any resources on turbo rebuilds?
 

I pulled my turbo tonight to do the stage 8 and most of the bolts were very loose so I'm glad I'm doing this.

I'm looking for some resources on how do tell the heath of a turbo. the turbo intake wheel looks to have some blade wear, some of the edges looked warped? is this a normal profile? the exhaust side blade is white. I pulled turbos before but I dont remember what the blades looked like. is this normal. no shaft play side to side, a little in out play but that is normal.

the bolts were tricky to remove and I sure very difficult to put back. should I pull the exhaust manifold and install both together?

this is on a NB car I just got with a FM II kit.

White coloring is normal, wear on the compressor or turbine is not. If there is no shaft slop, don't worry about it.

I looked at it again and did some searches. the white seems normal like you said. all the blades look good but one tip has very slight curl to it. this blade also has a small yellow stripe on the trailing edge which is weird but perhaps it could be by design. dont have any idea but I think it is fine, go to put it back on.

any thoughts on putting it back on?

pull the manifold or just try to put it back on? i should be able to get em started by hand but it might be faster to just pull the manifold and bolt em together.

If there is no slop in the shaft, I'd put it back in and never look back.

again
any thoughts on putting it back on?

pull the manifold or just try to put it back on? i should be able to get em started by hand but it might be faster to just pull the manifold and bolt em together.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1332936426
(it's been too long, I don't remember, lol)

You'll probably remove and re-install the turbo another dozen times (like all of us have over time), so you may as well get comfortable with it now. Just be steady with your hand and don't drop your nuts! lol

Its not impossible and really not that bad once you've done it a couple times. Taking the manifold off is just making more work for yourself. :2cents:

sweet! that is good news. yeah I i'm going to stay optimistic and believe this is will be the last time for now. sure glad I did, all the bolts were only hand tight!

There's a method to the madness depending on your setup. Keep everything as loose as possible so you can move the turbo back and forth to get those bottom nuts on.

Some setups are more frustrating than others, but once you know what method your setup takes it gets easier. :bigtu:

yeah, Ive done em on some cars that are pretty bad. it was very easy to remove, hopfully it goes back on just as easy.

I was thinking about making a bracket to hang the turbo on the block to try to relieve some of the stress on the manafold /turbo studs. anyone do this?

Yes, thats a good idea If you have the tools to do so. The easiest way to get the turbo back on is making sure all the threads are clean and everything lines up nicely. Throw the nuts in some PB blaster overnight and shoot the studs too. v-bands are easier but you gotta work with what you have.

You now have the inco studs & stage 8's? Should be good with that, but clamping the downpipe to the bellhousing is a good way to keep your exhaust from torqueing on the turbo. FM makes an OTC version that may or may not work for you. Easy to fab your own too.

I could not get one of the stage 8 fasteners on the manafold turbo. any tricks?

You can either trim the locking tab, or you can just use Resbond on that nut and leave the tab off. I typically do the latter.

If you have the GT2860 the lower right corner won't fit the locking hardware (I assume this is what you're talking about). I use some resbond on my stud (Thanks Sav for the 10mm inco). If you want you can shave the housing with a dremel. Might clear, might make the housing really thin. Didn't feel like taking the chance. I "think" it might fit on the "stock" 8mm. If I remember it is tight. You have to have the turbine housing sitting a little off of the mani, finger all the nuts on, then slowly tighten all a little at a time. After the first time it gets easier, second a lot easier, after the fourth it doesn't even bother you. Liittle tipsy so sorry if this doesn't help