Phase two of my project - turbo swap pictorial
 

If your in the tri-state area, im sure you know the past two days have been beautiful out. 45 but a bit chilly yesterday, 55 and partly cloudy today.. perfect weather. Anyhow after about 4.5 hours i managed to finally wrestle the turbo out.

Here is just a little pictorial :).

I started yesterday with just getting the car on jack stands (a project in itself cause the car is so freaken low).

Its not a good day of working on your car until you get coolant all over your arm..

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Called it a day early..

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After another hour and a half, i had the intake manifold off the car. I have removed the intake manifold on a 944 series car a dozen or so times now and i still always forget to disconnect the speed/reference sensor bracket. It never fails..

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And a nice straight (figuratively speaking) at the turbo..

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I also removed the coolant expansion tank (replacing with a aluminum one) and took the brake booster heat shield out aswell. A few of the turbo replacement walkthroughs say removing the heatshield is optional, but frankly i cannot see how you would be able to get a clear shot at the crossover pipe flange bolts without having it out. Besides, its only 4 nuts to get it out and it makes life about a million times easier. A no brainer if you ask me. And with that, a pretty straight shot at the turbo now.
Disconnecting the turbo is pretty straight forward. Remove the top oil feed line from both the turbo and the balance shaft cover. Then remove all the hoses for the water connections. Disconnect the 3 bolt flange at the downpipe to midpipe connection and also disconnect the crossover flange (inlet of turbo). The 3-bolt flange to midpipe may seem like a tight fit, but they are actually very easy to get too with a long enough extension and a wobble joint (flex joint). The nightmare however is the crossover flange bolts. There are not pictures of this because i was having such a wonderful time trying to get them out. Truthfully, 3 of them are easy to get right from the top, a stubby wrench helps emmensley at holding the backside nut. The real downer is the lower rear bolt due to very tight spaces. I had to remove the O2 sensor to get a good shot at it and it still took about 15 minutes to get that bolt out from under the car. Not an impossible job, just a real pain in the ass.

Now with everything disconnected from the turbo, it was time to take out those imfamous turbo mount bolts. I read alot about these things stripping and being a pain in the ass to get out. Luckily mine came out without too much drama. Some notes on removal.. spray screw loose or PB blaster (whatever you use) onto the threaded boss where the bolts thread into. You can see where they are if you look at the center section of the turbo. Im not sure how much it actually helped, but take what you can get. Its easily accessible from the top of the car. Also looking at everything from under the car with the alternator in place, there seemed to be no room to really work. I had already loosened the shroud on the alternator (i hate taking that thing off) and had it sorta free floating between the turbo and the alternator (no space to take it out completley). I decided to just bite the bullet and remove the alternator completley (i need to change the voltage regulator on it anyhow). I have been debating going with the popular Nissan Quest alternator (smaller size, similar amp output) but think i may pass on it. Getting the alternator out is a real pain in the ass (gee, i use that expression alot on this car!) and i swear it took me longer to do that than to get the actual turbo out of the car. The shroud will have to be modified to fit the larger turbo, but i cover that on reinstallation ( i know what needs to be done already).

Secondly, wake up the bolts by sticking the 6mm allen socket in and giving it a few good shots with a hammer. This effectivley shocks the threads and usually is helpful at loosening upanything that may be seized (to an extent of course). Now, i read alot of stuff saying i would have to unbolt the steering rack from the crossmember (4x bolts, easy to do..but a pain in the ass to get the rack back into the mounts) in order to get clearance for the turbo mount bolts. I did not find this necesary, however i did have to rotate the steering wheel a little so the steering shaft u-joint allowed more clearance. I was able to reach both of the mount bolts with a 6mm allen head socket, 3/8'' wobble and roughly 18-20 inches work of extensions. The long bolt came out no problem..the short bolt on the other hand required some serious torque to loosen. I had about 1/4 turn of deflection on the ratchet before it finally broke loose with a healthy 'cracking' sound. Lucikly it came right out and did not snap off or strip the head. Note to self, apply liberal antiseize on reassembly =D. Here are some picture of how i accessed the mount bolts..

Ok so i thought i was being crafty by not taking out that steering rack, funny thing is i need to take it out anyway to install a delrin steering rack bushing that has been in my glove box almost a year now....and you sorta need to take the rack out so you can actually remove the long turbo mounting bolt...heh heh. so not neccesary in my experience to take out the rack to access the bolt, but if you want to remove it to replace it (a good idea) than yes, its needed.

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And finally the turbo out..

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After a little scrub down with simple green..

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3 bent compressor blades.

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And the standard comparo picture. K26/6 and 60-1 HiFi with #8 hotside.

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Interesting fitting on the K26.. it was rebuilt previously, not sure what center section they used..

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Getting the bottom most crossover bolt out (one with nut welded to the flange) was a hellish experience

Getting the alternator out was a pain in the ass.. i am strongly considering putting in the Nissan Quest alternator to make life easier. That shroud is so annoying!

Thankfully however i had no other problems..no broken bolts, striped heads..etc.

I probably wont have the reassembly started for a couple weeks, i still need to order a bunch of parts before i start putting it back together. Not to mention i have to psyche myself up to brave the cold of a north east winter.. :). The other side projects that need to get done are replacing the battery cable between the alternator and starter and finally installing Iceshark's headlight harness.

looks like fun

The alternator was one issue I had with that turbo, going with a smaller one will definetly allow the MAF to be set in the right position. Have you thought about the turbo water pipe clearance...there have been several threads on the subject. I ended up modifying the existing and re-zincing. Do a search on this. There is a pic somewhere. Have fun and enjoy!

Fluid, i did a bunch of reading about the waterpipe. I am going to do the same thing as was done in this picture..

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Basically cut off the banjo fitting and use a piece of hose to extend it. The banjo fitting will be replaced with one used on the PS system (same size and has barbed ends).

That picture is courtesy of Lart :).

Jon, you don't need to modify the water pipe for this turbo. The housing is ground down so it passes with no interference.

Cool. Nifty documentation. Did you know you had bent blades before you removed it? If so, how? Also, what would bend them like that?

Thx,

Jeff

John, oh snap, i didnt even realize that. That saves me a ton of trouble in that case. BTW, ill have the check out tomorrow :).

Jeff, the bent blades happened sometime after i did the headgasket last year, i noticed it when i pulled the j-boot off just to inspect things. One of the things i noticed was the spool up sound was extremely loud (which i hear is a symptom of bent blades), even when i was still running the AFM. When i put the MAF on, it sounded like a jet engine..extremely loud. Im not sure what caused the bent blades, it could be anything though.. maybe a few grains of sand got sucked in. Anything spinning at 120k rpm..it dosent take much to tweak them a little.

FYI, if you do modify the coolant pipe in that method, you have to run some sort of wire to ground the pipe out. The temp sensor grounds out through the pipe and then the rest of the engine to complete the circuit when the water pump gets engaged, but with the rubber hose connection there the sensor has no way to ground out and complete the circuit to turn on the water pump.

Yes, my turbo isn't in the best of health either. I'm I am pretty sure it swallowed the bolts from the airbox at some point cause the PO had epoxied the holes closed.

...and yes my turbo is very loud as well! Sounds like it is chopping up the air instead of a nice smooth whoosh sound, obviously you can tell why. :grr:

damnit jon..well at least mine is polished :soapbox:

enjoy it when you get it in!

Somebody needs to donate some garage space to this guy.

When you finish, you'll have to tell us if it was really worth all the pain. What else are you changing in the intake and engine management to complement the bigger turbo?

IRRC, He already has a Vitesse MAF (the bastard!) so as long as he keeps the same injectors (or gets new chips burned for different injectors) he should be good to go. I have a MAF/ARC2 (waiting on my replacement maxtronic) 3 bar FPR and 85lb injectors to run my 60-1..

Mind if I head on up and lend a hand next month? I'm game!

I fell you on those turbo mounting bolts. I thought mine were going to snap, too!

you can use my garagee if you need it.

jmj951, as Mike said i have a Vitesse MAF and 72# injectors i put on back in August. I ran it with the K26/6 (mega over kill) but knew i was eventually going to go with a bigger turbo. The bent compressor blades sorta sped up that turbo replacement process. I did a bunch of work on the top end right around spring time of last year to support the extra power. LR stage 1 o-ringed head, widefire headgasket and replaced every vacuum line and hose. CV delete, tial wastegate..blah blah.

