Im really close to sping my TC.
Most of you dont know, but a few months back, i bought a Bobs log header, Precision SC50 turbo, MaxPSI oil lines, Hallman boost controller, and some other odds and ends. I spent a full, rainy saturday doing the swap. Took me 13 hours. 13 hours of cussing, fighting, wrestling, starving, and busting up anything that got in my way.
I finially fire the car up after priming the turbo, i got for a drive, and i didnt even get a mile before i started chugging smoke. Turns out the "indestructable" MaxPSI line kinked, blowing out the oil seal, and wiping out the bearings. So off the turbo went, and almost 200 bucks in shipping later, and a weeks worth of time, it came back repaired.
I get the turbo back on the car, and all is well, untill i have a bad bucking issue. A month and a half later, and a few hundred dollars in parts later, i find out to be the VAM. 107 dollar meter later, the car finally runs like a champ, and i crank the boost up. Car was fun...untill the turbo tried to exit the vehicle.
All of the studs/nuts holding the turbo to the header backed off. Turbo comes off, i crank down on all the nuts, and use loctite. About 2 weeks later, the same thing happened, but this time, i completely lost a stud, and two of the nuts were also gone, meaning i had only one nut holding the turbo on. So this time, it blew the gasket out between the turbo and header. I take it all back apart, and find a piece of gasket lodged in the header. Mind you, its a stainless gasket. Since i faught it to come out, i didnt think anything of it, untill i started driving the car. The turbo is wizzing and rattling its ass of. So this means the turbo has to be sent back out to Precision all over again.
So right now, i have about 1020 dollars in the turbo alone, this means itll probably cost me another 500 to have it fixed again.
This, on top of the car needing a windshield, a door, more body work than imaginable, shocks, struts, all the bushings, paint, a head built, and so much more, im thinking about sping it.
man dont s it... mine is giving me all of those problems as well but I dont have quite that wrapped up in a turbo. just hang in there and be patient with it....
If you have a backup vehicle, then it's time to give the finger to the TC for a while. Taking a breather from it is the best thing you can do when you are as frustrated as you are. Been there, done that.
transfer any good parts, (hood front clip, etc) to the red bird, swap in the 5.0L and call it a day.:birdsmily:
Yep,you gotta hang in there.We've all been through those problems that seem to never go away,but,they will.Give the car a break and then start with a fresh sttitude.A door and other parts are easy stuff.One step at a time.
double nut it on if you have enough threads..tighten the first one down real tight, put another one down on the first one just as tight... then back the bottom one off while holding the other one.
that might solve your projectile turbo problem
No...there is no room for that. The proper hardware (deformation-style locking nuts) are what is required. LocTite won't hold.
Sounds like a real Shawn. That's also the pain in trying to mod your daily driver too....it amplifies the frustration 10-fold.
Hopefully you'll get something figured out.
The studs aren't your problem with the turbo, it's the nuts. I can send you some if you like.
dude, Park it for a bit and cool off. Sounds like your about to snap and set fire to it. We've all been there before and survived.
Scott
as bad as it sounds, he cant really let it be right now. its the only "running" vehicle he has.
get your head up! it will work out. TFs are a finicky sometimes. i told ya before i think TF owners are born, not made. worse comes to worse, put it back stock and keep all the good TC stuff and 5lug stuff for the red car. drive the TC(stock) while you build the red car and swap the 5.0. then sell the TC when its ready. use that money to get a decent DD so you dont hafta rely on a project for daily duty
i havent seen it in person, but the pics ive seen show too nice a car to get sped! if you dont love it anymore, at least pass it on to someone who can.
Well in that case pick up a $100 beater and take out your frustrations.
Scott
I may take you up on that offer in a few months. I broke the shaft in my old turbo, right in the center, and also right at the turbine wheel, so i took the turbine housing off, removed the wheel and broken shaft section, and put it back together. Im going to run it like that for a while.
Shawn, don't give up on it. It's easy to say get something different to tool around in but that isn't always practical as it's going to cost anyway.
My advice, get the TC going to where it runs decent. It doesn't have to be fast, just reliable. Get your money worked out and get the red bird on the road again. Then once the red bird is on the road, drive it and then work on getting the TC where you want it.
The red bird once it's done should stand in as a good reliable car to get you through and in the end you'll have two awesome running cars that if something goes wrong with one, you have the other as a backup.
If you do not want to read a horrible sin in the TF world do not read below shawn and others....
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Have you considered swapping the motor out for a 5.0 or 5.8?
The whole problem is the wrong nuts. Use the ones that Chuck recommended (and offered).
Lesson learned. We all do it. No one knows everything and does everything correctly the first time. We all had cars we "learned" on. This one is yours. Get it reliable first, and then buy something you can drive every day because you don't ever "crank the boost" on your daily driver. EVER.
I hope this is a lesson I can just tell you and you don't have to learn on your own.
I'd say the same. You know I've been there, man. Take a break.
-agree, take a break from it. piddle with in free time. get the self locking nuts, ala chuck. me thinks the lesson has already been learned....its took me exactly one year to tear the money pit down, and just now is things starting to go back together. no hurries, no worries......
First off, they were the correct nuts, they were the toplock nuts that Bob supplied with his header. So if they were improper, that was Bobs fault, not mine.
Dont ever crank the boost? I drove it for 2 years with nothing less than 18psi. Guess the boost made it unreliable eh?
Yes, 18 pounds of boost in an iron-headed engine is quite a bit on pump gas. You can probably get away with it for a while if the rings are sealing well and there isn't a lot of oil contamination from the valvetrain - but two years is definitely pushing it. ;) I used to run 30psi with a T3/T4 when I had a liquid-to-air IC, studs, and a 1035 gasket. And of course I blew that up. :)
Those nuts will lose their "lockability" after they've been run up and down the studs a few times. I used to replace them about every third time I had the turbo off the manifold.
Just trying to help. Good luck to ya.
18psi is nothing when 15psi is stock. Hell, iron heads handle boost much better than aluminum heads on an iron block. I was running 22psi for a year or so, on the factory headgasket. Its all about fuel.
I do understand they lose their lockability after being used a few times, but i installed the turbo, first time the nuts have been used, and they backed off. Fresh nuts.
Sounds like your nuts have that not-so-fresh feeling. :D
Hope everything works out for ya. I usually try to find a beer to cry into and then go into the garage with extra resolve. Don't let it kick your ass! Just gotta figure out if it's worth the headache. ;) You might try a V8 swap, it's not a lot more expensive or hard to do.. and might last longer. And that way all your problems will be new ones. :D
I have a V8, thats what I prefer, but its not always the best/cheapest/coolest or whatever way to go. Hell if I had a TC, that thing would have the inline 4 and a Turbo. Everyone tells me to junk my S10 or swap a 350 into it, because it would be one hell of a sleeper...being a rollover and all. But Im keeping the 2.4.
Just stick with it. So be it if it is your daily make it how you want it, its your car, but please dont junk it. You'll make it. My Cougar has problems too, thats why its sat in the garage the last 3 months. It overfuels like a sumbitch, and leaks antifreeze, and misc. shiznit like that.
Another thing that you could do is mar up the threads with some a pair of pliers, just keep the end of the stud good.