My Turbo Nightmare

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
1

Ok so here is my nightmare turbo experience…

In the beging of the year I ordered a turbo kit from PFS… As you seen in my threads before, I didn’t have the BEST experience with them… But I did infect get my product after 3 months after initial order. The kit was missing some misc things such as fittings and etc… But we managed to do with out, and pick up fittings at local stores… Now that I have the kid, I thought it would be best to get it done by a professional… Well turns out I should of done it my self , cuz it really wasn’t that bad todo. So I drop the car off the my mechanic and it takes about a good month+ for him to finish it… between bs parts missing and things not fitting right to keep on holding us back… My first intal setup was the PFS Stage 1 with ARP head studs and headgasekt to lower the compression and 440cc injectors… So the day finally rolls around where I go pick up my car, cuz its finished…

So I thought, I took the car out for a spin and not boosting the car at all since it has NOT been tuned yet. While test driving it down the street the throttle gets stuck for some weird reason and revs up to about 6k … I immetly turn off the car and turn it back on… ok back to normal … strange… So I take the car back to the mechanic… Tell him the situation he takes out for a drive , and starts to get on it a bit… never really passes 5k because the ignition kept on breaking up… well on the way back we notice oil burning… pop the hood… Waste gate is on fire because of oil burning on it… Turns out to be blowby… So that ends that night in a bad state of mind…

Next day I have my mechanic look into it… his intal thoughts it was due to a headgasekt… Speaking to others and PFS they believe it was a cracked ring land… So in turn I had him pull a piston… and of course I have a cracked ringland… Fuck now I have todo a rebuilt…

Well I did some research and deiced to buy GTE internals… I buy the GTE internals… and having my mechanic do the swap for me… So he pulls out the stock internals and hones the block inside the car… He calls me up and gives me the measurements for the bearings off the crank. So I order the bearings I thought were to be the correct ones from PFS. Week goes by have the bearings and gte internals set to go… So give them to my mechanic… he does the swap for me… some times goes by… its ready again.

OK this time I pick the car up. things seem to be pretty solid… Car is not doing any blow by… just running stupid rich… Things seem to be good… So I drive the car, limping it around for a bout a week and a half and then finally get it tuned. Once I get the car tuned I notice a knocking noise right off the bad… My tuner thought it was the turbo , the fins hitting the compressor housing… So I in turn thought it was the turbo as well.

Two days later… Turbo fails… Turbo gets pretty messed up. So I take the car over the mechanics to have it taken off and sent out to Turbonetics to get rebuilt… After about 2 weeks I finally get the turbo back… Reason to it breaking was due lack of lubrication… Ok odd, Mechanic thought it was dude the amount of stress the dp was putting on the turbo. since it didn’t fit proper… So I drop the new turbo off to my mechanic to have him swap it over. about 2 weeks go by… nothing… guy is tied up, np. so i take the car home and do it my self.

When I get the car home… I started to-do it my self… oil has metal in it… thought it was due to the turbo breaking… So we go ahead and swap out the new turbo… took about 2 days of work. Also might want to point out, DP fitted fine. There was no great amount of stress. So we decided we were going to let it run for 10-15 mins with some cheap oil to rinse it trough… While it was running it revved it up a bit and noticed the same noise as before. So im like shit… I drain the oil notice metal… cut up the filter… the filter is covered in metal…

So I deiced to drop the lower oil pan… When dropping the lower oil pan there was metal shavings in the pan… I decide to pull a rod cap and take a look at the bearings… they were shot. crank had scratching on them as well… Turns out I got the wrong sized bearings…

So here I sit hopeless just about, I pull my motor hoping I can just do another rebuilt with the same block… So I get the motor out and strip the block… Look inside the cylinder walls and notice vertical scratching from the piston skirts smacking against the walls… So here is where I sit… Do I keep on playing the game and buy a new block? or just cut my loses short and put a long block 2jz ge in it and call it a season…

Just to give you an IDEA of how much money ive spent so far

Turbo Kit: $5600
GTE Internals: $850
Bearings: $110
Tuning: $200
Masc.( Gauges/ fluids/Fittings and etc): $800
Labor: $2000

Total: $9,560

So if you guys were in my shoes… what would you do?

2

Does this project have you in debt?

3

Cut your losses, sell your parts, and most importantly find a new mechanic!!!

4

buy a new block and do it right

5

uve spent 10 grand

shell out the rest of the dough and finish the car

do it yourself with a friend that knows their shit. ull be happy with the result and u wont lose and money by parting out ur kit that is now used.

gotta pay to play… and plus, uve already ran into every possible problem, learn from it and finish it the right way

its one hell of an expensive learning experience but the feeling is great when its finished

EDIT: that short block that u posted a little while back would suit u nicely.

6

Sell it all, buy a car already modded

7

Wow. Just Wow. How have you not knocked someones head off or set something on fire?

8

dont give up it will come along!

9

In all seriousness, I’ve gathered from other threads that the car is financed and a portion of the modding may be paid for in the form of credit card debt. If either of these are true, then you cannot afford this car and need to carefully find and select the option that will be the cheapest.

I’m not trying to bust your balls, that’s simply the way it is. I know how it is. I’ve got some credit card debt resulting from buying a house a bit beyond my means. My life wasn’t in the right place yet. Thankfully I’ve found a much better job that has my life just within my means, but now I’m faced with a few years of paying down credit card bills. Knowing my finances doesn’t do you dick for good, but I’m just trying to say I feel your pain.

Read this book. I’m reading it right now and it’s got some interesting no-nonsense advice and helps keep things in perspective.
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1573222976.01.BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ.jpg

10

ive already told you what to do …
but you dont fucking listen

This option was offered to him NUMEROUS times before the turbo kit arrived. i offered to install all of the kit for $500, and was willing to pay out of that $ if anything got fucked up … just as ive always done

that wasnt good enough …

11

For real.

12

fancy shops > your garage

yeah i went there, lol

13

so wait… dos are you blaming your machenic? cus it looks like this is how the thread is going?

just wondering.

also i would either do one thing or the other.

sell everything eincluding the car and buy a stock fun fast car.

or

keep building and dumping money into it

14

back to stock

15

if the mechanic did a better job checking the bearing sizes and shit then it could have been avoided i guess

16

put it back to stock and drive it, sell all the turbo stuff, you are not handy or rich enough to drive a heavily modded car.

There is always something breaking on heavily modded cars

17

the handy part comes with practice

save money on the mechanic and learn it urself

18

shit doesnt blow up when it leaves my driveway tho :gotme:

19

no i am not blaming him, there is way to many varabiles to point any fingers…

20

please please point out the “variables” that are more damaging to an engine then:

1)beating on a car thats not tuned
2) never checking ANY clearances on the pistons / rods when rebuilding a motor