Does anyone have any info about rebuilding the turbo on my 300D? The bearings are most likely shot since the impeller shaft is pretty lose and I'm leaving a bluish white smoke cloud behind me. The prices I've seen for buying a rebuilt one are out of control. Any suggestions?

Thanks

They are cake to rebuild (both the triple-K and the Garrett's), but you'll need some basic parts. Two plain bearings, one thrust, seals/gaskets and two rings ("shaft seals") - Remember to get the mounting gaskets before you do the build.

If you get stuck during the rebuild, email me, should only take about 40mins for the build, not inlcuding cleaning time.

Tips:

Take the intake manifold off and have it boiled/cleaned out while the turbo is off. Do an egr block-off plate while you're at it also.

Pull the oil drain tube out of the pan and replace the seal there (get that seal before you do this!)

Use an awl on the snap rings (only need to remove the outers that hold the bearings into the cartridge) if you don't have tips that small, works fine.

Don't use thick grease for re-assy, it can plug the oil passages for a short time and allow the shaft to overheat.

Clean ALL the coking off the shaft and be VERY careful with the shaft and turbine/compressor. Just one good bump on the turbine and it's HX.

Remember, index the shaft/nut/compressor fan BEFORE removing and remember it is LEFT-HAND THREAD!

Clean the housings and paint them while apart with stove paint or header paint (rust looks awful on a new rebuilt ANYTHING.)

Torque the nut to a max of 18inlbs and use locktite on it. Once on, put a SMALL peen on the edge of the nut next to the threads to keep it from coming off.

Here's a pic of a compressor fan from the turbo that was on my Cummins when I bought it (there was this "ringing" sound coming from the compressor), looked like the nut came off and all hell broke loose (don't let this happen to you!):

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1984 300D Turbo - 4-speed manual conversion, mid-level resto

1983 300D - parts car

1979 300TD Auto - Parts car.

1985 300D Auto - Wrecked/Parts.


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"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there". Lewis Carrol

On my spare turbo, I pulled the compressor and impeller fans off the shaft before I realized that I should have indexed them. Can I balance the assembly later like one balances a model airplane prop?

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Over 21 years I owned several:
w108
w110
w111
w115
w116
w123
w124
w126
w212

There is a post in the archives that list a company in Houston that will sell you parts.
Or will rebuild the unit for you, at a lot more money.

Don't worry so much about the fans, they are independantly balanced, it's just that I like to put the assy back EXACTLY as it was to remove any possibility of grief. Also, no reason to remove the turbine fan from the shaft (not sure how you did that anyway?), just the compressor so the assy can be removed.

ANOTHER TIP:

Chamfer the turbine side hole of the housing where the ring (seal that looks like a piston ring) goes into it with a large enough angle that the ring can compress and not pinch (polishing the chamfer while the cartridge is apart is also a good idea, you'll understand when you get to that point) and don't forget the heat shield (cup thingie) BEFORE you install the shaft.

__________________
1984 300D Turbo - 4-speed manual conversion, mid-level resto

1983 300D - parts car

1979 300TD Auto - Parts car.

1985 300D Auto - Wrecked/Parts.


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"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there". Lewis Carrol

Thanks for the info. Before I get the turbo rebuilt, couldn't I just disconnect the oil intake from the turbo and cap it off. This way I could avoid the smoke problem and still use the car. I realize that without lubrication the turbo blades won't spin, but I wouldn't do any further damage to the turbo, would I? When I first got the car it didn't have a turbo (engine had been replaced) and besides it being slow, there didn't seem to be any problems.

WHOA!!!! STOP!!!!! You will DESTROY your turbo by doing that. It will likely grenade without oil and send pieces into your intake. There is a reason it has a pressurized oil line - IT NEEDS IT!

The exhaust will still spin the turbo up, but without oil the shaft will be destroyed and will wipe out the bearings and allow the fans to touch their respective housings and all hell will break loose (see my earlier pic for what you would likely see.)

There is little you can do until you can take the turbo off and replace the bearings or at least the seals. If you were close, I'd offer to do the work just to keep you from destroying it D/C'ing oil lines and such.

You say it didn't have a turbo when you bought it, is this a turbo engine, or a turbo kit on a non-turbo engine?

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1984 300D Turbo - 4-speed manual conversion, mid-level resto

1983 300D - parts car

1979 300TD Auto - Parts car.

1985 300D Auto - Wrecked/Parts.


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"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there". Lewis Carrol

Tom--
You mentioned "egr block-off plate"--where is it located? What do you make a "block off" out of?

Thanks,

Just check threads, someone here made some for sale.

__________________
1984 300D Turbo - 4-speed manual conversion, mid-level resto

1983 300D - parts car

1979 300TD Auto - Parts car.

1985 300D Auto - Wrecked/Parts.


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"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there". Lewis Carrol

The parts on the top row were included in the kit, the black part is graphite with an O-ring insert.
The bottom row is the spacer and the attached compressor side oil seal which was originally in the 1982 turbo.

Can these new parts be used in my turbo or do I need to buy a replacement for the bottom part?

Thanks
-Kevin

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If it will help, here is a cutaway diagram of a T3:
http://www.majesticturbo.com/garrett.html

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!