Turbo rebuild

[Mario2]

Hi to all!

After 15 great years of Elan it is time to a complete restauration of it. I had buy a Pontiac Solstice and now i have time to restauration my Lotus Elan.I have a question; turbo need to be rebuild. I think it is not very hard to do (i had rebuild a lot of engine parts..).Anyone have any experience with turbo rebuild?

Thank you!

Mario

[Fetnas]

Hi Mario2

I've recently rebuild my turbo. There is a great write up of how to do it and the parts you'll need in the wiki here http://wikilec.9600.org/index.php/Turbo ... _IHI_Turbo .

There is an even easier option, you can purchase a new centre section of the turbo that has all the moving parts, turbine and compressor wheel included from this ebay seller in the US http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/IHI-RHB5 ... ccessories . This is what I used and it is an exact replacement for the turbo center cartrige in the car.

It is possible to have your existing turbo rebuilt by a turbo specialist but from what I could find it was going to cost about the same or more than the new unit avaliable from ebay. There is also a question of reliability with a rebuilt turbo, there are tales of reconditioned turbos failing quite quickly (although I'm sure there are also many out there that have no problems).

Good Luck

[Mario2]

Thank you very much! Your guide is great!!

[knoxmotorsports]

Mario, if you are in the states, here is a link to a rebuild kit supplier if you don't like dealing with ebay

http://www.gpopshop.com/ihiborgwarnerkits.html

[G UK]

Hi Mario2

I've recently rebuild my turbo. There is a great write up of how to do it and the parts you'll need in the wiki here http://wikilec.9600.org/index.php/Turbo ... _IHI_Turbo .

There is an even easier option, you can purchase a new centre section of the turbo that has all the moving parts, turbine and compressor wheel included from this ebay seller in the US http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/IHI-RHB5 ... ccessories . This is what I used and it is an exact replacement for the turbo center cartrige in the car.

It is possible to have your existing turbo rebuilt by a turbo specialist but from what I could find it was going to cost about the same or more than the new unit avaliable from ebay. There is also a question of reliability with a rebuilt turbo, there are tales of reconditioned turbos failing quite quickly (although I'm sure there are also many out there that have no problems).

Good Luck

Last Year I had my turbo professionally rebuilt and it only lasted about 1500 miles. The "warranty" and general support were pointless and so full of loopholes to actually get out of ever actually take responsibility of anything , couple that with a few dodgy independent inspections and you are stuffed.

In the end I ended up just getting the new centre cartridge from E-Bay. Currently this one is going strong and showing no signs of wear despite being around the same mileage as the last when it failed. If I'd done this from the start it would have been much cheaper!!!

[ratman]

ciao the ebay item item has been removed... do you have the name of seller/contact????