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Yesterday, Ali and I embarked on the project of swapping out my car's turbo. Some of you know, I had bought an XS Power top mount kit, for which I did receive some flames on and off the forum, lol. But I have soldiered on and tried to reinforce some of the stuff on it.
Anyway, I decided to make a write-up on how we have gopne about doing it. The project is still far from complete, as we still havent installed the turbo, and need the custom piping made, but anyway, I will continue to add to this as and when we progress. For now, enjoy what we have done so far. Here is a step-by step guide on what we did and how we did it.
1. Disconnect the intake piping - remove from the throttle body on one side and the intercooler on the other
2. Disconnect the oil catch lines and all vacuum lines leading to/from the intake piping
3. Disconnect the battery and MAF
4. Remove the turbo intake pipe and set it aside. Leafve the MAF on it
5. Disconnect and remove the intercooler-turbo line
6. Spray WD-40 or some other lubricant on ALL the bolts and nuts on the turbo flange, the exhaust manifold, and turbo downpipe. This is very important, especially in my case, since there was quite a bit of rust on some of the bolts and we did NOT realize we needed to do it, until I snapped a bolt on the flange that connects the turbo to the downpipe. Wait for a couple of minutes and have a smoke or a beer or just make fun of people driving by in the parking lot
7. Disconnect the downpipe from the turbo - they are held together by FOUR bolts on the top and two nuts on the bottom. I think they are all 13mm. The lower two nuts are a B%$&# to get to, so this is what we did - we jacked up the car from the front and put it on jackstands.
Then we did rock paper scissors to see who would go under the knife.......err...............car. I lost. First we thought that maybe we should disconnect the turbo WITH the downpipe and just disconnect the three bolts holding the downpipe with the exhaust (the triangular flange that has 14mm bolts). But they wouldn't even budge. The socket got stuck on one of them and I spent a good part of an hour under it, trying to pry it out. It did, but after me realizing that looking under the car for so long was not the healthiest of sights for me and I needed to somehow get out from under it. That's when we decided to just unbolt the downpipe from the turbo.
Now it was Ali's turn to get under the car - being slim, he fit in nicely under it and he was able to reach the two b%$^& nuts on the underside of the turbo-downpipe flange and open them up.
8. Using a 17mm spanner (you North Americans call it a wrench - sooooooooo wrong!!) open the four (04) nuts on the turbo flange. Remember to straighten the metal strips around the nuts - they come in the way of opening them. Once these four nuts are removed, the turbo will come loose. DO NOT REMOVE IT JUST YET.
9. Since my top mount turbo does not have a coolant line in, I needed to block off the coolant lines for the turbo. If your turbo uses coolant line, connect it by either extending it or redirecting it - use a flexible braided line.
10. Disconnect the oil feed line on top of the turbo - I think it is 14mm bolt. You will need to remove this line to put in a stainless steel braided line that I bought off of Ebay - awesome product, and works perfectly. Slowly wiggle the turbo after removing the oil and coolant lines. You will notice that there is something holding the turbo in place - its the oil return line, the fat pipe that runs from under the bottom of the turbo to the engine block. Get under the car and pull it out. WATCH OUT FOR OIL SPLATTER!! Gives you bad taste in the mouth and burns your eyes. TRUST ME ON THAT!!
11. After the oil and coolant lines are disconnected, the turbo will come right out. Make sure that any vacuum lines on it and on the wastegate are removed. Double make sure.
Put the turbo aside and cover its face and ass as well as the flange with some cloth stuffed into the holes. You dont want ANYTHING getting into it.
Now it will be much easier to remove the downpipe from the exhaust at the triangular flange. Use 14mm wrench/spanner. When you remove the turbo, the exhaust will likely fall to the ground. To prevent any bends or cracks in the exhaust, put a jackstand under the pipe to keep it in its place.
12. Now comes the delicate part. Due to heat and wear, the exhaust manifold studs can easily snap. I discovered one of mine was already snapped from the time we did the RB25DET swap and I forgot about it. Its not leaking, but still.........
We resprayed all the nuts holding the exhaust manifold in place with WD-40/lubricant and let it seep thru for a few minutes. Then using an alternate pattern, opened the nuts, ONE AT A TIME. When all the nuts come off, the exhaust manifold will come off loose. Carefully remove the damn thing. I am selling it now - its in pretty decent shape - bought it new less than a year ago. Remove the manifold gasket too as you need to put a new gasket in.
13. Depending on the location, you will also need to relocate the power steering pump fluid reservoir. You may also need to extend the hoses running into/out of it.
