Did a lil' turbo work (pics)

[Fireplug]

Well...I've been lazy since I had the new turbo on the car and haven't had the chance to clean it up right, until just this past weekend :).

The beginning, the stock cast turbo. This particular photo isn't actually my turbo, I forgot to take a picture of the turbo when it had its casting. this is just showing what the casting looked like. :cool:
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/pt67-1.jpg

Ground the casting off and sanded it down...
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/turbo3.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/turbo2.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/turbo1.jpg
Smooth baby.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/turbo4.jpg
Hit one spot on the turbo to see how well it would polish at this rate of smoothness. Passed the inspection...time to move forward.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/turbo5.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/turbo6.jpg
These are the inital polish just to get an idea...now it's time to get serious.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/turbo7.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/turbo8.jpg
All done, this is the second one I've had to do it to...Hope I never have to do it again.

[95Blue240sx]

Awsome. What did you initially grind it down with?? Great work. What were you steps and the type of polish?

[EvilRB]

Nice!!

*******

[forum04pl]

wow, super nice work. a simple writeup of how you went through it would be much appreciated

[BobbyDigi]

yeah, that shit is nice, looks like fucking chrome!

[rps13drift]

Looks awesome! a friend of mine just actualy did this to his turbo. He used a dremel to gring down the cast lettering then started with a low grit sand paper and worked his way up to a very high grit sand paper! pain in the dick but it looks amazing

[KawBoy]

Nice!

Whatd you use to grind?

[bardabe]

Bad Friggin Ass.

[grnappletree14]

u should make a DIY post. so people could try, this looks great. i want to polish my turbo

[EDacIouSX]

bling bling!

[JDMClifford]

ya i was thinking of doing that to my stock turbo 3 days ago when i port mached the exhaust manafold. but i dont want to spend 3 hours polishing a stoct turbo. looks great!

[A'PEXi]

turned out great! some info on how the polish was done & stuff used would be good too :)

[rican_nick]

looks great.

and i 2nd the idea of a write up or at least a listing of what tools/sandpaper grits and polishes you used.

[Zetto*]

Got Bling?

Looks great mate. It would be awesome if you could add some detail to your work log.

[steve shadows]

cool , nice work, is that a 35r?

[Fireplug]

Thanks for the input guys. Here's a quick rundown of what was used.

Tools:

90 deg. grinder (hooked up to air compressor)
http://www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/110434_lg.gif
Dico 2" sanding discs for the die grinder.
505-36639 - Course
505-36640 - Medium
505-36641 - Fine
http://www.dicoproducts.com/images/pdiscs.jpg
You can get them at your local auto parts store. I get mine at Oreilley's.
Sandpaper (hopefully you don't need a picture :) ) Your choice of grits. Probably need a 100 or 120 grit, 500 grit, 1000, 2000.
Buffer
http://www.qualitytruck.com/BUFFER.jpg
wool pad for buffer
http://imageserver.isnweb.com/MEGW4000.jpg
Mother's polish. They have some special polishes that cost more...don't bother, get the big tub so you'll have enough to use with the buffer.
http://www.1010tires.com/images/accessories/motherspolish_large.jpg


Steps toward a shiny turbo:

- The trouble spot is where the compressor housing meets the inlet of the turbo...leave it alone for now.
Grind off all lettering from the turbo using the course 2" sanding discs and proceed to grind off all of the casting you can see on the turbo.
Once all of the course grinding is done, grind everything again with the medium 2" discs.
Once that is complete, begin to grind the turbo with the fine sanding discs
- Now you will want to hit the "groove" where the housing meets the inlet. I've tried using a stone on a dremel...it's hard because that causes "dings" and "knicks". I usually do this part by hand. Getting the roughest grit paper and repetitively sanding the groove down until the casting goes away. Progressively bumping it to a finer grit sand paper.
Once the "groove" is taken care of you'll want to start hand sanding the housing. Again, using the roughest grit and keep working your way to a finer grit until desired smoothness is obtained. I was in a hurry on this particular turbo, so I jumped around with the grits. I used a 120 to start, then a 500, then 2000 and was done with it. For a better shine you'll want to start with a rough grit and work your way down until you really don't see many scratches in the housing. Wet sanding it pretty nice to finish it off.
Now your turbo will be completely smooth to the touch, time to put a shine on it. You best bet is a stationary polishing wheel, unfortunately I don't have access to one right now, so I used my buffer.
Keep the turbo planted/mounted some where and apply your Mothers polish to the housing. (don't be scared to glop it on there either.)
Using the wool pad, buff the polish into the housing, it will turn black and ugly...once it has turned black, run the pad over it again, it'll strip off the black residue and give you an excellent shine!
You're finished, enjoy your housing! :)



That's the fast track for getting the turbo polished. If I had more time i would have used a nice cutting compound on the turbo first,then a polish to give it a real luster. It's sounds harder then it actually is. Maybe next time I'll take actual pictures throughout the whole process!

[Fireplug]

cool , nice work, is that a 35r?

Naw, it's a PT67. :bigok:

[steve shadows]

Naw, it's a PT67. :bigok:

yum yum :love:

[Yum-Yum]

.................. what!

[Tearlessj]

Can you get some better pics of the product? And point out the "groove" you speak of? Is it where the Intake attaches to?

[Fireplug]

Can you get some better pics of the product? And point out the "groove" you speak of? Is it where the Intake attaches to?

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/koyo.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/koyoagain.jpg
Quick tester spot on the Koyo radiator.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/turboshot.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/motorshot.jpg

The groove is here.
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/pt67-1-1.jpg

[rps13drift]

^^^ very pretty!

[Fireplug]

Motor and head are next...:naughty:

Edit: Yes, I will do all of it...I'm that patient with petty work. :bigok:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Fireplug240/head.jpg
Just an initial test...

[KawBoy]

Did you have to sand the radiator

[rps13drift]

Did you have to sand the radiator

No! You buy them blinged out!

[Fireplug]

Did you have to sand the radiator
no sir, I wouldn't recommend that.

[PBucch]

Looks great.


Where did you get that coolant overflow tank?

[Fireplug]

Looks great.


Where did you get that coolant overflow tank?

Circuit sports makes them. I got mine from phase2motortrend. They're backordered now, and they're a Bitch to polish!

[s13gold]

looks great......

[KawBoy]

no sir, I wouldn't recommend that.

I meant like 2 or 2.5k but ok thanks

[Fireplug]

I meant like 2 or 2.5k but ok thanks

Yeah that's definitely possible, but it's not going to do a new one any good. If there's some scratches the pad can't take out, I'd probably run a light wetsand over the radiator. But it's good as it is!