Keep island turbo set up or remove it????

[91 zeee]

I have a recently purchased 81 delorean that I am going to start a semi restoration on. It has the island turbo twin turbo set up on it. My question is... Is the car more valuable/desirable with or without it?? I can't decide if I should keep it or remove it. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

[Silverbullet]

Mine had the turbos when I bought it, I removed them, as I live in CA and it never would have passed smog. I did do a Stage 1 with headers and cats... It is a really reliable car now and I am happy with my decision.

[Jonathan]

I have a recently purchased 81 delorean that I am going to start a semi restoration on. It has the island turbo twin turbo set up on it. My question is... Is the car more valuable/desirable with or without it?? I can't decide if I should keep it or remove it. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

If the turbo is working well and the rest of the car is reliable and in good shape, then yes, leaving the turbo on there will increase the value, desirability and rarity.

If the turbo is on there but doesn't work well or reliably, then it will have the opposite effect.

Turbo set-ups are seemingly quite rare on our cars, when you look at the fleet of 9,000 cars anyway. That will be desirable for some people out there. More so if it is working, less if it isn't.

I can't speak to the effect the turbo will/would have on performance as I have no experience with them. I will say that several other factors affect performance on our cars, so make any decisions on increasing performance based on a good condition stock car and not one that feels like a dog in part because it's not tuned/repaired correctly. The cars aren't lightning fast, but they aren't all that bad if you have everything working well.

[powerline84]

I have the single turbo BAE setup...different then what you have but after tearing my engine down and seing the blow by / terrible design I decided that I am removing my turbo setup....for what it's worth.

[David T]

I have the single turbo BAE setup...different then what you have but after tearing my engine down and seing the blow by / terrible design I decided that I am removing my turbo setup....for what it's worth.

There are two camps of opposite thought. There is the one side that thinks the turbos are an abortion and should be removed. The other believes that it makes the car more like it was going to be, with the Legend Industries turbo option. If you are going to drive the car and not worry about it's value so much the car will perform a LOT better with the turbos. Of course they MUST be tuned correctly and running well or you can do serious damage to the motor (if it hasn't already happened). If and when you decide to sell the car the question of value becomes more relevant. At that time you can decide what to do. It is possible to leave the stuff on but inactivate it. My advice would be to do some testing on the motor to make sure it is in good health first of all. If it is OK then check out the turbos. They may need to be rebuilt. If you decide to keep the turbos get the car to a shop and have it checked out and tuned up. Not too many can or will do that. PJ Grady is one of them that will. Boost pressure MUST be limited to below 6# or you will wreck the stock pistons.

[DMCMW Dave]

Both of the original aftermarket turbo kits (single and twin) are, by todays standards, horribly (non-)engineered and difficult to maintain. The turbos are obsolete and have difficult to get rebuild parts. There is essentially no engine management systems on them so they don't run much boost, and still tend to cause lots of blow-by and internal engine issues. We've removed quite a few of them. They add an insane amount of added unsupported weight to the exhaust manifold mounts which causes other issues. They make simple jobs (belt replacement for one) more complicated. And so on.

When the turbos fail you'll see raw engine oil coming out of the exhaust, the seals fail such that the oil is dumped into the "hot" side and goes right out the exhaust. Look for oil in the mufflers as you take it apart.

When they run correctly they add a reasonable bit of power, but not IMO worth the effort.

I've never seen that they added to the resale value of the car, in fact to most buyers they are a negative once they look into it. To convert back to stock you'll need a complete aftermarket exhaust system, OR a complete OEM system (brackets and all) from someone else who has already installed an aftermarket system. If you go that route be sure they sell you EVERYTHING including the bottom mounts, bushings, top mount, crossover, manifolds, converter etc. Vendors all sell a hardware kit (studs and gaskets) so don't worry about that stuff.

The best analogy I can come up with is that turbos are like a swimming pool added to a house in the northern half of the country. Valuable to the few who actually want to deal with it, a maintenance-intensive negative to most buyers.