Bill, good tip on the coolant pipe. Surely if i needed to modify the pipe in that way still (i still cant believe i missed the ground down compressor housing!) i would have been posting a thread about how my turbo water pump dosent work anymore.

Funny thing is i have my fathers shop which is about 30 miles away i could have done the work at. That has two lifts, compressed air and a nice big old heater. I decided to not do the swap there because the car would have to be pushed off the lift every night, not to mention i would need to carry all of my tools down there and drive 60 miles round trip just to work on the car. Another friend of mine offered his well equipped heated garage..but again, about 45 miles round trip. Its much easier for me to roll out of bed at noon and work a few hours on it, even if that does mean freezing my ass off :).

you must be young :)

Myself I can't stand to work in the cold at all anymore.

Haha yea.. my 23 year old body dosent mind yet. Truth is im used to working in a 120 degree engine room wearing a full boiler suit.. so its a welcome change to be freezing my ass off instead of sweating my ass off.

Funny, I was just thinking how I could never do that anymore. Those days are luckily over. Nothing worse then busting your knuckles in the cold.

+1000 Jon this looks great!! i wish I would have been able to get around to something like this. There is always next year.

Don't forget those air-oil separator seals!!!

A few more small things done to the car today. I was hoping to get the positive battery cable between the alternator and starter put in today, but i really didnt have the time. With the current weather situation, it will probably be a couple days before ill be able to get under the car again. Anyway today i finally cleaned out the intercooler. Removal is pretty straight forward, but that plastic duct is a little annoying. I really had to muscle the intercooler out, all the while fearing that shroud was going to break.

I know prior to putting a catch can on the car i was getting alot of oil in the intercooler pipes, which means that was also in the intercooler also. I bought $2 of gas which worked out to be .8 gallons..which was actually the perfect amount to fill the entire intercooler once. I filled it up and let it sit about an hour, then sloshed it around and dumped it into a bin. What came out was pretty much black nast...it looked alot like black coffee right out of the pot. Afterwards i filled it up with dish detergent and hot water, then proceeded to flush out the intercooler about 10-15 times. It seems to be relativley clean now.

Here is the black nast that came out..

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I also fixed the fiberglass wrapping on the downpipe. Wormhole (whom i bought the turbo from) included the downpipe with the turbo and it was prewrapped. It was a bit loose on one end and starting to fray a little in the center. I used safety wire on the frayed portion to keep it intact and replaced the clamp on the end to secure the rest of the fiberglass sleeve. One thing i noticed everytime i moved the downpipe around was the fiberglass dust floating around in the air. So i bought a can of the 2000*F ThermoTec paint for the covering. The paint is supposed to seal the fiberglass making it more resistant to fluid soakings and also hardens the fiberglass a little so there is no dust floating around. So we are now emphysema free.

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With 6-7'' of snow expected tomorrow, rain the rest of the weekend and sub 30 degree days in the forecast, i dont think much else is going to get done. I still need to order the rest of hte parts i need anyhow.

If I were you I would upgrade the downpipe at this point - perfect opportunity and you will gain back some spool up that you lose with the bigger hotside

Yeah bad weather coming. This is going to be my first real winter mike please pray for me.

Believe me, i thought about going with a true 3'' downpipe. But this is what it came down too. The downpipe is $350. I thought to myself, if i go with a bigger downpipe, why not v-band flange the connection between the downpipe and the midpipe. Cost is now $430. If i go with a 3'' downpipe, then i minus well get the true 3'' SFR midpipe that does not have the reducer right by the downpipe flange, there goes another $650, granted some of that can be made back by selling my current SFR midpipe. So a 3'' downpipe effectivley would have put me another $900 in the hole until i atleast sold my current exhaust.

Truthfully removing the turbo was not such a horrible job, i can probably have everything apart again in the sub 4hr range. Plus everything will probably go apart a little easier having received liberal amounts of antiseize and the correct torque values! Next winters project, i am thinking a 2pc crossover, rod bearings and other associated bits for the bottom end. If i can afford it, then maybe ill do that 3'' downpipe also.

i don't think you need a v-band for the downpipe to midpipe, those 3 bolts are easy to get to

Exactly what I was thinking.. I do wish I had at least 3" after the downpipe (I currently have a 2 1/4 tip on my muffler. stupid PO:crying:) but damn it gets expensive\


One of these days soon we should get together for coffee/beer/lunch/whatev. Van and VoodooGTX are all pretty local + you've got George B right in Ulster Park. I'm in Kingston all the time (15min away) and just finished the semester so I actually have time.

Enjoy the snow. :evilgrin: What do you think so far?

A few deliveries today, received the new hardware and the LR turbo oil filter. Im still waiting for crush rings on the exhaust and a few other seals / hardware so i can finish the install which should arrive tuesday. The weather is going to be decent the first few days of next week so i am hopeful i will have everything done by Tuesday night.

The filter kit is pretty simple in terms of parts..

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This is the actual filter assembly, just a very fine mesh screen on the inside. My only complaint is there is no flat section machined onto the body of the filter to fit a wrench or anything.. so you essentially need to put it in a vice to hold it tight enough to remove the end caps. Not a big deal, but if your big on keeping everything looking perfect the finish gets messed up.

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New studs and copper locking nuts from ATPTurbo.Com

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I had to use a tap (M10x1.5) to clean up the threads on the hotside to get the studs to thread in completley..

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I also cut down one the studs slightly to make it easier to put the downpipe on.

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Wrapped downpipe with new hardware..

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nice progress.

I am a fan of this thread. Nice work and very well documented. :thumbup:

FYI - I sprayed my exhaust wrap with the same spray and it puts out a lot of smoke for the first few heat cycles. I originally thought it was an oil leak, but just some strange smelling smoke from the wrap spray.

Thanks for the heads up Mike. I was actually a little worried after spraying it about the paint burning off. I looked up a few threads on the Subaru forums about painting the heat wrap and all of them said something similar. I was more afraid of it igniting than smoking a bit, hence my paranoia. The car isnt going to get much more more than a few minutes of idling until March when i reregister and insure the car. It will be tempting to not for a quick run around the block..but ill have to resist the urge :).

Hey Jon,

On my turbo that I got from reno0808 someone had welded the nuts onto the hotside for the crossover pipe. Made it a lot easier to attach.

Are you positive that is a 60-1 wheel? Usually turbonetics uses the gold back plate for 3 inch exducers and blue for 3.2"

Have you measured the wheel?

Edit: Just looked again and that is a to4b housing so maybe that is why?? you can tell the difference b/c it uses the smaller 2 bolt clamps on the back rather than the 3 bolts found on the to4E

Very good thread Jon. Wish I would have read it before I tore my car apart! We are at the same state of tore-down-ness, and doing similar mods.

I actually found all of the exhaust to be the biggest bitch every, especially that crossover bolt. That's why I'm going 2 piece crossover now. F messing with that bolt again.

I also didnt think the turbo mount bolts were that bad. I may just leave them in, but I need to replace a torn tie rod boot on the driver side anyways.

Altenator wasn't nearly as bad as you seemed to have thought lol. I WILL be going with the small nissan unit (mainly cus I will get it insanely cheap; working at O'Reillys has its advantages! Lol). That MAF is just a real PITA with that big ugly stock altenator, so its going bye-bye.

Looks good though. I'll be sure to watch this thread. My car won't be getting reassembled till June probably. Making the money I do and wanting the things I do, is gonna make me have to wait that long... :(

Good luck man!

hey sid, fwiw my turbo looks identical (blue on the compressor housing and all) and is a 60-1 hifi.

Jon, I made the decision to get a vitesse MAF/Chip..hopefully I will have the beans when the January sale rolls around. Considering how my chip is off (my god I wish I had my maxtronic) and how fast it is I can't wait to have a proper tune. I think you'll be happy with the turbo :burnout:

good write up

Love the pics

good write up

Love the pics

Sid, as Mike said its a HiFi which has the 2.75'' inlet.

I just rolled out of bed and its a beautiful 60 degrees out. I need to finish installing IceShark's battery cables today, been putting this off way to long. After that its just the waiting game from UPS for my parts on tuesday. With my luck, they will drop them off they will drop them off at the end of the day making it useless to me!

Jon- Are you staying with just the Vitesse MAF and chipboard, or will you be going with V-Flex?

Cory, i do plan on eventually going with the V-Flex software but its just way out of my budget right now. Id also have to get the piggyback which severely bumps up the total cost. My summer project as of right now is either the addition of the piggyback / V-Flex or working on the suspension (KW V3's planned).

