A little bit of turbo action install action
 

Asked lots of questions, but here's my first action post.....

lots of hard work so far to get it to what's above from its 'pre-state':

These are the before.....

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These are the 'after'

The shiny turbo (now fully rebuilt - you can see the nice clean turbine and compressor wheels)
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And additional blinginess associated with my turbo project includes:

Metal top 2 core radiator (off the automatic) with the fans straight off the old radiator given a coat of paint.....
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And the IC went in this weekend - no pipework yet, but getting it in place is half the fun.....

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Nice! What did you use to clean the turbo blades?

And from where did you source the IC?

looking good....

did that wategate come with the turbo? Looks like a nice replacement for the crap greddy one.

The IC is (I am told) the topmount off a late model RX7. 2.25 inch inlets, and polishes up nicely, as well as being a good fit.

The turbo was cleaned and rebuilt in a workshop, but I'm told the process generally used is sandblast the blades to clean them then glass bead shotpeen them to get them looking like they've been varnished.

The inside of the turbo was completely carbon'd up, so the whole shaft was lathe spun to clean it, then polished, a new compressor wheel went on, plus new bearing and bearing housing, then the whole shaft was balanced. It's basically a new turbo inside.

I polished up the housing, and the wastegate actuator I purchased through a carparts place - just your standard aftermarket parts shop - cost me about $100 AUD, and I also polished it up - you'd be amazed how easy fuel pressure regs, etc etc in that dull brass colour come up with a good polishing.....

how much did it cost you to get the turbo rebuilt? (i'm in melbourne, could post it up to brissy i guess)

thinking maybe i should do that too...

Ummmmmm.....lets just say I called in a favour - I cant say the actual price or the guy who did it, but paying full price you could expect to pay between $500-$700 in labour alone to do a proper rebuild on a TDO4 (and the parts aren't cheap new). If I'd have paid full price, I was looking at $1000ish.....

The cost comes from the finicky nature of the rebuild - stripping it, lathing, sand blasting, cleaning, shot peening, cleaning, rebuild, spin up, check balance, strip down, adjust, rebuild, check again, then reinstall the compressor and turbine housings.

That said - if you could find a turbo workshop in a country town somewhere, you could expect that price to be halved or more.....big city ricers have pushed up demand, and the price goes with it.

PM me and I could suggest a few places (I'm also on Auscartalk under the same name).

Damn it's like $80 for a rebuild kit to do it youself and $30 to get them balanced in the US. Poor Aussies.

Where do you get it balanced for $30? I'd love to know!

When's the big date to first start the car? I'd like to come watch. :)

shit, so it would cost more to rebuild than i paid for it!

i might give it a miss for now and just see how it goes. but will keep it in mind if i ever need to rebuild it, thanks.

Holy shit i cant believe my eyes!! Is that a Td04 13g I spy??? I thought i was the only person messin with one of those. Uncle, correct me if im wrong. Do you have any pics of your Mani and DP?/

Brian's been rocking a 13g for a while now.

na, he has a 13c, totaly differant

Yes - a 13G - I believe it is :) - I'm told they are a highly efficient little turbo!!! :bigtu:

I've got pics of the mani and dump pipe at home which I will post up tonite.

When it comes time for the install and kick over..... there will be plenty of advance notice for a dodgy day event of MASSIVE proportions :bigtu: :bigtu: :bigtu: :bigtu:

ah yes, you're right.:inout:

Wow im glad someone told you that the 13g was a good turbo, everyone tells me im crazy and that its to small for a miata.. I guess we will see.

Small = quick spool and small lag - how big do people think it needs to be for a 1.6 l engine???? :)

And apparently it's a very efficient turbo, particularly with the twin fin compressor scroll.

yeah, from what i can gather looking at the map, its about perfect for the miata as long as your not lookin for max power at like 7500..

we shall see small turbo guys

hahahahaha shutup mr 16g

16g>biggerbetterthan13g :P

Turbo Auto in Nashville quoted me $30-$35 to get a turbo rebuilt by me professionally balanced in house.

Good price. Maybe next time I'm driving through Nashville I can drop one off...

Gpopshop charges $65

Possible he quoted me that price because I've dealt with him before.
Easy enough to call and find out though. (615) 383-6242

Isnt the td04-13g the same turbo that is used to power the WRX? If so, I dont think it does to bad on a 2.0 L motor having owned one for 6 months and having upgraded it with a downpipe and Engine management. I can also testify that it is probably not the best for a 2.5 either, unless you only enjoy midrange. Anyway, if im thinking of the same turbo, putting it on a 1.6 would be a pretty good match.

Hey anything has to be better than the MSM turbo! :P

HAHAHAHAH yeah, its the same as as the one on the WRX, just has differant flanges

Nice horns.

Loud and brash - not unlike me really :)

And here it is with the nose back on - very stealth I feel :cool:

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That has more bling than my front mount!

When you start overheating, remove the grill and see if it happens again before you post about it here ;)

That kind of damn grill caused my car to run hot even without a turbo!

The grill has been on the car for the 6 years I've owned it - never had a problem (it's not as heavygauge in real life as it looks in that photo). But thank you for the concern/advice.

stealth might be better with a blacked out IC and no grill at all.

looks good

Well you have two things (3 if you include the lights) impeding flow to the radiator...plus one of them puts out toasty warm air. If you start overheating, that would be the first thing I'd do to solve.