My 82 Turbo automatic coupe has recently been consuming oil at the rate of about 1 quart every 250 miles. The car does not leak oil or anything else. It has good power and starts up fine, except for some blue/gray smoke, which clears as the car warms up. I ran a compression test with a hot engine and WOT and got the following:

Dry After adding oil
#1 145 155
#2 145 155
#3 150 160
#4 150 160
#5 150 160
#6 150 160

My research here and other places, as well as 'my' mechanic, tell me it's probably valve seals. I've seen the procedure on the internet about replacing the seals with the head in the car, but with 120,000 miles I figure it's a good time to get the head rebuilt. Then, since the head is off the car, I figured I should rebuild (and jet hot) the intake manifold with all the emission and cold start stuff, replace the injectors, and get the turbo rebuilt. In total, after pricing all the parts, rebuilding, and other costs, I'm looking at about $2000, including some "bling". My mechanic says he wants $1000 for labor if I supply all the parts.

My question is, is this a job that a 'home' mechanic can do in a garage? The head and turbo rebuild I would farm out. I know about the timing chain tension tool. I am pretty good but self taught working on the car, but this job would be my most ambitious project yet. I have the FSM, Haynes, and the Monroe rebuild book. I would like to do the job over the winter - the car's off the road for about 4 months anyway. My biggest fear is breaking frozen studs and bolts. I really like working on the car and want to do as much as possible myself, but don't want to get in over my head.

Am I nuts? Does the above make sense? Should I just pay my mechanic the $1000? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

I would get a 2nd (or 3rd) opinion before doing any major work.

$1000-$2000 is quite high... removing the head is actually quite simple, just time consuming. You've got the Haynes manual & FSM... you're already set. The crappiest part about it, is removing the turbo downpipe.

If you pull the head yourself, take it directly to a well known machine shop. Surfacing, valve job, and parts shouldn't be more that $400-$500. New timing chain kit... $150. Gaskets... $100. Yada yada yada.

Take your turbo to a good turbo shop.... nowhere else.

Studs... any rusted nuts/bolts/studs... pre-soak w/ PB Blaster a day or 2 before starting. Apply several times.

It's always easiest for me to leave the manifolds attached to the head & yank it all in one piece... but you'll want a cherry picker to do that (don't want to throw out ya back).

Other lil tips will come up in this thread too.

 

you i second what nismopick says, it should be a bit cheaper, unless your in canada like me, then you get hosed. and take the manifolds off AFTER the head is outta the car, takes most really good guys aboot an hour to get the head completly off and stripped

 

^^^aboot thats bad^^^. I love canadians

 

dude, its the freakin' turbo itself! ??? (probably)

Take off the j-pipe. I bet that thing has oil just caked inside of it.

Buy a brand spankin' new one and install it yerself for far less than a grand. Nismopick will even drive to your house to help you!

 

Oh... whas that? Bleach will come too? Okay cool....

 

I'm the evil twin. I don't help people. I just sit here in my lay-z-boy and BS on Zdriver all day long


I might come along so I can prop my feet up in the car and watch you two work on it...

 

actually it is probably just the turbo seals. Bearing is probably allright. turbo is a pretty simple device. bucket wheel on each end of a shaft bearing in the middle with oil seals to keep the oil in the bearing housing.

 

OK, I'll pull the J pipe and take a look. I was planning on rebuilding the turbo anyway, so if I find oil I'll do that first. I have a place in Pennsylvania that was recommended to me that will do the turbo rebuild for $375 to $475. Is that reasonable? Bleach recommended I buy a new one instead. Where can I get a new stock turbo, and how much should I expect to pay?

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions, and I will report back when I get the J Pipe off.

 

Don't bother with a stock turbo or even a stock rebuild. If you're going to rebuild it, the difference in technology from when these turbo's were originally designed and 25 years later is unimaginable from an engineering perspective.

If you get a new one, get a T3/T4 hybrid with a reasonably sized compressor and you can run the same boost with much more flow and much better upgradeability when/if you ever decide to up the boost.

If you have yours rebuilt, you can have a T4 compressor installed on your T3 and get the same hybrid, but you'll still be running the old original design on the exhaust side.

I would tend to agree with Bleach and just buy a new one from Turbonetics or an authorized Garrett distributor.

 

i can sell ya a rebuilt t4 turbo for 450 plus shipping. good for 20 psi

 

I appreciate the advice to upgrade the turbo to a newer model or a hybrid T4/T3 setup, but I want to keep the car stock. Are new T3's available? I didn't see them at the sites lww mentioned (maybe I missed them). Is $375 to $475 reasonable for a rebuild of my stock T3?

 

Shady will that T4 fit on my 84 z31?

 

a T4 will not bolt directly in place of a T3. You'd need an adapter on the exhaust side to make it fit your manifold, but then you'd have frame clearance to worry about. Of you could get the stock flange cut off and have a new T4 flange welded to the manifold. Also, the stock downpipe setup wouldn't bolt up either so you'd have to get a new flange welded to your downpipe.Other than that its all dependant on inlet/outlet size.

So you can make it fit, but it wont just drop in

 

i will stick with my UnComplicated N/A.

 

Yeah but the na is the cruiser, I like the feel of the G's puttin ya back in the seat when that boost starts to hit. I might hit you up on that T4 shady, I have to see how things pan out first. Im getting a 2+2 today for a case of beer (clean title!) its rougher than hell, but my buddys neighbor has a coupe w/o a title that I passed up cause its rusted up in the floor. Panels are in decent shape so I gonna go back and snag it, Im gonna make my own skittle lol! I'll fix what I can and part the rest. There both T-tops and they both run...imagine the possibilitys.