Rebuilding.... What shopping list do I need?
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi everyone, sorry i'm new to this.

I figured all you guys will know the most and hopefully you can guide me away from making costly time consuming mistakes.

Ive got a standard metro turbo lump which i dragged out the back of a garage after being sat for god knows how long. Im planning on giving it a rebuild over the christmas/winter. Im going to dump the old turbo and exchange it for a GT1752 which seems to be the norm i see. I would like a few more ponies over standard if possible. Maybe 140? What has everyone found to be a winning combination?

-What pistons are everyone using? I see MED sell 18cc omega. Any other options
-Wheres the best place to get the Turbo? Ebay?
-Does the head need work or can i get away without it?
-Cams? Keep standard or any other recommendations?
-Final Drive! Im wanting it more dual carriageway friendly. 3:1??? How does that work out?

So im wanting to go with a fusion manifold so i dont need to hack the bulkhead about. Then engine will go in a MK1 ive recently bought for the project.

All help and advice you can give is massively appreciated.
Thanks Chris

Hi Chris, Welcome.

You'll need to figure some things out before your questions can be fully answered. No recipe fits all I'm afraid.

Get on the Guessworks calculator http://www.guess-works.com/Tech/ratio.htm and you can figure your final drive based on all the other variables (gearbox ratios, speed you want to cruise at).

Head work, yes. But what work, and how much is needed will come down to one of the other questions, what pistons. Compression ratio is your next key item. What boost are you planning to run? choose a CR that suits, now you can see if pistons and head combo will give you the right number.

https://www.classicminidiy.com/technical/compression/

Those Forged 18cc pistons are great, but depends if your combination will need them for CR. There's lots of options of CC in forged and cast, depends also how much you want to spend, plus the machining work to overbore the engine.

Lots of people have had good results from Chinese eBay turbos, or you can go second hand, or genuine. You pays your money, you takes your chances.

Normal cam produces good results, but there are options too if the one you have isn't in good nick.

Other things you need to consider are:
-Ignition (mappable - Megajolt etc)
-Intercooler
-Clutch (RTS, pre-verto grey etc)

I'd pour through some build threads, get an idea of what others have done and the results they've got.

Hope that helps, but aware there's more questions than answers. Good luck!

Thanks for your response

That compression calculator is awesome, i was racking my brain all day while working on the house thinking what a ball bag it must be to try and calculate the CR.

I fully understand that the sky is the limit and you can spend as much or as little when rebuilding an engine.

im not looking to blow the bank but im not interested in stripping the bloody thing down again in a hurry, so im happy to spend a little now to save in the long run.

Gearbox will be standard so its just the final drive i want to up.

Clutch... as you said will need to be new. Do people put injection flywheels on so that you can run a crankshaft position sensor?

intercooler and mappable ignition and come once the thing is running.

You definitely need Minspares part MSG13

Own the day