Piazza_man project

[Piazza_man]

Car was developing leaky exhaust sounds from around the manifold area a few weeks ago. Concerned, I pulled off the heat shield and found one of the 4 bolts attached to the turbine housing completely missing and another had almost fallen off it it wasn’t for the oil return fitting in its way. Still scratching my head when and why this happened. Turbo guys put forward a theory an engine vibration possibly caused by worn engine mounts. My technician disagrees as there is no evidence of that.

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Technician removed the GT2860RS turbo (and exhaust manifold) and I hand delivered it to GCG Turbos in Sydney who were actually the ones who custom built it in the first place some 15 years ago. Brought it in thinking just to make sure the bolts stay tight and never happens again (eg Stage 8 locking bolts), and run a bench test to give it the all-clear. Turns out the core assembly was badly worn and required a rebuild. Possibly as a result of a little bit of flex or movement between the turbine housing and the core housing. It now needs a new turbine wheel, shaft, bearing assembly etc. The works. About AU$1600, plus over $400 in new inconel alloy studs, Stage 8 nuts, and gaskets for when the manifold and dump pipe gets reinstalled.

Should have the turbo back together early next week, but definitely wasn’t expecting this scenario to pop up.

[Piazza_man]

Turbo core rebuilt, fully carbonised cleaned, bench flow tested, and good to go. Like brand new. Throw in special Stage 8 bolts, now let’s see them loosen off this time you mother F.

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[Piazza_man]

Turbo back on and an oil and oil filter change later. I don’t travel many kms in a year but I hadn’t changed the oil and filter in a while. My oil of choice if anyone was interested

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To maintain an IC engine properly regular oil changes are recommended despite doing very low kms as engine oils still degrade over time. Something I’ll be doing more of now. When the oil and filter was changed last time I fitted a Filtermag super strong magnets to the outside of my oil filter. Google the name and noting there are other players out there, they all essentially claim to trap and hold any and all worn metallic particles (microscopic or otherwise) from circulating in the oil system which would otherwise cause premature wear on your engine.

Even though it was about 3 years since my last change I thought my oil was fine considering I hardly drove it. That was until I opened the oil filter up with my tin snips (never use a grinder or a hack saw). With the Filtermag still attached to the sidewall of the oil filter the pics below show how the microscopic metal particles have aligned themselves to the magnetic fields inside the oil filter.

Moral of the story? Regularly change your oil regardless, and I fully recommend you fit super strong magnets for that added magnetic fluid filtration protection. A lot of the metal particles are so microscopic they can pass through the oil filter cartridge.

FYI they’re not cheap but if you’re looking to get the Filtermag brand (made in USA) the product code you will need is 300. I went stainless steel so mine is designated SS300, and I recommend you get 2 of them - 1 for each side of the filter.