Rebuilding a turbo at home.

Has anyone rebuilt a turbo at home?

If so, how well did it hold up?

It is very easy and will make it nearly like new as long as you don't need shafts,housings,wheels, ect. It should hold up nearly as good as a new one.

ive never rebuilt a turbo yet.. but i thought you needed to get it balanced once its rebuilt?

Most exhaust shaft assemblies will be balanced and the compressor wheels is balanced seperately so they can be mixed and matched and still be in balance.

ive never rebuilt a turbo yet.. but i thought you needed to get it balanced once its rebuilt?

It depends on who you want to believe.
As 534BC said, the parts are balanced individually, but when the assembly is balanced the nut is modified to take care of any small residual imbalance.

According to the diesel engine reference book, the residual imbalance is only a noise issue and only passenger car turbos used to be balanced.

I've swapped compressor wheels before and that turbo has done approx 70,000km since (at 12psi almost the entire time). If you're rebuilding a turbo that was balanced you can simply make sure the compressor wheel and nut go back on in the same orientation.
But I've swaped compressor wheels in the one I've rebuilt so that wasn't an option. I fitted a new nut without balance marks.