turbocharger repair - ripped off!

[Mike (Perth, Western Australia)]

At 06:50 AM 17/3/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>-> Are there any good suggestion for low-cost repair parts for a
>-> turbocharger? The application is a friend's 1980 Porsche 924 Turbo.
>
> I just rebuilt two AiResearch turbos for a total cost of $62, including
>having both rotating assemblies balanced.  Bearings and 'piston rings'
>are cheap.  You can buy other parts as required.  Kits with all the
>goodies run $100-$150 for most turbos.

Blimey in Perth we are being ripped off big time. To replace bearings
and balance on the latest "VST" dynamic balancer is around A$800 *and*
on a 'care but no responsibility' clause. They say their balancers cost
around A$35,000 each (blah) (blah), to change T3 wheels to T4 wheels
and machine the housings is around A$1300  !!

Surely a centrifugal air pump off a 3 Kw eletric motor and balancing
LVDT ain't going to cost that much... I think I could build one for
less then A$5K <sigh>

I'd be interested in building my own turbo balancer - shouldn't be
that hard - any comments on this ?

The most common turbos in Perth seem to be Garrett's T3, T28 and T25 with
a few T4 starting to appear - are these similar to Air-Research's units ?

> I've been getting my parts from the local Diesel truck turbo place,
>which has had everything I've needed in stock.  There's probably some
>similar place near you.  The worst case scenario (assuming the turbo
>didn't die catastrophically) is a worn center housing.  These can be
>reamed and you can get oversize bearings, or the turbo place may have a
>used center section; most of them seem to have a supply of used parts on
>hand.

Wish our distributors were that well organised, for diesel to petrol
turbo spares - its all pretty much separate over hear as far as I can see,

> They're no big deal to work on.  Just use lots of penetrating oil to
>help break through the rust and take your time.

I used to use a bath of penetrating oil with an ultrasonic transducer
underneath - works wonders - though *don't* use if with aluminium ;-)

Rgds

Mike

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