Gale Explains Turbo Surge
Full Video Transcript
00:00 turbo surge is bad when it happens it’s like riding a bucking bronco oh Jesus here’s a stock Turbo from a 24 Duramax normally it inhales air into the wheel compresses it and sends it to the engine surge occurs when you’re not moving much air but you’re asking for a lot of boost
00:20 pressure in other words the air is so thin that the wheel loses its grip when the pressure is greater in here than what the wheel can support it bursts back backwards through the wheel and all the way out to the filter to reduce surge GM engineered this feature air
00:37 flows through this channel is cushioned by this cavity and is turned around and sent back into the wheel once we perfected this feature on our monster ram we opened up the outlet and massaged the interior to outflow the stock unit but it’s not just about airf flow we
00:53 computer modeled and iterated the hell out of it to perfect the geometry the goal was to present the air flow with uniform velocity and pressure to the face of the compressor wheel this makes the turbo more efficient and responsive and by the way you need a full engine
01:11 lab to develop one of these if all you know is flow you’ve missed the target the result is better response quicker acceleration and greater speed on grade without turbo killing compressor Surge and that’s where we kick everybody’s ass
A properly engineered aftermarket intake elbow, like the Banks Monster-Ram, increases air mass into the compressor, which improves turbo response. The turbo will make the same boost at a lower shaft speed because it’s starting with denser air. However, a poorly engineered intake elbow can induce compressor surge and create heat and unwanted axial forces on the thrust bearing. This robs power and turns your truck into a bucking bronco. In our latest short, Gale explains what compressor surge is and why it’s bad for the life of your turbo.
When we set out to make the best-performing intake elbow for the 2017-2025 Duramax 6.6L, we had to first perfect GM’s anti-surge geometry. As shown in the cut-away above, half of this important feature is built into the stock compressor cover, while the other half is built into the Monster-Ram intake elbow.
Without this geometry, the compressor will surge. Looking at the photo below, Banks is the only aftermarket elbow with proper anti-surge protection.
After digitally designing, printing, and testing more than 40 iterations, we landed on the perfect shape and size. Your 2017-2025 Duramax will see better throttle response, quicker acceleration, and greater speed on-grade without turbo-killing compressor surge.