I'm a turbo noob planning a custom/junkyard turbo set up. I recently got an old T3 on ebay. Seller claims it made good boost has very little shaft play and worked fine. How much shaft play is too much? I moved it up and down and side to side and it moves, but very very little and it indeed spinds freely. it doesnt look like it was blowing any oil through the intake however there is one thing about it that does concern me. This is an internally wastegated turbo and inside of the waste gate housing there are two hair line cracks around the wastegate hole where the flapper is at. I have read in a couple of places online that this is a common thing for internally wastegated turbos of older age and that they usually dont cause too much of a problem. I realize this is something that could possibly be open for debate so I'm open for feedback on what you guys think. I paid 160 for the turbo so hopefully I didnt get ripped off too bad. Is it not a bad item for a beginnner turbo?

 

just take it easy...should be ok....ive heard the same...maybe a little sealant...be safe

 

the cracks shouldnt be a problem...the shaft play shouldnt be either...mine is really bad right now...i think it's from boosting 20 psi though...it still runs good though after running that much boost on it for a couple of months now...my turbo smoked though soon after i got it but i worked on another one that's been going for 6+ months now at 15+ psi and it hasnt smoked yet...mine got so bad i had to restrict the oil to 5 psi at idle...not trying to scare you but its hit or miss with these old t3s...mine looked clean of oil and had minimal shaft play too when i got it...you should be fine though at low boost...

 

So the cracks are no biggie....thats cool, because someone told be it could cause a boost leak? When I look at the fan blades in the compressor housing they look slightly oily so is it possible a little oil could be getting by? After noticing this I slid my finger in the intake tube and there is a very thin film of oil inside of it but its so thin that the oil is not even visible. I'm only planning to be boosting about 8-9 psi max daily on my stock block after its tuned. I'm just worried that I'm gonna have to replace this turbo with a new one just only after a few months of having it installed.

 

Would anyone suggest me having this inspected by a shop that rebuilds turbos to see what they say? I'm thinking that if I do that, they will just say it needs to be rebuilt anyway regardless, just so they can make money off me.

 

I also just found out that this thing is water cooled. Does that suck or what?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Civic driven01 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I also just found out that this thing is water cooled. Does that suck or what?
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No.. do a search

 

I did, and found out that they're actually more reliable compared to those that are not.

 

Water cooled is good, but I think it's always wise to have it checked out (no, we don't offer that service on anyone's product but our own). If anything, it would be good to have someone measure the wheels and try to guesstimate what kind of power it will support. Be careful, because you're groping around int he dark here. It's not worth blowing up your engine over a "bargain", is it?

Rod Short
Sales Manager
Precision Turbo

 

Well, I'm going to try the turbo. It seems like its in decent shape and in working order. The code on it tells me it either came from a saab 900 or a 9000. I've read that these turbos are known to be pretty reliable.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Rod Short &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Water cooled is good, but I think it's always wise to have it checked out (no, we don't offer that service on anyone's product but our own). If anything, it would be good to have someone measure the wheels and try to guesstimate what kind of power it will support. Be careful, because you're groping around int he dark here. It's not worth blowing up your engine over a "bargain", is it?

Rod Short
Sales Manager
Precision Turbo</TD></TR></TABLE>

wtf??

 

I think you paid too much ($120or less is good for those 45-50 trims) but if it makes 250whp or more i guess its still a good deal.

get/make an oil restrictor for it before you run it. It can be as simple as getting a steel 1/8" to -3an fitting (if turbo is threaded), welding the bottom shut and drilling a small hole, search for details.

ya, water cooled turbos tend to be in better shape, so thats good.

I think that if you did have it checked out at the very least you would need to buy some parts because old turbos break when you take them apart sometimes. It may not be within spec but it could work for many thousands of miles for you the way it is. (the saab 50 trim I run has about 200k total on it with no rebuilds, does leak oil now but only on the exhaust side so who cares )

As far as it ruining you engine, I dont see how. it might blow some oil but that rarely is enough to hurt anything. just check that oil isnt coming out of your bov every now and then.