guess I drove the evo with the turbo to manifold bolts loose. torqued to spec but should have checked them latter. pretty hard driving, maybe twenty laps on a road course and 180 miles home.

my question: since only part of the gasket was left when I pulled it out what have I done to the turbo?
it is making about 9 psi less than it did before and spool is slower. no smoke.

second question: did I ruin exhaust valves running with an exhaust leak at the manifold? Is that what is the problem with the turbo?

thanks, learning the dumb way.

 

Loose bolts will not ruin a turbo. If you have a large exhaust leak you are going to see a substantial loss in spool up. I have found even if not torqued to spec that it will be fine. Gasket missing is a huge issue a lot of drifters have when beating on the car for a long period of time. Haven't heard much of it on our cars. As far as the turbo goes then I would think it would be fine. Do a boost leak test to make sure you get all the small things out of the way before you blame the turbo.

 

I'm thinking part of the gasket burned up in the flow.

I first noticed something was wrong when the boost gauge only read about 14 lb.

After putting a new gasket on and checking clamps I'm getting 17 instead of 25.

So no issues with exhaust valves?

 

Valves have nothing to do with it. You probably have a boost leak due to inconsistent spikes.

 

what kind of gasket were you using? The stock one?

 

if the valves were burned you wouldnt have any compression or very little....and idle would be crap if it ran at all...so back to a leap some where

 

thanks for the help guys.

after checking the turbo for obstructions / tightening clamps, I thought I'd check the cat. That is where my problem was. It was dislodged inside the perrin hfc... too much back pressure.

replaced it with a test pipe (temporarily) and the world, no, I can breath easier.

 

use the test pipe on race day even high flow cats get stupid hot and the issue wil happen again eventualy. good luck