broken stud in turbo housing
Turbo Mini Forums

while removing the exhaust elbow from the turbo for a bit of porting, even while using plenty of heat, I managed to sheer one of the bolts. I'm left with approx 5mm above the surface.

The other 2 were also very tight coming out and needed a fair bit of heat and teasing back and forth to get them out. On inspection, the thread at the end of the bolts was damaged suggesting some cross thread issue but my thoughts were that they could have possible welded themselves a bit and this is what was causing the issue removing them? Anyone else had this issue?

My thoughts are to weld a nut to the remaining stud and try again but has anyone got any other suggestions?

sorry -no photos at the moment.

cheers

Rob

I had the same issue with my T3, had to get a machine shop to drill out the stud and re-tap it

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

For a second i thought you bouht the one i sold at mwad lol, i had the same problem while removing the elbo to clean it up, i was going to do it at my old work but cba in the end so sold it. I cant remember the size but you can drill it out slowly incleasing the size then some magical tool gets the rest out, not sure if i still have it but can have a look for you??

Drives
-Ford S-max Mk2 Ecoboost
-Rover 100 VVC #2 - track project

Searching is all you need on TurboMinis

i had the same issue i ended up putting loads of tape and cloth in the impellor to stop bits going in and drilling the studs out and retaping the threads. wouldent advise doing it unless you have a pillar drill.

"Tuning should be a compromise between what is possible and what is necessary"

10)Thou shalt always quest for more power

Welding a nut on will work 5 times out of 10 if you weld it hot and fast (the heat input helps break the corrosion bond).

Otherwise, pillar drill as above - anything less and you will drill off centre and damage part of the threads.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

thanks all - that was my thought as well. I'll try and weld a nut on first and if it fails I'll drill out. Hopefully the pillar drill will be repaired this week

Rob

I've drilled loads of bust stuff out with my cordless, it just depends if you are any good at spotting centre and drilling square or if you are a chimp with the drill.
Gently grind a flat on top of what is sticking out, then as accurately as you can centre pop it. Then with a small pilot drill carefully make the first hole making sure you stay square. After this is it just a case of steadily going up in size until you can pick out what is left and re tap. Alternatively if you have any left hand drills these can sometimes grab the remains and screw it out for you, however knowing the heat cycles a turbo goes through I will be suprised if it works in this case. If all else fails you can drill oversize and helicoil it.

Yip i always do it with a hand drill too as per tom, long as you get the centre pumch and pilot accurate its plain sailing, usually if you go jus tinder on the drilling the threads can be picked out. that said, i would get the housing glowing cherry right around the stud and get a grip on it with a good extractor.

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

One bit of advise, do not heat it up too hard as it could change the metal and you will not be able to drill it without using a pillar drill and some cobalt drill bits.

I did this and tried to drill it out but it was a nightmare. Ended up buying a 2nd turbo to use the bits and make 1 good one.

Speed doesn't kill, suddenly becoming stationary, now that's what'll get ya!

got a pillar drill and cobalt bits so should be ok worst case.

used to do it all the time at work with a normal hand held drill, just make sure you centre punch it dead centre and go in with a tiny drill bit 1st so you can then correct any mistakes, then drill upto the start of the thread and if your lucky you can pick out the remainder

Edited by mini93 on 2nd Feb, 2011.

David.

Rob, is it a T3?

yes, standard metro T3

im pretty sure i have a knackered one in the shed, ill dig it out and see if the exhaust housing is in good nic.

appreciate the offer Adam; I'll have a go at getting the stud out first before you waste any time

no time to waste ill have a look tommorow after work

Bit of an update; I spent an hour or so on Saturday on this.

The offending broken stud;


attempt nr1; welded nut on to stud but broke off


attempt nr2: welded nut on but then, even with plenty of heat, managed ot shear off the stud flush with the face of the housing

attemt nr3; drilled out working up from 2.5mm bit up to 6.5mm; the finalbit grabbed the stud and I managed to hand wind it through the housing.

Sent a tap through all 3 holes and all the threads seem to have cleaned up well so fingers crossed I've got no more issues.

Edited by Rob Gavin on 11th Feb, 2011.