New or rebuilt Turbocharger?

[a13secTsi]

My stock Turbo on my 1993 Talon is going out. Should I pay $240 for a rebuild or go for a new one. The rebuilder said he could to mods to the stock TD05 also. I have 2-1/2" Catback exhaust with an open airbox and K@N filter. I have been running 15- 16psi of boost. out of the stock turbo with no other modifications on the car. I want the same performance or maybe just a little more responsiveness out of a new or rebuilt one. Any suggestions?? I am on a tight budget too. Thanks for any help. I really appreciate it

 

[DSM_Drew]

My opinion...I was in the same situation this summer. My stock turbo was dead and I looked into having it rebuilt. If you trust the rebuilder to do a good job and he backs up his work with a warranty, and you're on a budget then the rebuild is a good option. Plus he can upgrade your turbo to a 16G. Of course the 16G compressor wheel will cost more. Plus you'll want either a 7cm turbine housing or have yours ported if its not all cracked up. Doing all that can actually add up to the price of a new turbo. A whole 16G with 7cm turbine housing runs like $600-$650 (more if you want it all ported out.) I bought a new 16G without the turbine housing from Turbotrix for $420. But then I found that my old turbine housing was too far gone to even think about using. A good used housing and some porting brought me up to almost the same price as a whole new turbo.

The rebuild may sound a lot cheaper at first but may not save you much (if any) if you run into other exspenses. Keep that in mind. Also, if an exhaust and open air cleaner are your only mods you're going to need some other supporting mods before you can slap on a bigger turbo and crank the boost up further. I don't have many supporting mods to go with my 16G yet so I'm keeping the boost conservative until I do.

Just some food for thought.

 

[a13secTsi]

Thanks Drew, I appreciate the advise. I guess the bottom line is I can't tell whats going on until the turbo is torn apart

 

[candela]

Well, if I wee you I would just check around the trader and such for used 14b's. i sold mine for 100$ and it worked great. There are always deals going on, but Drew did have a good point. if you want better responsiveness youll need more exhaust flow.... port the manny and o2 housing and get a DP and youll notice very very fast spool with a 14b. I have all that and get full boost at about 3200rpm with my 16g and with a 14b it woiuld be even quicker...

 

[DSM_Drew]

Yeah I almost bought a used 14b as well. But in the end I decided against that because it wouldn't have any warranty at all. Some people don't mind, I'm wary of that myself. Check into DSM clubs in your area (if you aren't a member already.) People in clubs are always a good source of parts!