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Thread: How to: Install a new turbo

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
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    7,824

    Default How to: Install a new turbo

    Note: This how to article assumes that you are going to swap one entire manifold-turbo-O2 housing assembly for another one. If you're not going to do this, then it's really not much different if you still pull the original assembly out.

    The first and possibly most critical step is to find someone nice enough to sacrifice many hours of his day to help you out. I was fortunate enough to have Tam find me and offer his help before I even requested anyone's assistance. Thank you, Tam!!!

    Remember that preparation for the turbo swap is the next most critical step. Not only do you need to compile a list of all of the part numbers that you'll need to change, but you'll also need to be prepared to change your coolant and oil. I was ready for the coolant part, and fortunately, Tam had a ton of Red Line oil in his shop, so I just bought that from him. Here's a list of all of the parts and other miscellaneous stuff / tools that I think you'll need. I'll start with my original turbo swap image from the Project TME thread.



    Turbo swap parts:

    P/N Qty Description
    MN119783 4 Exhaust manifold -> hotside bolts
    MD062961 3 O2 housing -> hotside bolts
    MD050073 2 O2 housing -> hotside nuts
    MR224441 2 O2 housing studs
    MD132933 9 Washers for MN119783, MD062961, and MD050073
    MR323654 1 Exhaust manifold gasket
    MR404547 1 Exhaust manifold -> hotside gasket
    MR299686 1 Hotside -> O2 housing gasket
    MR258477 1 Oil return line gasket, turbo side (paper)
    1226A002 1 Oil return line gasket, oil pan side (plastic)
    MR281085 1 Compressor outlet pipe gasket
    MF660063 2 Oil feed line crush washer, engine block side
    MF660064 2 Oil feed line crush washer, turbo side
    MF660065 4 Coolant feed and return line crush washers


    - bucket to catch coolant, or some other reservoir
    - rubber hose to attach to bottom of radiator drain
    - clean funnel for replacing coolant
    - 1 quart of Prestone coolant or equivalent and 1 quart of distilled water, or choose your own ratio. I usually use 30% coolant, 70% distilled water. Tam said he uses all distilled water + some Water Wetter
    - 5 quarts of sythetic oil, your choice
    - assortment of metric sockets: 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, and 21 are the ones I think we used, plus 10, 11, and 12mm deep sockets
    - Universal joint is helpful, most likely 3/8" drive if it matches your torque wrench and ratchet
    - Drive adapters may save your butt, and I'm glad I had mine with me (mainly to attach the impact wrench to the O2 socket
    - O2 socket
    - Impact wrench
    - Boost leak tester
    - Air source
    - Boost gauge
    - Philips screwdriver, long and stubby kind
    - a couple of razor blades to scrape off the old turbo oil return gasket
    - PB Blaster

    Okay, so here goes...

    Step 0: PB Blaster

    I don't know if you need to do this or not, but I did. Two days before you plan to install the turbo, drive around the block once to warm up the manifold a bit. Hit each nut with PB Blaster. Do this again the following day.

    Step 1: Remove undertray

    Yeah, painful. 'nuf said.

    Step 2: Remove front bumper

    You may be saying "WTF?". But we had to do it because I have the Nisei LICP (which has a bracket). If you don't have a bracket, then you can probably just loosen the T-bolt clamp on the compressor outlet end and coax the LICP off of the outlet pipe.

    Step 3: Drain coolant

    I am so glad we could use Tam's lift. Get the car up on a lift or jackstands, hook a rubber hose to the drain outlet of the radiator, put the other end into the bucket, and then loosen the drain plug. I believe it's a 10mm socket.



    Step 4: Drain oil

    While the car is up, now change your oil. Remove the drain plug and drain appropriately, and replace your oil filter and drain plug when all of the oil is out.

    Obviously, you won't be replacing your coolant or oil yet.

    Step 5: Remove intake assembly

    Remove the intake snorkel. Unscrew the two 10mm bolts holding in the intake box. Loosen the hose clamp that connects the DV to the intake. Loosen the clamp that holds the intake hose onto the turbo's compressor side. Disconnect the MAF plug. Remove intake assembly as once piece.



