Excessive Crankcase oil pressure in Piazza motor?

IZU069
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Post by IZU069 »

I can't see that any oil pressure under about 70psi would hurt any sort of turbo bearing. (As I said before, shell bearings get damaged at about 90psi, but needles & rollers I imagine MUCH higher.)

I think it is simply an oil seal issue.
I assume the Piazza turbo has seals (or construction) that withstands above 60psi.
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devilishdesigner
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Post by devilishdesigner »

hmm, could well have been a poorly put together turbo, since whatever work was done to it 3000km ago was done by a general mechanic as far as I can tell.
IZU069
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Post by IZU069 »

I never buy other people's work. That's from experience.
(Though there has been one exception...)
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devilishdesigner
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Post by devilishdesigner »

yeah, well I bought the car at a bargain price, with the intent of salvaging the entire suspension, steering, wiring, gearbox, and the engine and turbo were a bonus. The engine certainly sounded healthy and felt fine for 2 min of driving on and off the trailer, turbo I knew had troubles when I bought it. I just feel for the kid I bought it off, who must have spent in the ballpark of $10k on the car over 5 or so years (engine, turbo rebuilt, engine and turbo fit and plumbing, diff seals, new dash, new nolothane bushes throughout teh rear end, that remus exhaust...)
IZU069
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Post by IZU069 »

Oh yeah - sometimes I feel too.
Sometimes I can't believe the stupidity involved though - the amazing amounts of money often for nothing or negative gain.
Often it has to do with image or looks, but I think it funny that people complain of worse handling after lowering a car, or more sluggish after fitting a bigger carby (oldskoolers).

Though I'm not running a Piazza etc, I have run twincam engines. The crap I see... fitting Celica cams (WTF??!), or "random" DCOE45 Webers etc. People spent $thousands on grinds, rebores, blah-di-blah. I fit DCOE45s & a $200 exhaust to a standard twincam and blow them all away, Reliably too!
Alas I was lucky enough to know what to do. (Is that luck when you find the right people and ask etc?)

I see people spending a fortune on stuff that isn't needed. The recurring things are special types of "electronic distributors" for EFI etc, or "stiffening capacitors" for audio systems,... etc. For those that do it for the looks - fine - but those that think they need it for performance. (What's that Frank Zappa song "the toilet blew up the next day"..?)
Some of these need simple conversion circuitry (eg distributor signal inversion or ignition-coil taps) whilst others are just plain flawed.
But there is a need to make a buck. Alas I don't believe in doing it at other people's expense. (But I did laugh at the arrogant that insisted his/her oil pressure control of the electric fuel pump the only way to do it - until I disconnected one of the wires to the oil pressure switch and the pump kept pumping!)

As to the number of blown-up rebuilds that I see or hear of...
And the old catch cry "but I spent $xx,xxx" - yeah - fitting Celica cams?

Alas I ramble as usual.
Luckily politics over here took a change so that people just need to look after themselves. "It's a life-style choice" - that's why people cop hard luck. We shouldn't help the less fortunate. It's survival of the fittest etc.
Although that politic has changed since then, the social attitude may be somewhat confused. But that change eventually (like after ~10 years) made things easier for me.
But I haven't change my basic MO - I still do what I can to educate and prevent waste. It's just that now I may not help bail the forewarned - that was "their lifestyle choice". (Apols - that's a classic term used by a self-confessed "career politician'. Unfortunately over here you are considered a hero if you remain in politics for ages.)

So, does that mean you'll just fix the turbo bearings & seals (assuming it handles 60-70psi) and confirm unrestricted oil flow, and clean 20W-50 oil etc?
Or will you move int politics? :partyman:
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devilishdesigner
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Post by devilishdesigner »

Engine will be out pretty soon, so I'll be giving it a basic strip down just to confirm no damage and find out what parts went into the build (the only thing the prev owner was certain of was that genuine new pistons were bought from Holden). If all works out I'll probably source a rollerbeaeing version of the turbo, far less costly then a rebuild and should hopefully be more durable. I'd fit an original turbo, but it seems a waste to scrap all this plumbing.
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