To turbo 8340 yes or no

FarmerK

Member
I’ll start off by saying im no mechanic…
Recently bought a white top non turbo 8340. I’ve not personally touched the fuel pump but I assume it’s been tweaked because as soon as you hit a hill it seems to pour smoke out. I was just curious as to whether it would be worth putting a turbo on it?
would it improve efficiency?
Obviously it’s nearly a 30 year old tractor so would it possibly cause damage?
Done around 9000 hours but apparently has been kept well serviced etc

anyadvice Would be great
 

agrimax

Member
Location
Co Down
The first 8340s weren't turboed and the 8240 was just a derated version. I had an 8240 which had been turboed with the correct pistons and a 7740 turbo. Probably 150 hp or more as it went like stink and no smoke. Took the turbo off as it started leaking oil and it was as dead as a dead thing and poured smoke on any incline.
Probably not a great thing to put a turbo on to a 9000 HR engine especially with N/A pistons etc. What's the oil pressure like too? Make sure the air filter is clean and turn the fuel screw back a bit on the pump til it runs clean.
There's plenty will say they have turboed 7840s and TS115s and no ill effects,but had they big hours to begin with?
 

FarmerK

Member
The first 8340s weren't turboed and the 8240 was just a derated version. I had an 8240 which had been turboed with the correct pistons and a 7740 turbo. Probably 150 hp or more as it went like stink and no smoke. Took the turbo off as it started leaking oil and it was as dead as a dead thing and poured smoke on any incline.
Probably not a great thing to put a turbo on to a 9000 HR engine especially with N/A pistons etc. What's the oil pressure like too? Make sure the air filter is clean and turn the fuel screw back a bit on the pump til it runs clean.
There's plenty will say they have turboed 7840s and TS115s and no ill effects,but had they big hours to begin with?
It runs clean on the flat and if you just rev it when stationery it doesn’t smoke any more than any other tractor but as soon as you come to a hill it just puts out a lot more
 

powerontheland

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Hockley Essex
@Joe984 i would suggest you have a very rare beast there. The farm i worked for in the 90’s had a very early 8340, that smoked like buggery. In fact it was returned to the factory and was the first to be fitted with a turbo. It did in all honesty transform the tractors performance.
 

Wellytrack

Member
The torque settings on pump is likely what is making it smoke, no load applied no smoke.

Personally I'd leave it alone, alternatively perhaps seek to buy a blue roof 8340, a great tractor. I'd think there isn't any of them doing less than 150-160hp as they often dyno'd 140+
 

Timbo

Member
Location
Gods County
The first 8340s weren't turboed and the 8240 was just a derated version. I had an 8240 which had been turboed with the correct pistons and a 7740 turbo.

Wouldn't have been a 7740 turbo- they're tiny and only intended as a very low-blow on the 5 litre motor to clean up the emissions. Be way too small to make more than ~110hp.
 

agrimax

Member
Location
Co Down
T'was a 7740 turbo (Garrett)as I replaced it like for like at the time. Ford PT.no was for 7740 and because the tractor went that well,I decided to stay with it rather than the bigger 8340 turbo.
 

FarmerK

Member
T'was a 7740 turbo (Garrett)as I replaced it like for like at the time. Ford PT.no was for 7740 and because the tractor went that well,I decided to stay with it rather than the bigger 8340 turbo.
Are 7740’s a good tractor? Wanting something that’s fairly nimble around the yard etc
 

fermerboy

Member
Location
Banffshire
Wouldn't have been a 7740 turbo- they're tiny and only intended as a very low-blow on the 5 litre motor to clean up the emissions. Be way too small to make more than ~110hp.

I know of a few 8240s and and early 83 that were turboed using a 7740 turbo, this would have been in the really early days of the 40 series.
Too small really but it gave them a nice pep up on road work and it was a cheap upgrade. They were done in a NH dealer workshop, the manager there figured out that the bits direct from NH were a pretty cheap option to tune them up a bit.

Non turbo 7.5litres are dead without a boost up, the TS115 which came after the 7840s used the big bloack (7.5 instead of 6.6) and they were flat.
Proper job for the 8240(or 7840) is to skim the piston tops to take them to "turbo spec" clearance (or fit proper turbo spec pistons), fit a later 8340 turbo. The pistons swell a bit more with the extra heat on a turbo motor and can hit the head which usually goes a little end if your lucky and worse if your unlucky.

As to the OP might be worth getting the injectors done at that hours.
 

f0ster

Member
when an engine is fitted with a turbo it requires piston cooling jets from below, for example volvo make the piston crown hollow and the cooling jet squirts in to this cavity at bdc which then goes out of a hole the other side of the cavity, very important to keep the piston at the correct temp, pistons are slightly cone shaped when cold, as they heat up they become a good fit in the bore, if they get too hot they become too big for the bore at the piston crown,
 

FarmerK

Member
I thought all 8340’s had a turbo on from the factory as standard. The 8240 was the non turbo version. The Powerstar engine is pretty strong but cooling can be a bit of an issue sometimes. I‘d be checking that you haven’t just bought an 8240 that someone’s put some different stickers on.
No definitely an 8340. It’s an early one. Some of them didn’t have turbos
 

box

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
NZ
would it improve efficiency?
Fuel efficiency? No.

It'll use the same amount of fuel as it currently does per unit of work, possibly a touch more. But it'll potentially do more work per hour.

Regarding reliability - how long is a piece of string? Reliability is a sliding scale, at one end you have 100% reliability and a standard machine, at the other end you have 0% reliability and a heavily modified machine.

I guess we really need to know what work you're doing with it and how long you expect it to last. How many hours are you doing a year?

I've got a tractor that I stuck a turbo on. It's great for what I use it for, but I wouldn't drive it at 110% all day long like I used to be able to before I turbo'd it. A bit of mechanical sympathy goes a long way but it doesn't change the fact that it's running outside its comfort zone.
 
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