K03 DIY rebuild?

[hayesey]

has anyone on here ever rebuilt a K03 turbo themselves?  I'm talking about replacing oil seals and bearings.  Is it a feasible DIY job or would the shaft assembly need re-balancing afterwards?  As I understand it, it depends how the turbo is made, either they individually balance the shaft components (turbine, compressor wheel, shaft itself....) in which case you can take it apart and put it back together without balancing.  Or the assembly is balanced as one piece and therefore if you take it apart you'd need to balance it again (due to it being pretty impossible to get everything lined up exactly how it was).

[Max]

I just bought a new turbo for mine instead of choosing to get it rebuilt,  previous one lasted 6 months.  Both turbos have been <£50, so still much cheaper than a G-Lader rebuild!

[giorgio]

http://www.gpopshop.com/kkkkits.html


kits are out there so it must be DIY-able

[Andy]

There's a school of thought that says if you can get the compressor wheel, turbine wheel and shaft all perfectly aligned again afterwards then it's a feasable DIY prospect. I think even if you mark everything up there's still a fair amount of luck involved.

With good secondhand turbos fetching £50ish and the new Chinese copies being £200-£250 I personally don't think it's worth it. I've got a spare dead K03 you could play with if you want, but the compressor wheel's machined the compressor housing slightly as it was quite dead!

[hayesey]

yeah I know it is technically possible to re-assemble it lined up right but realistically, that's not going to happen by me in my garage.  I guess I'll just run the turbo and replace it if it dies.