So I'm thinking that at ~150,000 miles and needing to do my up-pipes, I'll have the turbo out so I might as well rebuild it...

Now, before you go drooling over draining my bank account , think of me as the "Anti-Kris"... not that I dislike him AT ALL, but there is NO WAY I'm dropping major coin in to a PSD engine. With Jeremy's testimony on the Cummins swap, I'll go that route long before I put in a $2000 turbo, $2000 injectors, reprogramming, etc etc.

So, here's what I'm after: For me, the truck is plenty fast. I don't mind the wastegate either. If a $100 rebuild kit is all I need, then so be it. But if another $100(ish) for a 1.0 exh. side will lower EGTs then I'll go that route.

I'm not racing my truck guys , and never plan to. If I'm going to race I'll go get a 1000cc sportbike for $8000 and crush just about any truck out there.

I want the legendary reliability of my beloved PSD to do just that. I'm looking at a 2-3 month roadtrip with the dogs visiting various places out west (Tucson, Phoenix, South & North Cali, Vegas, Portland, & Seattle) so I'll be cruising the highways at 65-ish and not racing anywhere. The $2000 for a builtup turbo is (to me) better spent on the fuel to get me around. Thanks all!

 

O.K. Brendan, Ill give it to you straight.

Go with the $100 rebuild kit, and an ATS compressor housing, and you will be great.

If you are going to be cruising along at 65-70mph and not towing, then you do not need a larger exhuast housing. The larger exhaust housing is great if you want more top end power, but for mid range the .84 is the best. The larger the exhaust housing= more fuel you have to throw in the mix to keep your spool. Since you live in a cold climate i suggest keeping the EBPV to help with warm ups.

If you want to talk about it look me up on the RHN and call me.

 

I forgot to mention that I have a WW waiting on the shelf already for this rebuild to take care of the surge.

Brandon - thanks for the offer. I may take you up on it. Straight is great!!

EDIT: tried to rep you Brandon, but I couldn't. Not sure if my red chiclet has anything to do with that or not...

 

I'm not so sure that you even need the rebuild kit.
If your turbo has never been overstressed, then all the moving parts have been floating on that film of oil, never making any sort of metal to metal contact.
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Is this trip planned for the summertime? Seattle weather sux at this time of year.

 

If you have the WW then the ATS is not needed. I also agree with Dan that it may not need the rebuild, but, the experience you get from doing it is worth the time, expense, and the peace of mind, since you will already have it removed for the up-pipes.

 

My contract for work AND the lease on the house I'm renting both expire on March 30. It'll be Tucson/Phoenix first, before they go all nuclear powered microwave hot on me.

Dan - may want to chat with you offline about Seattle's weather, etc. - I'm thinking about moving there, which is part of the reason for the trip.

I've done some towing and it surged a bunch. Not a ton, but .... I guess I just need to leave it parked one day so when I get home from work I can check for play in the shaft, etc. It gets cold pretty quick and those parts stay warm for hours.

That was my thinking too. While it's out, for $100 that piece of mind is CHEAP. Plus, it sounds kinda fun! I like knowing how it all works.

 

It is easy to make a stock turbo surge while towing and the WW completely cured it.
You'll be very surprised at how small the wheels are compared to the size of the engine that it force feeds. At least I was.
Look me up on the RHN for the chat and call me anytime. I was born here so am rather familiar with the place.

 

Definitely worth the peace of mind. I really don't notice much of a difference in the warm-up times without the EBPV. But then again, I almost NEVER idled my truck before I drove it. Maybe 30-60 secs then off I go. If you're keeping that housing, Ron used to sell a gutted outlet & non-EBPV stand for $145. If you can still get it, you'd be into the turbo for $250ish, and you'd have a brand new turbo with no chance of leaks form the EBPV arm. Mine was starting to leak at ~90k, so I'm sure you'll see some oil coming out of yours. Here's what mine looked like:

 

Joe,
When your started to leak at the ebpv arm did you notice that your boost levels were lower than normal when driving. I only get 1-2 psi while cruising on flat roads with the cruise on. I cannot find a leak anywhere but am not sure if you could here a leak on the ebpv side with the leak down tester. Let me know, my truck has always run fine just no boost at cruise.

 

On a flat road with the cruise set to ~65mph or a bit less, I only have a few pounds of boost.. very little... so you're probably just fine. When I get worried that I'm not making much boost, I'll hammer it just to watch the boost gauge fly!! It's amazing the grin you get from that! Purely from the "peace of mind" factor... purely....

 

eBay Motors: FORD 7.3 POWERSTROKE TURBO TURBOCHARGER REBUILD KIT (item 110335685413 end time Jan-15-09 15:49:57 PST)

In case no one has posted this yet.. It is a breeze.. other then getting them darn pipes off.

 

I'm looking at that exact auction right now! Probably will buy soon, but I also bought Guzzle's turbo gasket kit; so I end up with spare o-rings, no biggie. I needed other stuff from Guzzle anyway.

I'm planning to do the rebuild when I do the up-pipes. Not a massive R&R, but while you're in there, ya know? Like Dan said, my turbo probably doesn't need it, but for the $130 in parts and a couple hours, it's super cheap insurance that I'm getting the most out of what I have.

 

If you can get ahold of the guy, he is real good guy to work with.

 

I just bought it, and next need to order the up-pipes. Anyone know who's the cheapest? I know Dennis @ ITP has them in stock for $409.95. Prices sure have jumped in the year since they were released!

 

OUCH! $409.95???
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That and make sure that your exhaust pressure sensor tube is good.
Mine looked ok but was rusted through on the top of the curve with only about 85,000 miles on the engine.
I forked it over for the Ford SS tube, hopefully it will last as long as I own the truck. (Forever. )