Ebay turbo's and such

[Firesong]

Hi
has anyone picked up a new or even rebuilt turbo
from some of the sellers on ebay. Most are located in
Japan, selling for prices at around 400-500$ plus
$40 shipping.
Kinda curious about that.

FS

[Firesong]

Another question
Can the L300 turbos that have water cooling be modified to
work with the older ones that are just oil cooled?

Thanks
FS

[Firesong]

I have baffled the masses.
Oh well, something new happened.

I thought heck, darn it anyway.
I had put in a turbo a while ago (used) from a source (unnamed but
don't buy anything from them or get work done from them in Prince
Albert since you are asking for crappy work and crappier warranty)
And at the time there was something that caught my eye, but unexperienced
me said, 'don't worry'. The turbo I got was hooked onto a cracked manifold.
Hmmm oh well.

Anyway I had an exhaust leak in there somewhere and the turbo wasn't really
putting out. Much like some old dates ;) Just kidding.
Anyway I said to myself, Self get to it.
(I like 'anyway')
You may have read my turbo diary with my hung over 'friend' trying to
be helpful. It was a weekend of hell.
By myself, today... I removed the intake/exhaust manifold, turbo etc
had it apart and found the leak. In 2 hours. Yah, Me. Go, Me!

Then I got to looking. The turbo fins were a bit chewed up. No slack or play
but got me looking further. Then I started to play a bit. Since the manifold
was cracked with this one I transferred the newer turbo onto the old manifold.
I found that The waste gate is different. The original one has more of a 'short throw'
compared to the newer one. I used the old waste gate actuator with the new one
and had issues.. hmm Can anyone guess where I am going with this?

The old waste gate actuator wasn't opening the waste gate enough. The most
I could get out of it was 5 psi boost (give or take). So I looked over the old
turbo with a more experienced unexperienced eye (than I had before) . No slack
or play, fins look good and the oil on it was due to the output oil tube being loose.
I fixed that, cleaned it all up and I think I am good to go.

Yes, Im babbling. It's been a fun night. And only 1 glass of wine.

At the present moment the whole shebang is good to go. I am going to source
locally a replacement piece of hose for the inbetween part of the turbo to intake.. I think
that's what it's called/area. Then it can all go back in. No exhaust leaks either.
Im sure any leakage would play around with the turbo a bit.

<clap clap> no, I don't have the clap.

Tomorrow, it's raining so the van will sit a bit. Hopefully by thursday it will be cruising
along happiliy. If I had a sensor for a pyro I would have tapped the blank for my EGR
but alas... no sensor.. next time.

I might as well redo the valve cover gasket while Im at it.

FIresong

[dfnder]

GRATS!!!

[VirtualJJ]

If you ever need a garage companion to look at things and go "Hmm" but offer up no actually useful advice, give me a call.

Workin' on stuff can be fun.

[Firesong]

I have a shop here to work out of if I need to.
Just didn't want to leave the van in it since it's a work
shop. On the weekends it isn't a problem.
Plus I figured this was easy enough I wouldn't need a shop.
Most of the work is through the top not from underneath.

Just put in the block heater again (renewed the seal)

Fun!
FS

[Firesong]

FIgured I should get this done tonight.
We pulled it over to the garage, just down from me
and I started at about 8pm. Redid, the valve cover,
filled antifreeze (drained since I redid the block heater),
Changed the oil, the frantz filter, oil filter, stuck the
manifolds back on with the turbo, tightened them up
and looked down... oops - didn't line up the oil / turbo
hose to the pan. Undid the manifold, realigned then tightened them.
It went together really slick, I took my time, and recommend
that anyone doing this replace the hose connecting the turbo to
the manifold. That short little piece shows it's teeth. And
it only costs 4$ to replace with thick, reinforced hose for
exhaust temps.

Other thing was I put in a Chamonix driver seat into my exceed.
My seat was a little lopsided from a previous owner. Wasn't sure
if this one would be any better but so far it feels nice and newish
in comfort. I only drove around the block so I can't say for sure yet.

The turbo spooled up nice and I got it up to 6psi boost gunning it
around the block, No load. So it's working better than the other one
already.

It's definitely a job anyone could do with a little patience.

FS

[Tinytoy]

Glad to hear your back on the road!! Was the hose degrading , or just brittle from heat?
TT

[Firesong]

The hose was kinda crappy from being old, oily, degrading generally.
The hose clamps were chewing into it as well.. Hard to say what
is the first culprit. Van was driving around today and feeling
spry and frisky. :)

FS

[RichD]

Firesong your posts are entertaining to read. I only wish you had a photographer to document your tinkering.

[Firesong]

Actually that's part of the fun.
Some will disagree with me and it's been chatted about but
some of these things we can do without taking it in and having
someone else do. SOME things require more (ie, clutch, tranny)
It's scary at first but very straightforward. We have the luxury
of no computer chips and stuff on our vans.. well Im not sure about
the L400's.

Pictures.. ask and you shall receive.. crappy pics.

Firesong

[Firesong]

On the turbo picture you can see all that oil on it.
A good portion was due to that degraded hose. Then with
just a little oil you get soot from the leak, dust and
all kinds of stuff making it really disgusting.

If you are interested in doing some little'r' things on
your motor download the pdf files from this site and
look over them. There is a step by step breakdown of
most things and then do a search on the site for
related 'mods' 'fixes' etc.
Find out who did them and then 'PM" or email them.
Don't just put out a general message or thread on it.
Get the info direct and have fun.

Think of it this way, you save thousands of dollars,
if your careful the worst that can happen is a tow job
to have work done that needed it. Or you can invite
someone over who has done it or something like it to
help, hold your beer or say 'hmmmm you sure that
the gasket goes that way.. the arrow points the other
way'
It's a win win situation.
Anyway, I do write these things up to be mostly positive,
or vent, or both. But I like being able to save some money
when I can.

Firesong

[Firesong]

RichD I see in your signature that you specify LSD.
Ever had any bad trips?

;)

FS