Well, it's time for a new turbo.
 

So I went to the track, and did some more useless radial 1/4 mile powerslides...turbo wasn't making a whole lot of boost or holding it, and just didn't feel right at all. Trap speed was about 15 or more mph off from where it should be, and all was pretty foul, even in good weather.

Driving home, I noticed with the windows down that the pitch of the turbo had changed dramatically. Turned to my buddy, and he agreed, something wasn't right. In a classic move worthy of a rocket scientist, I downshifted and made one more run at it to confirm what I knew.

Bye bye turbo. Crunch, ratlle, chunka-chunka, poof. The end.

I guess I really need to rebuild it now.

damn, how did the sound change, can you describe?

It just sounded odd...kind of like a squeal along with the whistle...you know, that thing bearings do before they seize? Yeah...I didn't think about it until now. I'm certain those seals that were going when the STS oil pump went last time finally gave up.

might want to make sure you dont need a new intercooler as well.

maybe didn't have enough oil getting to it or was it a budget unit?

Great...thanks for the heads-up Mouse. No, it's a T76GTS, no budget unit there.

In talking to another turbo guy at the track, he was telling me that part of my oil pump problems may have stemmed from me driving the STS pump on high-flow all the time, and that's not necessarily as good for the CBB turbos as it is for the journal bearing units. Either way, I had a prior oil pump failure and I am sure this is a result of continuing to hammer an injured unit.