Rip It

Has anyone had any success rebuilding their turbo from a repair kit that includes bearings and seals, etc...?
Is it better to spend $200 for a DIY kit or pay $375 and have it professionally rebuilt ?

IPSC

That is a good question. Who sells a turbo rebuild kit?

IPSC

billthe3

Is there such a thing as a 26/7? Or do you mean 27/6?

pk951

This might help http://www.ecanfix.com/~mdhamilton/turborebuild.html

http://www.turboparts.info/pages/634265/index.htm

Rip It

Thanks, very good info. Lindsey sells a rebuild kit. My concern is a DIYer will not have the capability to balance the turbo blades/wheels and a professional rebuild shop would.

I would like to hear from someone who has installed a kit and what was their results. TIA

azmi951

I did it on my k26-6, no problem. The kit cost about $90 from EBS (rennlist sponsor) and I sent it out for balancing. IIRC balancing was $75 for a shop in Phoenix. Reassembly is so easy and I was able to bead blast all the parts after disassembly. Just dont blast the shaft and have the thing totally apart so no glass beads can get stuck between parts. It is like a motor, make sure everything is spotless and lubed before it goes together. I have about 30K on my rebuild.

hosrom_951

This is what i learned from builders (here and outside).

Unless, you are 100% sure that the blades are straight and true, and you mark the relation of the compressor blade to the turbine shaft, as well as have no grooves/scores on the shaft and the CHA, then you can do it you're self, it is a matter of 4 snap rings and a couple of bearings and seals.

I turbo builder would still balance everything, to make sure, 100% everything is good as new, now since you are going to upgrade to a K27 in a K26 housing, there could be issues.

The KKK turbo internal components are balanced separately, hence why the shaft nut is not ground down (that is done when the whole assembly is balanced as a unit). Are you sure you got enough clearance in the compressor housing and the K27 blades? is the clearance too much?

My opinion, there is too much at risk, since one would spend 5+ hours replacing the turbo, i would rather get a new/rebuilt one trusted from a reliable source than to mess with things that can fail.

IPSC

It was way plus 5 hours to swap out my turbo. Closer to 10

IPSC

skene

10 hours? It took me a solid week to do mine! You guys are fast!

hosrom_951

I just removed the turbo myself last night (i usually gave it to the shop for turbo change, but not this time).

Now, i had everything off *except the turbo mount bolts and down pipe bolts) in a fair 3 hours. But that is when i stopped since the downpipes bolts were not 15mm or 17mm (they were 16mm) so i had to go to the store and get some hardware.

It took me around 1.5-2 hours to get the mounting bolts off, since i had to remove the four mounting bolts of the rack and start pushing left/right/down to get good enough clearance. Then 30 minutes or so to remove those down pipe bolts. It was not so bad, i would rather do the turbo again than the head gasket again

Now i am struggling with frozen turbo housing to down pipe studs/bolts