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Who can freshen up my turbos?

2K views 18 replies 3 participants last post by  CrucialProspect 
#1 ·
My current turbo gent won't freshen mine up so I want to send them to someone who will. Just needs some seals and minor cleaning.
Any recommendations?

ks
 
#3 · (Edited)
Kevin, what is the price of a freshen up and what is the price of a new cartridge?

Ed
I have no clue, I don't know anything about rebuilding turbos. I just want these gone through and I'd rather have someone experienced to do it for me. I also think these have been balanced if that makes a difference.

ks
 
#4 ·
You might want to check into the prices of

● Rebuilds
● Rebuild kits
● Replacement Cartridges

The cartridge replacement approximates changing a spark plug in the complexity department and you will end up with either brand new or rebuilt pieces depending on your choices. The rebuild kit obviously calls for a more experienced / familiar relationship with your turbo. My suspicion is the Rebuild option where you pay someone else to do the rebuilding is likely the most expensive but not necessarily better than some of the other alternatives.


Ed
 
#5 · (Edited)
I'm all ears but:
How do I know what cartridge to buy?
Where would I even get such a thing?
Do they come with the exhaust wheels and shaft or just the center section/housing?
If they come with the exhaust wheel what about balancing?


ks
 
#6 ·
Retail distribution along with repair and maintenance facilities will have the parts and likely some level of documentation, Kevin. A complete cartridge is essentially missing a turbine housing and a compressor scroll to be a finished goods part.

I would go back to who I bought the turbo's from and start there. If they don't handle the parts they can steer you to firms that do..



Ed
 
#7 ·
Unfortunately I don't even think he remembers what parts was used to build these units without seeing them plus I'm not sure I want to deal with him anymore on them after this weekends fiasco with him. For now I'll just stick with my original plan and have someone else freshen them up. Either way I will have good units.

So, if there is anyone that comes with a good recommendation let me know.

ks
 
#9 ·
Right now I'm good. If they leak after this weekend they'll be going back to Brian.
After this fiasco I wish I knew what rebuild kit to buy. I watched a few vids and the parts don't seem toooo terrible to change out.

But I hope this weekend goes as hoped.. Thinking happy thoughts!
ks
 
#10 · (Edited)
The turbos are still leaking so they are boxed up and getting shipped back to him but he's being snippy b/c he says they aren't the problem. Despite his feelings he's getting them anyway so hopefully he'll rebuild them.

I don't want to go through this fiasco with him again so once I get them back how can I tell what center section these are in case I feel the need to repair or replace them again? There has to be more than a few wheel measurements to really identify how these are constructed. I know/believe that he pieced these together with chosen parts to fit my specific combo which is why I wanted him to build them for me. So how do I identify what these are?
All I know at this time they are a T3/T4 with 61mm billet wheels.

Some info I found through my emails are below but I don't know what any of this means.

An email that was sent to me had the units spec'd as:
T04e60/stage 3 with the .63 a/r with the MFS wheels.

When I sent him the above info as a reminder what they were he then asked:
Do you remember if they were 57 or 59 MFS wheels?

When I had them apart at one time here are the measurements I came up with:

Billet Compressor wheel measurements:
59mm at the inducer
76mm at the base of the exducer
80mm at the maximum diameter of the fins

Table Silver Body jewelry Serveware Tableware


So, I'm not sure how his question about the 57 or 59 wheels relate to the T04e60/Stage 3 since I thought these were 61mm units. At one point he had to re-contour the housing b/c the wheel was rubbing just a slight amount so it wouldn't surprise me if he custom machined the wheels if this is even possible..

KS
 
#11 · (Edited)
Kevin,

If his (Brian's) position is the cartridges ar OK and do not require a freshening, what has he offered as an explanation for the oil consumption?

BTW in the FWIW column (and I am basically turbo illiterate about this stuff so take that into consideration as you read) I believe the T04 in the specs he sent you refers to the hot side flange style, i.e. T04 style. If I am not mistaken the T04 designation describes a Garret hot side flange that can either be a divided dual port flange or a larger single port flange. The e60, I have no idea about what it means. Perhaps someone else who is Turbo familiar will chime in and say a few words. My uneducated guess would have been the inducer diameter but you already measured that at 59mm. The Stage 3 moniker just means this is the third redesign someone has made to some part of the Turbo, probably the compressor side.

