Trooper Turbo Feedback

2scoops · October 26, 2011

Questions from any Trooper Turbo Owners:

Where did you purchase your turbo?

Have you had any issues?

Do you have an intercooler?

At what RPM do you feel it spool up?

How does it run up hills? Do you need to down shift still?

Do you feel there would be an advantage of a supercharger over a turbo?

Thanks for the feedback.

Randy · October 26, 2011

2scoops,

My turbo was installed 2 years ago by Scott at Unleashed Motorsports in Prescott (he is now in Mesa, I think?). I have about 1500 miles on the turbo and 2500 miles overall on the Trooper.

I have had to 'PB Blaster' the waste gate linkage which got a little sticky and allowed overboost, but other than that, no issues. I dialed up the pressure on the fuel regulator, but I think it still leans out when you are in full boost for a long period of time. I just back out of it and then get back on and it is fine. No intercooler.

I can hear and feel the turbo at around 2k and boost guage shows activity above about 2.5k. It really does deliver good midrange pull when I call on it. If I get in trouble at low speeds (often!) it responds quickly to a downshift, but can be too much if not careful.

Hill climbing is where it really works..... If I take the right line I can take Oldsmobile (if you are familiar with Glamis) in 4th gear 5k+ rpm (10# of boost) almost all the way up. I have downshifted on hills and been able to maintain boost, but if you miss the shift....its over. It is also very easy to get into the rpm limiter which kills momentum bigtime! I don't use paddles anymore, I found they did not add much if anything and were a pain to switch back and forth. I use Maxxis Bighorn's for everything and they do a good job.

From a theoritical point of view, the supercharger would be more effective at lower rpm, but I like the idea of not pushing the HP through the drive train unless I call on it. I don't do a lot of rock crawling so I cannot really speak to pros an cons.

Overall, installing the turbo is the best single thing I have done to improve the drivability of my T-2. My wife even likes it!

2scoops · October 26, 2011

2scoops,

My turbo was installed 2 years ago by Scott at Unleashed Motorsports in Prescott (he is now in Mesa, I think?). I have about 1500 miles on the turbo and 2500 miles overall on the Trooper.

I have had to 'PB Blaster' the waste gate linkage which got a little sticky and allowed overboost, but other than that, no issues. I dialed up the pressure on the fuel regulator, but I think it still leans out when you are in full boost for a long period of time. I just back out of it and then get back on and it is fine. No intercooler.

I can hear and feel the turbo at around 2k and boost guage shows activity above about 2.5k. It really does deliver good midrange pull when I call on it. If I get in trouble at low speeds (often!) it responds quickly to a downshift, but can be too much if not careful.

Hill climbing is where it really works..... If I take the right line I can take Oldsmobile (if you are familiar with Glamis) in 4th gear 5k+ rpm (10# of boost) almost all the way up. I have downshifted on hills and been able to maintain boost, but if you miss the shift....its over. It is also very easy to get into the rpm limiter which kills momentum bigtime! I don't use paddles anymore, I found they did not add much if anything and were a pain to switch back and forth. I use Maxxis Bighorn's for everything and they do a good job.

From a theoritical point of view, the supercharger would be more effective at lower rpm, but I like the idea of not pushing the HP through the drive train unless I call on it. I don't do a lot of rock crawling so I cannot really speak to pros an cons.

Overall, installing the turbo is the best single thing I have done to improve the drivability of my T-2. My wife even likes it!

Thanks Randy. The Unleashed is the turbo I am looking at if I do not supercharge--best price.

Do you know if Unleashed put a different fuel pump than stock for the install?

Are you holding your own against the competition (RZR's/Rhinos/Prowlers/etc)? Any stories?

I haven't seen alot of sand, just some in Moab, but it wasn't very long or steep where I was at. The lighter machines seem to scoot along in sand much easier and I am hoping a supercharger or turbo will even things out.

I can tell you even with rock crawling the Troopers 1st gear is low enough to climb everything I have tried. I have Silverbullets fuel controller and that made a huge difference in low end pick up & power. The only time rock crawling becomes a chore is when you get bound up and have to work the clutch, but that isn't a power thing, it is a stick shift thing. The only thing I have noticed my buddy's RZR's do better is accelerate up hills due to their CVT & lighter weight.

It would be nice to have the instant low RPM throttle response of a supercharger, but I am debating if I even need it below 2000-2500 RPM.

Randy · October 26, 2011

Paul,

I have the stock fuel pump. The fuel controller should help with the turbo requirements I would think.

I ride regularly with RZR's, RZR 4's, Ranger's, Rhino's etc. I am the 'old fart' of the group (the others are my son's and their friends) and I got the turbo so I could keep up. The t-2 w/turbo will out accelerate any of them if you can handle the gear box. I have never been out climbed. The main limiting factor is from my neck up, I am a conservative driver and I am sure someone else could get more performance out of my rig, but I like it and it works for me! (I am more often at the pulling end of the tow strap than the other way around).

I find that on anything but the most difficult or fastest rides, the turbo just smoothes out the edges to give that extra margin. I used to get into scary situations before the turbo ie - down into a bowl or needing to crest a hill too fast to maintain momentum. Now I have confidence that when push comes to shove, I can power out of it.

