Just finished rebuilding my turbo so I figured I'd post up some pics.

Before:









During:

Whilst I was there I figured I would give the wastegate a bit of a going over with a die grinder. It's rude not to. I didn't enlarge it much but before I started it was semicircular.









My turbine housing has some fairly monster cracks in it but none of them are on the outside so I have decided to use it till it grenades



And finished:







I still have a little bit of lateral play in the shaft on the compressor side but the wheel doesn't touch the housing anywhere so I suppose the CHRA is a little worn. But there is no play in or out (new thrust collar & bearing ftw) If it lasts me a year then I'll consider it worth it.

Price Breakdown.

Turbo $30
Rebuild kit $80
bit of paint, oil, degreaser $5

Having the thing blow up in my face the first time I use it to teach me not to be such a ******* cheapskate $PRICELESS$

I'm a little dissapointed that the CHRA is showing rust 1 day after cleaning it. Any surface treatments you guys can reccomend? I'm thinking of home remedies here if I'm not interested in ceramic coating it. I'm guessing VHT paint will last about 7.64seconds.

 

Looks pretty nice to me, but I don't pretend to know anything about rebuilt turbos.

 

heat shield / turbo blanket

 

Ceramic paints like VHT should be fine, CHRAs better not be getting hot, they aren't meant to get much over 300F, oil cokes around then and if you use the water cooler fittings, it won't be that much higher than 50F over coolant temp.

 

Looks great. Came out looking much cleaner than mine after rebuild.

I know how you feel about the thing grenading. I didn't trust my handywork with rebuilding my turbo but so far so good! Not drinking oil, making funny sounds or anything.

 

Holy Dead Thread Resurrection Batman!!

Thanks for all the comments guys. Its a shame its not gonna be used for at least another year :( the insurance prices are just crippling in the UK so I'm going for a N/A build for now. Keep your eyes peeled for the build thread!