Sideways7

iTrader: (7)

I overheated my NA last month, and since I finally have enough money to do it, I am doing a full turbo swap. I already have the engine, transmission, diff, and driveshaft, and understand everything about the swap. My question is about the turbo itself. It is an s4 motor, for reference.

I checked the turbo and it appears to be in good condition visually, but has shaft play. On the intake side there is a small amount of shaft side-to-side shaft play and no in-and-out shaft play. On the exhaust side the is a noticeable amount of side-to-side shaft play and no in-and-out shaft play. There is no evidence of oil leaking from the turbo.
My problem is that I don't know how much shaft play is acceptable. Does this sound like the turbo needs to be rebuilt?

K-Tune

iTrader: (26)

has the compressor wheel made contact with the compressor housing yet? how close is it when you shift the wheel towards the wall?

Sideways7

iTrader: (7)

No, it hasn't contacted anything yet. There appears to be a fairly good gap between wheel and the housing. I would say more than half of the distance versus when it is centered.

K-Tune

iTrader: (26)

SOME side to side play is acceptable, if you are worried you should send it off to be rebuilt, or order a rebuild kit and do it yourself.

Sideways7

iTrader: (7)

Ok, thats what I was looking for. Since this is technically a junkyard engine, I'm going to just drop the engine in and get it running. Once I establish whether the engine is good or I need to rebuild I will figure out what to do with the turbo. I'll probably end up getting a BNR hybrid of some sort.

dawicka2

gpopshop.com has a rebuild kit for 90 or so, they rebuilt mine with no issues at all.

Just offering a cheap option, you probably are better off going the bnr route though.

john ny