Another hour and a half of work and finally installed the battery cable between the alternator and starter aswell as put the headlight harness in. These have been sitting in a box in my closet for the past 2 years i think now. I replaced the ground cables and battery to starter cable back when i did my headgasket. The headlight harness i removed from my '87 prior to selling it and has also sat in a box for about a year.

Top - headlight harness
Center - Supplemental positive, still have not installed and dont plan to for another couple months :)
Bottom - Alternator to starter cable

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Original alternator to starter cable and the replacement. For IceShark's cable, you need to remove the original blue wire to the alterantor (this is the electrical load sensing wire) and the starter to ignition switch connector (2pin white connector right over brake booster). He includes a piece of metal wire in the fiberglass sleeve so you can fish the old wires through the insulation and heatshrink it all together. Luckily the guy i bought these cables from a few years ago had already done this making my life alot easier. One thing i just noticed today actually was that Dan put a 175amp inline fuse on the starter end of the alternator / starter cable...talk about complete overkill!

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With the headlight harness now in, it adds two more grounding lugs to the frame rail. I have so many lugs on the left front frame rail i had to use a longer bolt. The things grounded there; supplemental ground cable to block, MAF ground, 2x headlight harness grounds, 2x original harness grounds.

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I was a little concerned about figuring out how to route the headlight harness to the other side of the car because i am too lazy to take the front splitter off. But this very easy method worked perfect..right over the intercooler ducting (actually tucked inbetween the bumper bar and bumper cover).

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Also put in a new voltage regulator since the alternator was out. The original has about 111k miles on it, probably would have been good for another 20k miles truthfully!

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Tomorrow i am going to wrestle my freshly cleaned intercooler back in and put the nose panel back on. Not looking forward to doing that as getting it out was a major pain in the ass. Also going to pop the steering rack out of the mounts to prepare for the turbo reinstall. Other than that, its the waiting game for the rest of the parts to be delivered on tuesday. I really hope they get here early. Usually the UPS guy comes before 11am or after 6pm for the route my house is on.

I just wrestled my intercooler back in the other day. That quite honestly was one of the most annoying things I've had to do on this car. Getting that stupid plastic ducting **** to line up correctly took far more work than it should have.

:crying:

Whats so wrong with the plastic? it takes me 10 minutes to remove the bumper and splitter as a whole and gives me access to everything! lol

Jon- Good deal! I plan to go V-Flex, but like you said...it severly stretches the budget considering you have to buy two things and the V-Flex alone is going to run me $625 bucks.

I did look up a Nissan Quest alternator and it's $124.50 with my discount at work (normally like $180 bucks). I hope i can convince someone to weld up mounting tabs for it.

Yeah, I think removing the bumper is the way to go. But try installing the shroud and intercooler without removing the bumper one time - it is a giant PITA.

lol yea. I should setup my digital camcorder and record the process and put it up on youtube. Should be good for some comic effect afterwards :D.

A little more progress, the UPS guy came at about 2pm so i wasnt left with much time before it got dark. It was windy and much cooler than the past few days..tomorrow is freezing rain and sub 30's the rest of the week it seems like.

The rest of the parts needed. The T shaped hose (coolant tank, turbo waterpump, water pipe) is said to be NLA from Porsche so i believe this is an aftermarket supplier (bought from LR). I saw one solution available that used a bunch of hose clamps at the T connection with 3 separate hoses joined together. So if you need one of these check out LR and Pelican (saw it there also).

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I removed the AOS to replace the seals, the rubber hose to the top left of the picture was extremely hard and i had fears of it breaking. Luckily the entire hose rotates easily with the compression fitting so i was able to pull it off the AOS easily.

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The bottom AOS o-ring was pretty hard and had shrunk considerably in size.

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The top o-ring wasnt too bad. Im not sure if any of these had been replaced before (no record of it i can find) so both have 111k miles on them.

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And no better time then now to clean the bell housing ground :).

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Other than replacing the AOS seals, i installed the long turbo mounting bolt and bolted the steering rack back up to the crossmember. Thats all i managed to get done unfortuatley.. my hands were frozen by the time i was done.

I did decide to test fit the turbo with the downpipe and everything attached before i tighten it all down for good. I was happy to see everything lined up perfectly, not surprising because it was already indexed properly, but still nice to see it will go together fairly easy (i hope).

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Tonight i am going to put the downpipe on for good and also attach the flange for the new oil feed line to the turbo.

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One other thing i worked on (but no pictures of), is i cut down a spare exhaust stud i had so i can replace the downpipe flange mount to the block. This was previously left off on my car and saw many people choose to leave this out. I did read a few threads about a stud making life alot easier here, so decided to give it a shot also. With the turbo testfit, the threaded hole in the block and hole in the flange lined up perfectly.

Im not sure when im going to be able to work on this again unfortunatley, maybe thursday (highs of 27*) or saturday maybe.

...and no, i have not reinstalled the intercooler yet :).

Looking good! My AOS looked nastier than yours when I pulled it off. I cleaned the area good and now it stays a lot cleaner with new o-rings.

That T shaped hose is NLA. Several people make alternatives (such as yours). If you were so inclined, you could replace the coolant cross over pipe to the late style (not sure when they changed it) and you wouldn't have to worry about getting that hose any more. It makes that one hose two smaller pieces.

Forgive me not re-reading this whole thread, but is that a 3" downpipe? If so are you having any clearance issues?

Yea i thought about replacing the coolant crossover pipe but decided too much trouble for what its worth. One strange thing about my car, everything i read says the crossover pipe came on all '88 turbo's (S and non S like mine). Mine doesn't have it, yet it has the dual port intake manifold. Always a strange mix match of factory parts.. :).

Yeah, the factory can be funny.

I personally have never seen a dual port manifold on any non S cars I've looked at for sale. Some swear up and down that they did, but I haven't seen it with my own eyes (yet). Don't really know if you can consider it an "upgrade" or not.

Here is the flange bolted up to the oil inlet. You need to be careful to center the holes. The holes drilled for the bolts on the flange are larger than the diameter of the threaded portion of the bolts to allow for some adjustment. Also you need to use longer bolts to make up for the thickness of the flange, i used M8x30..i think the originals are M8x20.

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And here is the 45* fitting installed. You just have to take note which direction the fitting is pointing at if using the inline filter in the feed line. I am going to be routing the line back towards the rear of the engine, over the brake booster and around the back area of the strut tower (right over the diagnostic port). So i have the fitting pointing towards the back at an angle.

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And the downpipe on and ready to go.

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I also put together the last oil feed line. This stainless braided line is really easy to put together with fittings. Simply slip the red cap over the hose end and thread the fitting into that.

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Now its the waiting game with the weather... :(.

Jon,
Just saw this thread. Hope im not too late.

The universal for the steering, remember when it clicked a little bit. the part is $60, but you have to get the turbo off to get to it. Pete at SM was able to tighten it at about 100k. "While you are in there"....

Happy new year pal!!

Thanks for the heads up Tom, i did take a look at the u-joints and they look alright and are tight. I do have a good spare i may swap on, but dont think i am going to bother. I did however tighten up those bolts again.

I do remember the clicking though, it was a little unnevering having so much play in the steering while at highway speeds that first time you let me drive it back from John's house. I guess you can say that's when i hit the boost bong for the first time also... :) and i haven't looked back since.

Now if it only weren't 25 degrees out i could finish putting this damn thing back together.

Well it was 35 degrees here yesterday, oh, that's Centigrade. So about 90F. You're welcome to come down here and finish your project Jon. :p
Nice going too. Be nice to see what difference the turbo makes. As for running E85 or KWs. Hmm, that is a hard one. Seeing as the V3s are around the $2k mark that might help you make your mind up. I know what I'd choose but either way, you'll love whatever you decide to do.

Lousy unit conversions... :) . It was 25*F today, i think the warmest day in the next couple will be sunday with a paltry 36*F.

Im actually not 100% sure what i want to do yet with the suspension setup. The KW V3 seems to have all happy users, however at $2300 (best price i have found) its far from cheap! If i did run the KW's, i would surely do a torsion bar delete which brings me to a slight concern (elaborated on below).