14. Install the steel braided oil feed line on to the block and let it hang on top of the engine. Use a 1.5 inch rubber pipe to extend the oil return line.
14. Put the new exhaust manifold gasket on and then put the top mount exhaust manifold on. Tighten the nuts holding it one at a time by alternating thru them.
15. The external wastegate is bolted on to the exhaust manifold by way of a seventh pipe that runs downwards from the manifold. I am using a TIAL style wastegate that has two oval outlets on the bottom. One is connected to the exhaust manifold and the other connects to the downpipe by way of a small crescent shaped pipe. The wastegate also has two vacuum line outlets on the top dome shaped part. Each of these outlets has a banjo bolt on it. Connect one to a boost controller if you need one or block it off, and the other connects to a vacuum hole in the intake piping AFTER the turbo.
16. I am using a custom-made downpipe (3" diameter) that the wastegate connects to. The downpipe also has the bung plug welded for the O2 sensor. It has a V-band on one side and a triangular flange that bolts onto the exhaust pipe on the other end. Connect the downpipe to the exhaust pipe.
17. Bolt the turbo on to the exhaust manifold. Don't forget to put the flange gasket between them. Connect the oil return line under the turbo. Pour some oil into the turbo from the feed hole on top and then bolt in the oil feed line. Since my turbo is a floating wet one, I needed to put some oil into it beforehand so it wouldnt run dry when I start the car. Tighten all the bolts and lines to make sure the turbo is snug fit.
18. Using a V-band clamp, connect the downpipe to the turbo.
19. Reconnect the intake pipe from MAF to the turbo.
20. Connect the turbo to the intercooler. I had to use an L-shaped 2" to 2.5" reducer for that. Reconnect all the hoses.
21. Since I am using the top mount intake manifold, I had to get a custom pipe that runs diagonal to the engine length to connect to the intercooler pipe. This was necessary to avoid it running into the top mount turbo.
22. Reconnect all the vacuum lines, BOV, and boost controller (if you are running one)
23. Reconnect battery and start the car - you're done!!
Hope I have captured the jist of the whole thing and this would help others who want to do this in some way.
Total time spent on the project - 6 hours. This does not include the time spent by the muffler shop in welding the flanges to the pipes and fabricating them.
Difficulty level - Medium
Frustration level - Medium to High
Feeling at the end of the day - ORGASMIC!!
Anyway, I decided to make a write-up on how we have gopne about doing it. The project is still far from complete, as we still havent installed the turbo, and need the custom piping made, but anyway, I will continue to add to this as and when we progress. For now, enjoy what we have done so far. Here is a step-by step guide on what we did and how we did it.
1. Disconnect the intake piping - remove from the throttle body on one side and the intercooler on the other
2. Disconnect the oil catch lines and all vacuum lines leading to/from the intake piping
3. Disconnect the battery and MAF
4. Remove the turbo intake pipe and set it aside. Leafve the MAF on it
5. Disconnect and remove the intercooler-turbo line
6. Spray WD-40 or some other lubricant on ALL the bolts and nuts on the turbo flange, the exhaust manifold, and turbo downpipe. This is very important, especially in my case, since there was quite a bit of rust on some of the bolts and we did NOT realize we needed to do it, until I snapped a bolt on the flange that connects the turbo to the downpipe. Wait for a couple of minutes and have a smoke or a beer or just make fun of people driving by in the parking lot
7. Disconnect the downpipe from the turbo - they are held together by FOUR bolts on the top and two nuts on the bottom. I think they are all 13mm. The lower two nuts are a B%$&# to get to, so this is what we did - we jacked up the car from the front and put it on jackstands.
Then we did rock paper scissors to see who would go under the knife.......err...............car. I lost. First we thought that maybe we should disconnect the turbo WITH the downpipe and just disconnect the three bolts holding the downpipe with the exhaust (the triangular flange that has 14mm bolts). But they wouldn't even budge. The socket got stuck on one of them and I spent a good part of an hour under it, trying to pry it out. It did, but after me realizing that looking under the car for so long was not the healthiest of sights for me and I needed to somehow get out from under it. That's when we decided to just unbolt the downpipe from the turbo.
Now it was Ali's turn to get under the car - being slim, he fit in nicely under it and he was able to reach the two b%$^& nuts on the underside of the turbo-downpipe flange and open them up.
8. Using a 17mm spanner (you North Americans call it a wrench - sooooooooo wrong!!) open the four (04) nuts on the turbo flange. Remember to straighten the metal strips around the nuts - they come in the way of opening them. Once these four nuts are removed, the turbo will come loose. DO NOT REMOVE IT JUST YET.
