talk me out of spec'ing and building my own turbo

[shelbyluvinfool]

I'm cheap, and I like to work on my own stuff, so why sholdn't I try and spec out and build my own turbo? I have a few loacl turbo guru peeps who will help me with instruction, so why shouldn't I? I'm thinking about a standard T3 flang on the manifold too, so I'm not limited to TD specific parts.
I'd like to do a T3/T04E with .50 (can get cheap) or .63 housing with a 50 trim wheel. What about the hot side? Where can I get the parts for cheap? What cars can I look for in the yards, etc?

[ixixAndrewxixi]

the reason why turbo's and turbo shops are soo expensive is they are Extremely presice when being put together. even a thousandth of an inch off when assembling shaft, can cause low turbo life. I doubt you have the equiptment to do that, So i advise not to build your own.

[86Shelby]

Actually assembling a turbo isn't the tough part. It's the balancing that's needed. You can liken it to wheel/tire balancing. Youcan get a nasty vibration from it being off only .5 oz and it doesn't even spin 1000 rpm. Now how important is the balancing when you have things spinning 175,000 rpm? Yeah, just have a reputable shop do it.

[glhsken]

Quote:

Youcan get a nasty vibration from it being off only .5 oz and it doesn't even spin 1000 rpm

Try .5 gram.

[shelbyluvinfool]

well, the wheels are already balanced, it's just bolt stuff together and pay attention to tq specs.

[ixixAndrewxixi]

i didn't know what the hell i was saying, I was just like you said... trying to talk you out of it.

[shelbyluvinfool]

No it's fine, I'm looking for horror stories of people screwing up their turbos.

[4sfed4]

Quote:

Originally posted by shelbyluvinfool No it's fine, I'm looking for horror stories of people screwing up their turbos.

Theoretically, if both the compressor wheel and turbine wheel/shaft are balanced perfectly alone, they should be able to be assembled in any position and not rebalanced.

However, that is not reality. If it was, Turbonetics, Garett (and all the rest of the major manufacturers) wouldnt waste the $ on the balancing machines.

I would take a serious dollar and "sense" look at what you are trying to accomplish by assembling your own turbo. I am as cheap as they come, but in the end, you may not save much and will have no warranty.

[shelbyluvinfool]

Well, we're talking $450 vs $800+, that's a good difference. I have a brand new Garret, but it won't flow what I want, so I figure what I can sell it for might almost pay for my "project" I know a few people who have rebuilt their own, but don't have enough miles to tell if anything is wrong. I only paid $400 for the car, I'd feel silly paying double that for any one compenent, now matter how crucial!

[altered7151]

There are several places around the country that will dynamically balance your turbo for you once you put it together and thats the way to go. Just build what ever turbo setup you want then send it off to be balanced. Chris at TU would probably be able to do it or point you in the right direction, and relentless used to do it but not sure if thats still the case since gary is operating on a smaller scale.