The 0.64 A/R, as I understand it, stands for the Aspect (A) Ratio (R) of the Turbo's hot side. The ratio is, again as I understand it, the ratio of the area of the exhaust turbine inlet to the radius from the turbine impeller center. You want this ratio to remain the same as the Volute gets smaller i.e. closer to the impeller.



The Aspect Ratio will affect turbo spool up time and maximum air flow. Interestingly low A/R ratios (<1.00) will spool the turbos more quickly but essentially at the price of top end compressor performance. Like most things performance related, the A/R ratio becomes a sort of compromise between spooling and max power possible.

I just hit rock bottom in my turbo knowledge bucket :)

Ed
 
#12 ·
Kevin,

If his (Brian's) position is the cartridges ar OK and do not require a freshening, what has he offered as an explanation for the oil consumption?

BTW in the FWIW column (and I am basically turbo illiterate about this stuff so take that into consideration as you read) I believe the T04 in the specs he sent you refers to the hot side flange style, i.e. T04 style. If I am not mistaken the T04 designation describes a Garret hot side flange that can either be a divided dual port flange or a larger single port flange. The e60, I have no idea about what it means. Perhaps someone else who is Turbo familiar will chime in and say a few words. My uneducated guess would have been the inducer diameter but you already measured that at 59mm. The Stage 3 moniker just means this is the third redesign someone has made to some part of the Turbo, probably the compressor side.

The 0.64 A/R, as I understand it, stands for the Aspect (A) Ratio (R) of the Turbo's hot side. The ratio is, again as I understand it, the ratio of the area of the exhaust turbine inlet to the radius from the turbine impeller center. You want this ratio to remain the same as the Volute gets smaller i.e. closer to the impeller. The Aspect Ratio will affect turbo spool up time and maximum air flow. Interestingly low A/R ratios (<1.00) will spool the turbos quickly but supposedly choke off top end compressor performance. Like most things performance related, the A/R ratio becomes a sort of compromise between spooling and max power possible.

I just hit rock bottom in my turbo knowledge bucket :)

Ed
Thanks Ed. Sorry to cause you to visit the bottom of the bucket on a Sunday afternoon.. ;)

The drains coming out of the turbos are 5/8" od x .035 wall steel lines. These lines feed into a Turbowerx EXA scavenge pump (just upgraded this week from the EXA Mini) then to the front passenger side of the oil pan via -8 braided line. I have taken great pains in designing this drain system before I even started designing the turbo piping so the flow is always downhill with the turbos up near the v-covers and the pump near the bottom of the radiator. He says that the drain system is obviously not adequate causing the leaks and I NEED -12 drains with NO scavenge pump and his setup is perfectly fine for 90psi of oil pressure to the turbos.. He ignores the fact that this system worked for 2 solid years and 50 dyno pulls right up until the relay to the s-pump went bad and pumped oil past the turbo seals and into the IC and exhaust.

As mentioned I upgraded to the larger EXA scavenge pump ($400) although the MFR told me their mini-EXA was more than adequate for the job of scavenging two turbos.

I have the oil psi regulated down to 25psi hot at the turbos which I just verified yesterday with a brand new oil psi gauge just in case the gauge was bad.

I verified that the electric crankcase evacuation system is working properly so there is no crankcase pressure.
etc.
etc.

ks
 
#16 ·
See link in above post but they are mounted high right in front of the valve covers. Bottom of the S-pump is towards the bottom of the radiator about 12" lower than the bottom of the turbos.

ks
 
#17 ·
Being mounted that high there shouldn’t be any need to scavenge. As long as the pressure is in check and the drains are clear and sufficient, that should gravity feed to the pan no problem. Mine are under the headlight housing and have no issues.

I would suggest -12 or 3/4” drains though. A while ago, when I had oil issues, I used clear tubing to watch the flow, it’s crazy how fast and how much oil goes in and comes out!
 
#18 · (Edited)
I'd use a -20 but unfortunately the fitting in the pan is only a -8 so that is my limitation but I do have large ID steel tubing feeding the s-pump. I had some -10 laying around and the ID was a little smaller than the 5/8" steel tubing ID so I use steel for the drains.

When I was redoing the heads I thought about adding a large bung in the timing cover but I can't remember what issues I thought there may be by doing so so I didn't do it.

During my drive I never got more than a 1/2 mile from the house and never got above 35mph before they started leaking oil. At cruise the oil psi goes up to 25psi at the turbos but at idle they are 10psi. At 10psi there was no leaking after 40minutes of idling. But I still go back to the fact that this system has worked perfectly for years until the relay went bad and that was with a s-pump that flows 30% less than this new one.

ks
 
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