Everyone knows Forced Performance has turned out some great turbos. I own one, and I am a strong advocate of their work. However, something has come to my attention that anyone who owns one, or plans to own one should know.

I have an HTA3582. Drifto has an HTA3076. I have the previous style of compressor cover, he has the present style. The one thing we both have in common is that our compressor covers both leak at the base - each badly enough to warrant attention. Mine appears to be especially bad, and revealed itself as a fairly audible rush of air when pressurized above 20psi.

The fix (which he has already done) is to simply remove the cover, and replace with a good bead of Permatex gray acting as a gasket. Do this whether or not your cover has an o-ring, as they both seem to leak equally. With this easy piece of insurance, you can be assured of not having a leak that is no fun to fix after the turbo is installed.

FYI

 

good info

 

wow good to know as i just bought a red w/80mm cover!

but what is Permatex gray?

 

Permatex "Ultra Grey" sensor-safe gasket sealer.

 

very interesting, wonder who else has had such an issue with these types of compressor housings.. anyway, great info..

 

I have not noticed this with my red. I will have to check as well...

 

Ted B always helping the community, definitely lives up to the title "EvoM guru"

 

good info

 

does it effect the 80mm reds and blacks etc?

 

I've seen turbos from various sources not having compressor cover o-rings. My off-the-shelf gt35r did not have one.

 

It doesn't seem to matter if it has an o-ring or not. Mine has an o-ring and leaks like a sieve.

Does this apply to the Mitsubishi style turbos (e.g. FP Red, Black, Green, etc.)? I do not know.

 

did you find this through a boost leak test?

 

I was doing a little 93 octane tune and ran into an issue. I thought I had everything sorted, and then I observed this:



G = rpm
AE = boost
AT = 2-byte load
AW = airflow

Observe how boost pressure drops almost 10 psi from 6000 to 7000 rpm. I had to turn the GM 3-port solenoid to 100% WGDC to get anything greater than 25 psi, and when I finally did, I got a big spike and a subsequent dropoff in boost, load, and airflow. Obviously, something is wrong here. Good thing I had my big water injection system activated as a safety precaution.

When I pressure tested it, a hardly noticeable waft of air behind the compressor cover became an audible woosh as I turned the regulator past 25psi. Now, I have to determine I am going to be able to address this issue without pulling the darn turbo off the car (I have a big T4 hotside).

 

good info!

 

I've never, ever seen a comp. cover with an o-ring leak. This applies to all MHI turbos and some Borg Warners that I've run. I've not seen a Garrett BB CHRA that used an o-ring though.

I always put a thin coat of grey RTV on the seal between the backplate and comp. cover on any install if there isn't an o-ring, though. Otherwise you're almost guaranteed a leak there. I'm still shocked that every turbo supplier doesn't supply directions for doing so, as this seems to occur over and over on various forums.