aerocharger pros/cons

Aerocharger

440dart said:

what are the pros and cons of running an aerocharger over a automotive charger besides self oiling

hows the reliabilty of aerochargers

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I would contact Kawgrn on here, he loved the reliability of his Aero.JK :beer;:beer;

search Aero in Perf/Mod, tons of info there but mostly Bichin and jabbin. Long story short- Cons - expensive, availability issues when there is problems, and very dangerous to reliability to over spin that turbo. Pros - good spool times and self contained oiling.

some have had great luck with them and some have not. personally I like my Garrett

Completely satisfied with my aero 66 so far. It's on a '08 D800. Have not had a single issue. Sounds like some have had some issues though.... and i see there is quite a bit of "aero bashing" that goes on sometimes in some threads.

i am running a Steve Packer kit in mine.

I have been told shane (HM turbos) knows alot about the aerocharger turbos, but my experience with him has been terribly disappointing to say the least. I have found him VERY hard to get ahold of, and even harder to get usable information from. It took him 3 months just to reply to my email. Go figure. He wants to sell me stuff but not tell me what exactly i am buying. He is the absolute LAST place i would buy a turbo from, and I cant imagine how horrible the customer service would be after a sale....based on what i have experienced so far.

This will be the 3rd season on my 53 aero on my 700 Dragon. I couldn't be happier.
When I first got mine I guess I was lucky, I got it from Jarrid @ BoostWurks in St. Albert. I would see other guys on the mountian with garrets and the hoods were up and guys pi$$ed off that they ran bad. I was so glad then that I had the areo. Since then I believe most of the problems with the garrets have been fixed, as I've ridden with lots of them and everything seems ok. Just takes time to get the bugs out, but most guys don't think like that when they pay their $$$ and stuff doesn't work.:beer;:beer;

Aero Charger

When an Aero Charger turbo kit is set up properly and the turbo is run at the boost level it is set up for they are very reliable and work very very well. I will say before you buy the turbo make sure you have it inspected to make sure that it is in good running order and it will work for your application, and is the proper trim size.

Contact
Bad Oscar Customs 801-389-1138 or
Steve Packer the turbo doc 801-334-9140

440dart said:

what are the pros and cons of running an aerocharger over a automotive charger besides self oiling

hows the reliabilty of aerochargers

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There are a few main reasons why the Aerocharger outperforms conventional automotive turbos: variable-vanes, low-drag/mass rotating assembly, self contained lubrication, and heat management.

Variable-vanes on there own have a very significant effect on reducing turbo lag but the Aerocharger is taken several steps further to ensure truly lag-free boost. For example the bearing assembly is located in the coldest area of the turbo: in front of the compressor housing. Keeping the bearings cool means less heat/friction. Conventional turbos have the bearing assembly right in between the two housings where heat soak is an issue.

The rotating assembly is also as lightweight as possible and very well balanced. On a conventional turbo the exhaust enters the turbine housing and hits one side of the turbine wheel. On our turbos the exhaust gases hit the vanes first and are then channeled into the turbine wheel at the optimum angle and are divided 15 ways before hitting the turbine. This makes the turbine wheel as efficient as possible and the low-mass rotating assembly ensures that the most amount of power possible is transferred to the compressor wheel.

Lubrication for the Aerocharger bearings is provided via two wicks that mist the bearings with high-speed bearing oil specially formulated by Mobil synthetics specifically for the Aerocharger's ceramic ball bearings. Misting the bearings means there is the absolute lowest amount of drag on the bearings possible. Less drag = faster spool-ups. This also means that when you slam the throttle shut then get right back into it, your turbo doesn't miss a beat and you're still at boost. Conventional turbos on the other hand use flooded bearings, this creates a significant amount of drag on the bearings. It's like trying to run under water.

And finally heat is a major issue with any turbocharger. Automotive turbos have no heat shields or make any attempt to manage the heat within the bearing assembly. Some conventional turbos have water jackets for coolant to draw heat away from the bearing housing. This however does not effect the friction created by the bearings themselves. THe aerocharger on the other hand uses a low-friction bearing design with a cooler bearig housing. On top of that there is a build-in heatshield within the turbine housing and we provide a form -fitting exterior heat shield for the turbine housing that even allows for a few layers of header wrap to be sandwiched in between the two to further control heat.

I hope this answers a few of your questions. The guys who are having reliability issues with our units are generally the ones who try to turn the boost up past the turbo's limitations and over-speed the bearings. This is NOT and issue that is Aerocharger specific but is a limitation of all turbochargers. Take any turbo past it's limits and it will break.

As for you guys that are having issues with Shane I apologize. He is far easier to get a hold of by phone than he is by email and actually is very knowledgeable. His number is 406-273-6111 and his dragon kit is very high quality. You can also contact Steve Packer, he makes a great Dragon kit with our turbo. He can be reached at 801-334-9140 or checkout his page on our site here.

Of course you guys can always contact us with your questions/concerns as well.