And I still get 25 mpg! (I do have to run 100 octane unleaded, $8 gal, ouch!)

Kinarfi · October 26, 2011

Paul,

And I still get 25 mpg! (I do have to run 100 octane unleaded, $8 gal, ouch!)

Where are you getting your gas, may I suggest 100LL aviation gas for about $6.50, probably what your getting anyway.

http://www.airnav.com/fuel/local.html

kinarfi

Randy · October 26, 2011

Where are you getting your gas, may I suggest 100LL aviation gas for about $6.50, probably what your getting anyway.

http://www.airnav.com/fuel/local.html

kinarfi

I thought the same thing until I found out that AvGas is LOW lead, not UNleaded. I understand that it is not good for anything but emergency use (except of course for airplanes that are designed for it). I go to a little auto shop on the westside near 51st ave and Bethany Home Rd. I use so little of it (compared to the hundreds of dollars of Diesel I use in the MH!) that I just don't worry about the cost. I try to have 20 gallons on hand all the time. Hardly ever run through more than 10 gal on the average trip.

MauyThai1 · October 31, 2011

Questions from any Trooper Turbo Owners:

Where did you purchase your turbo?

Have you had any issues?

Do you have an intercooler?

At what RPM do you feel it spool up?

How does it run up hills? Do you need to down shift still?

Do you feel there would be an advantage of a supercharger over a turbo?

Thanks for the feedback.

I purchased my Turbo from Scott also but it was installed by a Joyner Teck here in Colorado. The Turbo has never run well, I have an issue with the engine getting hot if I run the machine 45 mph or more for a few miles. i put a Boost Controller on it which helped some and then I adjusted the waste gate so it wouldn't boost more then 10 lbs. I also have a Fuel controller from Silver Bullet. I couldn't get it to work so I called the manufacture EJK. Matt at EJK told me the standard fuel controller will not work with a Turbo but he can remapp it for a Turbo which I had him do.. I have contemplated several times on removing the Turbo but after talking with Scott at Unleashed we will try to get it tuned. I think the Turbo is a good upgrade if Scott was to install it and tune it, I live out of state so I had a teck install it is supposed to know what he was doing, guess he didn't. I am not running an inter-cooler but I will.The Turbo was installed when I had 210 miles on the machine, I now have 3000 and it still isn't working right. The machine runs great and the power is impressive in 2nd and 3rd gears when Im needing it but when I hit 4th and 5th gears to run down the road it will slowly heat up and lose power. Robert.

2scoops · November 1, 2011

I purchased my Turbo from Scott also but it was installed by a Joyner Teck here in Colorado. The Turbo has never run well, I have an issue with the engine getting hot if I run the machine 45 mph or more for a few miles. i put a Boost Controller on it which helped some and then I adjusted the waste gate so it wouldn't boost more then 10 lbs. I also have a Fuel controller from Silver Bullet. I couldn't get it to work so I called the manufacture EJK. Matt at EJK told me the standard fuel controller will not work with a Turbo but he can remapp it for a Turbo which I had him do.. I have contemplated several times on removing the Turbo but after talking with Scott at Unleashed we will try to get it tuned. I think the Turbo is a good upgrade if Scott was to install it and tune it, I live out of state so I had a teck install it is supposed to know what he was doing, guess he didn't. I am not running an inter-cooler but I will.The Turbo was installed when I had 210 miles on the machine, I now have 3000 and it still isn't working right. The machine runs great and the power is impressive in 2nd and 3rd gears when Im needing it but when I hit 4th and 5th gears to run down the road it will slowly heat up and lose power. Robert.

Thanks for the reply Robert. I can't believe you have put up with the turbo acting up for almost 2800 miles. I wonder if you would have had issues even with out the turbo. I also wonder why yours is overheating. Randy lives in Arizona and doesn't have any overheating issues with his turbo.

Are you running race gas?

Keep us posted on how things turn out. I would like to know how the remapped fuel controller works. Silverbullet should have done his homework before selling it to a turbo'd owner. Let us know if you get it running correctly and what the fix was.

Thanks,

Paul

dedub · November 3, 2011

I purchased my Turbo from Scott also but it was installed by a Joyner Teck here in Colorado. The Turbo has never run well, I have an issue with the engine getting hot if I run the machine 45 mph or more for a few miles. i put a Boost Controller on it which helped some and then I adjusted the waste gate so it wouldn't boost more then 10 lbs. I also have a Fuel controller from Silver Bullet. I couldn't get it to work so I called the manufacture EJK. Matt at EJK told me the standard fuel controller will not work with a Turbo but he can remapp it for a Turbo which I had him do.. I have contemplated several times on removing the Turbo but after talking with Scott at Unleashed we will try to get it tuned. I think the Turbo is a good upgrade if Scott was to install it and tune it, I live out of state so I had a teck install it is supposed to know what he was doing, guess he didn't. I am not running an inter-cooler but I will.The Turbo was installed when I had 210 miles on the machine, I now have 3000 and it still isn't working right. The machine runs great and the power is impressive in 2nd and 3rd gears when Im needing it but when I hit 4th and 5th gears to run down the road it will slowly heat up and lose power. Robert.

this might help richen fuel up on topend geting hot a lot of times means to lean on fuel..dedub.