Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Forced Induction I'm LIVID ... the saga begins!!!

you need an "easy out" to get it out.

After you get the flange off look and see if the piece of bolt is sticking up out of the turbo housing or if it is recessed inside. If recessed, the easy out is the way to go. IF it's sticking up you have some options.

I would sue but you would be fighting an uphill battle.
You should have known better then to buy the car just based on the site it came from much less the completely ignorant idiots that worked on it. 'nuff said.


My condolences. You have painfully learned the valuable life lesson that taking over someone else's ignorantly failed project is not what you ever want to do. Period.

Trev- first make sure the turbo is still good before you salvage any of it. Like Stazi said, with all that rod sticking out in the up pipe there could be damage. Next, why don't you consider just buying a new turbine housing? It's cheaper than a drill press. Unless you've been looking for a good reason to get drill press.

OK, took some more pictures to show how the wastegate was setup. However first I must share a link I found when searching for bolt extraction techniques ... it covers just about every conceivable option for pulling a broken bolt/stud from a threaded hole:

http://yarchive.net/car/broken_bolt_remove.html

On with the pictures:

Turbo�s down pipe & wastegate area overview.


Turbo's Turbine flange area. Note the small diameter of the opening. This setup would benefit greatly from a traditional wastegate placement and just have this port blocked off by the down-pipe flange. Note the snapped off bolt head in the bottom right and the threads that snapped off in the top center.


Close up of the snapped of threads ... like I said before, about 2 threads deep


Contrary to suggestions of the welding wire possibly breaking off (very possible), there are no signs that this has happened. The turbine wheel is free of defects and spins freely with no wobble or end-play. All the vanes are in great shape.


Close-up of turbine bypass port.


Turbine's bypass port tube to wastegate flange. Note the rust path to the left, evidence of a massive exhaust leak ... I guess a sprite can doesn't make a good gasket.


Down-pipe flange showing bypass port tube to wastegate flange.


Wastegate & flange "base plate" ... note the raised seat that the piston sits against, thus the "gap" around the piston. Anyone have any idea what wastegate this is? There are no markings on the wastegate.


Conclusions: TONS of room for improvements with proper wastegate placement in relation to up-pipe/down-pipe. The turbo is definitely is good shape IF the internal seals are good. Oil in the intake tract has me concerned. As some may remember in my previous posts on this subject, the air filter was soaking in oil that had come down the intake setup. I cleaned the filter and re-oiled it and it isn�t soaking so I suspect it�s oil being drawn in from the valve cover breathers/PCV valve tube.

FYI, it's a T3/T4 Hybrid T04E with an A/R of .63 ... good for about 400hp

Trevor- I have a drill press now if you need one...

Interesting read. What a CF! Let me know if I can help... Just got my Cougar back into the realm of the living, see other thread...