• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

Crusty turbo hot side turbine ?- how to clean ?

Jack

junkman
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Location
The Ass Cheek Of History
Doing a turbo rebuild

Looking for suggestions on what to use on the hot side turbine. I used brass bristle dermal before it was ok

Any chemical that will loosen that crud up?
 
Evapo-Rust. Have not done any turbine housings but couple exhaust manifolds. Harbor Freight has it or you can order online cheaper.
 
I'm dipping my stuff in citric acid. 10% mixture with water. Nice stuff.
This (+heat to speed the process up) or sandblasting. Phosphoric acid is also nice, but I don't have experience with it on parts that have endure more heat.

e: Whoops. I was also thinking hot side housing, not turbine...
 
Last edited:
+1 for Evapo-Rust. It's reusable and has a long shelf-life, so it's nice to have around for general purpose rust removal chores. Soaking old hardware, brackets, etc. Krud Kutter is good stuff too. But it's more expensive than Evapo-Rust. And I don't think you can store and re-use it over and over again.

That said, if you really want to do it right (and don't want to do any scrubbing): 1 hour submerged in muriatic acid will probably make it look like new. Just keep an eye on it because it'll go after good metal once all the rust is gone.
 
I'm dipping my stuff in citric acid. 10% mixture with water. Nice stuff.
Interesting on citric acid, have you used it on exhaust turbines?

If you have a gas powered pressure washer, or a GOOD electric one, there are some liquid media blasting kits. This is what I'd use, ghetto vapor honing.

https://www.eastwood.com/liquid-med..._7Ewro17RptM9Yb_RoKjC1TFcmWvB4ZUaAo9sEALw_wcB

https://www.amazon.com/Selkie-Press...t=&hvlocphy=9060382&hvtargid=pla-900488581190

I have access to a 25x10ft blasting room… but sand would I be too rough IMO …( we actually use iron media) http://turbobricks.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6170947&postcount=24

Gas powered pressure washer from Costco ftw here … I use it almost daily for the last few years

Evapo-Rust. Have not done any turbine housings but couple exhaust manifolds. Harbor Freight has it or you can order online cheaper.
But it’s not rust. I have used evapo rust many times

This (+heat to speed the process up) or sandblasting. Phosphoric acid is also nice, but I don't have experience with it on parts that have endure more heat.
Those would be too abrasive

+1 for Evapo-Rust. It's reusable and has a long shelf-life, so it's nice to have around for general purpose rust removal chores. Soaking old hardware, brackets, etc. Krud Kutter is good stuff too. But it's more expensive than Evapo-Rust. And I don't think you can store and re-use it over and over again.

That said, if you really want to do it right (and don't want to do any scrubbing): 1 hour submerged in muriatic acid will probably make it look like new. Just keep an eye on it because it'll go after good metal once all the rust is gone.

I’m sticking to my soda blasting because the turbine wheel is so delicate
 
I use a glass bead blaster but tape over the shaft.
Then a light coat of oil till Im ready to put it together.
Patrick



 
So what did you end up using and to what result? I want to clean the exhaust wheel on a 16T I just picked up. Soak the blades in oven cleaner? Evapo-Rust didn't do anything to the baked on deposits.
 
Jack, were you asking about the turbine wheel (not housing)? Glass bead blasting is the way to go as HRPufNStuf said above.

We use glass bead blasting on our fancy racing turbo rebuilds here at work. You do have to be very careful with the shaft. Mask it very securely starting where it necks down just under the larger hub behind the turbine wheel. The hub (with piston ring groove) can be blasted clean. But you don't want the beads to touch the bearing journals at all.
 
So what did you end up using and to what result? I want to clean the exhaust wheel on a 16T I just picked up. Soak the blades in oven cleaner? Evapo-Rust didn't do anything to the baked on deposits.

Nothing really works except sand blasting/bead blasting. Takes about 1 min to get it clean. I don't blast the compressor wheel(I soaked that in Berryman chem dip for a day). I've been sucessful in cleaning the turbine housing with the smallest wire wheel you can find for a drill or a die grinder.
 
Back
Top