To Tur..Bo or not to Tur...bo

[peteabbott]

I fitted a 1Y over a year ago now and although I have not got the gearing right yet she now climbs hills without stirring the (four speed) gearbox and will cruise at 65/70 and return 35/40 mpg. My problem as I say is the gearing but I hope to resolve this with a bigger diameter set of wheels from 14,s to 16,s which should give 10% +.(I will change the gearbox if and when it becomes troublesome)
This wiil stop her screaming her nuts off at 70.
I dont get this whole Turbo thing because I dont want to spin my wheels or do 0=60 in 6secs. Surely all a turbo does is get you "off the mark" a tad sharper and up hills with a bit of a boost. I dont want to beat Gareth boys away from the lights, I just want to cruise comfortably on the modern roads in my lovely 26 year old van.
So fellow members please enlighten me so that I may see the error of my ways, what am I missing here ?

[weldore]

not to turbo

[peteabbott]

Still owe you a beer Dave. Maybe this year eh ? Unless of course I do Turbo and you will never catch me !

[weldore]

i will,ill just wait for you to fill up

maybe aiden can help us on the best ratio gear box for the 1 y with standard wheels on...i dont mind mine really though but 60 + is a bit thrashy for me..but the engine has never let me down(except for today when i left the interior light on for 12 hours but that the battery )

i dont want it to be too long in the leg though

[peasant]

No idea what a 1Y engine does for your driving characteristics, but the difference between the 1.6 non turbo cs and 1.6 turbo jx is very noticeable.

First off, you get 40% more power (50 vs 70 hp)...40% !!
Secondly, you can keep on going on inclines without having to shift down
And thirdly, you can keep up with traffic even when you have lost your momentum

And no ..you still can't tear off at the lights with screeching tyres , nor is the top speed significantly higher (cruising speed remains pretty much the same anyway) it is just that when you do mash the gas you can actually perceive some acceleration and you might even want to dare and overtake something other than cyclists and tractors occasionally

[peteabbott]

Yup, I agree. 60 is plenty for me too but I think for economies sake there is a lot to be gained. Reading all the info on here the bigger wheels option sounds like it is the way forward. i got a mate who works for ATS and thay have a calculator chart so he is looking into it for me. It will make first gear useable again and just say at 2000rpm 16" wheels could drop this to 1800 rpm. errrr perhaps then I would need a Turbo, you know one of them things that seem to go wrong a lot

[weldore]

i know what your saying pete..if you could do 60 and it be a nice quiet hum in the back then that would be nice,instead of the mighty roar
just looked on here http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/VehicleSpec ... fo/gbx.htm
and i think mines the 8L ,if memory serves

[weldore]

oh,and what would adding a turbo do to your insurance ?

[peteabbott]

ABH or ABS then. Or am I reading this wrong as I am not good with gearboxes. There seems to be a very small difference between the ratios on the four speed fourth gear and the five speed fifth gear but I think Aiden put something on here that said it wasn,t just the ratios but the final drive that mattered. Think I will persue the bigger wheel thing first as I can understand that.

[peteabbott]

No idea what a 1Y engine does for your driving characteristics, but the difference between the 1.6 non turbo cs and 1.6 turbo jx is very noticeable.

First off, you get 40% more power (50 vs 70 hp)...40% !!
Secondly, you can keep on going on inclines without having to shift down
And thirdly, you can keep up with traffic even when you have lost your momentum

And no ..you still can't tear off at the lights with screeching tyres , nor is the top speed significantly higher (cruising speed remains pretty much the same anyway) it is just that when you do mash the gas you can actually perceive some acceleration and you might even want to dare and overtake something other than cyclists and tractors occasionally

Yes thanks, I get that. Not short of power I dont think, climbs hills without stirring the gearbox and if I want to strangle her keeping up with traffic is not a problem. The 1.9 1Y is a good engine but because I still use the 1.7 KY box I now have a useless 1st. gear and seem to be missing a top gear ! Progress is being made though. Thankyou Peasant (sorry that sounds rude)

[Red Westie]

There are a lot of misconceptions about Turbo's, yes they can be and are fitted to high performance cars like Impreza's and Evo's but many more are fitted to buses, vans and lorries.
Turbo's use wasted energy (exhaust gases) to move a turbine that powers a compressor. As wasted energy is recycled and increases engine power TD's are more thermally efficient (more of the calorific fuel energy is turned to kinetic movement energy) so Turbo's can actually increase economy (when driven normally)
TD's increase engine power output by compressing the air going into the inlet manifold and cylinders. More air means more oxygen per combustion cycle which in turn means that more fuel can be added for a bigger bang!
In manufacturing terms this means a smaller capacity lighter engine unit can produce the same power as a higher capacity heavier unit.
This has the resultant benefit of less vehicle weight so better braking, better acceleration and improved fuel consumption from exactly the same power output.
I'm not an AAZ/1Y specialist but what I do know is most turbo's are not just bolted on and the 'Turbo' variant has many other differences to enable it to function with the Turbo (I'm sure someone will have that information)

Martin

[peteabbott]

Thanks Martin, I get it that modern manufacturers use turbos to get what they can from a smaller engine (my works van is only a 1300 diesel....turboed) but as you say this is not something you can just bolt on to an older engine. This comes from the original designers with lots of testing and I am not convinced that in my case it would not be worth the trouble although there are some in the club who have done this and on these old engines is it really worth it ? My son had a Mitsubishi twin turbo job and one turbo blew and the difference was huge. My van is not an F1 it is a T3.

[ringo]

It's a tough one. I've gone through it myself.

I did it because it my hobby - not because it made economical sense.

Was it worth it? Yes.

Is my van loads faster? No.

I think you're like me Pete - and you won't be able to stop thinking about it until you have done it

The fun starts when you buy the bits

Ringo

[Aidan]

re the gearing, the final drive is the important thing, a good number of 1Y users have gone to the four speed ABD box which is the most common box from 1.9 DG vans with 4.83 final drive; non turbo four speed is fine
in a perfect world you'd have the ABD rebuilt with a slightly taller fourth gear for max economy
if five speed then fit the TD box the 3H or the 1.9 petrol equivilent ABN or any variants of those

[phil_b]

Hi,

If your generally happy with the performance theres no need to turbo, but if you do the main advantage is a mid range boost, not top speed. This means a more relaxed drive with less need to change gear especially going uphill.

If you change your gearing be aware of over gearing, overdo it and even the slightest incline will require a down change.

I have a ABN box with 195 x 15" high profile tyres (approx 8% gearing over standard) which gives 70 at 3400rpm.

Cheers.. Phil