Nissan GT28 turbo on mazdaspeed?

definatly not unless you have a bad tune! people are running close to 12 psi and still running after 10k miles.
 
really depends on engine health. that disco potato is pushin a lot more cfm than the gt25 stocker, but at cooler temps than the gt25. theres also a guy making 190whp on 4psi on a disco potato...
 
Ball bearing is faster spooling the only bad part is they cost more...
i can think of other reasons...
pros of JB:
-rebuilding a BB turbo is $600+, journal bearing is about $100.
-its not like its a little more expensive, its hundreds and hundreds of dollars. BB GT28RS vs. JB GT28
-buying a used BB turbo is a ******* crap shoot, especially on the internet. your turbo could come in the mail and you have a $500 paperweight. this happened to someone on here not long ago. the seller said "a little oil blowby" and it was leaking like a sieve. if its JB you rebuild it and boom good as new.
-JB stuff has been out way longer, and is way easier to source. you can get JB T3's for like 150 all ******* day... yeah maybe it came off an '80s t-bird, but rebuild it and be done with it.

pros of BB:
-they last somewhat longer than a JB between rebuilds
-they can take a little more punishment than a JB (oil change intervals, turbo timing, etc... you have to be super-religious about that with JB)
-a disco potato spools 250 RPM quicker than a T28 - but the only time it matters is in first gear, so you get about .05 seconds of benefit.
its not like the spool on the JB is so bad that youre going to have to wait for it to spool every time you shift. if youre running the car hard, the two perform damn near identical aside from first gear.

money isnt infinite for me, so id much rather save the $350 and put it towards tuning or something. i deliberately switched to t3 flange because i wanted to run journal bearing stuff. i could put a big turbo on it (t3/t04e 50 trim) and never run it out, and if i didnt like the late spool (i did:)) i could find something smaller, buy it, and rebuild it for 200-250. i could run one turbo on the strip and one at an autox event and still have money for a tune - and it would cost me the same as a disco potato.

Will the disco potato blow a fsde with stock internals at 6 psi?
no, assuming you have a midpipe and FMIC. then youre definitely clear. if youre talking a stock car, its a little more risky but should be fine.
 
Yea jb has some benifits. Its all just preferance and price I think. I personally will wait to shell out the cash for a gt28 or maybe gt30
 
Ball bearing is faster spooling the only bad part is they cost more...

If I gave you two turbos, with IDENTICAL compressor & turbine specs, but one was journal and the other BB, there's not a chance in hell you could tell the difference in spool characteristics, w/out utilizing data-logging. BB are a bit sturdier, and less often have catastrophic failure, but when they DO...open that wallet baby and bend over. Journal can always be rebuilt depending on housing condition and things like that. If you have a healthy turbo w/ proper supply and drain fittings & restrictions, a healthy motor and oiling system, and stay within the limits of your turbo, there's no reason to run BB, IMO. People blow journals and push oil past seals ALOT by not having the right size supply and drain fittings. This is just one mans opinion....mine.
 
this may have been good to know when i dropped the $1200 to buy a disco potato last month, i may possilby went with the gt28 instead
 
The thing for me is I had a planned build with certain goals to make the most efficient power and saving a few bucks was not a big deal for me and I had issues with my ihi journal bearing that plagued me although it did spool very fast but different animal. Sorry dude but I could tell mostly due to the different sound a bb makes :)

Sure alot of journal bearing turbos are cheaper and rebuildable (my ihi vf-22 was not) but I feel very confident that my dual bb will be a more reliable investment and will soon be seeing around 25psi.
 
I love this thread. I see so many of you putting down opinions about newer technology and that's all. If you want facts go to the turbo manufacturers themselves. The reason Ball bearing turbos are better is longevity. The shafts are stronger, the thrust system is more efficient and they are made to handle more boost.

If you want to express an opinion about this guy on that site that bought a used turbo an got hosed, go for it. Or if you think that buying a turbo off ebay is a crap shoot, you're probably right.

I manage a turbo shop and to say that journal bearing turbos can always be rebuilt is a half truth. Usually when guys come to us the impellers have touched the housings and need to be replaced as well as the internals. Sure you can always sink money into a turbo but in the end, as a rule I have seen most automotive turbos all need about the same amount of money to repair them. If it has crapped the bed on you what would you rather do? Rebuild yourself for a couple hundred and have no warranty, no high speed balance and no peace of mind or buy a factory VSR balanced cartridge that has a guarantee.

To the OP... Do some homework on your own and take the opinions you hear with a grain of salt. If you're going to buy used, make sure it is from someone you trust and that they are going to help you fix it if you have a problem.
 
Opinions are like assholes. They're all big and bad.. ? Wait...um.

This whole thread is 99% opinion, so yes, proceed based on recommendation with caution. All I know is that I've used on multiple occasions, used Journal turbos, specifically off of imported Nissan motors, and never had a problem, ever. Never did I spend more than $300 on one, and never did they blow.

Ball bearing snails were & are rarely used as OEM, and are just now being used on occasion... despite their availability for years and years. The gain, IMO is marginal. We can speculate for days about why BB is hardly ever used as OEM, but IMO again, the benefit of that unit when compared to a properly set-up journal is marginal when costs and longevity are compared. If blowing the big $$ on a new BB unit makes you sleep better, do it. It only really matters what you think, it's your car and pocket.
 
I manage a turbo shop and to say that journal bearing turbos can always be rebuilt is a half truth. Usually when guys come to us the impellers have touched the housings and need to be replaced as well as the internals. Sure you can always sink money into a turbo but in the end, as a rule I have seen most automotive turbos all need about the same amount of money to repair them. If it has crapped the bed on you what would you rather do? Rebuild yourself for a couple hundred and have no warranty, no high speed balance and no peace of mind or buy a factory VSR balanced cartridge that has a guarantee.
this is all definitely true - you can only rebuild a journal bearing turbo if you catch it very early. as for balancing, you can ship it out to be rebuilt professionally - there are places that offer VSR balancing when they rebuild it. not a ton of them, but theyre out there, and its still substantially cheaper than DIY'ing a BB cartridge.
 

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