Cambridge_pulsar
New Member
I've never dimantled a turbo but I would be willing to give it a go. Would this be any good as an alternative to having it rebuilt professionally? Would it need re-balancing after you had put it back together? :-D
what do you think to this...?
- Thread starter Cambridge_pulsar
- Start date
I don't see why you couldn't.
Essentially there are two parts which you can mix-and-match to a certain degree: the impeller on the exhaust side; and the compressor on the intake side. If you don't brake any of the blades I don't see why you'd need to rebalance it... unless that was something you wanted to do anyway to improve the performance. It wasn't that long ago that you probably would have rebuilt you turbo instead of buying a replacement from a rebuilder. I remember all the Mazda boys talking about the optimum compressor match for the turbine for their 13B rotary engines... less than 10 years ago... maybe less than 5.
I was wondering myself how feasible it is to dismantle a standard turbo and up-rate the internals; replace the old bearing with ball bearing perhaps (obviously I haven't looked closely at it, so there's no point in everyone telling me I'm an idiot and it can't be done.)
At the very least, I figure you could dismantle it and clean any gunk out of the compressor side... and carbon build-up out of the turbine. Can't hurt the turbo really, and there may be bona fide gains to be made from that.
EDIT: This makes it look relatively easy... if you've got the kit.
EDIT 2: Vova on driftworks says the rebuild can be done by anyone who has some spanner experience (How to rebuilt your T28 Turbo)
Essentially there are two parts which you can mix-and-match to a certain degree: the impeller on the exhaust side; and the compressor on the intake side. If you don't brake any of the blades I don't see why you'd need to rebalance it... unless that was something you wanted to do anyway to improve the performance. It wasn't that long ago that you probably would have rebuilt you turbo instead of buying a replacement from a rebuilder. I remember all the Mazda boys talking about the optimum compressor match for the turbine for their 13B rotary engines... less than 10 years ago... maybe less than 5.
I was wondering myself how feasible it is to dismantle a standard turbo and up-rate the internals; replace the old bearing with ball bearing perhaps (obviously I haven't looked closely at it, so there's no point in everyone telling me I'm an idiot and it can't be done.)
At the very least, I figure you could dismantle it and clean any gunk out of the compressor side... and carbon build-up out of the turbine. Can't hurt the turbo really, and there may be bona fide gains to be made from that.
EDIT: This makes it look relatively easy... if you've got the kit.
EDIT 2: Vova on driftworks says the rebuild can be done by anyone who has some spanner experience (How to rebuilt your T28 Turbo)
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Cambridge_pulsar
New Member
That's what I was thinking, like you say giving it a good clean and replacing the oil seals can't do any harm and they also list the 360 degree bearing so you could presumably replace that. As long as you can put it all back together ok I can't see why it wouldn't be ok but then I could be very wrong lol.
Oh - I just read to the end of that thread and he says "Conclusion: not worth rebuilding, just buy a new one!" so maybe I am full of sh!t after all... although by his own admission, he made some mistakes that might have resulted in it failing again.
I'd be very tempted to buy the 360 degree thrust bearing rebuild kit and rebuild it with that... particularly as I'm sure I could pick-up a smoky turbo to play with pretty cheaply. (And I now understand that you have to replace the centre section if you wanted to change to BB instead... and that's pretty much buying a new turbo anyway.)
I'd be very tempted to buy the 360 degree thrust bearing rebuild kit and rebuild it with that... particularly as I'm sure I could pick-up a smoky turbo to play with pretty cheaply. (And I now understand that you have to replace the centre section if you wanted to change to BB instead... and that's pretty much buying a new turbo anyway.)
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Cambridge_pulsar
New Member
After reading through that i'm not sure. I can't see any reason if you're extra careful and take your time why it wouldn't be fine. And ultimately you are just taking it apart and putting it back together as it was. I'm not convinced about it not needing to be re-balanced as the margin for error must me minute. I think potentially you could save a lot of money and it would be very satisfying to do but equally if something does go wrong it could be a very expensive mistake!
The more I think about it, the more I'm tempted to: open it up; clean it without dismantling it any further (i.e. don't take the compressor or turbine blades out); and reassemble it.
I'm also not so sure about the way he was fussing about the alignment for balancing; it's spinning quite fast so it's either balanced and working or not balanced (and cactus) - surely the alignment on the shaft will only make a difference if the shaft is elliptical... and therefore needs to be replaced.
If I think I've got away with that, then I might consider changing the thrust bearing...
I'm all for cheap and (relatively) easy maintenance; and I'm not afraid of a little bit of bodging. Plus, as you say, there's nothing quite like the knowledge that you did it yourself... it's a great way to learn the mechanics of it too! Learning for free, how can you go wrong?
I'm also not so sure about the way he was fussing about the alignment for balancing; it's spinning quite fast so it's either balanced and working or not balanced (and cactus) - surely the alignment on the shaft will only make a difference if the shaft is elliptical... and therefore needs to be replaced.
If I think I've got away with that, then I might consider changing the thrust bearing...
I'm all for cheap and (relatively) easy maintenance; and I'm not afraid of a little bit of bodging. Plus, as you say, there's nothing quite like the knowledge that you did it yourself... it's a great way to learn the mechanics of it too! Learning for free, how can you go wrong?
GTiR-Aholic
New Member
We always rebalance the turbos we rebuild, it's not always required but you can get away with doing as stated above (general clean up & replace the oil seals). Depends on the fault you're having at the end of the day. If it's a simple leaky turbo then 9/10 times it's just the seals 
So you could dismantle it, and look at the seals.We always rebalance the turbos we rebuild, it's not always required but you can get away with doing as stated above (general clean up & replace the oil seals). Depends on the fault you're having at the end of the day. If it's a simple leaky turbo then 9/10 times it's just the seals
If they're knackered, but all the blades look ok; replace them and job's done. ;-)
If they blades are knackered; give up and buy a replacement in better condition... then you don't need to dismantle anything further!? :roll: Or have a go with the rebuild kit...they're on eBay for ~£50-60 depending on what you want from them (i.e. cheaper for a standard thrust bearing, and more for a 360 degree)
Cambridge_pulsar
New Member
The more I think about it the more I want to try it, although not on my own turbo! I definitely think it would be worth doing on an original turbo, there must be a lot of crap built up and replacing the oil seals and thrust bearing would be a good idea. Just need to find a smoking turbo with no other damage...
Cambridge_pulsar
New Member
Exactly, and for £20!