To rebuild, or not to rebuild......
 

So after some thought and talking with some buddies at the shop I'm going to either have the turbo rebuilt, or just replace it with a chinese unit.

I don't have a ton of money to wrap up into this, so I'm really hoping this is the issue with all the smoke. I figure a rebuild or a china turbo should cost about the same, so I guess I'm just wondering what my better option would be.

Please advise.

Which GT28 do you have?
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Chinese turbo = no down time. Just do yourself a favor and use a restrictor. I took someone's suggestion and didn't use one and now I'm stuck trying to rectify the problem after the fact.

The compressor side says .48 and the turbine side says either .48 or .49, I'm assuming its .48 though.

I was doing some research on the restrictors, but not much. I have the oil line Lee gave me with the turbo still. I wonder if that line has a restrictor and mine from my Greddy kit that I'm still using doesn't.

i can get you a borg warner s252 for a good price if you want to upgrade. we are taking a 1.8 GTI on saturday for dyno i'll post the result.

For that I'd just order a China 2871.
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If you go with a china turbo, you might have to re-tune. Just a thought.

Alright, so say I was to go the china turbo route. Is the ilovetacotaco guy off ebay the place everyone is getting them from?

I assume that if I switch to a different sized T2 flanged turbo, that everything should bolt up no problems?

I'm also going to drop some numbers on my spark map. Lots of people (most from the day I posted it) suggested that its too high. My dyno guy assured me that people like to play it safe, but that's where you make your power. Well I want to make good power, but I don't want to be fucking blowing shit up either.

If I would be able to swap to a china turbo, maybe re-think my oil feed/drain setup, and that would fix my problems I would be more than happy. :) I still feel like the amount of oil that comes out of my feed line is way too much, but then again I don't know whats normal and whats overkill. But to fill a half a soup can by just turning the car on then right off seems like a lot to me.

I got mine from CXRacing, as have a few others I believe.
Correct...For the most part. Mine fit my wastegate housing a little snug, so I hogged out the holes ever so slightly.

Power is fun, but if it is your daily, having a car to get around in is even more fun :D.

Restrictor restrictor restrictor.

Just a personal philosophy/experience thing, but I would much rather run a conservative timing map and a bit rich and then turn the boost up a pound to make X power rather than trying to get every last HP out of a given boost level. Its about as effective and much less dangerous. A bit more boost is not going to catastrophically alter the behavior of the car, and tuning can take IAT changes into account if that's a concern. Where an aggressive timing map is what it is and its not going to change short of detonation events occuring. A degree of timing can make a much larger difference than a LB of boost in terms of detonation or no detonation.

Please help my crazy indecisive mind!

The car has just been sitting and I could have had the parts here by now to fix it, I just can't make up my god damn mind on what to do. :vash:

I plan on replacing the turbo for sure, but I don't know with what. Ideally I'd like to stay with the same trim, but I'm open to ideas (like lev's to go with a 2871). As long as it bolts up to my mani/dp that is.

Also planned is to put in a restrictor this time around, and to drop the timing in some areas.

Any input or links would be great. I'd like to order the stuff to get the car running again ASAP, but I keep putting it off. I need some motivational help!