Is this turbo worth rebuilding?

[Ozark Lee]

I got my Platinum stuck in the middle of a field and managed to blow one of the seals in the process of getting it out of the mud. It still boosts OK but it is dumping oil and the car smokes pretty badly.

I ran across another 15g on Craigslist locally and bought with the thought that I would rebuild it and then remove and replace the turbo in the Platinum in one shot. After a 2 week bath in kerosene to get the layers of gunk off of the replacement I pulled it apart today. For reference I have been using Matty XXL's writeup and a couple of YouTube videos for instructions. The videos are here:







Now that I have mine apart I am concerned about the condition of the main shaft. I bought a genuine Mitsubishi rebuild kit that set me back $80.00 and I don't want to waste it.

Here are some pictures of my turbo, I would love to have someone comment on its condition. The old bearing has some play in it but it really doesn't have any more or less play on the old bearing surfaces than it does on the center portion of the shaft. I galled the back surface scraping it off. Does that surface do anything beyond holding the snap ring? It doesn't really appear to.

...Lee

[JDS60R]

Hi Lee,

Looks fine.

I'm assuming there is no damage to either housing. The shaft looks ok but still needs to be cleaned up where the turbine seals reside(IMHO).

I could not see any marks on the shaft to denote the balance position of the compressor wheel or nut to the shaft. Did you mark it ,or will you be sending it out for balancing ?

[JDS60R]

The last 13G turbo I rebuilt was from a 98 V70 .

The shaft came out looking like the blurry picture and after a 2 day soak and wiping the goo out it looked like this. Here is a pic of it when it was done. The K1 cleans them up great. The Prego was a joke between me and the MVS member I rebuilt the turbo for.

Best Wishes,
John

[JDS60R]

Turbo soup and a better pic of the dirty turbine wheel and shaft.

I am always amazed by the difference of sludge here based on the lubricant used and the maintenance performed. I use a pic and red scothbrite dipped in K1 for the final clean of shaft.

[Ozark Lee]

I have everything cleaned up and I am ready to reassemble. Which direction do the bearings go? My old bearings were pretty gunked up so I couldn't identify which side had the steps and which side had the bevel. Matty XXL says to note the direction but never says what it is and the videos don't seem to deal with it at all.

There is also quite conflicting information about the torque spec on the compressor nut. Matty says 2 ft lbs and the videos say 100 inch pounds which is a bit over 8 ft lbs. Does anyone have the real spec or is it something that you just get snug and let the reverse threads and the Loc Tite deal with it?

...Lee

[Ozark Lee]

The more I thought about it the more it made sense to put the smoothly beveled ends of the bearings toward the center of the housing. Since that is where the oil supply and return lives I assume that they wanted as smooth and unimpeded oil flow into the bearings as possible. I put the stepped ends toward the back of the shaft and toward the thrust bearing.

As far as torque goes I more or less split the difference and torqued the compressor nut to 70 inch lbs and used Loc Tite red.

Man what a difference. There is no end play and the wheels turn very smoothly. Hopefully I can get the assorted coolant hosed and clamps in early next week since we have a nice stretch of weather coming up.

...Lee