mytrplseven

It seems that by the time I get the Turbo removed (assuming I'm even able to do so) I will have disassembled 80% of my engine and it's components). The bolts for the exhaust pipes connecting to the turbo (inlet and exhaust) are old and rusted and blocked by so many things I may just say screw it and take the cutting wheel to the nuts. Clarks Garage infers that it's an easier job than it's turning out to be. Methodically it all makes sense, if you have new nuts and bolts to start with. Not so with a Texas car with 113k miles on it.

87944turbo

I feel your pain, midwest cars are pretty awful to with our salted winter roads. The upside is that it will be so much easier the next time you do it.

mytrplseven

This was a Texas car and the bolts are not coated with rust so much as rust colored and unwilling to move. I'm still pulling stuff apart just to get access to the turbo and the bolts that hold it in place. I didn't think getting it out was going to be such a pain.

87944turbo

Yeah, it's kind of amazing. The turbo mounting bolts are pretty awful. Be sure to wake them up nice and good before putting a wrench on them. Stripping one out would be a nightmare.

It becomes clear pretty quickly that this was all assembled prior to the engine going in when these were put together.

Putting it all back together with no leaks is a challenge too. It's a lot of plumbing to line up correctly.

zogster

I'm just looking at those same nuts and bolts today... on the way to changing AOS seals. Having looked closer, I think I'm going to give 'em a good soak with some penetrating oil or similar, and leave until tomorrow at least. They just look in the state where at the least it'll be very hard to move them, and snapping things is possible.

raleighBahn

Go ahead and pull the afm, jboot, snorkel - won't take you five minutes. You'll need the space. Definitely soak all bolts, wake up all allen heads. And do take the time to drop the steering rack a little to get straight on the long bolt at the bottom (ask me how I know).

Good chance to freshen lots of rubber (found a slit in my jboot), clean grounds on back of engine, replace ground strap if corroded.

Others things while you're in: send injectors to witchhunter, install aftermarket down pipe from turbo, send turbo to evergreen for rebuild, so on and so forth

mytrplseven

Had a VERY interesting day today. A local shop that restores cars sand blasted my intake manifold so I can paint it came up with a MAGIC mixture for rusted bolt penetration. It came out of a study by the University of Pittsburg, I believe. They compared several compounds, including nut buster, wd-40, etc and found a dramatic improvement in release of seized hardware using a mixture of acetone and type A transmission fluid in a spray bottle for application.

After I finally got the Brake Booster heat shield removed (a huge help) and a good soak with the aforementioned penetration liquid, the bolts released and have been coming right out. I wasted an entire can of nut buster trying to get them loose.

mytrplseven

I thought this was a picture of my engine when I first saw it. I'm at the same point. I hope you read my post on the penetrating fluid I discovered. It'll help get the bolts off.

I talked to Lindsey Racing and they have a complete nut and seal kit for this project and since I already had the seals, they broke a kit down to component level so I could get just the bolts.

I'm pulling my steering rack since it's fraught with leaking seals and that should help a bit also (WYIT).

Otto Mechanic

I've been using this since a friend of mine told me about it last summer. It works at least as well if not better than PB Blaster and it's cheap. Just ATF and acetone.

zogster

Yup, saw it, thanks! I love it when a homebrew concoction beats commercial products.

I'm still stuck at the point you see in the photo. My problem is that, having soaked overnight with 3-in-1, while I've loosened a couple of the bolts I'm nowhere near being confident that I can get them all off successfully - and I really don't want to find myself with half the fasteners off but the remainder rusted in place or rounded off.

I've loosened the two bolts at the top of the exhaust input to the turbo, but while they're free of the holes they go through, they're not free of the nuts on the backside, one of which became partially rounded when I was trying to hold it while turning the bolt.

And while trying to work out how to get tools onto the bolt below it, I noticed that it appears to be partially welded on the outside. Grrrrrrrrrrr...

Time to take a 'watch Chinese GP qualifying' break.

mytrplseven

Yeah I felt pretty stupid when I realized that the bolt is welded in place. It now made sense when I was pricing replacement bolts that there were only 3 needed for that flange. I thought it was a typo. I remember seeing a post that showed all the flex handled wrenches someone used in here but now I can't find it. Still looking. I had the bolt move about 1mm yesterday but I don't have the strength without a long pipe on the wrench to increase the advantage to move it farther. I let it soak overnight and will attack it again this morning to see if it'll move. I'd like to take a propane torch to it but with all the penetrating fluids in the area, I'm concerned about setting fire to the project.

944hal

Don't feel bad, I tried for two days to take off the welded bolt. Not sure it you have got there yet, but I always disconnect the downpipe at the exhaust instead of trying to remove it from the turbo. It's almost impossible to get at the top bolt that's located nest to the balance shaft cover. Re-install the same way.

mytrplseven

Yeah after close inspection I finally realized why they say that only 3 bolts are required for that flange. I'm pretty much at the point where there is just that one nut (isn't it always?) and looks like I'll buy a flex handle 3/8 drive socket wrench to get up there. I can't get enough purchase or working room with combo wrench. I've decided to pull the rack since it's leaking badly anyway and hopefully that'll make removing the turbo support bolts easier.

Otto Mechanic

I'm in the same boat with my S2 right now. I have the whole front and rear suspension off along with the drive train (TT , transaxle, clutch) and I noticed my power steering system is leaking pretty much everywhere.

Yesterday I found a salvage rack for $30 so I'm going to strip it, pull out the internal seals, fill it with grease and convert the car to manual steering. I've heard lots of good reports, wish me luck?

Taymar

These were quite a pain to remove when I did mine. It's been a few months but I think I removed the one with the welded nut from underneath, and the other three from the top. I believe you have to remove the top two first to get enough access to the lower two.

I tried all manner of tools but in the end what worked for me was a regular wrench, with the free end hooked into a second, larger wrench to get enough leverage on it. Took forever since you can only move them a fraction of a turn each time, but eventually they came out with no breakage or stripping. I also sprayed it down with PB blaster several times over the preceeding few days.