Turbo Balance

[nukefission]

The compressor wheel on my 14B was grenaded recently (pic in my sig) so I'm running on a loaner 14B. In the meantime, the busted 14B is being fixed with a new compressor wheel/housing and probably new turbo seals. It will also be ported and port-matched to other parts on the car when it goes back in. My question is will the balance of this turbo be compromised by putting a new compressor wheel on it? The turbo is in otherwise excellent condition as there is zero shaft play and it spins very easily. It spins just as great with the new wheel on it, but that's at like 2 rpm. I'm wondering if it would be any different at the 100,000 rpm that the turbo normally spins at.

Any input on the matter would be great. But don't tell me to just get a bigger turbo. I don't want to yet.

Thanks.

[Toast]

I'm not 100% sure on this fact. But supposedly the compressor wheel and turbine wheel/shaft are balanced separately on the 14B and then assembled together. Which means you could take any 14B compressor wheel and TD05H shaft, put them together, and they "should" be within reasonable balance.

Having said that, I admit I didn't place much faith in this info :) Used components have time to fall out of spec and there's no guarantee they were well balanced to begin with. If you plan on keeping the turbo for some time, IMHO it would be worth it to send it out to be balanced. When I rebuilt my 14B, I sent it out to Majestic Turbo of Dallas to be balanced. They did a good job and the price (~$50) was reasonable considering how much of a PITA it would be to pull the turbo again :D

[beerglass]

Yeah if you plan on keeping the turbo for any length of time get it balanced. All turbos have to be balanced after the comp wheel and turbine shafts are assembled. It'll work for quite a while without balancing though, mines lasted a year with no ill effects yet.

Clinton
1990 Talon Tsi Awd @17 psi

[Viprklr]

What they said.
The whole shaft with both wheels gets balanced separately. The trick is getting it together 100% balanced.
To be safe just send it out to get balanced.