1997 S70 Replaced the 16T Turbo to 9 blade turbine unit

[Fosgate]

Hey guys,

Just to give you a bit of feedback on turbo replacement to a cartridge with 9 blade turbine wheel,
The car is 1997 S70 T5 (yep we got them in 97 where in Oz) that had standard TD01HL-16T turbo with 190k kms on it.
My engine has been blowing bit of smoke in the morning after its been sitting there over night and I thought its time to replace the turbo as its done close to 200k kms on the original turbo.
So found a company in Japan/Taiwan who were offering both 12 (standard), 11 and 9 blade 16T replacement cartridges for a reasonable price and after bit of discussion with them I end up ordering 11 blade unit as it would reduce the lag of the stock turbo (I have auto) and at the same time give me the performance of the original unit. Also the 11 blade unit was around $100 cheaper then the 9 blade unit.
So a week later I get my turbo core and it seems like they stuffed up with the order and sent me the 9 blade unit instead... So thinking what the heck I would go with that even though I was told that it would reduce both lag and bit of top end i decided to give it a go.
At the same time I have purchased aftermarket wastegate actuator from the same company in which I have asked to install 0.8bar spring.
So after replacing the cartridge, which wasn't as straight forward as I thought it would be due to how the replacement core was constructed (but that's another story for a separate thread) the car was finally ready to take it for a test drive.

There is definitely less lag and the whole car has become more responsive, it would now break traction with brand new Michelin tyres and revs out nicely to over 5k RPMs. I would imagine the increased boost to 0.8bar does also play a big role in this however it does feel that the top end is not as good it would be if the turbine blade was 11 blade unit.
I guess I need to decide if I want to stick with this kind of setup or complain that they sent me a wrong unit and have it replaced with 11 blade cartridge.

Bottom line is if you looking for a reduced lag, better response and don't mind little bit of lose at the top end 9 blade turbine unit would be a perfect 'upgrade' for to the stock unit.

[matthew1]

Thanks for the info, Fosgate. Very interesting.

[akgyger]

This is pretty cool. Can you provide links/details to this company so I can check it out? Mine is starting to do the same, coming up on 220k. Did you get the cold side housing and cartridge, or only the cartridge?

[jblackburn]

Interesting. I didn't know they made different wheels for these old turbos anymore.

Personally, I would stick with the increased low-end response over top-end.