I have also been considering the tried and true Bilstien Escort Cups and retaining the torsion bars so i dont ever have to worry about rear suspension issues running them deleted. Cost is about $1700..a nice $600 difference that can be put towards the V-Flex software and Piggyback.. or a nice corner balance and alignment :). And I know the torsion bar deal is a heavily debated point, but i like to stay on 'i know for a fact' side of the fence on some things.

I dont think i will be going with E85 anytime soon. The availability is still very limited in my area..come to think of it i don't know of any stations that even have E85 around me. I mostly want to be able to run the V-Flex for the added capability of over boost protection (reliability is my #1 goal on this cars build). The added ability to dial in the tune on the car will be very nice also to pump out the last few extra ponies (good powerband was goal #2 :D).

But those KW's...my friend has the V3's in his E46 M3 and i absolutely love the ride in it. I have a feeling they will be far to tempting to shy away from on ordering day.

38 degree high today and sunny, almost all the snow is melted so i decided to get the turbo mounted finally. Let me first just say i have NEVER cursed so much while working on this car before. Getting that turbo in was such a pain in the neck, there were some very choice words said at the car during that period.

I was hoping to get everything under the car finished up and get the car off the jackstands, but alas i ran into some major difficulty getting the turbo mounted. Most of the difficulty stemmed from me being too lazy to loosen the crossover on the exhaust manifold end to get some more leeway. More on that below..

Here is my cut down exhaust stud for the downpipe to block bolt. This ended up not working because it was still too long. I decided rather than cut it down more (and probably end up cutting it too much), i was going to try and get a bolt in there like how it was done from the factory. AMAZINGLY i was able to get that downpipe bolt in without much trouble at all. I tightened the turbo down on the mount and bolt threaded right in (had to reach up from under the car to get access). It was no problem at all though.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6805.jpg

For the oil return o-ring, i decided to just give it a coating of Hylomar HPF. For those unfamiliar with the stuff, its a fantastic flange / gasket dressing. Non hardening and resistant to fuel, coolant, oil...etc. It works great for waterpump gaskets (no messy cleanup afterwards) among other things.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6807.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6808.jpg

And here is the turbo finally bolted up to the engine. I spent a good hour and a half trying to get the turbo mounted to the engine mount, but it just wasnt happening. It was a little too far forward and no amount of forcing it was going to work (it was close, just not enough). I ended finally breaking down and loosening the 6 nuts /bolts at the crossover / header flange connection and within 15 minutes or so had both turbo mounting bolts threaded in. Goes to show sometimes it just pays to not be a lazy ass like myself :).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6809.jpg

And that stupid downpipe bolt threaded in :). I could not tighten the bolt all the way because i am using a 13mm socket with a wobble socket on an extension, so its too tall to fit inbetween the downpipe and the bolt. I am going to run over to Sears later and pick up a 13mm socket with the built in wobble (and a few other commonly needed sizes also) so i can tighten that up tomorrow.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6810.jpg

So after about 3 and a half hours, other than the turbo mount bolts everything is threaded loosely and just needs to be tightened tomorrow.

The crossover inlet flange still needed some 'tweaking' to get the bolts to thread in, but nothing too serious..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6811.jpg

So tomorrow i am hoping to get everything else on the turbo / exhaust tightened up and put the alternator back in finally so i can get the car off jackstands. Hopefully...

Part of the reason I pulled my engine out was so that I could get all the exhaust and turbo lined up and mounted outside of the car. I HATE working on this setup.

Yea, it really is a pain in the neck. I just spent the last hour and a half freezing my ass off tightening the rest of the fasteners for the exhaust. Still the biggest nightmare is the crossover to header connection, those two inside bolts are such a pain to reach. Thankfully i thought ahead during my headgasket replacement and put allen head bolts on the two hard to reach inners so an allen key can be put inbetween the two collectors making life a little easier..still, getting a socket in there to tighten the nut from the bottom is still a major pain. Everything is nice and tight now, including that stupid downpipe bolt :). The 13mm flex socket worked perfectly for that tight spot.

I was hoping to get the alternator in today but its just way too cold out. It will be atleast until this weekend before i can get back to working on this thing..hopefully we have a few of those weird 50 degree days again.. :D.

You have any experience working on cars?

I think Jon has pretty much learned his wrenching from just tearing into things. Don't you work on machinery for your job though Jon?

You'd be pretty surprised how many people on here just jump in with both feet. I feel
more confident working on my 951 then my truck. I have to pull the injectors and put a pan gasket, oil pump seal and front seal on my truck and I'm dreading it. I think working on 944's is easy...its just stupid how some things are assembled and it takes time. Other then that, going down to the shortblocl on a 951 can be accomplished by the average joe with a good selection of tools (I'm in the process now).

Its 42 right now, get back out there :)

lol, Gary, it was only 38 yesterday and still felt warmer, i think its because there is no sun out today.

v944god, as Cory said i work with machinery onboard ships. Boilers, big diesels, steam and gas turbines, generators, freshwater makers..you name it. I wont go as far to say everything transfers over to working on cars but it helps to be able to think mechanically.

I thawed out and spent another hour outside. I managed to get the brake booster heatshield back in and the dreaded intercooler.

It took me a minute to figure out how to get the heatshield back in, but once i realized you can literally slide it right in from the front, it went in very easily. It pays to be a skinny guy when trying to get the nut on the rear stud for the heatshield.. :).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6813.jpg

It took another minute to figure out the best way to get the intercooler with plastic shroud in place. What worked well for me was putting the passenger side in first, then basically forcing in the drivers side. The shroud gets pretty bent up during this process but its surprisingly elastic and did not crack. I replaced the foam seal on the perimeter of the core. I had double sided adhesive weather stripping, so i just put blue tape on the other side of the adhesive so it didnt stick to everything.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6815.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6816.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6817.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6818.jpg

I have a bunch of exams the rest of the week so i wont be able to finish this until this weekend at the earliest. Im pretty sure this is what i have left to do..

-Reinstall alternator and drill required holes in plastic cowl for new battery cables and headlight harness
-Finish routing of new battery cables and headlight harness
-Install SFR coolant expansion tank
-Reinstall turbo waterpump and hoses
-Reinstall turbo thermostat water pipe
-Install turbo oil feed line
-Reinstall intake manfiold
-Reinstall fuel rail
-Figure out how to hook up the vacuum lines again
-Reinstall MAF and j-pipe ... and figure out any dreaded fitment issues due to the new turbo
-Reinstall nose panel

Jon, did you finish it today, you could have wrapped the camera in clear plastic and cut out for the lens :)

Great thread.

Gary, doing my engine license tests this week. Im on day 2 of 4, 3 more tests to go. Studying my ass off. With the current weather outlook and the fact classes start next week, i dont think anything is going to get done until next weekend.

Yes thanks for documenting this, While I am only attempting to repair a damaged Turbo your posts here have helped me alot in how to do it.

I am finally finished with my exams this week (i am officially a USCG licensed 3rd assistant engineer!) so i decided to try and get a little done on the car. It was brutally cold out so i only put in about two hours. My first order of business was to get the alternator back in which took forever. Despite smoothing out the mounting ears of the alternator with Emory cloth, it still took quite a bit of force to get the alternator to slip in between the mounting bracket. I had to use liberal force with a hammer and a 2x4 as a standoff to get the alternator to seat right. What took the longest was getting the top long mounting bolt in through the mounting ears and the mounting bracket. That is a damn nightmare with the tight constraints on the front end, mostly due to the coolant crossover pipe and the upper radiator hose location.

Finally i got the alternator in and tightened up. Slowly but surely its coming back together. Eventually i am going to go with that Nissan Quest alternator mod, but its just not in the budget right now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...o/IMG_6819.jpg

And here is the routing of the battery cable (left) and headlight cable (right) to the alternator output. Also you can see my slightly modified cooling shroud, this should make the much needed clearance to fit the MAF j-pipe a little easier. I still need to secure all the wiring, but that needs to wait until i install the heatshield for the balance shaft cover, which requires hooking up the oil feed line.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...o/IMG_6820.jpg

The weather is going to be pretty bad this weekend (very cold and lots of snow) so im not sure when ill be able to get anymore work done. Next week is supposed to be brutally cold with highs in the low 20's...so i doubt the snow is going to melt anytime soon!.

I couldnt resist doing some more work today. Its 30* out and around 20* with the windchill... yea i froze my ass off today :).

