My seal is ready to give up on this stock turbo I been wheeling around on. As much as I'd like to drop a ball bearing turbo in it. I can't get past the cost of one. Now I'm on nights and would need to do what I need to do quickly as the truck pulls my boat for my commercial fishing business. Anyone want to offer up a strong opinion on rebuilding mine. Ive been reading up all day and have gone cross eyed. 2001 with 219k on the ticker. I know of no history of the internals of the engine, other then this bitch will run. It's got a 6 position in it, gauges, banks down pipe, K&N filter and housing kit. I've plan on having injectors, glow plugs and vcg's done this Fall/winter.

 

Go ahead and rebuild it its easy enough, while at it doing bellow up pipes is a good insurance of a leak free exhaust. Get rid of the K&N and get a Ford AIS,S&B, or a 6637 air filter for better filtration, K&N and forced induction don't play well together. Look into spturboost.com for their rebuild kits, any questions contact Kevin recently joined us here in FTE.

 

Thanks. Just looking at riffraffs turbo stuff. Like to get away from the stock setup.

 

Are you using your truck for towing, street, competition? What kind of mods have you done on your truck?

 

Rebuilding the turbo in and of itself is "easy". Meaning that it isnt anything terribly technical and requires no special knowledge. However.......Murphys Law does rule from time to time.... Check out my rebuild here. But even given my misfortune, I say go for it. Im glad that I did mine.

 

If you need any specs or max rebuildable tolerance, such as bearing bore or piston ring groove, during the rebuild, feel free to ask. I have all the data and don't mind sharing the info.

 

the truck is really nothing more then a toy. I tow my boat with it. I bought it with it having mods already on it. However I don't know if any internals have ever been done. When I bought the truck I was told it was blown. But it real had a snapped turbo shaft and it pumped out all the engine oil till it shut down. I brought it home, put a used $150 turbo on it. Changed the engine oil and been flogging it ever since. Im very mechanically inclined. So tackling the rebuild is not my concern, the concern is building it to take what my right foot wants to put it through.

 

Do you have any plan to get bigger sticks in the near future? This will largely determine the direction of your turbo build.

 

Sticks? This some young hip term? For injectors? If so yes.....

 

Yep! Sticks=injectors. How many HP? What volume and nozzle size are you looking for?

Did you see this while on the Riffraff site?

RDP 66mm GTP38 Conversion Kit - Riffraff Diesel Performance

 

Lol, thanks
Yes I seen that. I was leaning towards that. But seeing that ball bearing turbo on his site for $1200 and some change got me thinking

 

Also, I know the budget deal which is why I don't have one yet, however, you can take a gander:

7.3 Powerstroke KC38r Stage 2 turbo - Complete Turbos - 7.3L Powerstroke - Products

From another post today:

I know of three people who are running the KC38R and like them better than the 38R. I can tell you that they are quieter, rebuildable, and have lowered the EGT's around 75-100* below what the 38R was delivering which should indicate that, as claimed, they flow more air. There should be about 50k-60k miles collectively on the three with no issues whatsoever.

While I was considering the 38R, KC38R seems to be a better deal once you consider the billet wheel, the fact that it is balanced, and Big Head are already included in the initial purchase price.

One of the guys went with the .84 AR and likes it due to faster spool on 160/?'s. However, I would probably go with the 1.0 AR.

 

Well , man there is so much out there it will make your head spin. That turbo seems to be a great option as well. I've got to get some time to lay on top of the engine and lik around. I'm seeing some oil on my pan and filter. Hpop might need new seals. But I'm eyeing that T500 also. I'm getting a rough start out of her. But it clears up in the matter of a couple 100 feet from the driveway. I'm getting a blue haze at idle on start up and when I come to a stop. Clears right up with a push of the right pedal. Im working nights so if I'm rambling ,I'm exhausted.

 

ok got to spend a few minutes looking over the truck today. HPOP and the valley are dry as a bone. Back of the heads are dry also. So now I'm wondering if I'm loosing a rear main seal. Laying under the truck I have oil on the pan and transmission. I can see oil clean up on the top transmission bolts. So its up top. When I bought the truck I put a used turbo on it, and I put all new orings on the pedistool itself. So am I correct in the assumption that my turbo seal is on its way out? Hazy smoke at a idle. It clears right up but returns as soon as I stop. Ive got some oil residue on my tailgate. I'm wondering if its coming out the tailpipe.

 

Sounds like leaking turbo.

Give that area a good cleaning and then once dry take for short spin and see where it might be coming from.

Rear main seal usually don't go one these.