Gtr turbo removal....

[cschepp]

Ok so when I removed them the first time the engine was out and it was a pain in the d*** but it eventually got done with the tools I had. Now that the engine is in the car I am having one he'll of a time getting to the bottom of the manifold bolts to uninstall them. Does anyone happen to have an idea of a better tool to use then a standard wrench to get these things off? I have four sets of each kind of wrench(standard and metric) in both ratchet and normal. I tried getting a socket in but there is no way in he'll that's going to work. And my fat hands are having a he'll of a time getting into the small areas.....


Any suggestions?

Reason why I am taking them out is because I am going to get the turboes looked at by a professional and if they need to be rebuilt then atleast I know. This is the last thing before the car hits the road so any help will be appreciated

[Bravo]

Under most instances you need to have swivle sockets on extensions to get in there!

[cschepp]

I tried that and I can't get even close to where I need to be. I have long and short socket as well as ling and short extension. This is such a pain in the ass considering it will be the absolute last thing to fix ad I think I finally fixed the awd problem today

[Bravo]

Are you able to get it up on a lift and drop you passenger side suspension out of the way?

[dickered32]

I was just talking to cortexx about his turbo removal. Maybe he can help you out with some tips.

[cschepp]

Ok so I was thinking about it and I think I will just tackle it the harder way(the only way I can see it working and me not blowing up the damn car in frustration). Here is what I was thinking:

1. Remove the turbo bracket on the bottom that braces the turboes
2. Remove down pipe
3. Remove all the lines off the turbos
4. Unbolt the turboes from manifolds

At this point they should drop downwards and out right? I know the front one might possibly catch on the motor mount bracket but I'm hoping not. And the back one should drop right out if I did it this way. Anyways if anyone can think of an easier way that would be great. I will be taking a run at this tomorrow as tonight priority was the attessa system fix.

[93VSpec]

I pretty much just followed the service manual to get them out.
One key for the lower manifold bolts was to use a 1/4 socket & extensions and to get the front turbo as low as possible.
I doubt you'd be able to get either of the turbos out the bottom of the engine bay, mine would barely drop down the 1/2" I needed to get at the manifold bolts.

[cschepp]

I don't want to take the turboes out of the bottom that was prolly just said the wrong way. I want to lower them enough so I can get them past the studs that go to the manifolds and pull them out.

Oh btw 93vspec did you happen to send the restrictors

[superdaveosbourne]

The way I got mine out was pretty much along the lines of what you're thinking. Unbolt the turbos from the manifold and all the lines going to them. You can then drop the turbo far enough to get at the bottom bolts of the manifold. Remove manifold, pull turbo up and out. It may take some fudging around to get the turbo at the right angle but it does work.

When you're putting the turbos back on, pay attention when you're putting the fat washers back on. They have a convex and concave side so they act like a spring and provide tension on the manifold so it doesn't rattle loose. The concave side goes against the block.

[mitch32]

You gotta move the turbo down.

If you got off the last turbo bolt (the one one the rear turbo at the back), then you should have no problem getting to the manifold bolts.

[cschepp]

Sweet! I dot had transport to the shop today and don't feel like walking 5 hours cause I have to work early but Wednesday the turboes will be out for sure. When they do get out and my new ones back in man oh man am I going to rip this thing!

[cschepp]

So after all the frustration on the previous attempt to uninstall these I finally decided to take a step back and see how I was going to approach the situation. I plugged in the acdc and gave her shiit. Both turboes are out. And it was surprisingly easy after doing like I had planned.

I ended up dropping them off the manifold, unbolt the manifold and pull both the manifold and turboes out. I prepped my new ones and will be putting those back into tomorrow.


Thank you to everyone for providing some thoughts it helped me figure things out. You guys are awesome. Cheers!