So like everyone I'm on a budget and a timeline. I bought a used evo 9 turbo off a member, low miles and stock car, great. Now it seems my car is smoking at idle and I'm losing oil slowly (had to add 3/4 of a qt after a 500 mile trip, but under normal dd conditions I don't lose much). I've been told it is most likely the turbo seals going bad. So, I'm wondering what are my best options. I am stock block with bolt ons, tune, S2 cams, the usual to make 350/350 to the wheels on pump gas. I am currently at a class away from home for 2 months, tdy for you military folks, and I do have class mates that can give me a ride. So I'd like to send my turbo out to be rebuilt and I've decided either FP to rebuild to stock evo 9 specs or upgrade to a HTA71, or MAP for an EF1. I'd rather not have my car down more than a week or so, I have heard about waiting time stories for FP since they do get quite a bit of business. Also, I'm not trying to make more power at this stage, so if I do go HTA71 or EF1 I'll need to be retuned, but if convinced it's worth it I may Let me know any other suggestions for rebuilds or other low budget turbo upgrades. Thanks guys.

 

CBRD BBK lite is a good option. I'm not sure what the turn around time is though.

 

If you're worried about return time from Fp than a bbk full or ef2 would be good options. I know you say you want to keep the power where it is but after awhile you might want more. I would get something like those that way you could keep the power the same for now then if you wanted to later you could turn the boost up and have room to play with.

 

whats the usual turn around time from map for an ef1 or 2?

 

I just bought a IX with MAP EF3! I am very impressed and just got back from EvolutionDynamics to get a tune where they were impressed too. MAP has live people available to answer your calls and my research shows they are very good. Not ever used FP, but hear good things too. I just have experience with MAP and am happy.

 

Its going to be more then a week for a turn around, but you can 'buy' the EF1 and then do the switcheroooo to get a 'core' exchange most likely (maybe). Call up MAP, I'm 100% sure they will work with you

 

So just an update, my turbo is good. No shaft play and no signs of leaking anywhere. On the other hand, after taking my exhaust manifold out I could see 2 of my exhaust valves were quite clean and had a trail of oil. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I need Valve stem seals. Guess I shoulda done them when I did my cams/springs in December...but they weren't leaking before, live and learn I suppose. So I burn a little during idle. Plan on driving the car back home in NM in a month, 500mi trip and I'll change it once I get there since I refuse to pay $600+ for changing some $10 seals. I know its never good to drive a car with any sort of problem, but can anyone forsee catastrophic failure? I'm sure theres been a few folks on here that drove around on leaking valve stem seals.

 

What ended up being the problem?

 

Glad you found the problem even though the prognosis is less than ideal. Just for the future when you're thinking about upgrading your turbo, fp turn around time last year around this time was about two weeks including shipping time. The upgrade was fun for a few weeks until I realized I probably should have shelled out the few extra hundred bucks for the hta 73 (green). Also the bigger turbo's put less of a strain on your block because they minimize low end torque. Realistically the green or red are great budget friendly options. Anyway hopes this helped.

 

My problem ended up being valve stem seals like I thought. I also found I had cracked 2 of my valve retainers, so glad I caught that before catastrophic engine failure. I'm wanting to get an hta green when it does come time to upgrade