My rebuild kit came in this afternoon, and I went to work getting eveything back together. Things went pretty smoothly, as I was just waiting on the rebuild kit. All parts were clean and polished (more on the polished in a bit), ready to reassemble.

About the only concern I had was the ring seal on the exhaust side fit very tightly in the groove on the shaft. When installed it in the center section and I would spin it by hand, it was not hard to turn, but it wouldn't stay spinning on its own. I called Kris to see if he had any thoughts on it. We came to the conclusing that about my only option was to run it and it should free up. I put the turbo back on the truck, but left the filter and intake tubes off so I could watch the turbo. Fired the engine, and the turbo ran smoothly. I ran it at idle for a couple minutes then shut it off to check the turbo. That ring seal loosened up quite a bit, working itself in during that short time, and the turbo would spin much more freely when I spun it by hand. I would say that after a few hundred miles it will be spinning normally.

All in all, I think it went well. I didn't run into any snags along the way, which is good, but unusual for me. There is zero end play or lateral play in the shaft now. And best of all, my oil leak is fixed! After an oil change either tomorrow or Monday, I think I'm all set.

Now, about the polishing I mentioned earlier. Since the rebuild kit wasn't here yet, I decided to go a step further than just cleaning the turbo shaft. I actually polished it to a mirror-like finish to try and help it spin more freely. I know it rides on a thin film of oil, but I figured the smoother the better. I also polished the outside of the new bushings today before I put the turbo back together. My goal here was to create a lower resistance to help the turbo run better. I don't know that it would create any more max boost, but I'm hoping for quicker spool. I'm going to give it 300-500 mile of break in before I really push it though, and am able to find out if it does indeed spool any quicker.

Here are some pics of the polished shaft and bushings. Click on the thumbnails to see larger pics.

 

Good job Jeremy.
Glad to hear you got er done up and back on the road.

 

Good to hear Jeremy, Hope it will give you a little break now. November and December have been busy for Ya.

 

Glad you got it all back together Jeremy. Out of curiosity what did you use to polish your shaft?

 

Wow that shaft and bearings look GOOD! I didn't even do that to mine, and it spools quick. Watch out for super spool speeeds... Those pics of the wheel spinning are cool too! Glad to hear it finally loosened up, i was worried about that. Did you use toothpaste and a rag?

 

Looks good! I can remember when my turbo crapped, I asked about rebuilding it myself...that notion was quickly shot down as not possible, too precise work, and turbo needs to be balanced as it turns some "40 million" revolutions per minute...yada yada...
BUT, apparently it can be done! Is balancing not necessary with a rebuild???
Glad you found a cheap fix!

 

No, it's not necessary. I just handled the wheels very carefully when i rebuilt mine as to not put any shock on them from dropping or laying them down on their sides. Mine is still running fine.

 

That's awesome Jeremey - glad you're back up and running already!! The polishing looks good - definitely worth 10hp!!

 

If that shaft and those bushings gives me some extra HP, it was definately worth the time it took to polish them up.

To polish them, I actually used my Dremel, which made easy work of it - just time consuming. I had a polishing wheel designed for use with hard metals that I used on the shaft. It would just gall up softer metals like brass. So, for the brass bushings I used a felt wheel and some metal polish (Eagle One's Nano Polish - it's what I had).

Before I started polishing on the good shaft and bushig though, I tested it out on the old stuff, since it's not useable anyway, it wouldn't hurt if it got torn up. On the old shaft and bushings, I deliberately tried to damage them with the polishing wheels. Needless to say, it didn't damage them. There are some very finely machined grooves on the center section of the shaft, between the races, and those grooves are still there, just super shiny now.

 

I'm glad I was wrong in your other thread.
Congrats on the nice easy fix for you.

 

Great to hear everthing went well!

 

for future reference, where did you get your rebuild kit, what came with it and how much was it? Thanks.

 

Me and you both.

I got the kit off eBay. It's got all the parts you need, bushings, thrust bearing & plate, ring seals, o-rings, and new bolts. Here's the auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=130061982268

 

Could someone with no turbo skills do a rebuild kit and doe it need to be balanced when finnished? Someone told me that the 7.3 stock turbos are the easiest to rebuild.

 

Been following your turbo woes JT and all i can say is may this one
serve u long and well. Good luck in the new year with your pumped up Stroker!