Rajay Turbo?

I saw a set up yestreday that a guy brought over for my inspection. Never saw one before but i haven't seen many turbos or had much experience with em either. It was the pass side exhuast manifold with the turbo attached with two tubes attached, one was intake and the other ran to the carb. The other piece was the piece that goes over on the intake with two tubes fastened to it. It was used and he said it came off of a 440. His aking price is $1200 for the set up. He did have an oil line that tapped into the oil pan. The turbo spun ok but i thought it should have spun a little more freely. The tag on it said Rajay Industries in Long Beach, calif. Anyone know anything on em?
Wow, I did a search over on google and it looks like they are out of business but it also looks like the were a player at one time. Wondering now what they are worth and can they be rebuilt should it need work?
Samll Block

$1200 is quite a bit for what sounds like not that sweet of a set up. You can get pretty nice NEW turbo's for a good deal cheaper.



http://turbodaves.com/Products.html


good luck
Jake

Rajay was the supplier for the Turbos on the Corvairs years ago.

From what I have heard thru the guy that rebuilt the turbo on my 84 Kawasaki, parts are really hard to find as they were bought out some time ago.

good question Bill.

The setups that "I KNOW OF" for 440's and such are Motorhome Turbo Kits.

Motorhomes are heavy, and get horrible gas mileage...turbos increase torque and improve passing power and therefore increase mileage.

The setups I have seen do in fact have turbo flanges on BB manifolds.

I personally would not put a value on a setup like that. A custom system is much better.

here is a link to a Moparts Discussion on the subject:
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=5815646&page=0&fpart=all&vc=1

here is a link to a Moparts Discussion on the subject:
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=5815646&page=0&fpart=all&vc=1



After lookin at some of those pictures on that post, that setup looks like garbage! I cant imagine the difference in back presure from one side of the engine to the other is very good on parts. Not to mention that tiny turbo! That thing looks like it might suport 100ci...not 440! Those turbos probably choke that 440 off at 3500RPM!

I honestly do not know how effecient they were. I have a friend that has one on a 413 that came from a motorhome as well. The fuel passes through the turbo. Seems like it would cause problems with the oiling of the turbo. His is a Gale Banks setup with the spacer under the carb that has 2 tubes attached. One pulls through the carb and to the turbo and then back into the spacer and into the intake. Garbage in my opinion. Or should I say not for performance applications.

Rajay turbos are not the way to go. They are "old" technology. The turbos made today are so much more efficient, plus the problem of getting parts for the Rajay. Here is a picture of the turbo installation I did back in 1979, with a Rajay. Modified Corvair unit.
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/schmid.html