Turbo to Flange....Gasket?
 

Hi all... hoping to get some guidance.

I have rebuilt my turbo and it seems that the cast iron flange that bolts to it should have a gasket. My kit didn't have one and I can't find one anywhere... so i guess it isn't required?


Thanks
Don

Can you be more specific about which cast iron piece you're talking about? Do you mean where the turbo connects to the exhaust manifold? Or where the back end of the turbo connects to the flexible exhaust pipe?

The back of the turbo bolts to a cast iron flange (item 44 in image), before it gets to the flexible metal tube (about 3" to 4" in length).

In that case, I can't give you a definitive answer. When I rebuilt mine, I did not disconnect that flange from the turbo body (didn't see any particular reason to, and figured it would be more trouble than it was worth given the looks of the bolts). However, I did look to see if there was a gasket there and saw no evidence of one.

Thanks for the input.

I am going to see if the NAPA store near me has gasket stock that would stand the temps. I considered using copper form-a-gasket, but don't think it can handle the potential temps of that joint.

I assume that because there should be no back pressure from the exhaust, there is little reason to deal with it. On the other hand, I have just spent many hours cleaning and polishing the engine, turbo and manifolds and I would prefer to make sure I don't an exhaust leak that will blacken the area.
(pics will follow in another post of the completed work).