Techie Time 2.8 Liter Turbo V6 Style
Once again, armed with photographs from the Saab TurboX Media Drive, I’m coming to you via the internet with information that you must, at all costs, absorb and hold dear because it’s going to be on the final exam.
Today’s topic: the GM 2.8 liter V6 in turbocharged form as in the upcoming Saab TurboX.
Oy, this is one smooth engine. After all, it’s won awards from people who really know a thing or two about engines, so you expect some refinement. This engine, as I’ve said before, has power and torque available from the minute that you stomp on the gas pedal. So, you really want to know how that power is made so quickly and smoothly, don’t you? Of course you do!
Well, here’s the secret: it has six cylinders.
And here’s the other secret: the turbocharger has two scrolls.
Now, I’m not advocating a wholesale change, and I’m not saying that everyone needs a 2.8 liter turbocharged V6, but I am saying that it’s nice to have in your product line because some people, myself included, will want the performance that it offers.
While at the Saab TurboX Media Drive, I studied the display V6 for a few minutes. After orienting myself and studying the airflow and the layout, the first thing that struck me was the additional piping and routing required to make a V arrangement work. On the four-cylinder Saabs, everything is easily routed from the same side of the inline bank of cylinders, while the V6 has to route exhaust to and inlet air from a single point on one side of the engine: the turbocharger. The well-sculpted inlets of the Saab V6 are a testament to both design and manufacturing prowess, but what a tangle it appears to be.
While we’re on the subject of metals, take a good look at the engine block and the cylinder heads. Casting technology has come a long way in just the past ten or twenty years. The detail and specialized shaping of each component is truly amazing and most certainly adds efficiency and performance.
The two-scroll turbocharger by Mitsubishi enhances the driver experience by allowing a workable variable inlet arrangment that gets the turbocharger impeller spinning at operating speeds with even a small change in exhaust flow. That is, turbo “lag” is greatly reduced. I can tell you first-hand that it works. With thirty years of turbocharging experience, Saab certainly made good choices with this one.
Not only is it easy to see the air and exhaust routing with this cutaway, it’s also to easy to see the 60 degree angle that helps to balance the engine and make the whole assembly a little shorter from top to bottom.
Notice that the exhaust manifolds are lined with stainless steel to keep the aluminum alloy from being heat worked over the life of the engine. That’s reliability, folks. Kudos to Trollhattan.
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Looking at engine cutaways has always interested me. Thanks for showing us these pictures.
Andy: Anything for you, pal.
Coincidentally, I was in Wickliffe, O-hi-yuh Wednesday. Only there for about four hours, or I would have looked you up. Next time, I’ll plan to break bread with you.
Hey, if you ever make your way out to the Mountain West/you-tah, let me know and I’ll buy you dinner.
Excellent read, your stuff.
Sport: Thanks. I don’t do you-taah very often, but you never know. I fact, I’ve only been to Utah once. It was a decent trip. A little sun, a little snow. All good.
Well, surprisingly there’s a nice little budding group of TS followers here in Utah- I’ve noticed Ryan/Saaby and sam who have jumped on that are both from these parts…plus some others that stop by these parts once in a while.
I heard there used to be a car club here locallyy but that it fizzled out. I’d like to see it revived one day…
it would be great to get the high-res originals. These are fantastic pics.
Thanks Beren. I’ll be posting them in short order over on Flickr.
Actually, I think that I just broke the code on this Wordpress plug-in. My pictures are actually too high-res and when they are rendered in the window, they are crunched a little by your browser which looks like crap. If I limit them to a certain size, they’ll look better.
A TT setup typically works better on a V design engine and is quite easier to implement. I wonder what’s Saab’s justification was to design a single turbo setup with the 2.8L V6.
With the new 9-5 expected to be over 5 metres long, I hope there’s a larger version of this engine in the pipline as an option. Perhaps 3.2 litres?
Eggs, were you scrambled or something? You were in Wickliffe and didn’t contact me? That’s within 2 miles of where I work. That’s definitely worse than me not meeting up with Swade when he was in Detroit. Oy vey.
It’s a cool engine for sure, but it would be even cooler with 14 psi and direct injection
Though it IS strange that Saab went for a single turbo over the transmission for their V-engine (something you generally only see on big diesels) while BMW chose to go with twin turbos for their inline six.
l will raise the flag for down under (Australia) the engine and a lot of the bolt- ons are cast and machined in Australia at the GM engine foundry in Port melbourne this is a global centre of excellence for this casting block technology. The block as cast will go to 3.7 litres and there is already R & D developments for twin Turbo as well as other turbo combinations.
Aeroo: Good info. Definitely impressive. I noticed the difference right away — the parts are quite elaborate.
Andy: I know. I was genuinely 100% scheduled AND I was travelling with one of our more senior technology folks or I would have met with you. On this project alone, I’ll be in your area several times in the next year or so. Plenty of opportunity.
Alex: The twin turbos are an inelegant answer to the twin scroll turbo on this engine. They are there to fight turbo lag. The Mitsubishi unit does it in one.
EnG - It’s true that the twin-scroll design is the answer to turbo lag, however, a TT setup is not necessarily to deal with turbo lag.
With a TT setup, one turbo runs off each cyclinder bank. This simplifies the exhaust manifolds & required piping. In addition, it’s easier to maximize the exhaust pulses as you’re only dealing with 3 in lieu of 6.
Twin turbos on a V-engine also help you manage engine bay hear much more efficiently. Those long exhaust manifold runs on the 2.8T, especially with those curves to route the combined exhaust streams to the turbo look like they would be a major source of heat compared to the relatively short exhaust runs on the BMW engine. The engine bay overheating issues of the 06 Aero’s seem to confirm this.
Twinscroll turbos are also a nice solution, but thanks to good old-fashioned physics it’s still harder to make one big wheel spin than it is to spin two small ones. That’s why the BMW hits peak torque at 1400 rpm compared to the Saab’s 1800 rpm. Hair-splitting for sure, but if you want to keep lag to a minimum, twin turbos will always beat twin-scrolls. That’s why the TTiD engine is so cool compared to the other twin-scroll turbo diesels out there.
Though looking at the engine bay of a 2.8 Aero car, it looks like they wouldn’t have been able to fit a twin turbo system in there anyways, at least without having to mount the turbos down at the level of the oil pan.
92x: I was answering the specific comment about the twin turbos on the BMW inline 6.