Techno Duck

I was retightening a couple things and decided to pull the j-boot for no good reason. I was surprised to see this..



Not exactly sure what happened. The turbo was rebuilt about 16k miles ago by the previous owner. Its a K26/6. It says 'upgraded' on the invoice but im not sure what, or if anything was actually upgraded during the rebuild. Anyway the car still runs great and boosts fine. There is very minimal shaft play..but enough that it is detectable. But honestly its such a small amount its nothing really major.

Nothing obvious was sucked into the intake.. all 3 bolts for the airbox to AFM are still present.

This is how it looked 1000 miles earlier when i did the headgasket..





I really had no plans to change the turbo on this car for quiet some time. But i figure if replacement is in the cards for the future, i should upgrade it while i can. Big power is not my goal, i would be happy with something around ~300whp (+/- 15-20hp) at about 15psi and the quickest spool possible. My first thought was go with a K26/8, but having read a few older posts most say its more worth while to go with a K27/6 seeing as it would benefit more if i decide to bump the boost up higher in the future. Im curious though, how does the K27/6 compare in spool up to the K26/6 and K26/8 . Ive read the K26/8 is about 300rpm slower, how does the K27/6 compare to that?

Rogue_Ant

I've datalogged 15psi by 3000rpm with my K27DR.


-Rogue

Keithr726

I'm just curious, how much oil is lining your IC pipes?

hosrom_951

This may or may not come in handy, but i have two K26/6 turbos.

Both have been taken apart, so if you need anything (new shaft w/turbine blades, new compressor wheel etc) i would be happy to send you something for free.

Techno Duck

hosrom, thank you for the offer. Im not quiet sure what i am going to do yet, but more than likely will be upgrading the turbo eventually.

Keith, there is a little bit of oil that pools inside the coupling, other than that there is very little oil on the pipes and thorttle body. Nothing that is out of the ordinary i think.

And a few other short questions, what is the typical amount of time to replace the turbo?

And i guess this question is an obvious 'if you have to ask...'. But is there any major danger of continuing to run the car like this for a few months.? Its daily driven only with a couple auto-x's a year. I ship out in a couple weeks so the car is going to be sitting until mid July anyhow.

And where is a good place to buy a K27/6?

lee101315

That compressor wheel looks a little bigger than a regular k26, maybe they machined in a bigger wheel?

If you dont autoX, I would strongly recommend going to at least a #8 turbine wheel/housing.

MPD47

Have you had the compressor cover off, or reclocked it for any reason?

-M

Matt Sheppard

I still have this one available:


I also have a 951 J boot available that is very flexible and ready for the conversion (extra $50). Common practice is to cut the NA and the Turbo J boot and glue together and you are off to the races.

I have other pics of the turbo; if you are interested, PM me.

Techno Duck

Hey guys, im really not sure what the deal with this turbo is. It still has the #6 hotside (can clearly see the flat casting mark). Its entirely possible the compressor was modified, maybe a 'cheater' turbo. But honestly the invoice for the work is so vague and the previous owner didnt even really know.

The car is mostly my daily driver with a full season of auto-x and one or two DE's per year thrown in. Quick spool is my main desire (and of course reliability). I have no desire to really exceed 300whp and i dont really ever plan on running more than 15psi. Reliability is my big goal. The car as is (probably around 250-260whp) is more than enough for me on the track considering i came from driving a 147bhp n/a 944 for over 6 years. Id like to learn to drive it before i start going nuts. Also i have all of the hard stuff to acquire for a 3.0L block in storage at my fathers place...thats for the future .

Mike, other than checking for shaft play when i did the headgasket, i never touched anything regarding the turbo.

Matt, is that K27/6 basically ready to bolt in? Do you have more details on the short watertemp sensor (IE, where to get one)?

Matt Sheppard

Hey Jon,

here is a link to the thread Michelle started on this issue:

THREAD


It looks like Special Tool had a good solution for the issue.

Techno Duck

Thanks Matt, i saved the part number for future reference .

So i guess the last question is, how long is it 'okay' to run the turbo like this. Obviously its not going to be perfectly balanced anymore and that will probably kill the seals / bearings alot faster. The car is going into storage in three weeks and i wont be back to mess around with it until mid July.

billthe3

Doesn't the turbo start to whistle or something if the blades are bent?

zoltan944

+1

was about to ask you how much whine your turbo has?
Honestly I really can't answer the question, ive never seen this problem. Ive only known of them all getting bent up and then need to be changed. I would assume that there is nothing wrong with running it indefinantly, your boost may suffer tho?

Techno Duck

The spool up is very noticeable right now. Im not going to lie, when i hit full boost (set at about 12.5psi right now) and the wastegate opens and dumps to atmosphere...paired with the extra whistle it sounds pretty menacing.

Im going to sleep on my options...but i think more than likely ill have a K27/6 ready to put on when i get back.. .

Mikes3.0cabturbo

Hi Jon, I had the same issue with my 60-1 hifi, although I bent the blades accidently when removing the compressor housing. I contacted the turbo supplier who told me a small reduction in efficiency was expected & was ok to continue to run as is and that the balance would not be significantly affected, if I was careful it was possible to bend the blades back, so I tried that, they are alloy blades so work hardening is a potential problem. However I can share mine went back to almost perfect shape seems fine.

I know this isnt exactly 'the right way' but...


regards
mike