E60: Update + New Turbo!

Right, now the E60 is back on the road and all legit it's time I fine fettled the engine-vacuum and rattling exhaust issues left from the engine swap. The exhaust needs realigning at the back of the turbo so it doesn't contact the bracket and the vibration-dampers can be set correctly. The only way to do this is to first remove the rocker-cover and injectors and after my injector-seal problems with the new engine I haven't been able to justify doing that unless it's really essential and that time is now.
The culmination of all my messing around with the vacuum-lines [from this post] is a partly-boosting turbo that sounds like a police-siren. From the word go I was told this is the key sign of a broken turbo, but just couldn't believe it as the turbo seemed to be working ok after the initial engine rebuild (or was it?!) and the other vacuum niggles gave me false hope that it could be a cheap, easy fix. I should have learned by now that this is never the case and have now come to the conclusion of a glaringly obvious broken turbo. I guess that swirl-flap destroyed every part of the motor that it passed through, so lets hope and pray, seriously, that I don't have catalytic-converter issues in future.

So here is my replacement turbo. It's from an E65 730d and was the only used turbo I could find that fits my 'vacuum-actuated' setup, rather than the later and far more common 'electronic-actutor' type. I got it for the spiffing price of just £200, including delivery, but alas there is another catch - the front casing is dented at the outlet-port to the intercooler and the alloy has cracked, maybe during transit, but probably in the crash that wrote-off the 7-Series. This isn't a major setback though, as the front casing just bolts on and is a dry fit, so should not be much drama to swap the cleaner casing from my turbo onto this one. It also plays no part in the functionality of the blower, so if the mechanism works then it works. I'm no turbo expert but there is less play in the spindle than my current blower so if it cures the problem it will have definitely been worth the extra effort for the knock-down price.