turbo rebuilding... do it yourself???

[Ameer Antar]

turbo rebuilding isn't too bad. if you've rebuilt a carb or soemthing of
similar difficulty, you should be able to handle it. There are a few small
parts and it's important to remember (or better yet write down) how things
go back, like nut on compressor and misc. brass parts inside. You should
scrape the oil passageways of any hardened oil which might be in there.
There are a bunch of sources for triple-k kits...Bramall in Canada
(http://www.bramall-turbo.com/), and TurboCity in Cali.
(http://www.turbocity.com/) The kits from Bramall are OEM, but have no
instructions. I think the Turbo City are not, but I'm not sure...the
packaging is different, and it comes w/ instructions. I ended up getting a
copy of the instructions from TurboCity and a kit from Bramall... it worked
fine for me. If you need to rebalance b/c of new compressor or turbine
(unlikely) or replacing ground off nut on compressor side...you can get a
machine shop to balance it for you. I heard of getting this done for $50,
but I have not done it. By doing the rebuild yourself you will save a bunch
of cash, and you can always get someone to do the balance when your done.
There are some special bolts on the backplate, but I was told on the list
that you can get the tool online for not too much. I don't have the links,
but the bolts are called RIBE. When I did my rebuild I didn't know there was
such a thing, so I just used a torx bit that was slightly smaller...b/c the
torque was low and I took care, I didn't even make a mark on the
bolts....It's up to you...do it the right way or the cheap way. good luck.

-ameer

----- Original Message -----

> From: "Beatty, Robert" <BeattyR at ummhc.org>
> To: "'audi list'" <quattro at audifans.com>
> Subject: turbo rebuilding... do it yourself???
> Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 11:00:10 -0500
>
> Question for you experts with turbos.
>
> Is do it yourself turbo rebuilding possible?  How difficult is it?  Need
> special tools?  Rebuilding kits available?
>
> Thanks
>
> Rob
> 86 5ktq (soon to have a K-24)
> 89 200tqa
>