[powerline84]

"The best analogy I can come up with is that turbos are like a swimming pool added to a house in the northern half of the country. Valuable to the few who actually want to deal with it, a maintenance-intensive negative to most buyers".[/QUOTE]

Growing up Near Buffalo this was hilarious when I read it, and spot on lol !

[FABombjoy]

When the turbos fail you'll see raw engine oil coming out of the exhaust, the seals fail such that the oil is dumped into the "hot" side and goes right out the exhaust. Look for oil in the mufflers as you take it apart.

I've not dissected a Rajay turbo, but normally this failure mode is going to be due to improper oil drain. Every BAE kit I've ever seen installed has the center section clocked wrong, and -10AN (5/8 ID) is barely adequate given the height of the turbo and draining directly against the splash shield.

Barely adequate crankcase ventilation, even for a na motor, and a direct vacuum line from boosted air into the crankcase does not help the drain situation.

I think the hard parts of the kits were OK, (BAE over Island, personally). But I agree that the controls and implementation are questionable at best.

[David T]

Both of the original aftermarket turbo kits (single and twin) are, by todays standards, horribly (non-)engineered and difficult to maintain. The turbos are obsolete and have difficult to get rebuild parts. There is essentially no engine management systems on them so they don't run much boost, and still tend to cause lots of blow-by and internal engine issues. We've removed quite a few of them. They add an insane amount of added unsupported weight to the exhaust manifold mounts which causes other issues. They make simple jobs (belt replacement for one) more complicated. And so on.

When the turbos fail you'll see raw engine oil coming out of the exhaust, the seals fail such that the oil is dumped into the "hot" side and goes right out the exhaust. Look for oil in the mufflers as you take it apart.

When they run correctly they add a reasonable bit of power, but not IMO worth the effort.

I've never seen that they added to the resale value of the car, in fact to most buyers they are a negative once they look into it. To convert back to stock you'll need a complete aftermarket exhaust system, OR a complete OEM system (brackets and all) from someone else who has already installed an aftermarket system. If you go that route be sure they sell you EVERYTHING including the bottom mounts, bushings, top mount, crossover, manifolds, converter etc. Vendors all sell a hardware kit (studs and gaskets) so don't worry about that stuff.

The best analogy I can come up with is that turbos are like a swimming pool added to a house in the northern half of the country. Valuable to the few who actually want to deal with it, a maintenance-intensive negative to most buyers.

While all of that may be true, the Island Turbo system can be made to function well. It does take extra service, it is finicky and can do severe damage to the motor. The control system, by today's standards is archaic. Back in the '80's it was not even state of the art. A major reason most owners have problems with it is because it is not taken care of or serviced by someone who knows what to do. Especially as the system ages and requires even more attention. Parts can still be obtained for service and repair. Even the turbos can be sourced if necessary but for the most part they are rebuildable. If an owner is willing to spend some money the control system can be modernized and other mods can be done like methanol injection. Drive a stock Delorean and then drive one with the Island Turbo kit (in good running condition of course!) and then tell me which one you like best. A turbo kit is the best option to add a few precious HP with a good kick to it. All of the other options, mainly engine swaps, are much more expensive and go even further from "stock". If you decide you have to remove the turbo kit I have a complete kit of parts that can return you to stock. A whole exhaust system, all of the pipes, brackets, plugs, and distributor. PM me. I would consider a swap for no money so all it will cost you is the labor to R & R and shipping.

[91 zeee]

wow.... y'all are awesome. This is just the type of info I was looking for. The only problem now is weighing the pros and cons......I assumed they would be set up and work correctly; I see now that is a bad assumption. I will look it over and check it out before making the decision.

David T.....I might be interested in purchasing or swapping for stock exhaust....will let you know.

It is still a difficult decision.........I really was expecting the consensus to be "keep the turbos.. they add value". If anything, it seems the opposite may be true....wow.....