Whistler turbo vs. Non-whistler turbo

I see alot of listings differentianting b/w the two turbos. Is there a difference b/w the two beside the noise? Is one better than the other?

they both make power, there are some small differences in the efficiency curve. But really unless you start cranking the fuel, no they are the same.

My perfect scenario...D motor (improved pistons and head gasket that is not prone to blowing like the C) and a C turbo (I like the whistle). All in all, I'd prefer the D motor over the C because of the improvements. I've had two C motors that blew head gaskets, but never had a problem with any D's.

How can I tell which I have>?

All I know is my turbo is silent until you hit a hill or otherwise make the ol girl start working.

THere is a long hill next to my house (Within 3 miles) that I pull up in 5th Hi, and it is whistling by mid way up. I love it. Otherwise just running around you dont hear it.

(M52A2 LDS BTW)

You most likely have a "D." Pop the hood and check the way the the turbo's exhaust side looks. This thread shows the difference between the two.

Hkx3 said:

How can I tell which I have>?

All I know is my turbo is silent until you hit a hill or otherwise make the ol girl start working.

THere is a long hill next to my house (Within 3 miles) that I pull up in 5th Hi, and it is whistling by mid way up. I love it. Otherwise just running around you dont hear it.

(M52A2 LDS BTW)

Click to expand...

If your turbo is silent at all... its a D



Mine is a C, and whistles as soon as you start it.....

With turned up fuel, we are of the opinion the whistler gets boost up more quickly than the other turbo. The whistle is caused by the design of the exhaust turbine vanes.
Regards Marti

One simple way of telling the difference is if your standing near or around the vehicle , like we so commonly do, and you cant hear one word anyone is saying. Also good way to aggravate your neighbors. No serious gains enough to consider making unnecessary wracket. These turbo's as far as I can see are a complete nuisance.

wsucougarx said:

I see alot of listings differentianting b/w the two turbos. Is there a difference b/w the two beside the noise? Is one better than the other?

Click to expand...

When I first purchased my Deuce it was the N/A multifuel, after about a year I decided to add a turbocharger to it just to " clean up " the spent exhaust gases as it REALLY blew alot of black exhaust smoke out the stack upon acceleration, the first turbo I bought was the " D " turbocharger, tried it both in the city and on the highway, I did not notice any H.P. increase at lower ( city ) speeds but I noticed a BIG difference on the highway ( just over 2,000 R.P.M's ).
A few months went by and I really wanted to buy the " C " turbo cause a friend of mine here in town has one on his Deuce and I really liked the sound of it so I bought one,, BIG difference between the two, the "c" gives you much better acceleration on the bottom end however there is no noteable difference on the top end.
You make the call, if your going to be hauling heavy loads for short distances and you need better bottom end torque and love the scream of it then go with the " C ", on the other hand if your driving any distance frequently and need some torque at the top end ( like going up steep inclines at 50+ MPH and dont want to downshift all the time ) then go with the " D ".
I gave you the honest facts on how my engine reacted to turbocharging it, hope this helps you.

RE: Re: Whistler turbo vs. Non-whistler turbo

I'm under the impression that the D turbo has better heat shields that protect the bearings/seals. The C is less forgiving to being shut down to quickly. Note: I'm not suggesting that the D turbo doesn't need to idle down/cool down period before shut down.

In sort --- The D is more durable.

I'm looking for a C

RE: Re: Whistler turbo vs. Non-whistler turbo

I happen to prefer the C turbo because I like the whistle too, but the D motor used to be more desirable. I say used to be because everyone wanted a D motor because of the upgrades until the hobby became flooded with guys and their M35A2s. Before that time, everyone wanted a D. I remember talking with Joe Young in his heyday and he said there were guys who would not even consider a C powered deuce. I bet Dave Newman and Jeff Symanski remember the popularity of the D motors. After that time, people indicated a preference for the whistler turbo without caring about the improvements that were made on the D motor. By the way, my first several trucks were all deuces...some Cs and some Ds. I've had a bunch of deuces and I have never noticed a power differential between the C and D motors...none. I've had some beasts that were powered by Cs and also some dogs with Cs. I've driven some really strong running Ds and some not-so-strong-running Ds.

The "D" is a much better design. Better oil flow to the bearings. A extra heat shield between the turbine and bearing housing. And slightly larger bearings. The compressor wheel is slightly larger also. Yes this adds a little more lag. But with a increased fuel rate this is easily overcome. It will also move more CFM in stock from on the flow bench. I know alot of guys love the wistle of the "C". And there is nothing wrong with a "C", but the "D" is a improvement.

Ken, thanks for pointing these differences some out. Some I knew about...others I had no idea about.

Deuceswild response states the difference we have found to be true exactly. Put in a boost gauge and watch the different results. Don't forget to turn up the fuel a bit. Our boost gauges are not some high dollar deal, just an air pressure gauge on a line from the intake manifold. We got it down to changing turbos in about 20 minutes as we worked with four different turbos to determine which one gave the best performance on a built up motor with modified heads, special timing settings and fuel delivery modifications that included removing the limiting wedge from the injection pump. The pump governor is modified for a maximum of 3500 RPM, but we shift at 3000 to maintain maximum boost. We found out with much trial and error that the timing on these motors does NOT want to be advanced for performance. Set it at the LDS line on the damper. The style of injectors in these motors is the reason for that situation, which is the opposite of what we do to farm tractor and truck engines to gain power. Unless one has a selection of turbos to work with like we did in our trials, we found you can have a turbo that seems good, but is not performing as it should. We even tried a waste gated Schwitzer off a five ton, a HUGE turbo with the waste gate disabled, and found it was the worst of all. One truck running better than another could be the fuel setting. The last deuce we bought was really hard to drive home because the military had the fuel set so low. We had to rev the motor and ease out the clutch to get it going compared with our set-up trucks where it is almost impossible to kill the motor by just letting out the clutch from idle in second gear.
Look at the joining line between the heads and the block on your engine. If there are small tabs of gasket projecting out at each cylinder on the turbo side of the motor, you have the good head gaskets. These tabs are the end of a weep passage in the gasket.
Regards Marti

One of these days Im going to take a ride out to Warsaw with a case of Miller Lite and just let Prof Marti lecture me on this very subject. Im hoping that gasket he described is on a certain 35 in Mississippi when i go to pick her up.

Even though I didn't start this thread, I want to thank everyone for all of their information.

I read that engineers experimented with different designs in an attempt to reduce the noise level (whistle) of the "C" model. One or more blades were added to the turbo fan. This was a fairly inexpensive alteration of the original design. The number of blades influences the air flow inside the turbo. As a result, the infamous whistle was gone.

i have a whistler now, my plan is to swap for a D and run that untill it fails then swap to a more efficient modern water cooled turbo with wastegate.

i drive it enough that even with a muffler the screaming on the highway gets old. with a muffler its quiet enough around town to not be an issue. If all i ever did was around town then i'd keep the whistler, the muffler makes it quite pleasant and leaves the distinctive sound.

Kohburn said:

the muffler makes it quite pleasant and leaves the distinctive sound.

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Kohburn,
Did you install the Donaldson, or which muffler ?

Kohburn I believe installed an aeroturbine xl (search fu)

I muffled my C with the Donaldson, standing next to it at idle you wouldn't think its a C turbo. It only whistles when you rev RPMs and the screaming down the road is all but gone. It's still a loud truck, just doesn't sound like an illegally loud truck...

I'd make a video of it but I'm waiting on a replacement starter at the moment.