Turbo specialists, Melett have highlighted the importance of high quality parts when it comes to turbo repair and remanufacture and also how it’s expertise has allowed for the development of product solutions that actually provide superior quality to the original OE specification.

Melett’s Engineering Manager, Mark Tindall, says that the company can often use its experience and expertise to produce a parts design that offer better performance and longevity. He says, "‘Where an OE manufacturer will incorporate improvements into newer turbo designs, turbos that are entering the aftermarket at 4-5 years old will still incorporate the original design specification. Due to homologation, once a turbocharger design is approved by a vehicle manufacturer, the turbo OEM’s cannot deviate from this original approved design without costly revisions.” He adds, "Quality aftermarket manufacturers, such as Melett, have the benefit of hindsight from analysing service failures in the market and combining this with knowledge of the latest developments in materials and manufacturing technology. This allows them to correct inherent design issues and also upgrade old turbo designs using new materials and improved component designs. The result is an improved aftermarket design over the original design.”

Mark gives a number of examples of this process:

Thrust Flinger - Improved Twin Ring Design: When the original KP35 turbo came out in the early 2000’s, it was a flatback designed compressor wheel with one piston ring groove on the flinger. The original design was prone to oil leaks at the compressor end as the piston ring seal wasn’t good enough. Borg Warner improved the design in later models by moving to a twin ring design, however the original turbos produced with a single piston ring remain, single ring, and have never changed. All Melett KP35 CHRA’s are supplied as standard with twin ring design.

Increased Strength Casting - ‘full back face’ design: In recent years, there has been a general move towards a full back face turbine wheel casting design. This design gives a significantly stronger blade, preventing fatigue failure of the individual turbine blades. In applications where the casting failure is commonly seen, Melett has changed the shaft and wheel design to include a full back face casting. This reduces the chance of fatigue failure and generally gives a longer life in harsh applications.

Hot Forged vs OE Stamped Thrust Bearing: The original K03/4 thrust bearings are produced using a stamped strip manufacturing process, which has limited strength. Melett produces the same part using the hot forged method, allowing use of a much superior high tensile silicon brass material which is common in most new applications.

Improved parts, like the above examples, will enhance the life of the repaired or remanufactured turbo. The result is a repaired turbo that performs better than the original unit fitted to the vehicle or the OE replacement available. Mark also points out that OE parts are not always the highest quality option even though they are usually the highest price.