Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged Yourself
 

So like, I was at TeamPlur's house last weekend, laughing at his collection of turbos, most of which had cracks all up in the exhaust housing, spiderwebbing from the wastegate flange.

Today, I pull my exhaust housing, figure I might as well face the manifold flange. So, like... I get it off and notice a crack in my own turbo!

http://abefm.smugmug.com/photos/299661621_i8igc-L.jpg

Jesus, can I live with a little surface crack like that?

Upon further inspection, our hero notices more:

The crack goes through the back:
http://abefm.smugmug.com/photos/299661636_SKPYc-L.jpg

And, to my shame, I get cracks in the wastegate facing:
http://abefm.smugmug.com/photos/299661656_sxHNW-L.jpg

And one more of the wastegate passage, only with awesome lighting. Looks like a cave, no? At least that's some consolation for me.
http://abefm.smugmug.com/photos/299661709_jKXVb-L.jpg



So... Any advice? I could ignore it, hope it goes away. I bet I'd get a year or two of happy motoring out of it. I suspect more turbos look like this than I know.

Or, I could buy a new housing.

At this point, with a manifold, and housing I don't like, I wonder.... Maybe it;s time for a turbo upgrade. On the other hand, isn't a GT28R a pretty good fit? I'd think so.

Lastly, where can I get one, what should it cost?

Speak to Limit Engineering about repair options.

Eh I wouldnt worry about it personally.

Holy shit! You know how to push the "flower" button on your camera ;)

Every single DSM turbine housing of any age I've ever seen was way worse than that.

Seconded. I have three in my possession, all of which show various stages of cracking.

and exhaust manifold...

Anyone ever seen cracking like that lead to turbo failure? I would imagine it only bugs you when you get to the impeller surfaces.

Maybe I'll just go ahead and port it out some more.

In the mean time, email off to Limit Engineering, see what they have to say. Thanks for the suggestion, Keith.

Also, for the budget minded... Could I just belt sand the front surface of the manifold mating surface?

I brought it to a turbo shop when I first got it, and that's what they did - I think with a steady hand, it would be ok.....

A good sharp flat file seems more conservative.

If you don't use gasket I wouldn't risk it.

When I first got my kit, I brought it to Action Turbo, apparently a place folks would mail turbo to from all over the nation.... They looked at my turbo for two seconds, and sanded it.

I think a fine paper would be nice! But the problem is, it's convex, i.e. air can leak between the bolts, and will tend to make it worse as exhaust blows out.

I figure if it's belt sanded, your biggest risk is rounding the outside edges. But, those will be clamped down by the Big 10 MM Studs. So you should get a good seal. I'll try for as flat as I can get, but won't sweat it.

Either that, or getting it fly cut, and it's only 5 mils out of flat.

How would I use a file and get it flat?

Also: That's a pretty money Avatar.

You're not too experienced in metal work I see ;)

Secure the turbo, ie have assistant hold it or clamp it gingerly in a vice.. use the file flat against the flange and pull the file to you while pressing down against the flange. Pretty simple..

:bowrofl: Jewish Nascar...

That's not "Judge no lest ye be judged", that's just karma. ;)

Im not gonna say "I told ya so" . . because i didnt . .
My dad is not exctly a turbo EXPERT, but he HAS been a mechanic for 22 years and as cracked as my T25 is, he said running it like that would be fine for a couple years.
You could Run it 'as is' while you save for a new one.
or just get a new one now, put that one on your bike and finally Mega-Squirt it :bigtu:

If I did that, I would have 7 different file shaped groves at different heights.

Anyway, I'd watch that nascar if they wore the hats and had the payot....

i've got a cracked CT26 (toyota) turbine housing that's unusable. you can stick the tip of a medium sized flathead screwdriver into the crack. you're fine for a long time.

I ran a turbo with worse cracks. I wouldn't worry about it. So plus one for that.

Belt sanding the flange would work to knock the flange flat. Then go to a glass shop and ask them for the thickest piece of glass that they will give you as a scrap for free or whatever. I got a piece of 1/4" glass for free and put sandpaper on it. Then rub your flange on the glass while supporting the glass on a sturdy table so it stays flat. That will lap you flange surface true after sanding it flat. You can belt sand it with coarse paper then lap it smooth with finer 200-400. I used 200 and it came out like glass so I don't suggest anything finer just because it will take way to damn long with anything finer when doing iron.

To para Keith's contact at Limit Engineering, it's nothing to worry about, most turbos look like that, mine's not that bad. To quote him directly, save your money for gas. :-)

Nice to see (another) company that won't take advantage of an honest question.

WAY ported out the turbo, I suspect my days of overboosting are gone. Combined with my longer throw wastegate, even without the lever arm mod, I think this will be perfect. Will let you know.

MS-II seems to control things better when it's got a lot of margin.

While I was at it, I shocked all my friends (and myself) by drilling 2 mm off each of the four holes from 8 to 10 on the turbo with a harbour frieght bit. For sure I was thinking I would get 1/3 of the way through the first one and pull back a smoking stump, but it worked fine, I just had to run the drill about as slow as it would go while Albert kept the oil coming.

pics of porting....wtf.