Im still working on finishing the routing of the headlight wiring but pretty much have it figured out for the most part. I just need to zip tie a few things and will be done with that. I put the SFR expansion tank in and was very happy with the fitment. The only complaint i have is the fitting on the back which connects the tank to the radiator is in a really tight spot, inbetween the strut tower and the a/c hardlines. I think if it were placed on the side of the tank it would make life a little easier, but nothing too serious. I think my case may have been worse because i have the fittings for the LR steam vent to deal with also, which make it a little difficult to fit the hose around the a/c hardlines. I wouldnt worry about this or keep me from buying another one of these.

One of the real nice things is there is a slight gap inbetween the expansion tank and the wheel well.. so i was able to slip the extra length of wiring from the headlight harness right under the tank. I love when stuff like that works out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6823.jpg

The bracket for the ignition module on 16v cars came in handy for the relay mounting.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6822.jpg

I had a brief 'oh crap' moment when i realized you cannot thread the banjo bolt in for the coolant pipe on the turbo with the front intake manifold support in place. I had to loosen the bolt that holds that bracket (also for the a/c and alternator bracket) to slide the intake bracket out. Its in a really tight spot, luckily my flex head GearWrench fit barely around the compressor discharge so i could loosen that bolt. There was no way in hell i was going to take the turbo out again! Both of the water fittings for the turbo are on, but not tightened yet. I need to do a mock fitting of the coolant lines before i tighten everything down. Maybe tomorrow..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6824.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6821.jpg

And yes that is snow on the ground.

One thing ive been realizing about not having a deadline is im much more confident with my work. Because im only doing two or three things per day its easy for me to remember what i need to double check prior to finishing up for the day.

I managed to get all the new coolant hoses and pipes installed and tightened down including the turbo water pump.

I also hooked up the oil feed line today, the line goes back towards the firewall, wraps over the brake booster and ends up by the diagnotstic plug, where the filter sits. Then it wraps around the strut tower to the turbo inlet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6829.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6831.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6830.jpg

I also finally got the MAF hooked back up. Installing was much easier than the last time i did this because i modified the alternator cooling shroud a little. Its still a little bit of a tight fit, but what i ground off the shroud made all the difference.

Last look at the compressor before the j-pipe goes back on..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6825.jpg

Here you can see the slightly modified shroud and the raised area i ground off. Also you can see the ground down compressor housing allowing for clearance of the coolant waterpipe. no need to bend or add spacers for it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6826.jpg

The SFR coolant tank also made life alot easier with hooking up the j-pipe because there is much more space to work now. Also there is ALOT more room between the tank and where the bypass valve ends up, so i should be able to finally get the fitment of that 'perfect' as opposed to the way i used to have it with the line kinked slightly.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6828.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6827.jpg

Is that some sort of a heat shield over the air filter?

Just a cover so water doesn't drain directly onto the filter. When i wash the car the water rolls right off the hood onto the filter, i can only imagine what its like when i have the headlights up driving in the rain.

AH! Good idea.

I spent the better part of 4 and a half hours getting the intake manifold on today. Things went smoothly up until i test fitted the intake. More on that later.

I started the day intent on getting the intake manifold on. I finished all the hose / wire routing under the intake aswell as hooked the catch can back up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6833.jpg

I was now ready to test fit the intake, which unveiled three problems which i needed to sort out. First off, the rear intake manifold support was too far forward so the bolts would not line up. This was sort of expected as i had removed all of that stuff when the downpipe came out. This required loosening the infamous downpipe bolt, which honestly isnt really all that bad. Getting the flex socket seated on the head of the bolt can be a pain, but its really not too bad..i think ive dealt with worse on these cars. I sorted that out pretty quickly. Now came the most time consuming issue. The way i had the oil feed line routed was causing it to interfere with the throttle cam when at anything more than 1/2 open throttle. I routed the line similar to how it was done on the LR webpage, but realized i could not do it the same way because my car still has the turbo cooling water pump, which causes the line to loop up higher. I had to rethink the routing and decided to go with my original plan B, which was going right through the brake booster heat shield. I drilled a hole through the heat shield and squared it off using a dremel. I admit the hole i cut is a little sloppy, but frankly i dont really care.. =).

You can see here that the oil feed line routing is still a little sloppy, i need to pickup one of those wire clamps so i can tie the feed line to the strut tower.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6835.jpg

The only other issue was the water pump for the turbo which sits very close to the throttle cam in the stop position. I had to do a little tweaking of the bracket and pushing the pump downwards a little in the clamp in order to secure it. Nothing too hard to figure out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6837.jpg

And with that, the intake manifold finally bolted down.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6836.jpg

Talk about some tight clearances under the throttle body, amazing it all fits.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6838.jpg

Notice how the pictures went from daytime to darkness.. you can get an idea how long i was out there for.. =).

So whats left to do..

-Reinstall injectors and fuel rail
-Reroute all vacuum lines
-Reinstall hard pipes
-Reinstall bypass valve
-Tension alternator belt
-Add coolant
-Fire it up..

Im looking at sub 20 degree weather the rest of the week, hopefully ill be able to fire her up sometime next week.

Looking good Jon! You will love the turbo...Even with my crappy tune it just pulls so hard. I can't wait until I get a vitesse MAF to go with mine and see how it really is :)

Looking good! I'm in the process of swapping my turbo right now, I've got almost everything taken apart.

Do you have the part numbers for the air-oil seperator seals? I might as well do that while I'm in there...

Here are the part #'s for the two o-rings.

999-701-613-40
999-701-661-40

--

It snowed a little this morning, but we are practically having a heat wave with highs of 33 degrees.. thats twice as warm as it was the last 5 days :).

I basically completed the reassembly. The fuel rail and hardpipes all went on without much drama. Getting the couplings off the hardpipes during the disassembley phase was a major pain in the ass, but installation is easier by spraying a little WD40 on the inside of the couplers.

The bypass valve fitment is a little better thanks to the extra space from the SFR expansion tank. Im finally pretty happy with the fitment of it.

The only annoying thing i needed to deal with was putting the bolt for the dipstick tube back in. I forgot i had neglected to put it back in..took me about 10 minutes to get that one back in.

Eventually ill replace the worm drive hose clamps for the intercooler pipes, but i havent run into any problems with them yet and i only run 15lbs usually. Ill eventually replace everything with t-bolt clamps for assurance when it gets warmer out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6840.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6839.jpg

Basically all i need to do is retension the alternator belt, add coolant and put the nose panel back on. I am planning on firing it up probably thursday afternoon because its supposed to be sunny and in the upper 30's. I figure the best day to start it up and check everything over...and maybe take it around the block :).

Scuse my lack of knowledge or being non-lazy enough to search, but what power numbers do you expect? Didn't you put 264whp/264wtq before the 60-1?

hey jon what hardpipes are those?

Yup, with the K26/6 it put down 264/264 at 14psi on a 95 degree day. Im really hoping to see around 315whp @ 15psi with the HiFi, all the while keeping full spool in the sub 3400rpm range. I had never checked previously what the K26 spooled up at until the last night i had it on the road before tear down.. i was getting 15psi @ just under 2700rpm and i used to think that was bad turbo lag.. im a little nervous to see what i end up with now.

Borys, they are the LR hardpipes powder coated black.

Haha...Yea, I hear ya on that Jon. Spool up with the stock 26/6 seemed like eternity at times...it's really going to suck having to wait 500-700rpm later for your turbo. Hell, I'm looking at 700-1000rpm later...but man, you know what they say...

"When the turbo spins, the bull**** ends!"

:burnout:

Well i figure the increased lag will be offset by the nice onset of power as the boost hits. I figure by then ill forget all about the extra turbo lag :burnout:

I'm used to a bit of lag and then the horse kick. I like it. Makes you plan in the future while you drive. You see a gap that's a few hundred yards away and you just aim for it, knowing that by the time the boost is into it's stride you're going through that gap. It's fun. You have to like changing gears though. Turbos aren't for lazy or unskilled drivers.

Thanks for those part numbers, they're on my list to buy. You're motivating me to get back to work!

Jon, yeah I'm really wondering about the spoolup, I really hated the lag of the K26/8, but I had a broken
exhaust manifold stud that may have been contributing and stock exhaust didn't help. I think I made 15#s between 3300 & 3400. I drove an eclipse that didn't hit max boost until 4200 @ 24 #s, just too hard to
drive around town, all or nothing.

I have the same turbo with a not 100% tune and a few small exhaust leaks. in 5th gear I get 15psi ~3200rpm
in gear 2-4 I get 10psi by 3K and anything from 13-18 builds up VERY quickly past it.. no later than 3400rpm.

