Melb-Mike

My 930 needed to have the turbo rebuilt due to some smoke and oil getting into the induction side. I did the usual thing to find a turbo rebuild shop and fell into the trap of a good looking web site would mean a good reliable service facility. Well, that was a big mistake. The turbo on my 930 is from racing days of the past so it's not just another Porsche 930 turbocharger. The engine in my car is a 962 twin plug high output engine built by Neil Harvey of Performance Developments in Costa Mesa, California. The orginal customer, an attorney from Las Vegas, wanted a high powered 930 based on the first car that Neil built that was featured in Excellence magazine in December 1995 and then set the Road & Track magazine 0-100-0 shootout record in August 1996.

The turbo on my car is from the Porsche 917 race cars and uses a ball bearing with special ceramic components. The only difference with mine and the 917 is that the 917 used two of them on the engine and mine has just one (Thank God).

I sent it off to the outfit in Alabama and shortly thereafter got some advice from Neil Harvey saying that this would likely be a mistake and something I would regret. He was right. 6 weeks later, I bolted up the turbo and the back end of my car looked like the oil mess from the BP oil mess in the Gulf of Mexico. I had oil shooting out of places you wouldn't think could.

Neil had suggested I send it to the specialty turbo shop he had used for years for all his race car and specialty car applications. He recommended Durabilt Turbochargers in Bradley, Illinois. He told me to call Bob Pye, the owner of the shop, and discuss the turbo and the problems I was having. I did just that and after a short conversation with Bob, I knew he was the man who could fix this if anyone could. He has turbos sent to him from all over the world as well as most of the Porsche race teams. He was very familiar with my turbocharger and its design criteria, engineering specs and re-build tolerances. He was able to undo what the other guy messed up and fixed the tolerance issues on the sealing rings after manufacturing some parts in his own machine shop. Parts are readily available for something built 40 years.

I highly recommend anyone with any Porsche turbo needs to contact Bob for service. I'm not sure what this forum's rules are on vendor recomendations so I hope I'm not violating any of the rules by mentioning his business. I won't list his web site or his phone number since I'm not sure of this forums' rules on this but if someone were to PM me, I would be more than happy to pass on the information. I'm trying to save others the pain and agony I experienced with using the wrong guy initially.

To remove my turbocharger from the car requires me to remove the intercooler, all associated duct work as well and the entire exhaust system. It's not an easy or quick task but since I do have a lift, I don't have to do while crawling on my back. Now that I cleaned up the mess from the prior mess-up, and had the intercooler ultra-sound cleaned, the engine runs clean and powerful as it was intended. For a while, I wasn't sure what I would end up with. Happy days are hear again.

speednme

Glad it all worked out. Evergreen Turbo in Ocala, FL is also an excellent outfit. Durabuilt and Evergreen both have a special balancing machine used for rebuilding turbos. Very few outfits have them.

NOW..HOW'bout some pics of your Beast...

kevingen2

Thanks for taken the time,it seems as if there are alot of shops out there that are quote experts finding the right shop is hard to find now,sounds like you have a rocket of a car,do you no excactly what was done internally??what intrrcooler are you running?

TT Surgeon

Durabuilt is great. Another is turbocraft on the west coast.

Melb-Mike

The main problem in the turbo was carbon buildup that kept the rings from doing their job, according to Bob @ Durabilt. The guy in Pelham, Alabama had never seen or serviced a roller bearing turbo but thought he could handle it. WRONG. To his credit and as to his honesty, he refunded 100% of my money. However, I still had a mess to deal with.

The intercooler on this car is a custom made full width unit that has two 12vdc cooling fans underneath. I have to use 110 octane fuel to keep things going well. This car is a little over the top for most. Twin front mounted oil coolers, 20 Qt dry sump oil tank, 27 gallon fuel safe fuel cell, triple Bosch fuel pumps, 3 stage race oil pump, titanium connecting rods, 5 stage ECU maps to select from at the turn of a button which range from almost civilized on #1 to OMG on #5.

Igooz

^I would love to see a picture of the engine and the car!

Bruce P

I second the reference for Evergreen in Florida. They did an excellent job on my 930 Powerhaus turbo in a timely manner.

Melb-Mike

Ok, here it is, if I manage to post this correctly.

speednme

WOW! That's a serious engine...any flex felt since car is a vert..or has the chassis been reinforced...

Igooz

Mama Mia!!!!!!
That is a real turbo engine!!!
I love it...

Melb-Mike

No flexing whatsoever. Surprisingly solid. I think the roll cage helps prevent flexing. This is one serious car built by Neil Harvey, everything is over the top like the four (4) a/c condensers, transmission oil pump & cooler setup, etc. I bought the car as is so I can't take credit for any of this. Right now I'm working on getting some "quiet" brake pads, these squeal so bad I fear cracking the neighbors windows.

MUSSBERGER

Beautiful car inside and out. You must have race pads in it making all that noise. They probably quiet down when you get some heat in them. More of a "street" pad should do the trick.

Melb-Mike

You're absolutely correct. I contacted Carbotech today to see what they can do for a more sedate set of pads. They have a set for about $450 but they suggest I turn the rotors too. The current pads are made for high speed high heat duty. I don't race this car, I have others for track duty that are a lot cheaper to run and/or fix. This car would be fun on the track but if it blows up, I'm out some big bucks. I baby this beast. Just did an oil change, 20 qts of Mobil 1 0-50W race oil, $136. Added 10 gallons of 110 octane gas @ $10.04/gal, another $100+ . I'm lucky I do my own work.

m42racer

I remember this engine. It was 1 of 3 that was built back in the early ninties. I believe the car in R&T is now in Japan and the other is in Sth Cal. somewhere.

If you think this is trick, you should have seen the 356R car built for the same owner of the R&T car. That was truely a piece of art.

Glad you were taken care of. Neil is an amazing talent that some of us have the use of now and again. To know is background you would never know it when talking to him. Ah, the stories he can tell of years past.

Melb-Mike

You are so right about Neil Harvey. I sent him an email with a picture of my car & engine asking him if this was his work. About 10 days later, I got an email with his phone number asking me to give him a call. I wasn't sure about calling him since he is, after all, a celebrity in the HP Porsche world. He was about as charming as he could be and gave me the whole history of my car and its engine. He also dug up about 40 pictures of the build of the car and the engine and emailed them to me. Whenever I have a question on the setup, he responds immediately with incredible detail, and considering how may projects he has built since this one, it is amazing at the accuracy of his memory although he says he can't remember much. He is also a very modest and humble mechanical genius. I only wish I lived closer so I could visit him in person.