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DD Silver 453T turbo, modern upgrade for daily driver

1370 Views 11 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Whitbread
Gents, Ive gone through the archives (several years lookback) and was able to extract some baseline understanding on the Silver 453T turbocharger;
  • Detroit p/n 8926101 , T04E03 (latest iteration)
  • Compressor: Ind; 56.6mm, exd; 74.9mm, trim; 57, 6 blades
  • Turbine: Ind; 63.5mm, exd; 73.5mm, trim; 74, 11 Blades
  • Turbine housing: .81 A/R, T4 open plenum/scroll
  • No map published, that I aware of.

Helping a friend pick a more modern replacement bolt-on turbo for his silver 453T engine with following upgrades/mods;
  • 7A77 injectors, oem timing (thanks to past recommendations on this board)
  • Gen2 dodge intercooler
  • 4" downpipe & full exhaust with large truck muffler.
  • original silver blower with bypass (stock 5 to 8 psi spring I believe)
  • 3/4 ton pickup (~6500 lbs), 2wd, .78 OD, 3.54 rear, 33" tires, ~ 1800rpm cruise @ 65mph, occasional < 10k towing.

He's looking for a slight bump in power with smoke free cruising (slight hazing tolerable upon acceleration), reliable & shooting for ~20mpg cruise.


Im leaning toward suggesting the Borg Warner S257SX-E turbo with the following specs;
  • Compressor: Ind; 57.17mm, exd; 76.2mm, trim; 56, 7 blades
  • Turbine: Ind; 61.43mm, exd; 70mm, trim; 77, 10 Blades
  • Turbine housing: .83 A/R, T4 divided scroll (housing not available in open scroll apparently, to match the open plenum 453T exhaust manifold)
  • Max Flow Rate: 64 lbs/min


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Any suggestions or comments from the knowledge base on this board. Thanks for the input.
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For a stockish 4-53T, the S257SXE or the GT3576R are good matches that will spool faster than the original turbo, especially the GT3576R being ball bearing. I have wholesale connections for BW, Garrett, and Pulsar. A S257SXE with .83 T4 turbine housing would be right about $850 shipped, Garrett is over $2k so I'm not even going to bother, and the Pulsar GT3576R would be just under $600 shipped.

A friend of mine has been using the Pulsar units for over 2 years on 30 couple drift car builds with zero issues or failures. I'm going to be running a Pulsar S363 and S475 on my compound turbo 4-53T. My goal is 400whp so my air needs are good bit different than most here haha.

Vwjunkie53, aka Jason, is going to try a Pulsar S363 on his 4-53t chevy as a single very soon. He's running 90 injectors now, will put in 110-120's in it when funds allow. A handful of guys have run the Borg 177272 s361 with good results on 4-53T's so we're hopeful.
Next level up in aftermarket, would be the Pulsar "Next Gen 363D" with 2.5" compressor hose outlet (v-band option), 4.21" Marmon turbine outlet. This is Pulsar's equivalent to Borg's S363.

Pulsar 363D
Compressor: Ind; 63mm, exd; 87mm, trim; 52, 7 blades, forged billet
Turbine: Ind; 73mm, exd; 80mm, trim; 83, 10 Blades
Turbine housing: .88 A/R, T4 open plenum/scroll
Dual ceramic ball bearing, oil cooled only ..no water cooling CHRA
Max flow rate: 100 lb/min
Doesn't appear Pulsar publishes their compressor maps.


Whit, do you know what turbo Jason is currently running with those N90's ? is he contemplating the S363 to clean up smoke with those sticks ? From the archives it looked like he was running a TO4B "H" trim at one time. I'm assuming one would need at least N90's to run this S363 with minimal lag. Id be worried about low rpm smoke and response, or run the DD oem fuel modulator to cut back on the fuel in the lower rpm ranges ..again, to obtain no smoke, minimal hazing.
I wouldn't look at the 363D, it is only available with the larger turbine for whatever reason. You want the smaller turbine S363 found in the Pulsar Billet 363 366 369 Journal Bearing Turbo with 90° Elbow Outlet Compressor - Pulsar Turbo Systems with the 76mmx67.5mm turbine option.

He's running a green or silver stock 4-53t turbo, can't remember which. He's looking to clean up the smoke and get some more power while he's at it.
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