    Step 6: Remove radiator

    Now you'll want to pull the radiator so you don't risk damaging it when replacing the turbo assembly. Remove the upper radiator hose (top of radiator to thermostat), disconnect the reserve tank hose (on the reserve tank end), and lower radiator hose (on the radiator side). Also, don't forget to pull off the electrical connection! (not shown in diagram)



    You'll probably want to tip the radiator's outlets toward your coolant bucket to drain excess coolant from the radiator. Lean it against the wall and don't bump into it.



    Step 7: Remove / hang downpipe

    You don't really need to remove the downpipe, and if you have a wideband O2 like I do, you won't want to. First, support the cat-end of the exhaust with something. Tam used the rubber coolant hose and tied it around the driveshaft.



    :shock: :lol:

    Unbolt the downpipe from the cat, then remove the downpipe bolts that connect it to the O2 housing. If you have a wideband, be careful because you don't want to 1) lose the grommet, or 2) destroy the wires going to the O2 sensor.

    Step 8: Disconnect everything to the turbo

    This includes the oil feed / return lines and coolant feed / return lines. Since the car is most likely in the air right now, start with the oil return line. Look for your oil pan, and it's connected there.



    You can note the orientation of the gasket, but it's probably not important. However, remember that this is the plastic gasket, not the paper one. The one that looks similar (but made of paper) goes on the turbo end of the return line!

    Ok, now disconnect all of the other hoses going to the pipes coming out of the turbo. We decided to just remove the banjo bolt from the block, instead of from the turbo.



    Remove the upper exhaust manifold heat shield.

    We wasted some time trying to get the lower heat shield off to remove the O2 sensor, but then realized that we just had to pull the spark plug cover and disconnect the O2 sensor there. Much easier! So leave the O2 and lower heat shield in place.



    Now, there are only a couple of things left -- the lower O2 housing bracket and exhaust manifold nuts. Remove them! The exhaust manifold nuts should be easy, especially if you followed Step 0.



    The manifold shouldn't just fall off, so you don't have to worry about holding it up right now. Double-check that everything is disconnected. If I missed something, please let me know so I can revise this how-to! Have your work buddy get under the car now and maneuver the oil return line around any obstacles, while you pull the entire turbo assembly up and out of the car!

    Step 9: Assemble new turbo with old parts

    Or if you did what I did, assemble the new separate turbo now. You could also have done this advance (which is what I did). If you wan to do this, look at my Project TME thread.

    Step 10: Remove the oil return line and clean gasket

    When you pull the oil return line from the turbo assembly end, the paper gasket will remain stuck to the line and is hard to clean off. Get a couple of razor blades and patiently scrape it all off.

    Step 11: Swap all remaining oil and coolant pipes from the old turbo assembly to the new one

    Grab your crush washers from the above parts list and just match them up by size. They're all different sizes so it should be a piece of cake. Put the two turbo assemblies side-by-side to make it easier to match things up. Torque everything to spec. Also make sure you torque the bolts going from the exhaust manifold to the turbo, and the turbo to the O2 housing. See the image above for the torque specs. At some point, you're going to be tempted to rotate the assembly one way on the manifold end to attach a pipe, but don't do it or you'll bend it.

    This is the one you don't want to kill:


    Don't forget any gaskets!

    Step 12: Replace exhaust manifold gasket

    Nice and shiny!


    Step 13: Install the new turbo assembly

    Once again, have your work buddy go under the car and help maneuver the oil return line around any obstacles while you put the turbo assembly back in.



    Step 14: Install and torque down exhaust manifold bolts

    'Nuf said here. I don't know what the proper order is, but try going and retorquing everything two or three times. You'll want to do this or the lower O2 bracket bolt may not line up.

    Step 15: Reinstall lower O2 bracket bolt

    Step 16: Reattach oil return line

    Don't forget your new gasket! It's the plastic one, remember? If you only have a paper one at this point,



    Step 17: REPLACE FLUIDS

    Nothing would suck more than accidentally starting the car when doing Step 21. So put in your oil and coolant NOW. Don't forget to replace your oil and radiator caps.

