My Aerocharger has bitten the dust, bearing failure and rediculously high charges to inspect and overhaul has consigned it to the bin

So I have been looking on eBay, once I had priced up an unknown turbo, added the fittings and flanges new generic turbos from China started to look good so I have broken the piggy bank and got one of these

MAMBA-GTX-Billet-Turbocharger-2-2-TD04L-15T-w-6cm-T25

I had a good Google and these seem to have good reviews, so will post up how it goes.

I bought a cheap new turbo for a diesel I had and only lasted 13 months, it was about £130. Hope you have better luck.

I ended up replacing the turbo bearings myself which was about £30 and had no more problems
After.

Might be worth seeing if you can get a repair kit even to repair original as a spare?

They wanted $150 to open the turbo, $850 to replace the bearings and $150 to ship it back, although if the housing was scuffed add another few $$$

It cost £250 second hand 9 years ago so has had a good run, I tried to disassemble and cracked the housing so now an expensive paperweight.

This new one will catch import tax @ 20% so it keeps adding up, if the blade engine goes bang then it should be a good fit for a sigma engine or similar if I go CEC one day.

I ran a mamba on an Impreza many years ago, made 398bhp with it, had it on the car for 2 years of hard driving/track days/ 1/4 mile sprints.

Was running 1.78 bar with no issues, no surging or anything like that, also ran anti lag with it aswell.

When I sold the car the lad smashed it but I believe the turbo would still be going today

My local VAG specialists (ex Audi technicians) recommend rebuilding OEM turbos with genuine repair kits. Yes, it would mean more money for them in terms of work, but they state quite categorically that you'll get OEM performance back and the longevity of service from the overhauled turbo. I've not had cause to rebuild (or replace) a turbo to date, but I do suspect I'd go down this route if it came to it.

On the other hand, best of luck with your choice and I do hope it works for you.

I've bought a cheapo turbo off the bay with plain bearings.. Been wondering if I can dismantle it a ND pit some rollers in to upgrade it?

Auto correct is having a laugh there......

I expect you can purchase a roller bearing cartridge, you need ceramic bearings with a small oil flow to get the benefit, full oil flow is just the bearings pushing oil around so okay for a lorry, ceramic can manage a mist of oil. Plain bearings are actually a pretty good solution as the shaft has very little rolling resistance.

I did google ceramic bearing suppliers and had some options for my aerocharger before I broke it.

Change of plan, been having a good look around so have cancelled the Mamba turbo and going holset

http://www.compressorracing.com/our-turbos.html

This place does a cracking deal on these, now looking at a HE200WG which comes in at around £450 with no import duties and known high quality

I will have to make up a custom exhaust flange, as a bonus oil cooled only so no need to muck about with water.

Description

The HE200WG series is the latest naming/spec of the much sought after and rare 32lb/min capable HE211W and 38lb/min HE221W turbos, and what we have here is the 32lb/min (So up to 320bhp) version, but unlike every other HE221W we've seen, it's got a MFS billet compressor wheel, anti-surge compressor, and a VERY nice turbine housing design too, which while be can't be sure, looks/feels like a modern cast steel housing rather than typical cast iron like on 99% of turbos.

Map Width Enhancement) ported anti-surge inlet and 2in (ID) v-band outlet flange.
Lightweight high flow billet allow MFS Holset 6 blade compressor wheel with 41mm inducer proven capable of 32lb/min flow and 40psi+ boost.
Oil cooled core with 360deg thrust bearing and heavy duty shaft.
47mm 11 blade quick response turbine wheel with 41mm exducer.
Super quick spool 4cm turbine housing with integral wastegate (actuator and bracket included), T3 (almost, see pics!) inlet flange and 4bolt outlet flange
Incredible spec, amazing looking, sounding, performing, and very rare turbo at an unbeatable price, ideal as single or twin turbos.

Should be just the job

Turned up today, looks the mutts nuts, £415 to the door.

Vastly better than some of the old second hand stuff I have played around with, very well machined.

Sounds good

Currently building up the parts to turbo charge my R1 engine, gone for a Gt2556 turbo

Hi Mark - isn't a 4cm turbine housing a bit small? Even with your tiny hairdryer engine, that'll be spooling at idle rpm! Throttle response will be impressive, although I'll be interested to see if it gets choked at high rpm with such a small hot side.

I agree with your thoughts on quality - i picked up a Holset HX27W a couple of years ago for a bargain. One of the highest quality turbos I've seen, but it wasn't going to produce any more power than my TD04HL 15G, so I sold it for a vast profit :-)

When you get it running again, let me know. I fancy another trackday, and I'll be back in the UK from Feb onwards...

Hi mate I have no advice for you but I was intrigued by your setup, do you have a build thread? Standard blade engine? Which model?

Thanks