sunnysmith Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 All, First, my apologies for being remiss on giving an update earlier! Three months ago during a torrential rain storm, I was driving down the highway and blew the motor. Specifically, a connecting rod broke and punched a bunch of holes in the engine block. I initially thought that we were just running too much boost, but I later learned the truth.... The intake is lower to the ground in the turbo config. I have never owned a turbo car before and it did not connect in my mind that 10psi boost is also 10psi vacuum at the intake. I was driving through standing water at 70 mph hydroplaning a bit here and there. What I did not realize was that I was soaking the air filter with water. Eventually water go into the intake and the motor hydro-locked. We found small amounts of water in the intercooler (bad). SO, blown motor, what to do? Buy a new one. We found a really nice motor with very low miles for $700.00. You should all note that these motors are a dime a dozen on eBay. You can find them as cheap as $400. We paid $700 to an outfit that was closer. Long store short, Bob rebuilt the Duratech. I think he may be one of the few people that has done a full rebuild on one. It now has all forged internals and has been bored and balanced. You could balance a coin on edge on the motor while it is idling. It is a thing of beauty. I just got it back yesterday, but the motor is night and day different. The new motor feels so much more solid and doesn't fell like it is working at all. Here is some advice that I would give you all after having been through all of this... Turbocharge it with the FSWERKS kit. Get an electronic boost controller and cap the boost at 7 psi. Have fun. Do not do anything else and it will last forever. After having looked at the stock internals, Bob really believes that 7 is the limit. Randy has run a lot of motors higher, but I think 7 is practical since most of you are using these for work vehicles. -Sunny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hal Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Sunny, How it the transmission holding up? Did Randy reprogram the shift points? Hal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nphinc Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 Here is some advice that I would give you all after having been through all of this... Turbocharge it with the FSWERKS kit. Get an electronic boost controller and cap the boost at 7 psi. Have fun. Do not do anything else and it will last forever. After having looked at the stock internals, Bob really believes that 7 is the limit. Randy has run a lot of motors higher, but I think 7 is practical since most of you are using these for work vehicles. -Sunny I'm mildly curious & not trying to sound like a smart a$$. What's the real world payoff for spending 3500-5k to turbo a 20k cub cadet? I'm looking for an old Briggs & Stratton logo to put on the hood of my TC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zepper Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Sunny are you still out there? We're still wondering about the shift point reprograming?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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