9. Since my top mount turbo does not have a coolant line in, I needed to block off the coolant lines for the turbo. If your turbo uses coolant line, connect it by either extending it or redirecting it - use a flexible braided line.
10. Disconnect the oil feed line on top of the turbo - I think it is 14mm bolt. You will need to remove this line to put in a stainless steel braided line that I bought off of Ebay - awesome product, and works perfectly. Slowly wiggle the turbo after removing the oil and coolant lines. You will notice that there is something holding the turbo in place - its the oil return line, the fat pipe that runs from under the bottom of the turbo to the engine block. Get under the car and pull it out. WATCH OUT FOR OIL SPLATTER!! Gives you bad taste in the mouth and burns your eyes. TRUST ME ON THAT!!
11. After the oil and coolant lines are disconnected, the turbo will come right out. Make sure that any vacuum lines on it and on the wastegate are removed. Double make sure.
Put the turbo aside and cover its face and ass as well as the flange with some cloth stuffed into the holes. You dont want ANYTHING getting into it.
Now it will be much easier to remove the downpipe from the exhaust at the triangular flange. Use 14mm wrench/spanner. When you remove the turbo, the exhaust will likely fall to the ground. To prevent any bends or cracks in the exhaust, put a jackstand under the pipe to keep it in its place.
12. Now comes the delicate part. Due to heat and wear, the exhaust manifold studs can easily snap. I discovered one of mine was already snapped from the time we did the RB25DET swap and I forgot about it. Its not leaking, but still.........
We resprayed all the nuts holding the exhaust manifold in place with WD-40/lubricant and let it seep thru for a few minutes. Then using an alternate pattern, opened the nuts, ONE AT A TIME. When all the nuts come off, the exhaust manifold will come off loose. Carefully remove the damn thing. I am selling it now - its in pretty decent shape - bought it new less than a year ago. Remove the manifold gasket too as you need to put a new gasket in.
13. Depending on the location, you will also need to relocate the power steering pump fluid reservoir. You may also need to extend the hoses running into/out of it.
14. Install the steel braided oil feed line on to the block and let it hang on top of the engine. Use a 1.5 inch rubber pipe to extend the oil return line.
14. Put the new exhaust manifold gasket on and then put the top mount exhaust manifold on. Tighten the nuts holding it one at a time by alternating thru them.
15. The external wastegate is bolted on to the exhaust manifold by way of a seventh pipe that runs downwards from the manifold. I am using a TIAL style wastegate that has two oval outlets on the bottom. One is connected to the exhaust manifold and the other connects to the downpipe by way of a small crescent shaped pipe. The wastegate also has two vacuum line outlets on the top dome shaped part. Each of these outlets has a banjo bolt on it. Connect one to a boost controller if you need one or block it off, and the other connects to a vacuum hole in the intake piping AFTER the turbo.
16. I am using a custom-made downpipe (3" diameter) that the wastegate connects to. The downpipe also has the bung plug welded for the O2 sensor. It has a V-band on one side and a triangular flange that bolts onto the exhaust pipe on the other end. Connect the downpipe to the exhaust pipe.
17. Bolt the turbo on to the exhaust manifold. Don't forget to put the flange gasket between them. Connect the oil return line under the turbo. Pour some oil into the turbo from the feed hole on top and then bolt in the oil feed line. Since my turbo is a floating wet one, I needed to put some oil into it beforehand so it wouldnt run dry when I start the car. Tighten all the bolts and lines to make sure the turbo is snug fit.
18. Using a V-band clamp, connect the downpipe to the turbo.
19. Reconnect the intake pipe from MAF to the turbo.
20. Connect the turbo to the intercooler. I had to use an L-shaped 2" to 2.5" reducer for that. Reconnect all the hoses.
21. Since I am using the top mount intake manifold, I had to get a custom pipe that runs diagonal to the engine length to connect to the intercooler pipe. This was necessary to avoid it running into the top mount turbo.
22. Reconnect all the vacuum lines, BOV, and boost controller (if you are running one)
23. Reconnect battery and start the car - you're done!!
Hope I have captured the jist of the whole thing and this would help others who want to do this in some way.
Total time spent on the project - 6 hours. This does not include the time spent by the muffler shop in welding the flanges to the pipes and fabricating them.
Difficulty level - Medium
Frustration level - Medium to High
Feeling at the end of the day - ORGASMIC!!
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