So I think that the turbo on my car is giving up after 170K miles. Yeah it has 170k original miles! The motor is fresh, just rebuilt and I'm getting a good puff of smoke at start up and it gives me a headache if I drive it more then an hour. Also fowled a new-ish set of plugs. So I'm thinking that the seal on the intake side is shot and it is leaking oil into the intake charge under vacuum. The A/F ratios are good and the compression numbers are great. The car is a 87 TII with a ported exhaust and deleted emissions. What are my options for replacement? I do not want to get crazy here. I drive this car daily. A buddy suggested a To4b but there are so many “trim” levels out there I’m confussed.

 

A to4 turbo or anything besides the stock turbo is going to require a lot more than just the turbo( manifold, wastegate, new downpipe, bigger fuel system etc)

Or were you thinking of getting a hybrid turbo? A compressor section upgrade using stock turbine side, and stock manifold/dp etc...

 

Yes I was thinking hybrid. I really don't want to get into the extra complexity of different manifolds and downpipes... The car already has a 3" downpipe bigger secondary injectors, FCD, ported wastegate, TB mod, the usual crap...