When you have an old turbo that starts to smoke blue or makes some interesting sounds, you know it's time to think about options.

I can see three options; buying a new one, buying a standard remanufactured one and buying a "built-to-measure" one.

A new turbo is usually quite expensive and you know that it will fail like the original one and the standard rebuild is the cheaper option but you are not gaining a lot of added-value with it.

I have chosen , what I called, the "built-to-measure" type options with one of the leader in turbo technologies in the UK; TurboTechnics. (www.turbotechnics.com)

The objective was to get an upgraded turbo that could cope with my engine upgrade (Land Rover 300tdi with an Allisport remap and intercooler) but within a reasonable budget.

My contact at TurboTechnics, Simon Danton, was very helpful in explaining the different options and gains. We settled down for a rebuilt of my original tubo but they would add a 360deg thrust bearing to increase its strength in order to cope with the power upgrade.

I sent my turbo to the company and the following is an image story of the process they followed to open, inspect, rebuild and test my turbo.

STRIPPING PROCESS

An old and tired turbo

Starting to notice the wear & tear

Inside - bearing

Opening the manifold

Cracked... will required a new one

REBUILD PROCESS

New parts

360deg thrust bearing in place

This is an uprated turbo bearing. It has a larger bearing contact face to withstand the high load which would otherwise destroyed a standard bearing very quickly. This was recommended due to the engine tweaking.

On the test rig

The internals ready to go inside the manifold

Wastegate in place and note the TurboTechnics marking

Wastegate od fitted

All done and ready to ship

FITTING TO THE VEHICLE

That part was covered in the Discovery off-road conversion

http://www.difflock.com/magazine/modifications/Land_Rover_Discovery_300tdi_An_off-road_conversion_-_Part_3.shtml