Hey everyone...

I bought a full 3-inch exhaust from the turbo back from Tim at SFR (Great exhaust, by the way). While going through the install, I attempted to remove the downpipe and one of the studs holding the downpipe to the turbo broke clean off.

Any ideas on what my options are? I didn't even try to pull off any of the others after the first one broke. I was afraid it would happen, just by looking at the condition of the studs before we started. My car has 55k miles on it, 1987 (Turbo, obviously). Mostly stock, just a few bolt-ons like 38mm wastegate, EBC, etc. Would have had the full 3-inch exhaust added to that if I hadn't ran into this problem.

My guess is that I am sore out of luck at keeping the factory turbo, since I don't know of a way to remove the broken stud. I don't even think an easy-out will help me on this one. All ideas are welcome. Unfortunately with my wedding coming up - money is REAL tight. I spent my "extra" money on the exhaust. Was not expecting anything to go wrong on this simple install - but again, the car is two-decades old, and hasn't had a single problem yet - so maybe this is the start of my snow-ball effect.

Thanks!

 

I would try having a machine shop get it out, shouldn't be a problem for them.

 

pull the intake(really easy to do) and remove the turbo, you can either drill the stud out, or any automotive machine shop will remove it

 

PB Blaster or Kroil, but it's a little late for that advice.. If you don't like playing machinist, skip the EZout.

If the stud is flush, order up a couple cases of patience and an right angled drill, if patience is not a virtue, cancel the wedding. Oops, back to the car..

Pulling the turbo is one way, again, it's work.

 

Drop the girl, take the tubo off and let a machine shop remove the broken stud. Good cost cutting all around.

 

Did you break it at the 3-bolt flange holding the cat/test pipe to the downpipe, or at the 4-bolt flange holding the downpipe to the turbo itself? If on the three-bolt flange, you can probably drill it out once the cat is removed. If it's on the turbo, then I think you'll need to pull the turbo to remove the broken stud. Either way, I'd start with a very small colalt drill bit and work your way up -- worst case, you have to drill all the way and use a timesert of helocoil to repair it as good as new. The good news is that it may be a lot of effort, but costs close to nothing (other than a few seals).

 

There is still hope! I'll try and get back to my parents (where the car is at) this next weekend, and finish pulling the turbo, and hopefully find a machine shop close by that can remove the stud.

I already have the intake off. Any suggestions on how to finish removing the turbo? My car has a 1-piece cross-over. Any suggestions on that would be helpful. Should I remove that whole thing, or just unbolt from the turbo?

I will try the PB Blaster or Kroil to pull the rest of the nuts off the turbo. I am assuming I can pick those up at AutoZone or something?

Looks like the machine shop is the sure way to go. Any advice on pulling the turbo the rest of the way would be greatly appreciated.

My fiance is here to stay - so that's not an option!

 

Join the club, been there done that. It's very tight in there, getting heavy duty tools of any description is next to impossible, lining them up for proper use even more so. Removing the turbo is the way to go, although this will consume many hours, the instructions on Clarks Garage help considerably. Just be careful with the two turbo allen bolts. And while you're in there, get a bigger turbo.



Regards,
Chris

 

Basic instructions are here: http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/eng-16.htm

Regards,
Chris

 

It broke on the 4-bolt flange, right on the turbo. The Cat-Pipe came off very easy. Almost no effort on those.

What seals will I need? I haven't pulled the turbo before, so a little unsure what all is on there regarding seals. I think the big ones would most likely be a seal for the water cooling, and the oiling, right?

I will replace the intake gaskets also, even though they appeared to be in fine shape when I removed the intake.

Thanks for all the help so far everyone!!

 

Awesome - this will work great! I need to check out Clark's Garage more often!

Thanks everyone,
Matt

 

If I remember correctly there is no seal for water hoses, but have a bunch of adjustable clamps in various shapes and sizes handy (some are one time only and preset at the factory, you'll need to break them up with plyers). Rubber seals for turbo in/out (top/bottom of turbo) should be changed, wisdom has it that all crush rings in the exhaust system should be changed when the system is taken apart. Nothing worse than an exhaust leak.. except perhaps a broken turbo/exhaust stud.

Good luck!

Regards,
Chris

 

if you can pull the down pipe i have one i can send you cheap- dan.

 

I was a complete noob when I did my first turbo swap, I just started popping nuts loose on a neglected 169k engine, the Pcar gods were with me! Since then I have learned much..

PB Blaster should be at your local Kragen/Checker/Shucks or whatever they go by today.

A few tips, spray the joints (fasteners) liberally well in advance, wire brush the threads so the nut does not bind on the way out, "wake" the fastener up, first move the fastener in the tighten direction, then back it off.

Two school's on when to stop backing off, one is you power through it, the other is you snap it off. Your call.

 

I'm in the middle of this too Matt, broke a stud putting the exhaust back on. Ended up pulling the turbo, then got a shop to replace all 3 studs. They charged me 1 hr labour to do that and used an oxy torch to get them out.