Ive been uploading progress to facebook, but not everyone on here, is on facebook, so here we go.
ive spent most of my time available carving out a jig to precisely drill the holes needed to bolt the newer vk vane assembly into our housing. its turned out that it isn't going to take much work at all to put the new vanes in, once I get the jig done. Last night I snapped some pics of the new vanes in our housing and what it is they do that will allow exhaust braking.
ALSO theres pics of the newer 9 bladed turbine wheel that im going to experiment with. this wheel is used in the 3.0l diesels and can properly handle 240-250hp. Even though it has 3 less blades to extract power with, the 9 blades are longer, thinner, and the whole wheel itself is lighter, which im hoping will help it maintain near factory spool up. If one wanted in the future, I could install the larger compressor wheel that will support 250hp. I realize theres few CRD's at this power level, but that's in part because theres no turbo upgrades available.
closed vanes aka exhaust brake mode
fully open vanes
CRD wheel on the left, new more modern 9 blade wheel on the right.