    Step 17: Reinstall downpipe

    Bolt the DP back up to the cat, then bolt the DP to the O2 housing. Torque if necessary. Oh, don't forget antiseize.

    Step 18: Reinstall LICP

    Step 19: Reattach all other oil and coolant lines to turbo



    Step 20: Reinstall radiator

    Carefully drop the radiator back in place and reattach it to the frame. Now reconnect all of the hoses that you took off before.



    Step 21: BOOST LEAK TEST

    Yep, please do this. If you don't have a boost leak tester, get one. http://www.siliconeintakes.com has a really nice one for $30, or you can build one from
    DRFTR8's how to.

    Tam and I found 3 boost leaks! Two in the LICP and one in the hose from the DV to the UICP. So please do this.

    Did I ask you to do a boost leak test? Yeah, I was serious.

    Step 22: Reinstall undertray

    More fun stuff.

    Step 23: Reinstall intake and snorkel

    This part is easy.

    Step 24: Reinstall front O2 sensor

    Just plug it in, and replace your spark plug cover

    Step 25: Go for a spin!!!

    This is the best part -- finding out if you've got a turbo that's running great in it's new home, or if you have a $35k paperweight on wheels.

    Well, that's it! If I missed anything, please let me know so I can revise this article. Thanks for reading!

    Mods, please sticky this thread.

  2. #2

    Default Re: How to: Install a new turbo

    Wow, great post!
    Thanks, Dave!

  3. #3

    Default Re: How to: Install a new turbo

    Quote Originally Posted by wilson1
    Wow, great post!
    Thanks, Dave!
    +1
    Custom Tuned at Full Function by Sean - 325 whp/307 wtq @ 23 psi on pump gas

    HPDE Days:
    Buttonwillow: 1
    Infineon: 0
    Laguna Seca: 0
    Thunderhill: 3

    1999 Honda Prelude Non-SH - DD
    2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX SE - Garage Queen

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Daly City / Pacifica
    Posts
    6,265

    Default Re: How to: Install a new turbo

    Quote Originally Posted by tkeirin
    Quote Originally Posted by wilson1
    Wow, great post!
    Thanks, Dave!
    +1
    +2
    - Rob

    WLD a.k.a. Wilson LOL Disease - there's currently no cure for this.

    Learn from your mistake: Start off with spin-outs then power slides.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Bay Area, CA
    Posts
    6,896

    Default Re: How to: Install a new turbo

    Nice!

  6. #6

    Default Re: How to: Install a new turbo

    Sorry I couldn't be there but kick-ass how-to Matz - can't wait to see what she does on the dyno!

  7. #7

    Default Re: How to: Install a new turbo

    Well done! I have this about memorized from doing it twice in two months.

  8. #8

    Default Re: How to: Install a new turbo

    Quote Originally Posted by wzcx
    Well done! I have this about memorized from doing it twice in two months.
    How long does it takes?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Concord
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: How to: Install a new turbo

    Quote Originally Posted by wilson1
    Quote Originally Posted by wzcx
    Well done! I have this about memorized from doing it twice in two months.
    How long does it takes?
    Took me about 8hrs the first time. Now that I know how to do it, I'd say it's still a 6hr job.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    San Jose, CA
    Posts
    1,520

    Default Re: How to: Install a new turbo

    Dave and I did it in a bit over 5 hours. Having a lift is useful but it's not at all critical for this job, just saves you from a bit of crawling around under the car.

    One thing I'll note, is that unless you have an impact gun, break loose the O2 sensor from the O2 housing with the turbo still on the car--unless you have something like a big vise to hold the turbo assembly firmly in place while off the car.

    The O2 sensor is supposed to be torqued to 33 ft-lbs, but I'd estimate it takes something closer to 80 ft-lbs to break it loose as it comes from the factory.
    Viet-Tam Luu (a.k.a. &quot;Tam&quot<br />Vital Motorsports<br />eXtreme Performance<br />Sponsored by WORKS

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