new 68HTA ruined by rubber sleeve

[nastyleak]

After installing my new FMIC and my new 68HTA I was allowed to enjoy it for 3 days before the (insert foul language) rubber collar which miraculously stayed inside the stock intake tube went into the turbo. I'm beginning to feel that the saying "you can't have nothing" is my reality. Who else has this happened to? Why would there need to be a rubber sleeve there anyway when the intake tube could just be the right size to begin with?
I even shook the stupid piece of garbage to make sure there were'nt any bolts etc. inside of it ! On the bright side I did get to enjoy my 1050$ turbocharger for 3-4 days, that might not seem like enough return on the investment of my time and money but this is really kind of typical.

 

[westcoast]

Pix of the carnage. STAT.

 

[Aproductions]

What collar are you talking about?

 

[TSITurbo95]

. . .rubber collar which miraculously stayed inside the stock intake tube. . .

The collar inside the stock 2g intake on the turbo inlet.

 

[nastyleak]

The stupid round rubber thing that goes ove the intake side on the stock turbo. I think I might take pictures of it some time but not any time soon, I'm likely to do very bad creative things to the car.

 

[kthackst]

You are not the first person I heard this happening to. What is scary is when you are working on someone elses car and you take the pipe off and only find 75% of that shitty ring. Did I lose it or was it lost before...?

Sorry for your loss.

 

[nastyleak]

This is really typical unfortunately. Now at least I can pretend I have twin turbos since I'll be buying two turbochargers just to have one. Most folks need 1 turbo and buy one, I need one and buy 2.

So I guess I can be really proud if I'm ever allowed to have anything because I get to work twice as hard and pay twice as much!

 

[kthackst]

Call FP before you go buying a new one chances are they can rework it for much cheaper than a new one. Plus with all the money you save you can buy the FP intake and couplers.

 

[nastyleak]

It broke one blade off and bent others, when it happened it made a noise and stopped boosting and continued to make the noise after removing the piece of rubber from hell!

"all the money you save" ! They said to send it in and unless its really screwed it can be repaired for less than a new one, not necessarily good news considering.

 

[kthackst]

Yeah and the wheel is removeable. They can take it off and put a new one on. Give them a call before you lose all hope.

Balancing is specialty and will need to be done by them.

 

[Colt4G63 also]

That really sucks man; sorry to hear it. The 1g's have that thing too. Mine had a little rip in it, so I replaced it with a piece of silicone IC hose. I have no idea when it ripped, but now after hearing what could have happened, I'm counting myself lucky.

 

[nastyleak]

I would already have a better intake except I just finished spending $1800 on new turbo and FMIC. It would be really cool to go back and add: "remove the piece of rubber tubing from hell hiding inside the intake tube which doesn't look to be a seperate piece and will later come out of its hiding place to destroy your new turbo" to the 16G install tutorials.

 

[JusMX141]

Count on spending $400-$500 on a new compressor wheel and another VSR balance, but yeah this is definitely fixable and this definitely won't fall under FP's warranty coverage.

You can also just get a 20G wheel and cover setup and do the swap yourself for now if you want to save some cash.

 

[kthackst]

It broke one blade off and bent others, when it happened it made a noise and stopped boosting and continued to make the noise after removing the piece of rubber from hell!

"all the money you save" ! They said to send it in and unless its really screwed it can be repaired for less than a new one, not necessarily good news considering.

Listen I have made my fair amount of mistakes too, and I just dont want you to abandon hope. "Its the cost to learn" and "a DSM will never be cheap" are not just sayings they are truths. I spent $2000+ plus getting mine running AFTER buying the car. Plus front mount, fuel pump, turbo, cams... I spent my fair share learning. its not cheap and this is one reason why real shops charges so much.

I bought a crankwalked 2g with a bad transmission . What I know now...

 

[Aproductions]

which doesn't look to be a seperate piece and will later come out of its hiding place to destroy your new turbo

This

 

[nastyleak]

Yes I bought this one with a ruined transmission, after paying 130 to ship the core I learned it was so bad that I had to get another core so after taking a $130 drive out of town and buying the core for $50 i got to send the 2nd core for another $130. Then I got the extreme pleasure of realizing that someone forgot to install the custom taller 1st which I was told would be included in the rebuild, this was after I reminded them about the taller 1st in at least 3 emails. Like I said before typical!
There should be a warning about the piece of rubber from hell somewhere maybe in a sticky etc. It would be very thoughtful to prevent this from happening to people.

 

[Burnett03]

Who runs a stock intake on a 68hta?

 

[Colt4G63 also]

this is one reason why real shops charges so much.

I only charge a scant $73per hour at my shop, but people forget you can spend more time than what you bill for, on locating parts, and dealing with phones, customers and other BS. Not to mention overhead costs to do business.

 

[nastyleak]

"Who runs a stock intake on a 68hta?"
I think I covered this above already, I was actually trying to find one locally and was going to buy one from a guy but now that I'm going to magically pull another $600 out of my ass I might just be using a stock intake for a while longer. Most aftermarket intakes require the use of a catch can etc. which effectively increases the total cost of adding an intake. Basically it came down to: buy aftermarket intake and get cheaper turbo, or wait on intake and buy better turbo it was actually a really easy decision.

 

[Burnett03]

Just seems odd you can drop tons of money on a turbo but not the supporting mods. I'd be afraid to calapse a stock intake on a turbo that size. Also you don't always need a catch can for a non stock intake.

 

[99gst_racer]

Bummer.

Be sure to check the LICP and intercooler core for debris.

 

[kthackst]

I only charge a scant $73per hour at my shop, but people forget you can spend more time than what you bill for, on locating parts, and dealing with phones, customers and other BS. Not to mention overhead costs to do business.

...and you are doing a good job.

Knowledge is power and a good job now will save time and money in future. People complain about breaking stuff when doing it themselves but the professionals have done or seen these issues themselves "along time ago".

The OP does have a point I really only hear about the rubber o-ring in these horror stories posts. Maybe a horror story sticky where each horror story is a sentence is long just to warn people about stuff like this.

 

[nastyleak]

I've installed: ss fuel line to fuel rail, replaced fuel pump, injectors, walbro 255, ecm, 1G TB (also porting intake to match tb), gasket matched o2 housing, gasket matched exhaust manifold, installed radio, replaced control arms-trailing arms-steering end links-steering bellows inside cv axle boot, installed FMIC, installed new turbo etc. etc. etc. So this ain't my first rodeo! This thing was just really clever the way it hid in the intake !
The reason why I've had to learn to fix cars is because I've been bent over backwards so many times by auto repair shops in many different ways including a disappearing built $800 700R4
I lost count of the things I've paid to have repaired only to later actually repair them correctly myself.
"horror story" Now thats funny, I just call it a living nightmare.

If I paid a shop to do the stuff I've done on this car (not counting previous cars) I would have spent thousands, even assuming the piece of rubber from hell had been discovered by a shop if they had performed the work and they actually owned up to their mistake (doubtful) I've still saved at least $2500.

Supporting mods: built transmission with 4 spider differential, ACT 2600 un-sprung street disc streetlite flywheel, ecmlink, 1050 FIC, full 3' exhaust, 1G TB, SS fuel line to fuel rail, gasket matched tubular o2 and exhaust, Innovative wideband (not yet installed), ETS street 3 1/2 X 7 FMIC, 1G bov, MBC, boost gauge, Im sure I'm forgetting some. In your opinion do you think these "supportings mods" are not adequate? Please, if you have any further critiques by all means include where the unlimited supply of money is!

Yeah what was I thinking, surely nobody has used their stock intake tube on an aftermarket turbo !