hey everyone, hows it going. i searched briefly but im in a rush and so far im not able to find any pics of what im looking for...so i appologize for posting cause i know this stuff has been covered...but please help me if you can cause i have only 1 day left to get everything put back together.

i pulled my turbos off today so i can get to the intake gasket to replace it...hopefully that will finally fix my idle. when i pulled the turbos off i noticed a ton of cracks in hte turbo manifold. the worst is on the thin piece of metal that separates the 2 chambers on i think the primary side. the crack extends through the whole piece and at parts i can see little bits missing and it doesnt look good. what is the circular plunger? is this the WG? anyway, whatever it is it is not sealed well at all.

i have to have the car finished by tomorow cause im taking a trip and its my only means of transportation right now....so i dont know what to do. i do have a spare motor/turbo... but it is in a car that had an engine fire so im not sure if its still useable (and i havent pulled it yet so i dont know the condition anyway)

would anyone have pics , or can describe a manifold that has cracks but is still useable...at what point is it no good?? thanks so much....sorry im in such a rush... just freaked out about time constraints!!!! -heath

 

bump......

 

Your manifold sounds pretty bad... the plunger you ask of is the WG. I'll see if I have some manifold pics hanging around.

 

Since there isn't anything you can do about it right now, and you need the car, put it back together. With the new gasket, it should run better than before.

I have heard many stories about turbos with varying stages of cracks. I think that most cars with over 50K have at least some minor cracks.

 

Here's a pic of the manifold on the motor.. No cracks. Not sure if you have cracks on this one....

 

Or if the cracks are on the turbos.... These had one small one.. Not sure if this even helps.. It's all I can find.

 

Is this what your talking about?

 

That goes through here. If so your turbo is shot. This turbo is on it way to the trash can.

 

Hate to see the pics Poor dead turbos.

 

yup...mines like that but worse... hte crack on the separating piece goes all hte way through, and there are various other cracks that look pretty bad. my motor has 82K on it (still original) adn tis is the first time the turbos have been taken off. i got the car w/ 72K on it 2 years ago. are the cracks due to impropper shutdowns?

the car boosts and such but i dont know how well because i havent installed a boost gauge. the car "seems" fast, and i can definatly feel the turbos pulling but maybe ive never felt how its *really* supposed to drive =( .... is there anyway to swap exhaust housings or do i just get a new set of turbos?

last question is am i better off buying a used set off the forum or something... or is it just better to buy a brand new set? i have a feeling the motor only has another 10K at most on it so would it make sense to throw the old ones back in for now and then just do everything? i just came inside from pulling my other set of turbos from a car w/ an engine fire and the compressor housings are filled with sludge so they are out....

 

PS what is the plunger thing, and where is the wastegate? thanks

 

ok i found this picture on the forum...mine are like this (a little less severe..but almost this bad)



if i can locate a good housing is it possible to rebuild and swap housings or should i just dish out the dough?

last question i promise (maybe ) what would these cracks do to performance.... basically, what are the cracks affecting right now (spoolup, max pressure, etc)?

 

OK last one... these are basically how my turbos look...this was posted by Turbojeff:

"Here is a pic of some cracked turbos. They produce boost just fine, reinstalled about 5K miles ago, no problems."

 

Just put everything back together until you can afford a replacement set.

 

That is the wastegate.

 

I thought the bottom one was prespool controll and the top was the wastegate !??

And the plungers are the actuators that open the doors to divert exhaust flow...

And yes either improper shutdown, and or racing the car will do that to the manifold... but we're not talking once or twice a year on the track, most likely autocrossing several times a quarter....

 

I'm not a turbo expert, but as long as no cracks extend past the gasket marks (this pic shows the gasket edges clearly) I'd slap em back on and run the car for another 10k. In the meantime you can decide if you want to replace them with stock turbos, JDMs, BNRs, or single

Dave

 

thanks everyone!! ive decided that the sane thing to do is just throw them back in and enjoy everythng how it is untill the motor blows. what will happen then is up to my dad as it is his car. i currently have my own issues with rebuilding my FD... im just his inept mechanic

 

Almost 10K and counting on those turbos after the pic was taken! They were recently reinspected and look the same.

The cracks don't really matter much at all although they generally show age. Those turbos only had 89K when that pic was taken.

 

Improper shutdown does not crack the manifold. Improper shutdown cokes the oil on the shaft that the compressor and exhaust turbine are connected with. The FDs turbos are not very prone to damage from improper shutdown. It has been my experience that the turbos outlast the engine. I have replaced over 20 motors but never a set of turbos.

 

I would immagine that a glowing red hot turbo would crack, with the stress on a cold day if just turned off.. as opposed to letting it cool down gradually.... and I'm not argueing your point turbojeff just stating that cast iron, which is what I assume the manifolds are, is prone to heat stress... (Cracks)....

-DC

 

Don't tell that to the turbo timer guys!

 

BTW just wanted to mention that i called ray @ malloy mazda...he said they go for $4200 and that he could do them for like $3K. thats still retardedly expensive but i dound out some interesting information that i wanted to share with everyone when i talked to ray. he tells me that he may be able to start ordering *JAPANESE* parts in a few months... he was not allowed to order japanese parts but i think he petitioned to do so or something. anyway, the 280HP j-spec turbos are the same price in japan so that means he will be able to get them for us for the same price as the US ones...as well as other j-spec parts. just thought id share, but this wont be for a few months at least so hold tight. if this actually ends up happening stores like jt-imports may become obsolete. -heath

 

If you know the right people you can get NEW turbos for right around $2k.

 

who are the *right* people may i ask?