09d8turbo

i have a hm turbo and shane has spent alot of time develping this kit...and the kit works great. I spent a lot of time last winter at his shop and he was more than helful in dialing in my turbo to get it working great. I have an arrow 66...put over a thousand miles on it last year and the top end is still like new. the turbo was set for 10lbs of boost. I run 3 gallons of race gas in each tank and ride at 6000 feet. I would recommend shane to anyone who is thinking of doing a turbo. Can only speak from my experience that he is great to work with.

aerocharger rebuild

I had a 53/300 rebuilt by steve it lasted one season on a non valve
polaris 700 nothing whent true the turbo boost at10-12 lbs
When i talked to Steve i think he sayd that he can not balance
the wheel asembly.
If thats the case how could it last?
also if you take the turbine housing of and put it back on i was told
that you have to index it in reference to the turbine then you tigten
the band down that holds it together
i dont know how it stays concentric after some hard miles.
I pulled it apart to se if i could fix it you have to push the bearing
race down and dump the bals out, kind of tricky and the parts have to be
miked to get the right size bearings every turbo is diferent acording to Steve.
Is there more people fixing them know or just one guy?
It was 1100 $ last time so i think it will stay on the shelf for a while.
Nice concept but my garret shure seams tuffer






/

the aero is a great turbo when setup to run no more than 14 psi, if your looking to run over that then it is highly recomended to use a automotive turbo. I highly recomend doing business with shane at HM turbos. he is very knowagable on these turbos, he also has a lot of r & d time into his setup so he will tell you lots about how it will benifit you

super swede said:

Is there more people fixing them know or just one guy?

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There was a time a few years back when Steve was the only one doing rebuilds, while Aerodyne was doing the manufacturing. However now the entire process is taken care of in one building here at HiPerformance. If you need a rebuild we do it here. We have all the necessary tools and equipment to completely overhaul all Aerochargers. I'm not sure why Steve would have said that he couldn't balance your wheels unless they were damaged, which would prevent any turbo from being able to maintain balance within the shaft.

So how much for a rebuild nowadays? The $1100 price tag for a rebuild is ridiculous. And as far as the supposed "indexing" needed when when putting the two halves together, i think that's a bunch of b.s. The parts are machined to tight tolerances to fit together. I've loosened the band and spun the halves, i've taken them apart to check vanes with no "indexing" or associated problems. That's just to scare you so you send it to him to get some money from you. I think there has been ALOT of smoke blown over the years about rebuilding these turbos. These were put together by humans when they were new, there's no reason why only one person in the world could rebuild them in the past. It seemed to come down to parts supply and when only one person can get the parts they can screw anyone needing them. After i sent some rings thru mine and damaged vanes it sat on the shelf until someone bought it now. No way in hell i'm paying someone that kinda money to fix it. They're not as hard to fix as what people think, but you couldn't get parts. My buddy was going to fix his own 66, but of course Turbo Doc wouldn't sell him the parts, he'd only take it in and fix it for BIG money. He had it all taken apart and ready for new parts and reassembly. He made the tools needed for disassembly/reassembly. They're not as technical as what people have been conned into believing.

1FASTXC said:

So how much for a rebuild nowadays? The $1100 price tag for a rebuild is ridiculous. And as far as the supposed "indexing" needed when when putting the two halves together, i think that's a bunch of b.s. The parts are machined to tight tolerances to fit together. I've loosened the band and spun the halves, i've taken them apart to check vanes with no "indexing" or associated problems. That's just to scare you so you send it to him to get some money from you. I think there has been ALOT of smoke blown over the years about rebuilding these turbos. These were put together by humans when they were new, there's no reason why only one person in the world could rebuild them in the past. It seemed to come down to parts supply and when only one person can get the parts they can screw anyone needing them. After i sent some rings thru mine and damaged vanes it sat on the shelf until someone bought it now. No way in hell i'm paying someone that kinda money to fix it. They're not as hard to fix as what people think, but you couldn't get parts. My buddy was going to fix his own 66, but of course Turbo Doc wouldn't sell him the parts, he'd only take it in and fix it for BIG money. He had it all taken apart and ready for new parts and reassembly. He made the tools needed for disassembly/reassembly. They're not as technical as what people have been conned into believing.

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Steve was the sole distributor over three years ago, and that was only because supply was limited and demand was high. However like I have said the turbos are both manufactured and rebuilt in house now so the parts are readily available. If you truly feel that you can rebuild these turbos yourself then by all means be my guest, we will supply you the parts.

That last post was not a dig at you Variable, it was more toward the screwing Turbo Doc was giving IMPO over the last few years. I understand it was a supply and demand thing, but when supply is low, that doesn't constitute absolutely screwing someone. I commend you guys on your service if you're willing to sell parts to whoever wants them and doing rebuilding inhouse. That is a complete 180 from the last few years. Competition is good for the consumer. Any chance you could give a round about price on an average rebuild on a 53 series with debris damage. That might sway guys that were getting away from aerocharger because of high repair prices back to going with aerocharger. That is if the price isn't too high anymore.

1FASTXC said:

That last post was not a dig at you Variable, it was more toward the screwing Turbo Doc was giving IMPO over the last few years. I understand it was a supply and demand thing, but when supply is low, that doesn't constitute absolutely screwing someone. I commend you guys on your service if you're willing to sell parts to whoever wants them and doing rebuilding inhouse. That is a complete 180 from the last few years. Competition is good for the consumer. Any chance you could give a round about price on an average rebuild on a 53 series with debris damage. That might sway guys that were getting away from aerocharger because of high repair prices back to going with aerocharger. That is if the price isn't too high anymore.

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Understandable, a lot of things have changed for the better in the past few years but word of it unfortunately travels slow.

As for rebuilds it depends on which side you got debris into. If the damage is on the compressor side it is very cheap, but the turbine side can get costly. Here's a breakdown of the costs:

Compressor side:
-tear down & inspection: $70 (only charged once per turbo)
-compressor wheel replacement ~$70

Turbine side:
-tear down & inspection: $70 (only charged once per turbo)
-turbine wheel replacement: up to $600
-vanes: $170

However damaging the turbine side to the extent that it needs full replacement usually means that something came apart within the engine or exhaust. Plus like it's been said before if you keep our turbos within their limitations and have a quality, well-tuned turbo kit then you will have no issues.