I got bored today and decided to play around with the only turbo part I was able to get before leaving the country, my t25 turbo. The waste-gate actuator wasn't attached because the compressor housing wasn't clocked, but that was easy. Now I want to rotate the center section to have the oil drain looking downward and at the moment its facing to the side. How would I go about turning it, unbolt it from the exhaust housing?

 

Leave compressor attached, unscrew wg arm(done)
Unscrew the 6 13mm bolds just a little.
Put turbine housing into a workbench(not too tight, cast iron...)
Get an old broomstick and stick it into the compressor housing.
The only part that should move is the turbine housing.
Make sure the bolds are loos enough, but not too loose(bades hitting housing)

Slowly turn it just be careful, youll be fine

 

Thanks.

 

If you do as above you will turn the exhaust housing relative to the center section, you can loosen the bolts enough to turn it by hand if you are careful.

If you want to turn the compressor housing relative to the center section you can try to use a great deal of force, or you can get a very big pair of snap ring pliers, remove the giant snap ring around the inside edge of the compressor housing and carefully turn it.

 

What happens if I unbolt them to far? Will the thing just fall into two pieces? What about re tigthening, easy to over torque?

I rotated the compressor using large needle nose pliers, didn't even have to remove the snap ring, just compressed with one hand and either squeeze together or pushed apart the compressor outlet and turbine inlet. Yea I have strong hands.

edit: Id love to take the turbo apart to see its inards, except I probably wont re assemble it. Im curious about the snap ring, how exactly is it preventing the compressor housing from turning when its released? Which part is rigidly attached to the center section?