porting and polishing ATS exhaust manifold and turbo

[liska]

First time posting on TDR but read many posts. Purchased a ATS exhaust for my '06 5.9L. Have a Dremel and bits. I want to port and polish it. Please email me any advise if its worth it or not. Pics would be of great help.
Also, what should I do to the turbo. Should I port and polish parts of it?
Is a new impeller a waste of money or not.
What about a new wastegate, is that also a waste or not and please provide recommendations.
While I am there I figured I would freshen everything up.

Thanks for your assistance.

 

[Tinman]

Here's my 2 cents: Throw away the stock turbo and get a bigger one unless you wanna use it in a twin set up. The stocker works well for that application. The ATS twin set up I have ports the stock turbo waste gate to 1 inch and I think they will go a little bigger (maybe 11/4) with their next size up twin set up. So if you kept the stocker, opening up the waste gate will lower drive pressure. Not sure that is gonna do any good though. I just used a 1" drill bit and smoothed it out with a dremel. I think you are wasting time with porting the ATS t3 manifold. You'd be much better to get a t4 manifold and corresponding turbo. Plus the ATS manifold is already light years better than the stocker. There are lots of good t3 and t4 single set ups available. Just depends on your goals/ needs. I personally feel the stock turbo and stock trans are maxed out at stock power.

 

[CToney]

Depending on you needs and budget a modified stock turbo might work ok. I just received a couple I'm going to try. 70x60 turbine wheels (stock is 65x58) I used 7 blade 60x86 billet compressor on one and a 62x86 on the other. I'll see how they work. Mpg and cool egt towing is what I'm after. 375-400 hp to the ground.

 

[cerberusiam]

Thw WG is cast into the housing, you cannot replace it. Modifying it does nothing for turbo performance. You can swap out the compressor and\or turbine for less than a new turbo but you don't gain very much as far as flow and DP. Might be enouhg with stock fueling and your needs though.

Depends on what your usage and expectations are, it is not a one size fits all and sometimes you give up something for something else.