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Wow you beat me to it. I was gonna create a thread discussing exactly the same topic
I've been trying to find information / results on a hybrid VF36 for quite a while now as I think, that it could potentially be the best mix between driveability and power.
If you say there's far superior bolt ons, then you can only mean that in terms of raw power as there's nothing (at least to my knowledge) that will outspool a VF36 while providing more power at the same time.
The likes of SC42, LM450 etc. come to mind when thinking about going more power on a twinscroll, but these turbos also more laggy and will spool way later than a VF36.
Some facts:
- Std. VF36 / 37 (both are identical apart from bearing type) will max out at around 360hp, give or take 10hp depending on condition. My VF36 produces exactly that, 360hp/360lb-ft at 1,5 bar tapering down to 1,2 bar, mapped to 102 RON.
- Std. compressor wheel has 46,5mm inducer and 60mm exducer
- Std. blade design is 6+6 (6 tall and 6 short blades)
- Std. P25 exhaust housing has an A/R of 0,63
Stuff I found:
- There are hybrid VF37's (like this one) that use an uprated Garrett GTX style core (made by turborebuild.co.uk I believe, see here). It uses a billet 11 blade compressor wheel. Unfortunately the compressor wheel size is identical to the stock one, though it uses an extended tip design which gives it some extra blade area and flow. Fastline turbos (seller in the ebay listing) reckons these should produce around 380bhp.
- Here is a P25 exhaust housing by MAMBA that appears to be ported to a larger area to get rid of exhaust gases faster. Also it's listed as having an A/R of 0,73.
You can clearly see the walls being thinner on the MAMBA housing as a result of the increased flow area. I'm sure this could easily be done by doing a port and polish job on the original housing, but I'm not sure how it would line up with the downpipe gasket and flange
I have read about 2 or 3 hybrid VF36, but unfortunately I haven't really found any rolling road numbers to really prove or see how much CAN be gained.
In the end the right way to do it imho would be to not only replace it with a same size compressor wheel (like on the Garrett core), but to actually port the housing in order to account for a slightly bigger compressor wheel altogether, improving power but not sacrificing too much spool. My goal is to reach around 400hp and I wonder whether an uprated 36 like this could get me there.
One being done at TDR last week sounds interesting, I wish we could get some info / results on that
As the info available online for VF36 is by far the most limited I have ever come across.
Im must completely agree, the spool of a VF36 is like no other! I have driven many types of vehicles, but the spool on a 36 is personally non comparable.
So just to confirm has your VF36 had any work done to it?
I was looking for more people, who have done the VF36 hybrid and what combination of map and additional mods were done. Seems not many people do it.
My VF36 is completely untouched and standard.
I drive a 2003 Spec-C with pretty much your common breathing / fueling mods, so it has a HKS intake, 3inch downpipe, 200 cpsi cat, 3inch HKS catback and RCM 340 fuel pump.
Being a Spec-C it should have slightly better flowing heads and cams as standard.
On that setup it makes 360/360 @ 1,6 bar peak, tapering down to 1,2 bar towards redline. Car is mapped on std. ECU with RomRaider (open source) using 102 octane fuel.
Ironically I came across a modified hybrid VF36 the other day that is actually for sale here in Germany. It's freshly rebuilt and hasn't been fitted ever since. The compressor wheel does look pretty juicy when compared to the stock unit
Standard vf36:
Hybrid vf36:
Really thinking about picking this one up unfortunately it's pretty pricey tho
Not sure if this info will be of any use to the OP and those interested but saw the thread and I’ve a similar experience so thought I’d comment.
Ive recently had a VF37 rebuilt by Craig Bellworthy at Central Turbos in Derby. Mine could do with a new lease of life so after talks with my mapper and research I booked in the Craig for a rebuild plus adding a billet core (7+7 extended blades).
Although I’ve never had the car dyno’d once mapped afterwards there was a clear improvement to the performance. It wasn’t night and day like you would find with a bigger turbo but there is definitely a difference. The biggest thing I’ve noticed is the extra puff at the top end, I used to shift at 6.5k but now it pulls past that near to 7.5k.
Knowing the turbo needed doing I tried to source a VF36 to have that rebuilt knowing they were the ultimate ‘standard’ turbo without increased lag but at the time I couldn’t source one. There’s the usual eBay jobs but I didn’t want to take a punt and chance it in case I was throwing money away. The difference between the 36/37 isn’t that huge and I couldn’t justify the risk.
Prior to the rebuild I spent ages researching turbos as I knew ultimately mine needed doing. I was all set for an LM400 but after talking to my tuner he said the £/return couldn’t be justified in his opinion. Twinscroll LM400’s don’t come up for sale often so a new one is £2k ish. On top of the you’d need to swap out the injectors too, more money etc etc. Ultimately an LM400 would give me around 20bhp or so more power for the extras £1500, plus it would increase spool up time, something I absolutely didn’t want. Slower spool and 20bhp for another £1500? Nope. You’d not notice it in the real world but I would on my bank balance! I’m all for getting the good stuff but it has to be worth it and on this occasion I agreed with my mapper.
Finally the original OP asked how much. I know my turbo is different and only had a rebuild with a billet core (not a different exhaust housing etc) but it cost me £860 (excluding the remap afterwards).
23 July 2018, 12:33 PM
VF36 Hybrid
unfortunately it's pretty pricey tho
