Turbo Compressor cover

[good2win22]

Can someone please educate me on the different covers.  TA verses TE verses stock verses what's out there now. 
 
I have 3 turbos at the house and I can visually see the size differences between the turbos.  A stock turbo, and 2 turbos that are suppose to both be TE45's.   I pulled the stock turbo off the car and installed a TA49  that I got from Bison and it utlized the stock actuator.  I also have what I believe is a TE45 on a spare engine as it has an actuator with a bracket welded to it for mounting onto the compressor housing.  That actuator will not mount to the turbo that I have installed on my car and it was believed to be a TE45. The back of the acutator hits the compressor outlet when I went to install it.
 
Call me the noob or the idiot.  Just want to learn and know exactly what I have.  Photos would be appreciated

[good2win22]

Went to the turbo 101 thread on the other forum but still confused

[Steve Wood]

TA turbos had a bolt on inlet bell.  TE turbos have the bell as an integral part of the the compressor housing.  Also the TE series has a larger diameter housing so actuators made for the TA turbos will not bolt on to an TE without an adapter or some rigging as the bolts are further apart on the TE due to the larger diameter.  I have seen many installed using just one bolt.

Here is a pic of one style of adapter...thin k I got it from John Craig of Limit  http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com/TATEadapter.htm

[good2win22]

Thanks Steve for the response.  That adaptor is an exact match to the one actuator I have, only it's welded to the bracket.  My issue is that it doesn't fit the "other" turbo that's suppose to be the same turbo.  The top of the rounded portion of the back of the actuator where you attach the vacuum line hits the bottom of the compressor outlet when you line up the bolt holes.  The "other" turbo does have a visually different center section than the known TE45, not sure if that makes a difference.  The known TE45 has the exact same center section as the stocker.
 
As with most of my endeavors, I'm sure it will be something simple that I've overlooked or I aquired a turbo that was advertised to be something it wasn't and not on the " I got something better than what I paid for" side.

[Steve Wood]

Do they both have Garrett exhaust housings?

[good2win22]

Do they both have Garrett exhaust housings?

Both have precision .63

[Steve Wood]

Okay, I thought one might be a Craig and the other one from Precision

[good2win22]

After a bit more research on mearsurements, the turbo that's currently on my car may be either a 70 or 76.  Gotta remove the cover and measure the wheel to be certian.  Also, looks like a I'll be needing a GT style actuator bracket to mount the actuator correctly as I believe this cover to be an S cover with 4 inch inlet and 2.5 inch outlet.
 
Either way, this is way too much turbo for my current combo.  Looks like I'll be sending the TE45 off the spare engine for a rebuild.
 
I'll post the measurements once I have them.  May be a while as the car is running now and don't have the funds this month to pay for the rebuild on the other turbo.

[Steve Wood]

The 45 which is a 63E and the 45A which had a 66mm wheel are two of the better street turbos around if you have enough stall speed...3400 is a good number in my experience.  I think the 45A may have a bit less problem with compressor surge at very light throttle but that may be total combo dependent as much as anything

[Scoobum]

With everyone jumping on the PTC bandwagon...yo u can pick up a real AC convertor for peanuts to spool either one of those turbos. Have an AC in my car...slip rate checks in under 10 percent. One of our guys ran a 9.69 at 138 up here a few years back with an AC convertor.

[good2win22]

Well.... I just pulled the cover and measured the compressor wheel.  I'm stumped


S trim cover 70 a/r, 4" inlet, 2.5" outlet
63mm compressor wheel
Precision exhaust .63 a/r


All this goes against my research of turbo dimensions.


I've got a 3200 stall lock up converter in the tranny.  When jake up in Denton did my 200 4r, I got it from him. It's not a PTC and it spooled that TA49 like it was nobody's business.


I liked the quickness of the TA49 but it lacked on the top end going though the traps, at least for me it did.  That's why I wanted a TE44 or a TE45. Now I'm not sure what I have in the car. It does not spool as quickly as the 49 did but it does pull harder in second and third gear. Haven't had it at the track yet to see what she'll do with this unknown turbo.  Charlie and I were looking at going out to little river in September. 

[Steve Wood]

3200 will work with a 45 with a little tuning.  3200 is wasting powerband on a TA49 unless one just like smoking tires.

The 45 was a 63E which is not the same as a TE63.  And to complicate matters, there was the 45 built by Craig using Garrett parts and the 45 built by PTE.  Also, I think there was a a TA63....turbos have gotten very confusing over the years and some of the improved models were not really improvements.. ..