Turbo rebuilds

[JimX]

Three questions about turbo rebuilds. Sorry if they have been answered previously but I did a search and could not find anything on the first couple of pages.

1. I know that you can't rebuild ball bearing turbos, but can you keep the old housing and put all new internals in? Even if this saved me only $50-100 on a new housing I think I would prefer to do this.

2. I don't know if my old turbo is sleeve or ball bearing. Does anyone know the rough price differences to rebuilding a sleeve bearing turbo and putting all new internals into an old housing, assuming question 1 is possible?

3. If there are no identifying marks on my old turbo, is there a way to find out what size the turbine and compressors are? Just for curiosity's sake, especially if I can rebuild it with the same wheels.

[T0nyGTSt]

I know someone who can do stuff on a case by case basis.

btw. what did you do to the turbo?

T.

[Steve]

With HKS turbos you need to buy the cartridge complete, then fit your own compressor and turbine housings - not too sure about putting the wheels you have on a garrett centre, sorry. A HKS cartridge expect to pay from about $1400 direct from japan.

Bush bearing rebuild kits are only a few hundered dollars by comparison, so alot cheaper.

As for identifying your turbo - wouldnt have a clue if its got no markings.

[JimX]

Tony, pm me details.

I don't know what I did to the turbo, it just gradually started making more and more noise over the past 6 months or so. The guys at Hills said it could be either the wastegate or turbo bearings, but I'm not losing any power so fingers crossed it's just the wastegate. I'm planning for worst case scenario regardless. He said the whole thing looked like a bodgy job so they might not have installed any of it properly.

Steve, the turbo is Garrett, is there something similar you can get for Garrett turbos? Whether locally or from Japan.

[Steve]

Pretty sure there is, perhaps give GCG a call, although they are a bit expensive. Worst case, I would have thought Hills could hook you up?

[JimX]

Yeah they can, but I like to have options Mark has a few second hand turbos on hand, if everything's too expensive I might just get one of those and start saving for something newer/better.

[T0nyGTSt]

The story is that you have to yank out your turbo, get it fixed, then pop it back in.

Once you have the unit out, the clock is ticking... if you can't get it fixed, you have to get a new unit and get it fitted.

T.

[JimX]

How much does it cost to remove and replace a turbo? If it can be done in an hour, I'll pay that to have the old one put back in until I can find a replacement. But if it's a 4 hour job or more, then I'm in trouble.

[EVOIV]

You should give GCG a call. I too have a damaged HKS GT3037S ball bearing turbo, and was under the impression that BB turbos could not be repaired - until recently. My turbo have a damaged turbine wheel and I have talked to GCG and they said that they have repaired several (over 100) BB turbos in the past with 100% success rate. I am hoping to send my turbo to them (or Garrett in Sydney) soon to see if it can be repaired. There seems to be some hope in repairing BB turbos. The initial thoughts were that it wasn't possible to buy trims separately, but some companies have said that you can!? Not really sure, but I will send my turbo to Garrett (dealer in Australia) to see what they say. Hope it can be fixed...

[JimX]

Do you have a ballpark figure for how much they cost to repair? If it's over a grand, I'm tempted just to buy a near-new second hand unit for around $1k to save on delays on getting the car back on the road. But if it's only half that, then that sounds like a better option.

[GTSR22]

hi i think hms haysom motorsport rebuilds turbos very cheap not sure on pricing i will get you his email later

[EVOIV]

I did ask them for a rough quote but they won't quote you until you actually bring the turbo in. Then they'll strip the turbo down and see if it can be repaired, if it can be then they will give you an accurate quote.

They will however provide a free quote, and as you're in Sydney it would be worthwhile to drop the turbo in to GCG or even better Garrett to see if it can be repaired.

[EVOIV]

I guess you could measure the compressor and turbine trim to see what size they are? As for the A/R ratio, that's a bit more difficult

[JimX]

Thanks for the info guys, I'll see what happens tomorrow when it comes off.

[Sydneykid]

Hi guys, I have yet to find a turbo that GCG can't rebuild.

[JimX]

Originally posted by EVOIV

I guess you could measure the compressor and turbine trim to see what size they are? As for the A/R ratio, that's a bit more difficult

Hmm, I was lucky and found the AR ratio stamped onto the housing But you can also work out the AR ratio (roughly) by measuring the diameter of the intake and the distance from the middle of the turbo to the middle of the intake. Probably hard to do very precisely but good enough for a rough idea.

[JimX]

Ok, bit of an update.

Since the turbo is Garrett, I took it to Garrett in Chipping Norton. The guy there had a look and told me that the small side-to-side play was completely normal, and that the axial play was the only direction in which there should be no movement. He checked the housing for evidence of the wheels touching and there was none.

So he went to the wastegate, and found that at some point in the turbo's life someone had welded it shut. Presumably after they decided this was a bad idea they cut the weld off. But because of the welding dags still present on the pivot, it was sticking open and rattling around. I believe that this is the noise (it made the same noise I heard when he moved it around), so I asked them to fix it. I should get the turbo back on Wednesday.

He also said he could do a full rebuild for only $345 because it's a sleeve bearing turbo. While this is pretty cheap, I've decided that it only takes me a couple of hours to get the turbo off so I'll rebuild it when I start getting axial play in the bearing.

Now that I know how to check a turbo for wear, I'll include the check as part of my regular servicing.

[Jay95R33]

JimX - good stuff. Should be pretty cheap to fix up then

J

[EVOIV]

JimX: I'm a little confused, I didn't know that Garrett made normal bearing turbos? I thought they were all BB? Anyway, glad that everything worked out.

[JimX]

I think they make both types. The guy at the workshop knew at first glance that it was a sleeve bearing. Either way, I'm sold on sleeve bearings now. The price of rebuilding them is ridiculously cheap.