'87 5k Turbo trouble :-{ (long)

[Max <mpalmars@axxsys.com>]

Just finished taking apart upper engine in my '87 5kcst in order to deal
with what seems to be a blown head.  After inspecting my turbine I have
found out that there is quite a lot of play in the bearing (also might
account for why I have been seeing oil in the IC hoses).  My Hanes
manual says take turbo to dealer.  Is it a big deal to replace the
bearing?  Also I noticed that it looks like the turbine has been ported
on the compression side (I knew that the previous owner had put a
performance chip in it) which helps explain the tremendous power the car
used to have.  The car has a VDO cockpit mounted turbo boost gauge
(shows 0 when digital is at 1) and according to that the boost before
the head problem was between 1.7 and 1.8 (0.7 and 0.8 on the gauge).
when I first got the car and gave it full throttle the analog gauge
would boost to about 1.2 and then go crazy, at which point it would
almost rip the wheel out of my hands.  This eventually lead to the sub
frame bolts, going through the rear bushings, got ripped out by the
force.  This has not been the case for the past year as I have
experienced a dramatic loss of power from previous levels.  So now I
want it back.

As I have all the turbo, waste gate, injection, and so on, out of the
car, I would like to get some input as to what I should be doing to
recondition these parts.  Now I don't want to go out and buy new high
performance gadgets, but rather make sure all the current components are
working.  This would include fixing the turbine (it is not stuck, rolls
freely in boost direction, but is stiff and crunchy in the reverse
direction, plus there is about 2-3 millimeter play in the shaft). How do
I inspect and possibly improve the waste gate? How can I inspect the
fuel injection and valves.

As I already mentioned in a previous post there was a crack in the EM
and when I removed it from the head I noticed another small one above
the turbo output, along whit two cracks inside.  All look like they can
be welded to me, but I don't know if it would hold up. Is there one way
of doing this that is better than others? Like maybe argon.

On Monday I am taking the head to the machine shop, it actually doesn't
look bad, has two small cracks between valve seats, but both are under
0.5 mm in width.

MAX  :-(