whats up with ball bearing turbos, are they better, as far as more hp?

Theyll spool up faster, making full boost = more power at lower rpms.

Are Garrett T3/T04's a ball bearing turbo or do you have to order that extra? I read about ceramic ball bearings (i think it was ball bearings) but what is the plus side to that? Cooler temps or better wear or what....or is there such a thing?

Are Garrett T3/T04's a ball bearing turbo or do you have to order that extra? I read about ceramic ball bearings (i think it was ball bearings) but what is the plus side to that? Cooler temps or better wear or what....or is there such a thing?
Garrett sells both journal and ball bearing cartridges.
Ball bearings cost more.
Ceramics can be run in a self-contained oiling system. In a supercharger system, this means no extra oil lines. Turbo may still need oil lines, however.

ceramics tend to last longer as they run cooler... yes you still need an oil line for cooling the bearings, and reducing shaft friction in the housing. ball bearing turbos also tend to last longer.. if you can get a turbo kit for $800 with only 200 miles on it.. go for it! as long as everything is there.. (turbo, turbo timer, larger injectors, turbo manifold intercooler piping, intercooler, BOV, wastegate, A/FR guage (definitly recommended).

Ok here's a question for you...i found a Garrett T3/T04 turbo w/ the 60 housing (not sure what exactly that means) and the turbo has an internal wastegate, and the oil lines but nothing else. They are asking $175 for it. Do you think that if i bought it that i could piece the rest of it together. Buy an intercooler, computer BS, and have an exhaust shop build the tubing for the intercooler and so on. I'd have to buy an aftermarket header, but i "think" i could do it. Any suggestions or reasons i shouldn't do that?

here you go schiester, i also believe in the art of custom turbo. use it as a guide.

http://www.beesandgoats.com/boostfaq/g2icturbo.html

Ok here's a question for you...i found a Garrett T3/T04 turbo w/ the 60 housing (not sure what exactly that means) and the turbo has an internal wastegate, and the oil lines but nothing else. They are asking $175 for it. Do you think that if i bought it that i could piece the rest of it together. Buy an intercooler, computer BS, and have an exhaust shop build the tubing for the intercooler and so on. I'd have to buy an aftermarket header, but i "think" i could do it. Any suggestions or reasons i shouldn't do that?

Sounds like a T3 60-trim, not a T3/TO4E 60-trim.

The trim level tells you the size of the wheel. When you move into the bigger turbos, like the Turbonetics T-series they tend to use the actual diameter of the inducer (IE, T66 has a 66mm compressor wheel inducer, T76 has a 76mm inducer, etc) but for smaller turbos like T3/TO4E hybrids they like to use the trim of the turbo to differentiate between the sizes. The problem with this is you can have 2 totally different sized turbos with the exact same trim, and you can have a wheel that is say a 60 trim wheel that is actually smaller than a 55 trim wheel. The trim of a turbocharger wheel is the inducer squared over the exducer squared, multiplied by 100. So say you have a turbocharger with a 2" inducer, and a 3" exducer. (2x2)/(3x3) = .44 .44 x 100 = 44 Trim wheel.

So, you can have a T3 turbocharger with a 60-trim T3 compressor wheel, and you can have a T3/TO4E turbocharger with a 60-trim TO4E compressor wheel. A 60-trim TO4E wheel is capable of 550-600 horsepower, and I don't know of anybody that makes a T3/TO4E 60-trim with an internal gate, so it's safe to say it's a T3 60-trim, or a T3 Super 60, which is capable of slightly more horsepower than a regular T3 60-trim. The typical and more common TO4E compressor wheels are the 50-trim, the 54-trim, the 57-trim, and the 60-trim. The 50-trim will support about 450-475 horsepower, ramping all the way up to around 600 horsepower for the 60-trim.