Evening all
The turbo actuator arm has snapped on my Mk5 gti (2005) I’ve been pondering on what to do. I’m torn between ko3 hybrid turbo and a full ko4 conversion. There’s a few things in not sure of. With ko3 hybrid is it just a straight remove and refit with no modifications to manifold? Could it be possible to send my turbo off for repair and the hybrid turbo mod? Or is it something I would just have to purchase as a unit. I’m not sure what is involved with the ko4 conversion and was hoping for a bit of an insight! Does it include replacement of inter cooler etc?
My exhaust is also blowing, everything is standard atm and as things go wrong or require replacement I’m using that as an incentive to upgrade! I was just wondering if anyones got any suggestions for an exhaust system they rate highly!
I’ll also attach an image of my broken turbo actuator arm! I’ve seen it’s quite common, those who have the issue seem to have an ongoing problem with them!
Many thanks
Owen
Do you have an overall power goal in mind? You can end up spending quite a bit of money upgrading the turbo and you’ll probably need a clutch too if manual. If you aren’t going to keep the car for long I’d think carefully about spend, because generally you won’t get it back.
If fitting parts yourself:
- Replacement K03 turbo (used) upwards of £150. Same power
- Replacement K04 turbo, piping etc and injectors (used) upwards of £1000 for parts and remap 310bhp / 310lbft ish. General safe limit is in the 350/350 range or a bit more for your engine, but that will require more parts.
To both of the above you can add supporting modifications and additional tuning. Costs climb quite significantly and obviously more if you are paying somebody else to do the work. Others will have numbers but I suspect a performance clutch is in the £1000-£1250 range fitted.
The basic K04 conversion doesn’t require anything other than the turbo, injectors, pipe work and tuning. No intercooler intake required. The problem is you may end up tuning more than once. Hence asking about your overall goal.
One option you have is a K04-lite upgrade. A K04 turbo and keeping your K03 injectors. Mallory Performance has a couple of YT videos where they do that. Obviously you would still need the tune. Mallory made similar figures to a full K04 conversion, however the injectors are obviously being worked harder and would need to be replaced if you wanted more.
To add, I believe a K03 hybrid would be a direct swap. On these cars the turbo and manifold are a single unit.