The t28 on my CA has been getting a bit smoky on idle lately, dont know if i just havent noticed it or if it has suddenly got a lot worse but when driving it yesterday and getting stuck in traffic i noticed a bit of smoke wafting past me when i was stopped, a fair bit of smoke actually.

So now the question is whether i rebuild it, put a kit through it myself or find somewhere reasonably priced to do it for me, or buy a new turbo.

At the moment i have a bush bearing t28 off an S14, going to get it tuned to suit the turbo, 440cc injectors, 300zx AFM, front mount, exhaust ect. wanting to run around 14psi, engine was rebuilt recently with forged internals.

So after peoples opinions on staying with the t28, or i was thinking of possibly going a gt2860rs. Dont know if i really need to go any bigger than the t28, but would depend on how much it costs to rebuild.

As for rebuilding, i know you can get the rebuild kits off ebay cheap, but then there is issues with the main shaft balance, whether it can just be marked and reassembled in the same spot to maintain the balance or not. Then whether or not the seal will just chop out again straight away
Or does anyone know what sorta price places charge for turbo rebuilds? Good places to get them done and what not?

I think i remember something around $4-500 for a rebuild on a skyline turbo so i assume the t28 will be similar.

But anyones opinions would be good

so after looking a little more, it seems that $7-800 is the starting price for standard turbo rebuilds, and i can get a gt2860rs for about $1260

so im now thinking its a choice between buying an ebay rebuild kit or getting a new turbo, or both

I reccon its almost worth going new, for the extra 400 odd bucks you got a little piece of mind being brand new, set up ready to go, plus warrenty. Rebuilding the old one is fine but there may be slight wear in the compressor housing you cant fix plus any slight warpage in the turbine housing too. One other thing for some ebay gear, its really hit and miss on the quality. Some stuff might last another 100000km other crap wont last backing out the driveway.

Go the potato

yeah im thinking new turbo would be the go, bought a rebuild kit for the t28 as i figure its only $80 so might be worth it to just give me some time to save some money for a new turbo.
Even looking at second hand 2860s and people want $800-1000 for second hand ones with a couple of thousand ks on them, and i'd probably just go a new one for the couple of hundred extra just for piece of mind

Buy new after spending so much on my not built coupe I've lernt to stop buying second hand crap as its not quite what you want, I'm biting the bullet and buying new stuff now!

For 1200 Id be in the market for a Turbonetics hands down

So this is odd, drove the car home today, hour and a half drive mostly freeway, and no smoke at all when stopped.
So I'm assuming that the reason it was smoking on friday was probably coz i'd been driving for 2 hours and the engine oil was getting pretty hot after that then sitting in traffic, so the oil was thinner than it normally would be and then started to leak past the oil seals

So I guess its still on its way out, but seems as I dont generally go on 2 hour drives in my car I may be able to just forget about it for a while

Maybe get a thicker oil cheaper than a rebuild.

whats in her now sounds like 15w30? you could go for a mono grade for summer time. eg. 30 or 40 by Redline Bursons Airport West gets it in. Otherwise use a tad of STP or Moreys oil conditioner as you need it. Hard to tell though if it only smokes after 2 hours of driving! if you say you mainly did highway driving then monograde 40 works well in the hotter months while 30 is usually good all round but not over 45 degrees ambient. Anything lower than 20w is not suitable for our climate so 20/40 is decent. You can buy 2 grades of oil and mix them in equal amounts to make your own eg. 20or30w40 that way it covers the modern engine requirements at our summer temps and back in winter go back to sae 30 etc.

edit
Heres a helpful chart...

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