S400 rebuild - anyone here DIY?

juddski88

juddski88

Freedom Diesel
Jul 1, 2008
4,655
120
63
Chesterfield, Mass.
So I have an Engineered Diesel "S476" with a cast wheel and what appears to be a BW race cover, an 83mm turbine wheel and both a 1.0 housing and 1.10 housing. I bought it used, had minimal side to side shaft play. The compressor wheel looked great when I got around to getting the truck running in June, and never checked it again until after my first pull last weekend. I now have a comp wheel with the corners of the inducer fins bent over, slightly cracked - about to break off, and more shaft play than before (maybe 1/8" -3/16" overall now). it doesn't look like the fins hit the cover, and I didn't hear and abnormal screeching or whining. I was only able to hit 20 psi and only about 3600 rpms (got distracted, forgot to log it:() due to fuel pressure issues most likely. I bought a 78mm FI low inertia wheel off of a guy on CompD for a decent price, now I am just waiting for it to show up finally so I can send this thing somewhere.

question is: Where should I send it? FI told me on the phone they weren't busy and could turn it around almost immediately, but a friend of mine has had his turbo there to be rebuilt due to failure for 2 months and they haven't been giving him great service. The turbo is an ED turbo, but if the reason the fins bent was because they did machine the cover too tight to fit, why should I give them a second chance? I have heard of other members here having similar issues with their turbos. Overnighting it to Gillette is a few hundred bucks. And I am afraid to even ask Bullseye how much they would charge me to machine the front cover, the bearing housing for the wheel, R&R the bearing housing, install a 87mm turbine wheel and then machine the exhaust housings to fit.

This is not the spot I wanted to be in 2 weeks before a pull, with lots of tuning still to do. I still don't even know what I am going to do about the fuel system because Opie won't get back to me again.

Does anyone have a local turbo shop they deal with? any resources for bearing rebuild kits for an s400? any 87mm turbine wheels laying around I could buy?

Thanks,
Tim
 
juddski88

juddski88

Freedom Diesel
Jul 1, 2008
4,655
120
63
Chesterfield, Mass.
PS: I have a few really good machinist friends local to me, that could do the machining if necessary, the acquisition of the turbine wheel and the rebuild parts are most essential.

Thanks for the call Matt, I really appreciate it!

Thanks,
Tim
 
bullfrogjohnson

bullfrogjohnson

Big Girl!
Nov 20, 2006
4,167
1
0
39
Locust, NC
Your in a pickle. I have had dealings with ED and FI and I will say that they both do good work but neither are great at meeting tight deadlines.

I have a local shop that is an authorized borg rebuild center. They have done my charger twice. Both times were around 250 bucks and I had it back the next day. They will do everything except machine your comp cover and the turbine housings.
 
bullfrogjohnson

bullfrogjohnson

Big Girl!
Nov 20, 2006
4,167
1
0
39
Locust, NC
juddski88 said:
Do you know if they will install the wheels and balance it too?

Thanks Travis
Click to expand...

Yes they will machine your backing plates, put borg heavy duty thrust bearings and re-balance. They might even have a 87 turbine laying around. I will call him tomorrow if you like or I can give you his contact info.

As for getting your cover and housing machined it will be tricky. The 87 turbine has 3 contours to it and will be very hard to machine without a cnc and a program. You might be better off just buying a new housing and selling your others or sending them to jose without being in a hurry. I dont know about the comp cover though.

I have had issues with my s400 and the thrust bearings due to barking my charger at the end of pulls.
 
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