My turbos got lots of damage to the turbines wheels, from broken apex seals from the rear rotor. For the most part the damage was not totally visible till I removed the turbos from the manifolds. The turbos are a set I bought cause they were low miles with full non sequential conversion, they worked good, and my original turbos smoked and had over 100k miles, but still boosted good. And so I figured maybe I could take out the shafts and wheels and replace them with the shafts/wheels from my old turbos, is that not a bad idea? All the turbos feel like they have about the same amount of shaft play. Let me know what you think please. thanks

 

The turbine and shafts are one piece. The only thing that comes off is the compressor wheel. If you re-use turbine/shaft assemblies that smoked before there is a good chance they will smoke again. This is because the turbine seal rests in a groove on the shaft that wears and allows oil by.

Shaft play is normal, they are float/hydrostatic bearings, not ball bearings.

When rebuilding my turbos i found there are a large number of ways you can screw up and a small number (read none) of detailed rebuild guides, much less wear specifications.

They can be rebuilt/disassembled, though they were never meant to be by mazda and probably shouldn't be.

Your best option is a low mile set that you take apart (pull the CHRA out of the hotside snail) and visually CHECK the entire turbine on each turbo for damage. Or swap in good condition, original/unmolested CHRA's onto the manifolds/snails.

Remember to make reference marks before disassembly so they go back together right.

 

Thanks for the info. Ya I probably should just buy another set of turbos in good shape.

 

your best bet is to get a couple of good CHRA's (or a whole set of turbos) off another forum member. check the classifieds section.

currently i'm using a set of franken-twins that i pieced together using two different sets of turbos. been running them for almost a year now and they're still boosting strong to 1-bar. i also port-matched the exhaust side housings and the internal wastegate.



more photos here: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2616329/7
and here: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2616329/12

 

I think a single turbo is calling your name

 

Ya but trying to minimize the credit card debt ya know haha.