The turbo lag is hardly an issue, passing 60mph traffic in 5th gear does not even require a downshift. Above 3.5K rpm boost is instant. Very streetable

Im hoping to start it up thursday and take it for a short run around the block. Im a little nervous because ive basically had the past month and a half to think...and thinking turns into "man did i remember to ___" or "damn i really hope i did ___ right". Im really itching to get it running so i can work out any potential problems. Plus i still have another month and a half before it will be back on as my daily driver..so it can get torn down again if need be....which hopefully wont happen!!!!

Partial success today. I tightened up the alternator belt and while i was under there realized i forgot to put the O2 sensor back in. So after that was done, i put the battery in and cranked it with the DME relay out to build oil pressure. After a few cranks it came right up, i loosened the inline oil filter feed line to ensure oil was making it too the turbo... oil gushed all over the place so that was good enough evidence for me.

I put the DME relay back in and cranked it over a little more, it fired right up once the fuel pressure came up. I let the car idle for about 10 minutes and was happy to see no more huge cloud of white / gray smoke from the exhaust due to oil burning off. I took the car cover off completley for the first time in about two months and instantly remembered why i love this car so much :). Its not often a piece of machinery puts a smile on your face just by looking at it. Also there were no noticeable leaks of any kind and the car was cooling properly at idle. I took it around my development a few times and put about 4 miles on the car. Such a great feeling to be behind the wheel again, i practically forgot what it was like driving the car as ive been in a nice and plush MB E320 the last month and a half.. i cant believe how rough a ride the 951 is.. :).

Anyhow, the extra turbo lag is definetley noticeable, but not bad really. I didnt really have a chance to open the car up at all, i hit 10psi for a brief second in 2nd gear and was going alot faster than i had expected :D. One thing that i sort of miss is the really loud induction noise from the bent compressor blades on my K26. This turbo is not nearly as loud (a good thing i guess!).

I pulled the car back into the driveway and took a peak underneath, still no leaks so i was pretty happy. I took a close look at everything under the hood and did notice some oil seeping past the oil feed fitting. The leak is not bad enough to cause any external dripping, but did pool ontop of the inlet flange and i did notice some oil had dripped onto the turbo center section. I was hoping to be able to take the line off with the intake manifold still on, but its far more trouble than its worth. It only took me about an hour and 15 minutes to get the hardpipes out and the fuel rail and intake manifold disconnected. My guess is on the install i did not put enough teflon tape on the fitting causing the oil to make it past the NPT threads. I am going to reassemble everything tomorrow and hope for the best.

The only other thing i figure i mention, i really highly recommend the LR steam vent kit. This is the 2nd time i had to refill the car with coolant and its very nice no longer needing to bleed the air out of the back of the block. The fitting basically allows all the air to get pushed into the expansion tank. As soon as the thermostat opens for the first time, you see a stream of bubbles getting pushed through the line, then a solid flow of coolant.

Finally together after a month and a half..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6841.jpg

Bogus oil leak..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6844.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6846.jpg

And apart again in about aslong as it was running.. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6847.jpg

Looks good. On 10psi mine does not feel that fast... it really comes alive 15+ psi :burnout:

Your car looks great BTW.. I'm so pissed off as I still don't have a properly fitting nose panel and your car is like mine.. but better :) At least you don't have coilovers (right?!)

lol, no coil overs yet Mike. My summer project is KW's i think..or atleast my 'finally done with school' gift too myself.

Im going to probably take it around the block again tomorrow just to make sure i fixed the oil leak for good. Its unfortunate i cant really open it up though, dont want to draw any unwanted attention too myself, especially with the wastegate still dumping under the car. Hopefully the threat of snow subsides by mid March.

Looking good Jon. Just wait until you open it up..

Here was attempt #2 at sealing the fitting, still leaking unfortunatley, except not nearly as bad as before. Its just a little bit of oil seeping past the threads now. Attempt #3 is going to involve using teflon paste, which is what i should have used in the first place because that stuff basically seals anything. I use that all the time onboard ships for fittings. I chalk that up too me being lazy and cheap.. :). Drove the car again for a few more miles.. i really cant wait until it gets warmer out!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6848.jpg

Also check out my voltmeter now.. brand new 14.4v adjustable voltage regulator and finally replaced the cable between the alternator and the starter. So Iceshark's battery cables are compeltley installed now. Ive never seen this gauge go this high before!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6849.jpg

Unfortunatley its going to be apart again in a few weeks.. but atleast it looks complete.. :D.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6850.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6851.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6852.jpg

And here it will sit, tucked away next too the house until March. What a tease.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6853.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t/IMG_6854.jpg

Great work - sure have enjoyed reading the updates.

Next time pulling the intake you can leave the injector rail and lines attached an prop it up to get in there.

Good work. You have me motivated to start my winter projects.
Also I'm not a fan of teflon tape either. I use the Loctite thread sealer sold at most automotive stores (the # escapes me). It comes in about a 0.2 oz tube and has been able to seal every threaded joint where multiple tries with teflon tape had failed.

Sid, i actually thought of that after i pulled the fuel rail off. Its a pain in the ass dumping all the fuel in the rail all over the block.

fortysixandtwo, i just picked up a tube of Permatex thread sealant with Teflon, though i am going to exchange it for this stuff which looks like it will resist oil and temperature better. I was actually comparing the two while at the store and for some reason was thinking the stuff i linked too below would make disassembly a pain in the butt...then i realized i am probably never going to remove that fitting off that flange ever again, not to mention it will actually make disassembly easier! I should have checked on the Permatex website before hand.

http://permatex.com/products/Automot...ad_Sealant.htm

The stuff in the link is it. Sorry about the Loctite reference, long work week. Though I did get the tube size correct.
I used it on a couple of 1/2" NPT fittings, at my fuel filter, that would not stop leaking when sealed with teflon tape. I also have it on a few 1/8 NPT plugs on the oil side of things. Eventually it will get used on every pipe thread I have on my vehicles.

What did you do to modify the alternator duct to make some room? I'm trying to fit my MAF j-pipe and have that problem.

Keith, there is a raised portion on the top of the duct where a grommet fits and the alternator power wire goes in. Basically i ground that entire section down and moved the entry point for the wire. If you look at the back of the shroud straight on, i drilled the hole roughly at the 3:00 position (looking at it from the back). Its still a tight fit, but was enough for me to squeeze the coupler on without too much trouble. It was a major pain the last time.

--

Attempt #3 was performed today. I was able to get everything apart and back together again in about two hours. I am not proud to say im getting good at taking it apart! I left the fuel rail attached as per Sid's advice. Other than a slightly hard to reach intake manifold bolt under the fuel pressure damper, (used a ball head allen key and vice grip for leverage) everything came apart very easily and no need to dump an entire fuel rails worth of gas over the block! I used the Permatex thread sealant and reaaallly hope it seals. I think it will do fine. But in the event it still leaks, attempt #4 is going to be using Silastic 730.. the same stuff for the oil pan. I put a custom big radiator in my friends 944 a few months ago and one of the plugs has been leaking ever since. Ive resealed it with teflon tape probably 3 times now. Last weekend i used some of that Silastic stuff (no tape at all) on the threads and it finally stopped leaking. Lets hope it dosent turn to that... :)

Anyhow i have not started it yet because i want to let this stuff cure completley (72 hrs). I also need to order some clamps, so it will probably be a week atleast before i do start it.

Check out my bitchin custom intake manifold prop.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...o/IMG_6870.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...o/IMG_6869.jpg

Please stop leaking...

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I bought these nice clamps from Aircraft Spruce also. They are Oetiker stepless screw clamps. They have a very narrow band so they fit very nicely around the throttlebody / IC pipe connection which is a very tight fit for a normal t-bolt clamp. Unfortunatley i bought one size too small..go figure. I was impressed enough with these clamps that i am going to use them on all of the couplings for the IC pipes. They are pretty cheap also, less than $4 each and Aircraft Spruce charges less than $2 for shipping first class mail. The problem with the sizing however is the maximum and minimum clamping ranges are literally right at the limits of what i need for the couplers. So it took alot of measurements and interpolating a little from the charts to figure out what sizes i think i need. I ordered two of the clamp sizes i think i need for the TB / IC pipe connection and rest of the IC pipe connections to test fit. If they are correct, ill order the rest. I will post up what the correct sizes are and part #'s when i figure it out so noone else needs to go through this trial and error nonsense.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...es/oetiker.php

http://www.oetiker.com/content.asp?l=4&idNavig=88

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...o/IMG_6866.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...o/IMG_6868.jpg

I finally reregistered the car today and took it for a 10 mile drive. Happily everything is running perfectly with no leaks (keeping my fingers crossed on this and knocking on wood!). My new tires came in today also, so its like all the starts aligned sorta.. :). I am going to have them mounted tomorrow afternoon. They are the relativley new Kumho XS which is branded as the successor to the MX and direct competitor to the Falken RT615. I hope they can survive 20 minute sessions on the track without getting greasy.

