I'm having a pinapple racing rebuild and new '99 spec turbos put into my car as we speak. I was wondering if the '99 spec turbos are any different to rebuild than the stock twins? Hopefully this will only come up in a few years.

Also, what are peoples' general thoughts on rebuilds of the stock twins in general? I know some people have had problems with their "rebuilds."

Thanks,
Justin Wade

 

if your getting the 99specs hope you got a good deal. rebuilding the stock ones suck cause it'll most likely break on you again. 99specs will have more power since they are upgraded versions of the original twins. why didnt you just get the bnr stage 3's their like near the same price range as the 99specs and you'll put our wayyyyy more hp.

 

Not going for ultimate HP. Just want "nice" power and good reliability.

So the question again. Eventually will my '99 spec turbos be rebuildable and are any of the twins really rebuildable.

Thanks,
Justin Wade

 

They are as rebuildable as the original twins--so long as you do not damage the abraidable seals. The abraidable seals are basically plastic inserts on the inner surface of the compressor housings that make the compressor operation more efficient. Damage those and you can pretty much start over.

STORY: A buddy damaged a new set of 99 J-spec turbos when a nut came off a bolt holding together an airbox panel (crummy Mazda airbox) that was then sucked into the primary turbo. It damaged the primary compressor wheel and chunked-up the abraidable seal. We were never able to track down another abraidable insert to replace it. He eventually obtained another primary compressor housing and now has a hybred (orig. primary/J-spec secondary). In the process, and as a precaution, he had the turbos rebuilt with new seals and bearings. So that much is doable.

From everything we could ascertain, however, the abraidable seal could have been replaced if it was available to be purchased. It is not like it was installed by any super/ special/unrepeatable process. It appears to be simply bonded in with an adhesive.

Otherwise, you will still have the usual problems which include cracks in the area of the exhaust and wastegate ports. If those become too large, then rebuilding is usually not viable.

May want to check with BNR Motorsports to see if he has rebuilt any the 99s. He had not by the time we happened along with our problem.

 

^^^Thanks for the great answer and information.

Safe driving this weekend of beers and beaches,
Justin Wade