I didn't want to clutter the swap guide thread I started so figured I would just post here quickly.
I bought a he211w used from china on ebay. The seller claims the turbo was never run on a vehicle and from what I understand was only used for testing on a dyno I believe (bit of a language barrier in our talks).
After 6 business days it arrived today (way faster then expected) and physically its extremely clean. No noticeable oil leaking from it, the exhaust inlet/outlet have 0 soot and my finger comes away clean when wiping inside them. The exhaust side of the housing was painted black and is starting to peel off in places but there is 0 rust on it. There is practically no in and out play, however there is maybe 1/8" of up and down and it looks like the cold side of the shaft has slightly more play then the exhaust side but it doesnt look like the blades touch the housing but they come extremely close. Is this normal or anything to worry about? It doesnt look like the housing is worn around the blades.
I'd post pics but my cell phone, and my backup cell phone both *** the bed this week
I'm also shocked by how small this turbo is! Its quite a bit smaller then the k24 I have on the aaz right now.