Its so nice to finally be back behind the wheel of a 951, i couldnt help but have a smile on my face when i hit some of the twisties, even with my rock hard 8 year old bald Michelin Pilot Sports!

I am still only running off the wastegate spring pressure which is about 11psi. The car is pretty damn fast.. ill probably turn the boost up when it gets a little bit warmer out.
I just hope there are no freak snow storms now.. :surr:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...o/IMG_6951.jpg

In the next few weeks i will do some real ghetto data logging with my camcorder and recording when i am getting 1-bar with the 60-1 HiFi in 4th gear. I am hoping to see in the sub 3300rpm range. Around April when i have some extra cash i will dyno the car, i am hoping to make around 325whp @ 15psi. I think that may be a bit optimistic, but i can hope.. :).

Awesome! You will get 1bar before 3300rpm (I even get that with my maf/ARC-2.. but I have a Vitesse MAF on its way :burnout:)

GREAT THREAD. Nice work. Good luck. I have just recently removed my turbo, top end, etc. for TLC reasons and to find a few pesky oil leaks. Your thread allowed me to augment my notes and I thank you for the dilligent documentation of your work. Very helpful.

I am in a "must" situation on reducing the size of my alternator and have pinged "patrick" with a PM, but I wonder who has the poop on the Nissan unit and issues, wiring, etc. My Old School Garrett 28/76 still has some life and the 4" opening is partially hidden by the top of the ALT, so the pipe is a kluge. I want to replace it with a better solution.

I'll try to post photos, but I suck at the documentaiton part; hat's off to you!

BTW, one key to the long turbo mounting bolt; I just leave it dangling on the steering UV knuckle. No need to remove it completley unless it is bad. Saves a lot of other work.

After seeing the gunk in your intercooler I will be removing and cleaning mine for sure!

Thanks man.

This thread was pretty straightforward about the smaller Nissan alternator. I decided not to go with it because i would needed to have cut the lugs off my Iceshark battery harness aswell as make some modifications to the alternator mount. If i ever do a bigger turbo, surely put the smaller one on.

https://rennlist.com/forums/944-turb...eted-pics.html

There are a few reasons i like to document the stuff. I figure it will do good if i ever decide to sell the car, the potential buyer can see the obsession that went into this car. Also before undertaking new projects on the car i like to see what i am up against. So i figure these are helpful for anyone like me trying to size up a job. The other thing is it sorta forces me to not halfass any of the work on the job. Why would i want to document me halfassing something for all of Rennlist to criticize.. :D.

My impression of the 60-1 HiFi so far, i am very happy with it and have about 110 miles on the car now (had to do alot of driving today). Honestly i have not noticed too much of a difference in the turbo lag. So far i am still running off the wastegate spring (11 psi) and the car feels faster now than it did with the K26/6 at 14psi. The Vitesse MAF is basically perfect with the AFR's, no adjustment or anything needed going from stock to modified. I truly believe this is the best setup anyone can get for a 951 that plans on modifying the car, short of a standalone of course. I have only really got on the car once so far after being edged on by my friend next to me and said the car sounds great with the open dump and my exhaust is a healthy, horribly smelling 'somewhat grey / black' color :D. The 60-1 isnt nearly as loud with induction noise as my bent blade K26 that was 'chopping' the air up, but once i come out of vacuum and get into the boost region it sounds fantastic with the MAF. I am getting my new tires mounted tomorrow and once it warms up a little in a few weeks i will bring up the boost to 14-15psi and get some decent videos showing acceleration in gear and boost / rpm.

Anyhow i cant enjoy the car much because of an expected 1/4'' of rain and some mega winds out right now. Tomorrow will be clear giving way into a 'wintry mix' sunday and monday.. hopefully nothing sticks :D.

Well i have put about 550 miles on the car with the new turbo. I finally turned up the boost to 15psi yesterday and gave it a few good runs. I am pretty satisfied with the performance right now. The extra lag is not bad at all, as i figured i am getting 15psi right around 3200-3300rpm in 4th gear. With the 26/6 i was getting 15psi around 2700rpm. In 3rd gear the car really hauls ass once it comes on boost. The turbo is quiet up until 3k rpm about where you can really hear the induction sound, its pretty mean especially with the open dump :D.

The turbo exactly is a Turbonetics 60-1 HiFi with a #8 Turbonetics replica hotside housing. The other mods are Vitesse MAF, LR stage 1 o-ringed head, full 3'' and no cat, wrapped stock downpipe, Tial 38mm, black knob controller and a few other not so performance critical things.

I took some video last night of boost / rpm in 4th gear and a quick 3rd gear pull to about 5500rpm. The quality is not the best because i had to use the nightshot mode, so the boost controller is a little washed out. In normal mode the camcorder was not picking up the tach very well due to the LED's which for some reason do not show up very bright at all on video. I will have some better footage this weekend if its dry out.



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Great thread - have really enjoyed following your progress. I am curious to see what your dyno numbers are as I have a similiar turbo. I think you are getting a bar of boost quicker than I am though.

Josh, when are you seeing 1-bar? Are you still using the LR intake or did you eventually go back with a stock one?

I am hoping to dyno the car sometime around April, money is a little tight right now.

Not seeing a bar until 3650 and still on the LR intake. I've got some buddies that want to visit a dyno soon and I'll be swapping the intake out for stock one. I haven't changed anything else since the last dyno so it will be interesting to see the results. Do you have a zeitronix on your car?

No Zeitronix, just a Innovative wideband. I eventually want to get the datalogging box so i can record boost, EGT, AFR..etc, but its pretty expensive and not really 100% useful for me yet as i dont have plans to go with the piggyback for sometime still. The Zeitronix is nice due to its all in one features, but i did not like the current options available regarding AFR readout, i wanted a analog type readout and digital readout. It was probably a month after i put the Innovative in that they came out with that...doh!

BTW, i just wanted to say much respect to John at Vitesse and his MAF + software setup. As you can see in the video my AFR's are rock solid at 11.7-11.8 under full boost. No changes at all were made to the software going from the K26/6 to the 60-1 HiFi which obviously flows a significantly larger amount of air. I dont even have the piggyback to really dial things in. This is seriously one of the best things i could have bought with future modifications in mind.

A well engineered MAF setup is nice like that. I envy anyone who has Vitesse software. Eventually you might consider changing the software because you can afford to run a little more timing with that bigger hotside.


Wait until you try 18 or 19 psi, that's where the 60-1 will really shine (don't be mislead by the compressor maps, the 60-1 isn't afraid of high boost). In terms of 1/4 mile ET and MPH, it performed equal to the stock turbo up until about 13-14 psi.

Great thread!

Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you are enjoying the Vitesse MAF, it should serve you for a long time even if you keep the modifications coming. As you noted, changing the turbo to a much higher flowing unit, or changing the boost will not affect your AFR. The beauty of a genuine MAF :)

Enjoy!

Wow, can you post the video again. It is not working.
I really like the tinted fog lights

Good read. Jon, your car is too nice. Makes me feel like mine is a beater !

Mike, atleast you get to drive your car.. i have been dying to go for a ride. My Jeep is fun, but it dosent even come close to matching the driving pleasure of the 951. I will say off roading at the ship yard (which is literally a mud hole) is alot of fun.. :).

Jon,

You still liking your 60-1 Hifi, any dyno results yet? Sorry to rehash an old thread but it was some good reading!

Maybe this Saturday if he makes it to Van's House.

