Turbo rebuild kits?
 

I was wondering if any knows where I can purchase a rebuild kit for the stock twins? I would like to upgrade them to the BNR stage 3 style, but I do not even know if thats possible. Also, can the cracks in the manifold be welded and still allow proper flow?

From BNR's web site:
"The factory HT12's are not rebuildable in most cases. The stage 3's however are not remanufactured turbochargers. They have new CHRA's (Center Housing Rotating Assemblies) and the factory end housings are machined to fit the new CHRA's. The Stage 3's are not rebuilt or remanufactured."

TurboCity sells rebuild kits for the stock twins. However, as already mentioned it depends on the condition of the turbos as to whether they are rebuildable or not. You also NEED to have the turbos balanced during the rebuild or else you are just pissing money away.

Can a machine shop do the balancing?

You usually need a shop that does turbo rebuilds to do the balancing. Any truck shop (big diesel truck repair shops) could probably do it as they rebuild those big turbos all the time.

Alright, Thanks. I just bought a set of bum turbos to play around with and rebuild. Can the cracks in the manifold be welded and smoothed out to get proper boost?

The cracks are of no consequence unless they are very serious and extend to where the metal gaskets can no longer seal the flanges. If they are that bad, I would imagine the CHRA's are probably toast and non-rebuildable as well.

The way I see it is that you need to rebuild the turbos before they really need it to be successful. Once they have smoked, they probably will even with a new seal. Brian @ BNR mentioned in another thread that the reason they smoke is from excessive heat warping the turbine seal bore... a problem that a new seal alone will not fix.

From what I've seen, it is pointless to rebuild the stock turbos. I've seen so many stories of people rebuilding them and it not working. Better to try to find a low mileage set and just run em.

Bad cracking around the pre-control gate will slow spool on the primary, but it's pretty much a given on any older sets. Hairline cracking will occur in only a few thousand miles, so it's not a problem, only large sections of metal missing or cracks out to the gasket are a problem.

Obviously it's possible to make your own BNR Stage 3s, if you knew everything Bryan does. The Stage 3s use completely different CHRAs (Garrett turbos) and have to be modified accordingly.

Thanks for all the great information. I still want to attempt to throw some perfectly good money away just to see whats involved. What I meant by the BNR thing is that I was unsure if I could pick turbines that are a lot lighter than original since it is 14 years later. I guess we will see how it goes.