62 Turbo Question

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

Well, I have about 500 miles on the fresh motor, and the TE-62 had 500 miles on it when I bought last yr at BPG Nat's in OH. (That makes it at about 1000 total miles since the last rebuild) When I bought it, it was nice and tight, no real play to speak of, so last weekend I took it off to swap the "ears" from my TE-44 so I could mount the 62 to the turbo bracket which of course the turbo heat shield is mounted to also. Now the shaft is far from tight, but not rubbing the sides, the car has not seen a flat out run yet, a couple of blasts getting on the exspressway and a few 3-5 second blasts @ 22lbs boost.
I have rebuilt a few turbo's over the years, just don't feel like doing it with such few miles on this old school 62.
Is there a rule of thumb when to take a turbo out of service? The car does not have any issues with boost, spool up, oil burning, leaking from turbo and the performance seems pretty good, boost seems instant to me. Is paranoia setting in?

Chuck

 

[Slow91z]

Is the play side to side or up and down?? I think that people get paranoid about how much play their turbo has. All of my turbos have had some play. As long as it's not excessive (like so much you can hear it go DONK when you push the shaft in and out) I wouldn't be too awful scared.

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

The play is side to side, nothing in and out.

Chuck

 

[Slow91z]

I have always been told in and out is what you need to be scared of.

 

[street6]

I agree, if it has no in & out play, and does not smoke I would not be worried. If it's a journal bearing it's gonna have some up and down play. When I purchased my te60 new it had a little up and down play, but absolutely no in and out play. Journal bearing turbos require more oil, and from what I was told the up and down play is necessary for the shaft to float in oil as it spins.

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

Thanks for the advice guys, paranoia is going away....

Chuck