As of right now i feel the turbo is a bit too laggy for my liking for street (around town) use. On the highway its about perfect i think. Mind you i am a all motor guy at heart.. i like instant response. I always complain about the lag in my car but my friends all say i am nuts and its not laggy at all. I smoke tested my exhaust a few weeks back and have a number of leaks, cracked #1 flange at the head and the 2 crush rings are leaking where the crossover meets the header flange (i had loosened this junction to get the crossover to line up with the turbo inlet, i did not replace the crush rings, hence the leak). These leaks are pretty major, so i am sure these are killing the spool up. I have a set of SFR stage 2's headers / crossover i am going to install over the winter when i pull the engine for rod bearings. It will be interesting to see how the turbo feels with the leaks fixed. Using the uber accurate look at the boost gauge then quickly dart my eyes at the tach at 1-bar, i estimate i am seeing it at about 3500-3600rpm @ 1-bar. I am hoping once i fix the exhaust leaks i can get 1-bar at 3300rpm or so.

The car is very fast at 15psi..it will spin my 275 Kumho XS rears with relative ease through 2nd and from 3rd - 4th i am hanging on.

No dynocharts, i have not had much chance to drive the car much over the last year or two. Based on what i have seen from other people running this turbo, i would expect to see about 300whp @ 15-16psi.

I actually relocated to Houston for work for about a year.. i was living in Pasadena, right off the toll way. Where abouts are you located? I really wish i had the 951 with me while i was living in Houston. A run with it down 45 between Galveston and Houston would have been very nice on those late weekend summer nights. Not to mention the car scene in Houston is way cooler than it is on Long Island.. people are actually nice, not d-bags and its not a bunch of ricers / rich stuck up guys.

Unfortunetley i doubt i will be able to make the get together at Van's. I was supposed to get home on the 25th but now its looking like the 28th or 29th. I still need to get the car inspected also and am praying the inspection machine at the shop i goto is working..otherwise i may be in a bind. I am not to keen on driving anywhere that requires me going through a toll plaza with an expired inspection sticker..its basically a guaranteed ticket.

MM951 has the same turbo (60-1 HiFi with a #8 hotside) so im sure he will have #'s after the get together.

Just read this thread from start to finish as changing the turbo over is a looming task for me (never done one before) I'm replacing my worn out LR75 with a new LR75 but considering its the same size my car gets a lot more lag than you! I'm hoping this will be rectified by fitting the new turbo, which has also been high speed balanced locally. Out of the box the new turbo was balanced to an accuracy of 1.75g at 70,000rpm now its 0.4g and the shaft has been polished to remove any manufacturing imperfections.

I was hoping to see your vid to get a better idea but its been removed:( Having read the thread I'm also now sinking at the thought of the task I have ahead of me and all the potential pit falls! I was originally hoping to do it over a weekend!!

I live right off 96 and 45..running from League City to the Woodlands (mainly the Pierce Elevated near downtown) is fun for me :) Thanks for the info on the turbo, I think things will drastically change for you when your exhaust is on and all tightened up. Reading this thread makes me excited for my GT3071r install. I'll shoot you a PM once I get my motor back in.

Jon, I forgot how nice that engine bay looks. You're right about the the toll plaza at the TNB, if you have any easy pass, you can stay back a little, then come through it with a little speed and you should be ok.
I agree about the lag, get those exhaust leaks taken care of, that will help. 1bar at 3500 down here with traffic isn't fun. That was my only gripe with my 951, the K26/8 and an exhaust manifold leak.

:rolleyes: I should be so lucky, you guys are all spoilt with your tiny turbo lag.

I have been reading up on the turbo hard water line interference issue as I am getting ready to install a older hybrid turbo on my CA car. I thought I was going to have to perform one of the various modifications from Rennlist, however upon further inspection it appears that Huntley might have actually done a good job on this piece. Please look at the picture and see if you agree. It looks like he machined a section out of the compressor housing to accomodate the factory hard line coming over the top at this point, see red arrow in picture. If anyone else has installed this ball bearing hybrid from turbonetics, please chime in. I don't have another car to be driving around finding fittings to make this thing work if there is not enough clearance.

The compressor cover on my 60-1 was ground down in the same spot, no modification at all needed to the waterpipe.

Thanks for the information! I am hopeful that mine will fit too! I think it will, but not positive. I guess I only need to put in the Nissan alternator and I should be good to go.

Just read the thread. Great job!!

Techno, what front splitter are you running?

Really nice writeup on this job! Funny that I constructed the almost exact shield on the air filter to keep water from dripping down the hood into the air filter. For now it is removeable, in the trunk until it rains. Like what you did on the turbo oil line.

It is the AIR splitter. Been on the car almost 20k miles and survived 3 winters including driving home in two blizzards on my fairly low car. It is being replaced with one by Joe Toth when the car is back on the road in the spring.

If you wanted, you an have my old AIR for cheap, just come and pick it up on Long Island. It is presentable but will need some fiberglass work to be perfect. It is all one piece but has one crack and a bunch of chips on the leading edge. Amazingly enough it help up fine over the winter but not to me accidentally backing up over some wheel chocks I forgot about...

Really glad you guys appreciate these threads, not sure if there will be anymore as the car no longer has the turbo engine anymore. Besides, I think I covered all the big DIY jobs! Maybe a rear suspension one in the future but ill likely pay a shop to do that!

You know whats great, using the DIY to install the same turbo!

Thanks again Techno!

Awesome Doug! Hope it all goes smoothly.

Any plans to make Hershey this year? Would love to see how far the car has come since i saw it at 944Fest a few year ago. Its possible i may make it in my 951, the first time in like 4 years :).

BTW, not sure what turbo your coming from but if it was stock you will love the 60-1. 3rd gear pulls @ 17psi were scary :burnout:

Sadly Hershey is right in the middle of my peak work season.

I will be coming from the stock 26/6, so this should be a big jump on the Fun-o-meter!

Doing this job right now. THIS is a good piece of intel! I'm going to have my neighbor do that on mine.

Techno duck, I'm in the middle of this job myself. Those turbo mounting bolts are killing me!!! :banghead: I will try to wake up the bolts the way that you did again today. I have not stripped either bolt yet. Is there any other advice for waking up those bolts? It feels like they're now one with the turbo. Any help would be very much appreciated. I'm so close, I don't want to mess up and definitely don't want to give up either.

Thanks

There really isn't be careful and pull like hell and don't use anything that ratchets. Try to use a 6 sided box end if possible. Good luck. Everyone on this thread has BTDT, so we're here for you if you want to vent!:biggulp:

Your talking about the allen head bolts right? Its been a long time since ive done this but you need to move the steering rack and i think you have a relatively straight shot at the allen heads. Use a long enough extensions and you should be able to give them a few solid hits with a hammer. For the steering rack, you can just disconnect the steering shaft and take the mounting clamps off. Then pop the rack out of the crossmember and let it hang. You can also apply heat to the part of the turbo where the bolts thread into aswell. Just be absolutely sure your seated squarely in the allen head before applying torque. If you do end up stripping them you can drill the head off the allen head in a few minutes, then pull the turbo out. Once the turbo is on a bench you can use a pair of vice grips to get the rest of the stud out.

I am out of town until the end of the month, if you can wait until then i can lend you a hand. Where in SD are you?

Oh the turbo allens? Yeah he's right. That's the best way. Get the extensions set up with the proper allen and put it into place on the bolt. Push it up as hard as you can and then bang the **** out of the end of the extension with a hammer. Hit it as hard as you can a few times, then try to turn it. Rinse and repeat. I went through the exact same thing. I recommend beer!

:)

Also... On most turbos, you can spray a little penetrating oil (PB Blaster or whatever) on the top end of those bolts where they poke up through the mount. Gravity then helps get the oil down into the threads. Also, as with any easily stripped bolt, the key it so keep the tool totally straight and fully seated in the bolt head. Loosening the steering rack helps you get a straighter shot as Duck says. Also, I'm a big fan of using over-sized tools (1/2" ratchet or breaker bar for example) because once you start straining on a little wrench to break the bolt free, you are at much greater risk of putting an unintentional angle on the tool, which is the usually the root cause of stripped bolts and bloody knuckles. With a big breaker bar, set straight on with the bolts, you can stay more controlled and straight as you try to break the bolt free.

Just to add to all the rest
When I am using the star or allen heads I am pushing as hard on the tool as I am on twisting... That is key to make sure that that tool is seated completely
Along with with Tom and others say regarding the angle by loosening the steering rack to get a better angle
Good luck

After doing everything stated above, mine was still stuck but not stripped. Put a Snap-On 1/2" socket to Allen key bit on the end of the HF Earthquake pressed as hard as I could into the bolt head and Boom, off in 2 seconds. The bolt laughed at my Bluepoint gun, that HF Earthquake is my best gun and it is dirt cheap.