Explain wastegate actuation to me.
 

I believe that with aftermarket turbo set ups you need a mechanical wastegate (as opposed to electric???) to be able to set the boost level. But turbos that are originally controlled electronically, is that just an actuator pushing a mechanical wastegate? Meaning, do all turbos have mechanical gates that can be set up to use in any application?

I know that some turbos don't have an integral wastegate and you install one on the pipe going into the turbo. I believe most modern turbos have the wastegate built-in. In my experience many years ago, we used a mechanical wastegate and had a knob inside to turn to adjust the pressure point that the wastegate activated. This wastegate was not part of the turbo.

Bo

Turbos equipped with electronic wastegates are pretty much all stock set ups. Aftermarket turbos with external wastegates will require the traditional wastgate without electronics. Your question is somewhat confusing though, it seems as if your asking whether a turbo with an electronically controlled wastegate can be used on another application? I can't say yes with full confidence but I can say that all electronic turbos do continue to have springs and work just like any other wastegate with use of exhaust gases.

I find a fully electronically controlled wastegate rather disturbing......

All turbos use mechanical wastegates. The electronic part is just the ECU using solenoids to be able to control the wastegate. For example, the 3000GT VR-4 uses 2 boost control solenoids. One for lower rpms and the other for higher rpms. Most of those guys bypass them anyways. A manual boost controller has it's own spring, which is adjustable, that controls the wastegate. An aftermarket electronic controller, like my AEM TruBoost, uses a solenoid the same way, but you tell it when you want it to open. You input the wastegate spring pressure, then you can tell it how much percentage you want it to go
about stock. All of this is the same for internal and external wastegates. Wastegates are just controlled by manifold pressure by a vacuum line.

Ok cool, that's what I figured. So electronically controlled turbos are just mech wastegats pushed by actuators. So really any turbo will work for me.

Looks like Shaolin Crane is going to hook me up with a Power Stroke turbo and I'm actually going to start this Turbo SBC project in my boat. Crazy :)

Gonna push my welding skills to the limit!

I just posted a turbo in the for sale thread.

I'm going with Shaolin Cranes Power Stroke diesel turbo. It is for a big displacement engine and build boost low, which I need. This motor will likely not spin past 4K.