Sunday, February 18, 2007 - 12:04 pm, by: Paul McConnell(Pt1)
I might have to pull the turbos off my 1J, which I'm not particularly looking forward to.
Any tips, how to's, special tools needed (there seems to be some star shaped nuts/bolts) or general order to go in/areas to attack/things to watch out for....?
Can you just take the rear one off while leaving the front turbo in place?
Sunday, February 18, 2007 - 03:17 pm, by: Nathan Evans(Soarer7)
If you dont understand that article posted, all you have to do is work your way from the top down, ive done a turbo on an RB20 off an R32 skyline so it might not be very different. Just dont lose anything.
Sunday, February 18, 2007 - 04:07 pm, by: Robert Jeffs(Robert)
One other thing that will help you out is make sure the spanners and sockets you have are of high quality. Some of the nuts and bolts are going to be extremely tight.
Sunday, February 18, 2007 - 07:19 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
I did it ages ago. I just looked at them and did it step by step, labelling and taking notes and pictures as I went. I laid everything out on a bench as it came off.
Sorry I don't have a step by step guide. When I did it I was the only person I knew with a TT and did not know about this site. I managed it OK. I took the front and rear off to fit dumps. I don't think you could do the rear only. It would be a nightmare job if it is possible. The rear turbo was hard enough to get off with the front gone as it was.
Sunday, February 18, 2007 - 07:30 pm, by: Ben Daniel(Lexustt)
Paul. Have done a couple of turbo's on a 1JZ myself and have to say that guide linked above I thought was a lot harder than the way I did mine. Taking the whole manifold off the engine is a pain in itself than leaving the 2 turbo's and standard dump as 1 unit. My advice is to take all the piping off then detach the down pipe from the mid pipe so you can take the whole cast dump item off and so the down pipe doesn't get in your way. The take off the first turbo. Afterwards unscrew the dump from the rear turbo... 1 of the nuts (bottom side closest to the block) is near impossible to get to with a standard spanner, so go out and buy a cheapie and put a 45 degree bend in it at the head of the spanner which will allow you to then get it on the nut and twist it. Once thats off remove the rear turbo off the manifold then its basically everything back in reverse. Make sure you have a can or 2 of WD-40 as your going to use a lot of it and make sure you have a high tolerance to pain as yes.... you are going to skin your knuckles. Try to get someone to help you cause extra hands makes some things easy. If I were you i'd also look at getting a set of aftermarket dumps while your in the process of changing the turbo's, would save you in the long run as its not an easy job
I looked at the guide when me and Ben were doing my turbos, and really the way that guide says to do it would be too damn hard! Just take the turbos off one by one, front first, then the back one.
Just so you know, each turbo is attached to the engine block via: the manifold, a bracket underneath, oil supply line underneath, oil return line underneath, water lines; and then the Y piece dump pipe
Expect for it to take well over 10 or 15 hours mate. WD40, patience, swearing dictionary, and reasonable pain tolerance are gonna get you through this no problem As far as special tools go, only that one bent spanner really, the rest will require some imagination (ie. spanner on bolt, big rod, bang the rod with a hammer and the bolt should let go; sometimes you had to sit under the car to get to it). Axle stands are a must. If you could get access to an air compressor tools it would make the job a lot easier and faster. We had no compressor, some bolts took us 20 minutes just to loosen up by hand, no sh|t!
I'll post some pics I took at various stages for you, a bit later tonight.
So yeah, order of things, airbox out (gives you space), all the intake piping coming off. I suppose you can use that guide's steps in the beginning for that. I suggest you drain your oil and water from your radiator too. If you don't, water will spill all over your alternator when you undo the water lines hehe. ALso, put some cloth into the intercooler piping (near the airbox) to block any nasties coming in through it.
Oh and areas to watch out for I guess is when you put it back together, spray some compressed air (we used one in a can) through the oil and water lines to clean them out. Make sure the oil supply line is fitted to the block properly with two gaskets on each side. It uses a banjo (spelling?) nut. If you don't fit it properly oil WILL leak out of it and not supply the turbos with correct pressure. I heard of some people stuffing that part up and ruining their turbos. Also, make sure you don;t cross thread the studs when putting them back together.
