Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) turbo shaft side play on newer superB

[JJanetka]

I picked up a super b and some ddp2 injectors and installed them a couple thousand plus miles ago but haven't really romped on it yet due to some transmission issues that I finally resolved. I decided to tune in the afc and got her running pretty well. Iv'e been running the stock air box with a K&N filter and noticed a significant increase in noise level when the turbo went on but it seemed to be getting quieter lately and didn't spool up as fast as I remembered on my test runs. I popped off the intake and found enough side to side play that I can make the compressor wheel touch the housing. Oil supply seems like it should have been sufficient as there was no restriction in the feed line and a fair amount of fresh oil in the turbo. The turbo brand new did not have hardly any side play. I put the stock HX back on and I pulled the superb apart. I'm going to check it again in the morning but it appeared that the shaft to brass bearing(bushing) was minimal however the bearing to housing was significant. I'm going to call BD on Monday. What do you think?

 

[hsmith]

I think I want to know what they say, cause I am running one. Haven't had any issues though.

 

[JJanetka]

I spoke with Loren at BD who told me that there should be a significant amount of side to side play due to the much higher rpm these turbos turn. I found about . 020" play which gave me about . 004" between the impeller and the housing which initially seemed to be touching. Loren said that this was normal for this turbo. He said that there should be very little in and out or endplay. I measured . 003" which was determined to also be acceptable. One thing I noticed lately was that even at temps. in the 40's I was having to give the truck more and more throttle to get it started and keep it running when cold. Temp. is 44 deg. now and the truck lit right off like it used to with the stock charger. I'm going to keep the stock charger on for a bit and see how it starts and what egts I run. My main concern for switching turbos was that it became way to easy to bark the stock turbo and the superb definitely solved that problem but a larger ex housing and hx 40 downpipe would have done that. Now that I made it easier to switch between the two I'm going to experiment.

 

[hsmith]

Yeah, but a larger housing would not spool as fast. I ran the 16 n/wg on my hx35 and it would still bark at me. Am pleased with the SB so far.