · 04-22-2005

i was reading in one of my turbo mags, i think it was a skyline, or maybe a supra, i dont know, but they had to change to bigger turbos, cause the stock ones on this car like to shatter at about 13psi and higher. it would be good for spool, but not max power probably.

Shotgun! · 04-22-2005

The Skyline BNR34 has a pair of GT25C100s which are ceramic Dual BB. Like said above they are for responce and spool. Nissan dealers offer a pair of Nismo LM turbos as an upgrade, they are metal. Draw your own conclusions.

LightningGSX · 04-22-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by white 2g awd

i was reading in one of my turbo mags, i think it was a skyline, or maybe a supra, i dont know, but they had to change to bigger turbos, cause the stock ones on this car like to shatter at about 13psi and higher. it would be good for spool, but not max power probably.

Its the plastic compressor wheels that shatter at 12+ psi boost levels, not the ceramic turbine wheels

Wizard · 04-23-2005

The EVO's I believe had this option at some point. As well as titanium shafts and compressor wheel. The titanium was for light weight and superior strength. The ceramic is not only for lightweight, but the main advantage was the fact that not as much heat would be transfered into the turbo. The heat would stay in the exhaust. And if anyone knows the theory of exhaust velocity and heat transfer (read up on exhaust wrap) you would see the reasoning. But I would personally think the extra cost would not neccesitate the possible power/response gain.

Similar to the EVO 7+ sodium filled exhaust valves.

Wiz

LightningGSX · 04-23-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wizard

The ceramic is not only for lightweight, but the main advantage was the fact that not as much heat would be transfered into the turbo. The heat would stay in the exhaust. And if anyone knows the theory of exhaust velocity and heat transfer (read up on exhaust wrap) you would see the reasoning.
Wiz

I doubt very much heat is transfered into the turbo through the exhaust wheel, regardless of what material it's made of.Even if it did insulate somewhat, with the amount of heat conducted through the other parts it wouldn't even matter.Reduced mass is pretty much the only benefit of a ceramic turbine wheel

**JET** · 04-23-2005

Yeah, the amount of heat transfered through the center housing is going to be way more than anything transfered through the turbo shaft.

Shotgun! · 04-23-2005

Also the Buick GNX which was built by McLaren (sp?) had a turbo with ceramic wheels.

LightningGSX · 04-23-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wizard

The heat would stay in the exhaust. And if anyone knows the theory of exhaust velocity and heat transfer (read up on exhaust wrap) you would see the reasoning.

Similar to the EVO 7+ sodium filled exhaust valves.

Wiz

Oh yeah, sodium filled exhaust valves IMPROVE heat transfer, not prevent it.It has nothing to do with velocity or efficiency, or anything close to the principal behind exhaust wrap.Sodium filled valves are used simply cause they don't burn up as easy.And they weigh a little less as well

Shotgun! · 04-23-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by LightningGSX

Oh yeah, sodium filled exhaust valves IMPROVE heat transfer, not prevent it.It has nothing to do with velocity or efficiency, or anything close to the principal behind exhaust wrap.Sodium filled valves are used simply cause they don't burn up as easy.And they weigh a little less as well

My father is way into old trucks, Internationals, actually. They all have Na (sodium) filled valves. They are for towing things, not race cars. Silly Mitsu, the Evo really is a truck...LOL

Wizard · 04-24-2005

"These are OEM exhaust valves from the EVO 8. They are filled with Sodium which allows a much greater heat dissipation over solid valves while saving some weight. These will drop right into your DSM 4g63 head."

My bad, I guess I really didn't read into them that much. Now I understand.

"Current forays into reducing compressor and turbine wheel inertia with advanced materials such as super plastics for compressor wheels and ceramics for turbines have been tried. These attempts have been somewhat less successful due to reliability problems. Nissan has applied these technologies successfully in production applications in the Japan market Skyline GTR and the Cima sedan. The main problem with lightweight ceramic turbine wheels is that the slightest contact with a foreign object such as a disintegrating spark plug electrode, casting sand from the exhaust manifold or even a big hunk of dislodged carbon from the motor can cause the ceramic to shatter. Nissans ultra light plastic compressor wheels tend to loose their blades when the boost is turned up beyond 12 psi or so. Having driven two vehicles with these turbos, the ceramic turbine equipped R32 Skyline GTR and a Maxima equipped with a Japan market Cima turbo, I can vouch that lag is very minimal. These turbos are an engineering marvel with their high tech ball bearing center sections, plastic compressor and ceramic turbines. Lag was so minimal with the Maxima it was almost impossible to tell if the car was turboed."

An article I found on compressor and turbine wheels. Also found a bunch on ceramic coated turbine housings and such. That would be similar to the exhaust wrap theory. Sorry for the misinformation.

Wiz