Dumb question about t25 with blown seal

[SketchyRollin564]

For the longest time i rode around on a t25 with blown seal/s. It wouldnt really build up oil in the intercooler piping, but i would POUR smoke out the exhaust, and i would literally check my oil level every day, and sometimes twice a day just to be safe because it would lose oil so fast.

ive since replaced that with another t25 with hardly any shaft play, and it doesnt smoke at all. Turbo response is better, spools up quicker, no smoke, awesome. The only wierd thing about the turbo is that it had an aftermarket elbow welded on to the back side of the exhaust housing where its usually held on by 5 bolts. This is good in the fact that it will never leak from that gasket, but bad if the elbow ever cracks and needs to be replaced


sure enough... it cracked! It literally cracked about 90% of the way around, right after the where it bolts to the turbo, but before it turns down and connects to the down pipe.

i took off the whole exhaust for the time being. I met somebody at the local car meet who was willing to help me out and weld around the elbow in the cracked/open spots that he could reach. Its not 100% perfect, but its a hell of a lot better than it was, and at least it wont fall off while im driving.

In the mean time im running open downpipe, which is kind of fun, but also extremely annoying for me since i hate overly loud cars. I ordred poly exhaust hanger bushings, a new elbow, and a new down pipe with a flex section and a transmission mount bracket so this will never happen again

the only problem im having is figuring out what to do about getting the new elbow on... It seems like grinding those welds off would be near impossible, and if i did get them off, it would never be perfectly flat and the elbow, turbo, and gasket would never make a perfect seal. I dont want to have leaks there

the other option is to take off the back housing from my old turbo, and swap that with the "new" turbo. This seems like it would be a lot easyer as far as getting everything to fit, but im wondering if this will just make turbo start smoking again? Considering there was never really oil in the intercooler piping, but i would burn oil out the exhaust

i dont know too much about how the inside of a turbo works, but would changing the exhaust housing bring the possiblity of the car smoking again? or does that have nothing to do with the housing and are all all the seals inside that center cartridge?

thanks in advance

[OutToWinPAHC]

you have two, order a good 360 kit, balance the better shaft and make a good one.

[SketchyRollin564]

im guessing response would be a tiny bit better but on a little t25 that i plan on upgrading anyways i dont think the investment would be worth it.

Im trying to save as much cost as possible, so "free" by swapping the housings v/s spending about $100 (guessing) to do that, i would prefer to put the that money towards my rent or an alignment which my car is in desperate need of

plus this needs to all get done in one night, and i cant really have the car out of commission other than whatever night everything gets done on

But still doesnt answer my question lol, would i be able to use the the exhaust housing from the old turbo without swapping the seal, or would that basically bring back the same problem as my old turbo?

[SketchyRollin564]

bump?

[Khost26]

The housings only direct air flow. It should work fine with the old one.

[SketchyRollin564]

so in other words, all seals are inside the center cartridge and swapping the exhaust housing will leave the seal un-touched?