I tore apart my "donor" turbo to see exactly what it is that fails... it was pretty obvious.
On these first couple pictures, I inverted the colors to make the problem extremely visible... plus they were dark
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y292/mrmeanr/DSC00001.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y292/mrmeanr/DSC00002.jpg
Now this gasket is not only entirely too thin, but its also about an easy inch too large, as well as split. With a 76mm wheel spinning at 80,000rpm... you can see why that could become a problem pretty quickly.
Another thing i noticed was on the backplate... its surface is rough and unmachined, as you can see in this next pic...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y292/mrmeanr/DSC000031.jpg
in other words... garbage.
Now the good news is, i never planed on running this side of the turbo... oh no, its too little. I had some wheels lieing around so i took a pic of the difference in size.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y292/mrmeanr/DSC000041.jpg
Even the large wheel is small, compared to what i have my eye on :burn: