Why do people do single turbo setups with a crossover tube?

Wouldn't you want the distance from each exhaust port to the turbo to be as close to the same as possible?

It would seem like pulses from one side of the motor would take 2-3x longer than pulses from the other side to reach the turbo, thus resulting in some inefficiency during spooling...

Maybe this wouldn't be all that noticable in practise.. just wondering, it looks like a lot of work for not much gain, if not maybe some loss.

I was just wondering if there were some downsides I wasn't aware of from just mounting the turbo at a custom Y pipe coming off the header collectors?

It would seem that you would have close to equal length piping that way, you wouldn't need to fab up custom headers, you'd have less pipe overall, and so lighter weight, etc.

I realize that you supposidly want the turbo as close to the heads as possible, but with crossover setups, it looks like one side is close, and the other is farther than it would be at a Y.. seems like this would be just as bad, if not worse.

It seems like twin turbos might be the most efficient setup here, but then you have more weight, and more cost, and still need to fab up the custom headers, and there are more moving parts to break.

I'm interested in hearing any edjumacated responses to this.. Please don't just respond with "Because thats how they ship the turbo kits"

Thanks!

 

I know what the STS kit is, I guess I just didn't really want to deal with running the pipes that far across the car (from the back to the front).

But the more I think about it, there might be some advantages of that.

I've heard that the STS people have troubles with rain though, because the rear wheels splash water up into the turbo's air intake...

 

Just where are you proposing to mount the single turbo??? Somewhere around the tranny tailshaft??? Most of the single turbo piping layout is done because of packaging, accessibility, room, etc. . .

 

One other question on the STS kit.. if it is true that you want your turbo closest to the exhaust valves, then isn't the STS kit going to be quite a bit slower to spool (on an equally sized turbo) because of that?

 

yes....most STS owners make less power with a slower spool time then a traditional front mount.Its all in the physics of it....the STS is just nice for stealth and keep underhood temps down....thats why i laugh when you see them advertise about keeping the heat down of the turbo and piping and all.....you WANT the air going to the turbo to be hot and move fast for good spooling and to make better power.

 

This problem is probably more widespread than some STS owners know. The air filters do soak up water. I believe someone over at LS1tech posted about their entire system filling with water all the way to the intake pipe. Some people though may not realize it because the air filter would dry itself off very quickly, especially considering how much air flows through and at what speed.

 

yeah i remember that thread...he could literally pour water out of the pipes.most use this "sock" sort of cover but i wouldnt run it unless i rerouted the filter to above anything close to water level.