Ceramic turbocharger info source??

[Jay Wallace]

At 05:36 PM 4/7/99 -0400, you wrote:
>That's interesting.  The Supra 3.0L is rumored to have
>the same turbo, but with a different exit on the ex-housing.
> It's a Toyo-CT26 unit, that someone mentioned was really
>a Hitachi manufactured piece for Toyo..
>MV
>


As far as I know, both Nissan (Fairlady Z) and Toyota (Supra)
offered ceramic turbos in Japan. As I recall, the rotors were
press-fit on a metal shaft then individually balanced and spin
tested. The rotors came from several different ceramic companies in
Japan but, as far as I know, none was ever exported. They are still
being offered, but sales have dried up due to a hefty surcharge and
changing tax laws in Japan. FWIW, over 1 million ceramic turbos
have been sold and they have not yet had a field failure. Not bad
for a highly stressed brittle material. 

I suspect that any "ceramic turbocharger" in this country had just
ceramic bearings or maybe a ceramic thermal barrier coating, unless
it was a black market import.

Jay