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Rebuilding your Turbo

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8K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  The Pope 
#1 ·
Haven't done a how too in a while. So I took some photos and so I could do a write up on rebuilding your turbo.



We start by breaking loose the bolts. Notice the angle I am holding the 1/2" wrench at. By using a 1/2" your tight on the bolt, then at this angle you are pinging the bolt loose. I RARELY break a turbo bolt doing it this way or round one.



Some bolts as easy and 2 of them I use to help spread the castings. This bolt and the one 180 degrees away you add pressure to, then smack the turbine. Under pressure you can knock the turbo lose a lot easier. Be careful to push the turbine off evenly as you can not to hit the turbine wheel.



I get a oil drain tub, one with the little hole in the center and put it on the work bench. This is for cleaning and not getting crud all over the place. The cleaner the better, not for taking it a part but for putting it back together without getting anything bad into the turbo.



Now that the big stuff is cleaner, take off the compressor finally, then more cleaning.



At this stage you are putting the turbine into a vise to get the nut off. Don't put the turbine blades against the vise, tighten the vise at least a 1/16" clearance. Then look for the threads, Turbonetics turbos look just like the T3 but are left hand threads. After the nut is removed the compressor comes off and the turbine comes out. Some times real light tapping is needed to get the compressor loose.



Then your cleaning again, there is a seal ring on the turbine to come off, break it and use it to scrub the ring groove clean. Clean and remove the internal parts under the compressor.



Bust out the rebuild kit, replace the bearings and clean as you go. Add the new bearings with gear oil on the whole bearing in and out.





Clean the compressor, don't remove the "saw blade" spring. The carbon seal is here, it pops out but the spring is held in with a plate that needs turning. Again clean it all down well. When replacing this get it wet with gear oil. If this seal spins dry for any amount of time you get intercooler oil mess from it leaking. Be careful not to break the carbon on install there is an O ring that makes it tougher.



This is how the thrust plate should look and the carbon seal back, wet with oil again. After this point you get the turbine shaft wet with oil and slide the compressor on with nut. Tighten the nut in the vise again to 25 in lbs. When unbolting or bolting the compressor down take care to hold the tool right. Tilting the tool can bend the turbine shaft and the turbine is trash. Have some one hold the turbo to help you during break loose and tighting of the nut.



Always add new bolts to the turbine. I use coper slicone to use as a thread lock and rust deterant. This photo is for clocking reasons, to get the turbine on right.



This photo is to help clock the compressor right, the waste gate line should point at the waste gate flap.

That is about it basically, not too tough. A carb is harder to rebuild BTW. The key is getting that finesse down with unbolting the turbo.

A good idea to build new lines or buy them, never add a new turbo with an old oil feed line.
http://www.turbododge.com/forums/f4/f62/395018-making-your-own-ss-garret-lines.html
 

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#5 ·
that is a factory origanal T3 lol.

The pinging the 1/2" is key and using the 2 bolts impacting the center section for pressure.

One other note I should have added. T2 turbos get the snot beat out of them. It is normally the best place to use a Log T1 turbo center section for rebuild, not the T2. Most today have made contact and are wasted. If you can't get a good T1 then you need to buy a new rebalanced Garret turbine wheel.

Balancing was also not gone into. Turbos are not balanced assembled, they are taken a part and done. The wheels are balanced not the shaft. When you run into a problem is when the compressor is balanced on the retaining nut. Then the nut must be in exactly the right spot, a pain. I destroyed my S60, well the turbine was already gone from some valves I bought from FWDperformance many many many years ago lol. So I already needed to ditch the turbine but didn't look for left hand threads and smashed into the compressor :smashfreakB: Turbonetics also is one that balances the nut to make this a PITA lol.

Cost, normally I have about $50 doing one. Carb cleaner, new exhaust bolts and $39 rebuild carbon seal kit. When they go 25 years and get new bearings it SUCKS. But most should get new bearings every few years, like say 3 years and 30-40K when you change a timing belt and 02. Then your doing a freshing up on them and they come a part nice and you keep them in top shape. If the turbo is rough, send it in and pay the first time around. Then check on it and freshen it the second go around. For the money anyone doing the expensive rebuild should be buying a new turbine and the S60 compressor to make it worth it.

This how to assumes you are doing it to a good turbo. Even a bad turbo this works for a while, but hard to tell if one is good. I look at the turbine wheel, if there is a big gap between the turbine and the exhaust housing you know there was contact and you need a new turbine. Because of metal fatigue from extreme heat and pressure you can't do a turbo "right" as many shops say without a new turbine wheel. You can spend $350 rebuilding a 25 year old turbo and it'll snap the shaft. Not because they did the rebuild wrong but because the turbine wheels shaft had too many beatings on it.

But on and on. I've done many for a home garage type deal. I've done almost 20 turbos, the first one I broke the gear spring and it nuked. Then one I rebuilt for an old friend on here, but he can destroy anything like turbovanman lol. The rest have seen so far past 40K on $50. The first one you may destroy... But then the second and third time you got it down. BTW I have ZERO HELP and doing them at first, no how to like this to look at. I just did it with zero knowledge of what to do or what the inside even looked like. So for me rebuilding a turbo was like cliff diving into a black puddle.. :woot woot:
 
#8 ·
get all the carbon off it and walk it in a little bit at a time. You can't just spread it and slap it in like a piston ring lol
 
#9 ·
Good stuff, I had rebuilt my Garrett T3 (Turbo II) recently with great success.

A couple recommendations, make sure to use assembly lube (oil) when putting in the bearings and such, I used lucas oil stabilizer, but I put that stuff on my pancakes too lol

Be very careful with the carbon seal (it is very brittle), it is kind of awkward to put the center housing with the thrust bearing in place and carbon seal in place, they both want to fall out.

If you have a fugly looking center section they can be had off e-bay for a reasonable price. My complete rebuild with a new center section cost $124

Balancing... mark the shaft in reference to the cold turbine as well as the nut. Close enough for me and a $124 or $50 rebuild.
 
#10 ·
I have a Garrett S60 turbo I am rebuilding. It is an S60 on the compressor side, .48 on the turbine side. My question is about the need to mark the compressor wheel for the sake of maintaining balance. How is that done if it is needed? Is it as elementary as using a sharpie to draw a line over the end of the shaft, over the nut, then down onto the wheel?

Then reassemble them so that the marks all line up again? Unless the shaft is indexed in some way (like with teeth or a flat side) it seems like it would be so very easy to not get the compressor wheel back into exactly the same position.
 
#12 ·
the wheel itself is balanced. Clocking is irrelevant to balance. Even when they do it at a turbo shop they take it apart and balance each end and then take it apart and put it back together. No clocking. You buy pre balanced turbines and compressors all the time, no way to clock that lol.

Posts in the FAQ section need to be approved before seen, so I didn't see it for a long time. Need to say something lol.

The only way clocking would matter is if the shaft is bent lol, then that adds new problems
 
#13 ·
Don't know the size, the pins are what are tiny. I leave the inside rings in place and use a tiny screw driver to remove the outer rings. A ton easier in the long run. They are tough to keep in place and you shoot them across the room with the snap ring pliers.
 
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