Hi guys. I'm just wondering what is a realistic safe hp for a 12a turbo. Iv heard that "12a's cant make more than 300whp before they explode" but i think that cant be true just an NA Bridgeport makes around 200 from what I've seen, i don't feel going up to 300 would put that much more stress. I plan to, and have done, all the common upgrades for a 12a: FD oil pressure, 13b water pump, 17mm oil pump, alu rad, flat corner springs, and home lapped irons. I also have one 3 window stat bearing. My engine is only a half bridge with a race port exhaust. I realize this is less than ideal for lower power output so I would like to know what you guys think would be a safe WHP to shoot for. Basically i want the largest, least restrictive turbo without exploding my engine.

 

The weak link is the trans. Clutch in particular. After that is the rear end if you are using an S1 rear end. S3 is pretty stout in comparison.

 

Im asuming you mean the gslse axle. I was planning on doing that too. I was also thinking of solid dowels but I have not been able to find any now that pineapple racing is gone

 

Dowels seem a bit extreme. You could use 13B dowels and tap them down for use on the 12a.

Not much difference between the S1-S3 engines and the S4+; S4's can do 300 without much issue. I don't have personal experience with high output 12a's so I'll be willing to stand corrected, but at 300 ish HP I don't think you'll have an issue.

 

I've heard of the rear irons cracking and creating an oil leak, so the thought is to do an external oil mod and not have oil going through that area. But if there not available i guess its not a big deal.

 

I've heard of a lot of people struggling with 12A's that had the oil rings on the dowels age poorly. That causes a leak between the housings, but since you are rebuilding the engine that shouldn't be an issue with yours.

I want to agree with you about the roomers of rear irons cracking, but I don't have any first hand experience with cracked irons.

You can try "loop lining" if you want more oil pressure. The front stationary gear doesn't see as high oil pressure as the rear stationary gear. To correct this some people will take direct oil feed from the pedestal and route the oil line in a steady loop to the front iron. They tap into the oil feed for the front stationary gear bearing and shoot that "loop line" directly to the front gear.

 

ok. ill definelty do that oil mod. I guess time i will tell on the iron, but hopefully not.