Swapping turbo cartridges
 

Anyone done this before?

If so, what steps need to be taken?

I have the primary cartridge out of its housing. Is it just simple plug and play to put a secondary cartridge in there in its place? That's the impression I got from people's suggestions in my other thread, but it seems to me like there would be more to it than that.

What about the seal along the outer rim of the compressor side that mates to the housing? Is this one of the oil seals or just an air seal? It didn't survive the extraction very well so I'm a bit concerned about how the seal from the cartridge I hope to use would fair when I removed it.

Any comments, suggestions, whatever would be welcome.

thanks,
ray

Yeah, it is pretty much just plug-and-play. The only real trick is making sure the orientation of the cartridge to the turbine and compressor housings is correct so all the oil, water, and air lines will line up right.

I've yet to tear down FD turbos, so I'm not sure of the seal you're talking about. If it's a physical o-ring or the like and it's damaged, you probably need to replace it. If it's just sealant, I'd scrub off the old stuff and use a light coat of grey RTV.

Dale

It's an orange seal. It comes off like it was RTV.

Any high temp sealant suggestions?

I think it is RTV. I rebuilt my turbos using TurboCity rebuild kits and I had to seal it when putting it back together.

both cartridges are identical so they are interchangeable. Was this "seal" between the compressor snail and the plate behind the compressor? If that was it, i wouldn't worry about putting more sealant in there. The C-ring holds the snail on there VERY well. Remember to give the ring a couple of taps with a punch/chisel/drift to make sure it is seated properly.

i believe you have to get them balanced as well, this may not be the case, but thats whatd id do just to make sure they dont fly appart at 30 thousand rpm...

call Garfinkle for info 615 893 -4469

I was waiting for the Garfinkle referal...

If you're swapping in an already good cartridge, you don't have to balance it or anything - the cartridge is a balanced assembly.

I'd use a little bit of RTV - like I said, I prefer the grey RTV due to good shear strength. It's just to help insure an airtight seal at the compressor housing to backplate.

Just make sure you get all the old goop off.

Dale

It is a fairly easy swap but I have seen the turbo fail soon afterward. It seems that the exhaust hitting the turbine at a slightly different angle wears the bearing a little quicker.
John

I finished my cartride swapping and everything seems to work really well.

It was a fairly straightforward procedure. Getting the big snap ring on and off was probably the biggest problem, and it wasn't really that bad. Aligning the cartridges was no problem either.

I can do a write up if anyone is interested.

I'll also update on how the swapped cartridge fairs in it's new home.

-ray