Greasey Bob

I was thinking that I could turn my turbo on its triangle and then attach a turbo to the exhaust side of the turbo. The intake side I would connect to the second turbo that would go to the new intercooler. The exhaust would still connect the same way.

Would this work? Do I need a tuning system to make it work? Do I need to make two new exhaust headers and connect a second turbo behind the first turbo? Would the electronics still work? Will the factory adjust the fuel for the extra air coming in?

For the record I have a 2005 E320 CDI. I have measured the space and a bigger intercooler should go into place.

kurtismayfield

isstay is the one to talk to I think. He has worked with turbos quite a bit. I am sure there are others I do not know.

isstay

Why you want to have compound turbo system, the VNT is good for this engine. If you put two turbos you will have to remap the ECU and basically delete VNT control and loose the quick response. I am not sure how you will control the new system since they have electromagnetic valves for precise response and you will have to find the best tuner that can rewrite your ECU map or you will have to go vacuum controlled setup, thus it will be less responsive.
You can upgrade your intercooler and remap the ecu and you will gain 35-40 HP probably w/easy. Big intercooler will be hard to fit unless you want to cut bumper support. I personally think that installing bigger intercooler but having half of it behind the bumper w/o air flow is pointless.

Greasey Bob

When I blew up the CDI everyone said just buy a used motor. So I looked into rebuilding the motor and then purchased a used motor. Now I was thinking since I have all of these parts I should build a better motor. And everyone tells me you are not going to be able to reprogram the computer. You are now the third person. First one was a turbo tuner.

isstay

First of all this is not engine of choice for tuners, thus why it is hard to find performance parts and tuning maps for it. There are some but they just change few parameters to make it running better compare to the conservative factory setup that obeys all emission laws. Even if can find some one willing to make performance crank and cam shafts, connecting rods and forged pistons it will cost you a fortune because of the low volume (actually only one set). Pistons will be easiest part of all, both shafts required knowledge in engine engineering and even if you have it, it does not always work from first time, thus more custom parts have to be made. Engine development cost millions for car makers, thus why they join forces and share engines.
Second problem is the ECU map - tuners can modify few things on it, but they can't rewrite whole map - this takes teams of people and software the cost fortune, again for single car will be fortune and again may not work from first try.
This engine is full w/sensors and his software does millions of calculations per millisecond to keep it running the way it should thus why it makes it hard to alter things on it.
Engine tuning this days is not only about installing bigger turbo/intercooler, now is about integration of those components into it. Updating the intercooler does not require any thing extra, but the turbo upgrade will need to be accompanied by bigger MAP sensor, more fuel, different timing to mention few to make the engine running and prevent future damage to its components.
I will suggest that you go to the tuner you talk with and ask him to remap your ECU - to change the timing, raise the rail pressure up to 27000 psi, modify injectors energizing width and duration of the cycle in order to get more fuel, change the VNT response and positions, delete EGR and the speed limiter then put your car on dyno and you may have 250HP engine. One other thing you can do is to send your extra injectors for rebuild requesting higher flow rate, but this also will require additional remapping.
If you want to tune MB diesel get yourself old W124 E300D and do what ever you want w/it, this way you do not have to worry if your mods will work or not.

Greasey Bob

How about if we used a control from a 06 Cummins Turbo diesel? Uses a CP3 and direct injection. This engine is a long term project. I still have to get the 05 back on the road and rebuild the 85 motor and find a car or truck to put that into.

Then I might start working on the parts motor. I looked into pistons and rod, rods are the easiest part. Pistons are next, The crank guy said it was probably designed to handle 800 FT/Torq. And it was good. I might lightly port and polish the head in spare time. Maybe I should go the other direction and try to make all of the parts lighter in an effort to make it more efficient not make more power. We will see how it goes.

isstay

Yes you can replace or upgrade the turbo, but I am not sure what you mean saying that you want to use control from Cummins.

Greasey Bob

Change the wiring to a Cummins. It would not know that it is not the 5.9. Not really a practical idea.

I did get the new motor in my car today. I blocked off the egr, it was so easy when the motor is out of the car.

isstay

Start looking for company that can upgrade the compressor side of your old turbo if you want to gain more HP. How you blocked it: metal plate where connects to the engine head, or you blocked the valve by itself not to open?

Greasey Bob

Plate where it goes into the EGR cooler. I am considering a plate on the exhaust side also. Are there downsides to this?

isstay

No but be sure to leave the EGR plugged in not to set CEL.

Greasey Bob

I got my junk yard motor installed and it started up without drama. I had to change a banjo bolt seal on the transmission line. The check engine light stayed off with the egr blocked off. So far I have only driven it around the block and let it get up to temperature. I still have to recharge the AC and I want to flush the coolant before I try a long drive.

I now have a spare engine to play with. We will see if I can make it better? Maybe I should just sell off the parts?

isstay

What exactly was wrong w/it, why it fail?

Greasey Bob

Not enough oil changes. Took out the cylinder walls as they are all scuffed and two rods are bad. The crank was off by a little on those same two rods. Head looked good, lots of carbon. Intake also had lots of carbon. One injector was stuck in the head and cracked the valve cover coming out as well as messing up itself.

I have a lot more projects ahead of building a high performance version of an engine that is hard to modify.