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I've been bit of a dip ...

grantw

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So a few weekends ago I was running a new cable to the back of the 80 for the new camp trailer. To make it easier I removed the air box for better access with routing the cables. When I had it out I noticed some rust on the bottom that I thought I would give a quick clean up and a new coat of paint. Using the wire brush attachment on the drill the rust was worse than it looked and it went through to a whole. Bugger I thought. I quickly jumped on ebay and was lucky enough to find a whole new air box for less than £50 delivered! When refitting the old air box I noticed one of the top clips missing which I assumed had fallen off whilst I was cleaning it up. No problems I thought, it seemed to be sealing ok with the two clips and the central wing nut and I had a new one on the way.

So come to last weekend when I went to look at that rusty 100 series in Plymouth. I'm on the M5 south bound and all of a sudden there was a rattly noise and quite a loud turbo whistle. Slowed right down and pulled off onto the services. There hadn't seem to be loss of power at the time as I wasn't taking the revs very high and no big bellows of smoke. I gave Andy a quick call relaying that information (don't think I mentioned at the time the rattly noise as it was only very quick) and we hoped that it was just an exhaust leak. As I was nursing it and there was no big clouds of smoke I continued on keeping the revs as low as possible and all seemed happy. Still able to do 60 on the a roads we made it back to London with no dramas, the loud whistle even quietened down when the turbo was coming on boost.

So come to today where I dropped it off at a local mechanic who has an 80 series. I'm sure you can guess what is coming now. That missing clip was sucked into the turbo shattering all the vanes on the intake side .. which explains that intermittent rattling noise we also heard. There is an intercooler fitted luckily so I'm guessing that has saved the engine from the turbo vanes being sucked into that ... small blessings :)

So now i'm trying to figure out the options. I've just sent @karl webster a PM to get price/availability on a used turbo.

I'm happy to fit the turbo myself but I am concerned about the exhaust side and how hard this is going to be to get off. I've done the timing belt before and didn't encounter any major problems. Any advice here or are my concerned ill founded?

Second option I have is to drive it as is to Julian @ Overland cruisers.

The garage quoted £1.4k which seemed quite excessive which included £750 for the turbo rebuild. I've been in touch with a few rebuild places that do same day rebuilds for well under £300 but I don't know what kind of components they are using to be that cheap. So third option is to remove and have one of the companies recondition it.

Any others?
 
Run the question past Turbo Technics in Northampton regarding rebuilding the turbo, one of the best companies in the country for this stuff. www.turbotechnics.com
 
If I go down the rebuild and fit route then It looks like they are the ones to use.

My main concern with this is being able to remove the turbo due to rusted/seized bolts. Are they typically a night mare or generally ok?
 
Ideally of course I need all this fixed before Lincomb - I haven't been in a few years now and was really really looking forward to this one.
 
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TBF Grant, you really need workshop facilities and heat to get a 20+ year old turbo off and on in a reasonable time. I'd deffo go down the rebuilt route if you intend to keep it a while.
 
TBF Grant, you really need workshop facilities and heat to get a 20+ year old turbo off and on in a reasonable time. I'd deffo go down the rebuilt route if you intend to keep it a while.

That is what I needed to hear thanks Andy.
 
Quite a lot of turbo "specialist" companies actually send the turbos to Turbo Technics. I had a good chat with them about the subject last time I was in there.

You can get lucky taking the turbo off without heat, or plenty of penetrating fluid and run engine up to temp a few times while adding fluid to get it to creep could work. Appreciate that it's an all or nothing job when you start it though.

You'll need new studs and nuts and gaskets in my view and it's whether the turnaround time on the turbo is enough for you to get it back together in time for Lincomb.
 
Quite a lot of turbo "specialist" companies actually send the turbos to Turbo Technics. I had a good chat with them about the subject last time I was in there.

You can get lucky taking the turbo off without heat, or plenty of penetrating fluid and run engine up to temp a few times while adding fluid to get it to creep could work. Appreciate that it's an all or nothing job when you start it though.

You'll need new studs and nuts and gaskets in my view and it's whether the turnaround time on the turbo is enough for you to get it back together in time for Lincomb.

Sounds like even if I was lucky it's more than I can take on currently as it would be getting done on the road side. I had been considering getting the turbo high flowed for more power up hills when towing so even though expensive the OC and gturbo route seems the most appealing now. If only I could get hold of him.
 
The company above must do it in house as they have a same day turn around.

It would seem though that the company I took it too is taking the piss on rebuild costs and whacking a mighty big margin on it or they are being taken for a ride themselves.
 
The other big nice with TT is they have the machinery to spin up and balance the turbo properly. It's a seriously expensive piece of kit they have and one of the few in the UK.

Another alternative is to put the truck into your local garage to remove the turbo, get it redone by TT and have the garage refit it when it comes back. Insist on an engine oil change at the same time before priming the turbo.
 
The other big nice with TT is they have the machinery to spin up and balance the turbo properly. It's a seriously expensive piece of kit they have and one of the few in the UK.

Another alternative is to put the truck into your local garage to remove the turbo, get it redone by TT and have the garage refit it when it comes back. Insist on an engine oil change at the same time before priming the turbo.

The garage I took it to positively refused fitting any customer sourced parts as they have had bad experiences with it in the past. I was planning on getting a higher performing turbo any way so I would rather not have it rebuilt ... and then rebuilt again or replaced.

I've emailed Julian - so hopefully will get a response soon.
 
Just had a chat to west coast off road which was really positive cost and high flow wise - but solidly booked until mid October.
 
Have a GT turbo waiting to fit my 'spare' land cruiser if Julian cannot get one in time.... BUT you'll have to replace like for like or cash to buy replacement... let me know...
 
Have a GT turbo waiting to fit my 'spare' land cruiser if Julian cannot get one in time.... BUT you'll have to replace like for like or cash to buy replacement... let me know...

PM sent.
 
Grant - no rush from my side - its not going anywhere.... just let me know is all.
 
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