Oh, and most importantly, YOU DO NOT WANT TO RUIN THE BOLTS!! I suggest you soak up each and every nut and bolt with WD40 first, especially on the exhaust side (the intake bolts are not as bad coz they don't get that hot, some I didn't even bother) leave it for some time, spray some more before you attempt to undo it. I've been lucky that none of mine got ruined. Some spots it would have been impossible to grind them out, so yeah, WD40 is your friend!!!
Sunday, February 18, 2007 - 09:03 pm, by: James Johnson(Jamesy)
take the both turbos and the cast dump off in one piece!!
#take off the brackets under each turbo #undo the oil lines and water lines #undo the 6 bolts (3 on each turbo) holding the turbos onto the cast manifolds. #lift out and remove in one big piece!!
all the bolts are easy to get to and no skinning your knuckles on the bolts on the cast dump.
makes the job easy. should be able to remove and replace everything in a good working day!
after the turbos have been taken out you can see the oil line connections still sitting there and the cast manifolds still on the engine.
Monday, February 19, 2007 - 02:56 pm, by: Braden Murdoch(Ribfeast)
Pull the engine if you have that option, then you can take the turbos off in an hour and a half.
A mechanic mate and myself did the turbos on my car at home here, put some eBay steelies on. Took around 8 hours all up for the swap, including breaks etc. Soak the bolts with Wurth Rost-off, it is very good at loosening up the rusty bolts, a lot more effective than WD-40. Hard to come by though.
Monday, February 19, 2007 - 05:36 pm, by: Brian Timms(Turbo_brian)
Exactly Brendan....
I worked on an S13 nissan, swapping the T25G turbo for a T28 Ball Bearing, and I tell you what patience had to be your best friend.
50% of the exhaust stud snapped, the others bent or otherwise ended up being replaced anyway, mounting the turbo at least 5 times to back sure the bearings are straight (being gravity fed, not being straight starves the bearings of much needed lubricant).
if your one that isn't very patient, then sit back on a deck chair and let your friends into it which you drink, the comedy factor will keep you amused, but the friends will hopefully have the patience for the car.
Already I have had the power steering off on my car because of a pipe leak, and had to do it in the carpark of the Mascot Pirtek branch, because they are not qualified mechanics, and thus wont touch the car.
If I didn't have patience (and a massive breaker bar) I would have lost the bet they all had going, and got the car towed away, as it was, I was 10:1 odds on failing, so I put $50 on me succeeding, and it paid for 70% of my bill.
And if your taking the turbos off, change what ever gaskets you can, and also go for the aftermarket dump pipe as well, why not when you have already done the work to get there....
Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - 08:27 am, by: Paul McConnell(Pt1)
Done. Its not that hard, just a pain in the arse. Getting the water lines off was the worst bit. Had them off in 6hrs, and forgot to soak them in RP7 first so just gave them a hit and let it sit for 30sec. Glad ive been working out, was fun cracking those manifold/turbo underside nuts......
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 - 07:41 am, by: Blake Gloyn(Blakenz)
my mechanics can get the motor out just as quick as taking the turbos off! turbos are straight forward when motor is out,so much room to get at those nasty nasty nasty studs and bolts.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 - 10:46 am, by: Daniel Clarke(Dieseltrain)
I have just spent the last couple of days removing and refitting my turbos! As im installing a set of UAS DUmps ( Finally ).
The only problem im waiting on now, is the PVC pipe that goes from the rocker cover to the Turbo pipework, and the Front turbo Oil Drain Pipe ( was split ! lucky i spotted that one).
I didnt remove the water lines, as im not changing turbos. Which made it easier. I did remove both turbos from the manifolds ( only 6 bolts). I had it all apart by 11.30 yesterday.
Although, The night before, i removed the Front turbo pipework, and removed the Heat shield and SOaked EVERYTHING in WD40 the night before ( as Lew mentioned to me months ago). Then gave another liberal dosage in the morning and started working on it about 6.30 am yesterday!
At the moment, Turbos and Dumps are installed, just waiting on 2 new hoses to replace and them bolt up all the front ppework in hoses, Check oil, Fill coolant, disconnect igniter and turn over to re oil turbos, and then go