I installed a set of twins not to long ago. The kit had a bracket to hold the tube from the large turbo to the air filter. The kit said to rivet bracket on once the tube was where it needed to be and is what I did. I was under the hood yesterday to check oil and clamps and found the bracket was loose on the tube.. Rivets were loose, must be from body movement or vibration? Decided to take off tubes and see if I could bolt the tube to the bracket. When I got the tube off I could tell one of the rivets came loose and was in the tube beating up my S475 inducer.. The blades now have little dents on the leading edge, not straight edge like the turbo had when installed about a month or so ago. I took all the rivets out and used stainless steel bolt/nuts to secure tube to the support bracket..

My questions is what should I do? Truck was running great and still is? There are no pieces missing or bent blades. Looks somewhat like a serrated knife edge on the blades.

I was just going to leave it and then started thinking that it may be out of balance and hurt bearing? If these dents hurt blades could a piece come off and cause worst damage?

I am glad I saw this when I did and just want to be sure and do the right thing for a repair.

Thanks..

 

First I would locktite the bolts/nuts. Second, I dont know what your set up looks like but why not use a piece of hose for the turbo to intake tube connection?

If it was my truck I would check the play and if it felt fine I would run it, but I would also call HTT (or your turbo company of choice) and see what a new inducer would cost and probably get one just for piece of mind.

thats my 2 pennies

 

If you do keep the compressor wheel, and it makes sense for it to be made of titanium or inconel , I think you could "blend the FOD" as though it were a turbine on a jet engine. Or in other words, file away the damage to prevent more damage. Some things you cannot fix are curling of any edge, damage along the tip (outermost edge), damage along the leading or trailing edge that are more than 1/4 of the chord length, and damage that extends in to the root (where the blade gets thicker around the base). Just remember if you file down damage, you want to remove any points that arent meant to be there, and when you file that section, hit it from different angles particularly on the leading edge so that it retains the shape of an airfoil and not a shovel.you can chamfer a corner if necessary to remove the damage as long as the repair follows the 1/4 chord length rule.

It may seem like a complicated process, but it's really not as long as you apply a little knowledge of the design of the blade, and a little common sense.

Good Luck.

 

The turbine blades of the compressor wheel are spinning very fast and what may seem like not a problem at low turbo rpms can become disasterous at high turbo speeds at times in excess of 60,000 rpm. If the inducer is dented and dinged the turbine blade balance has to be affected as it is different from the original design of the inducer and exducer. Also the flow characteristics across the turbine blade are affected.

Another point is did any of the rivet that broke off go further downstream and end up in one or more of the cylinders? Could a piece of the inducer or possibly the exducer portion of the turbine blade have passed downstream? Check all of these items and inquire from the vendor what their recommendation would be.

L8r,...........dogger

 

Thanks.. I am using another vehicle at the moment and will take this apart as soon as possible. Fo my own sanity I may just pack it up and send it off to a trusted source to have it looked at and/or repaired. I am to new to these to want to make the wrong choice. I do believe I found the one piece that had come off the rivet and did look downstream to the next Turbo in the compound setup and all looks good. I do not think it would be possible to get anything to the cylinders as any part would need to pass thru the 2nd turbo and then the intercooler and do not think that would be possible.

Thank You

 

Yes you are correct it would be next to impossible to pass through the intercooler. Dah.

L8r,...........dogger

 

You need to have it replaced and rebalanced.

 

Are the wheels $$? Balancing $$ estimate?
This is a Borg Warner S475 #171702

Thanks...

 

Sorry, I didn't even notice your screen name JP-4.5 before I explained FOD.....Wasn't trying to insult.

 

Yeah bud send them out, you will sleep better. The cost will be alot less than having your turbo explode. Shouldnt be that bad. Good luck.

 

I think you left out the "R"

Last time I dressed out a turbine was as a CE in a former life! Had to crack the compressor section on a T53 L-11. The nicks and abraision from the sand were so bad I had to dress the opposite number blades to keep close to being balanced as possible. Long story short, it ain't a permanent fix. Had higher EGTs and less power.