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I sent an email to deadbolt and they said that they could upgrade my VF11 turbo with a better compressor(?) wheel. It's cheaper than getting a 16g and I have one on hand. Has anyone tried to do this?

Edit: for accuracy

VF20? Do you mean VF11, the stock turbo?

I guess so, I thought our stock was a VF20.

I would be interested if they do that

I hope so, I'm waiting to hear back from them. I have one laying around that I burnt up. I'll post here when I get word. Their site says they rebuild turbos and will upgrade the internals. It looks to be around 2 or 3 hundred dollars cheaper.

200 to 300 dollars cheaper than a 16g??

I added it up and it's about the same actually.

What is the modified straight inlet on the 16g? Would that reduce the amount of fabrications needed for one of those.

Cartridge seals replacement - IHI - starting at $69.00
Standard rebuild - Mitsubishi - $299.00
Compressor wheel upgrade - $299.00

If you don't need the rebuild then it would save you some dough. Remember, I'm just exploring this.

I am also interested if its worth it.

I think you only add seal replacement and wheel upgrade, so it's around 370$, ...............damn..........another thing to buy

They emailed me and said that, yes, they can upgrade the VF11. I'm going to ship my siezed one in to them and see what they say. Shipping is 13.00 bucks (12.99) standard ground.

what would the benefit of this be aside from the cost savings and less fabrication? more efficient at higher boost?

I don't know for sure but I imagine that a heavier compressor wheel would produce more compression capability. It might creat more lag, causing boost to occur later but I'm ok with that. My key thing is that if I can get my spare turbo repaired via an upgrade for less than the price of buying a 16g with still some improvement I'd like to do that. What's the difference between a 16G and a VF11?

Scott,

Personally, I would want to know exactly what the benefits were of any modifications that they are doing before I shipped my turbo to them.

creel wrote: What's the difference between a 16G and a VF11?

uhhh theres a big difference. the stock VF11 turbo is small and pretty crappy while the 16g is pretty big and can hold boost throughout the RPM range. its a BIG difference. the td05-16g is the turbos that are coming on the EVO8's stock in the US. big turbo that can support big horsepower.

A big compressor and small exhaust will do 2 things.

Spool fast as shit, and have no top end.

At my friends shop, there's an STi there (we call it the Greddy car). It's got a Greddy turbo, but it's some frankenstein unit. It's got lots of fun supporting mods and it's pretty well done (except for the now broken tranny). The problem is that the inlet to the compressor is friggin HUGE. T67 size. The exhaust housing, however, is tiny. Tiny tiny. So the problem? It spools like stock. It also makes barely more than stock boost. It peaks at 18psi, and that's as high as it'll go. Only made 320whp at 18psi.

Personally, I'd just go 16g.

Can you get a precise explanation of the mod. Even if it spool as fast as stock, a better compressor will give more air/second. I too would prefer an upgraded vf11, if the price is good.

First of all, thanks for the input an opinion. Second, I don't claim to be an expert. I'm not assuming I have any special turbo knowledge, please keep that in mind when the biting sarcasm urge hits you. I like the IDEA of having a 16g. I DON'T like the idea of spending 700 bucks on a turbo, espeically considering I don't need more speeding tickets and for what I'm doing (driving to work mostly and some pleasure cruising) I'm not convinced I need to go balls to the wall, although I do drive fast. It would be nice to have some extra, more constant power without having to spend two days sweating over my car in a parking lot, cutting and banging away. I can handle intalling my stock turbo or one that doesn't require extensive cutting and fabbing. I simply don't have the space or tools to do such things, as I've said before.

So, yes, the 16g is better and if I had the time, money, tools and place to do it I wouldn't hesitate. My reality isn't like that so I have to search for alternatives. I also have a spare VF11 on hand that I could get repaired. If it turns out that it would be near the cost of a 16g to have done what I'm talking about then I won't do it. Rather, I'll just get the one I have repaired and live with a spare, functional stock turbo.

I got a response from Jerry at Deadbolt. This is a copy of the email:

We can upgrade the compressor wheel in the turbo and clip the turbine wheel. This allows the turbo to flow better, and make about 15-20 more total HP than the stock setup.

Jerry Hagan
Deadbolt Enterprises

After hearing that I became a little wary. Fifteen to twenty HP? I may be a bit of a layman but that doesn't jibe right for some reason. I'm not sure what clipping the turbine wheel means. I'm not really as worried about HP gains as I am about when it spools and how steady of boost it can deliever. I might just get it straight rebuilt.

I would expect he means 15-20 more total horsepower than the stock turbo can make, not what it does in a stock car.

Clipping the exhaust wheel generally reduces the exhaust restriction a little bit, but does usually increase the boost threshold (so it takes higher engine speeds to achieve boost). Volumetric efficiency is up, though, so you get more torque even off-boost than you did before. And once you're on boost you make more power with the same boost. The bigger intake wheel will help with the latter as well, assuming you're making more boost than stock.

So they're not porting and polishing it at all? I wonder if their Monster porting job could be applied to the VF11 with good results.

Thanks for the input. I was going to ask about the port and polish, that brings the price up some but it's still fairly resonable. At some point I'll ask them about that too.

Another update:

I asked about ceramic coatings and port and polish.

Porting that turbo will improve the spoolup a bit, adding the coatings will help
with spool, lower under-hood temperatures, and add a little extra HP.

Jerry Hagen
Deadbolt Enterprises

I'm going to send it to them and see what they say. Meh, it's only 13 bucks shipping. I'll post when I get a price.

Ask them if you can get a new exhaust housing rather than the clip. I'd think you could bolt up any exhaust housing out of the VF turbos, I'd try to get one with a bigger AR.

I don't like the clip idea unless you know what you are doing and want mad top end.