evo3 16G install on 2G - share any unexpected problems please :). also, remove mani?

[Korndogg]

hey guys
question 1:
i'm going to be installing an evo3 16G on my 2G FWD within the next couple of weeks. i was just wondering if anyone wanted to share any unexpected problems that they came across?

for example. i saw that someone was asking about the plug size needed to plug the stock oil feed location... but um... i was under the impression that the braided feed line goes to the same location on the filter housing that the stock one does. any info?

i hope to get this up and running the day that i start it - i don't want to find out i'm missing a bolt in the middle of the night!

and i've read lots of VFAQs, but the oild feed plug surprized me. please share anything you ran into that held you up! thanks

question 2:
also, it's not necessary to remove the exhaust manifold during the install is it? i'd rather leave it in place. i would hate to break a manifold stud. i think i can just yank off the downpipe and drop the turbo. will this work fine?

thanks for the info guys, very appreciated

 

[RavenX]

The best way to take off the turbo is to take off the exhaust manifold as well, theres really no choice. Save yourself the trouble and do it right. You still need to take off the bolts holding the turbo anyway no matter which way you go. The best way to do it though is the night before you tackle the job get some PB Blaster let the car warm up and then shut it off. Loosen all 4 bolts. Come back a little later and spray some pb blaster and leave it overnight that way the next day you will have no problems loosening them more and taken them out.

 

[blcknspo0ln]

I dont agree. leave the manifold on... just remove your intake and radiator [ and of course all else that apply ] and you will have plenty of room to manuever around...

PB BLAST 3-4 days and nights in advance for more security of getting those bolts off.. and don't go skimp on it either.. lay that stuff ALL OVER your bolts

 

[flinguist]

You use the stock oil feed location. The person that wanted to plug the stock oil supply location probably wanted to save some money by using the head location, and a 1G line. That way he wouldn't have to spend 50 bucks on an oil supply line. It's better to use the stock oil filter supply though, because the oil's been filtered, and is at a higher pressure than the head location.

 

[Korndogg]

i see about the oil feed. thanks for the info

and i'm glad to hear i can leave the manifold in place i really don't want to bust one of those studs, because i'm sure i would. i was thinking if i ever feel the need i could buy a ported manifold and have a shop install it for me. but i don't know if that even all that necessary. i'm shooting for 300-320whp. that should be realistic with an evo3, 580 ball injectors, and a 190, don't you think?

and i was intending on using liquid wrench all over the bolts - but i have to ask. does it really matter? so what if i snap one off in the old turbo? . not gonna use it again anyway, and i have new bolts from the dealer. i already have one of the 35mm bolts (to the o2 housing) snapped off (which is causing an exhaust leak )

thanks for the info guys
much appreciated

 

[RavenX]

I dunno but to me I see it as more of a hassle to if you don't take the manifold off. To each his own i guess.

 

[Pulsr]

When I did my Evo III I had a few snags. One was taking out the turbo to manifold bolts. I didn't have replacement bolts, and I stripped threads off of two of the bolts. (luckily didn't snap any.) Sucked hardcore, but picked up some from the dealership that day. Another newbie problem was tightening down that oil feed line to the top of the turbo. Very little clearance in there. I tried putting the feed line on with the turbo bolted to the manifold. I'd suggest putting the feed line on before you bolt up the turbo. For some reason my J pipe lays at a wierd angle, and it seems like it doesn't bolt to the turbo strait. I didn't have a 1g return line either, and fabricated the 2g return line to bolt up.( would not suggest that!) Also, after the turbo is on and you start the car, let it warm up then shut it down and make sure your turbo to manifold bolts are tight. Not to tight though. Good luck with the install.

 

[Thomas91169]

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/509528/6

my little writeup. with pics.

you will need a 4th turbo-manifold bolt. if i remember one of the bolts are part of the t25, so you will be short a bolt. you can either order it through one of the vendors, cause we got a hookup at ACE Hardware that got us the bolt. you could try ACE too, but i give no gaurantees.

also some people like to remove the radiator. i didnt on mine, but my buddies did a 16g swap and removed it and said it made it way easier. i think they removed the rad cause they didnt want to remove the ex. manifold. woosies. but anyways. might as well drain the radiator if youre gonna remove it(unless youre gonna use the ol' sock in tube method) and do a flush while youre at it.

umm the oil return line into the oil pan is a pain in the ass for most, though i never had any problems. and make sure if youre using a flex tube return(like the one i have) that it isnt kinked at all. another guy i know with a flex return had it kinked, oil got backed up, ruined his turbo seals, killed the turbo, and filled the smic with oil. he said his car sounded like a boat on the freeway, cause his turbo was a propeller just shooting oil into the intake. and its not a bad idea to get some hi-temp silicon RTV sealent for the oil return-oil pan fitting between the gasket. alot(prolly 95%) of dsm's i know have a small oil leak at that location. i put a tiny amount just to hold the gasket on the pan while bolting the return fitting up.

hrm.

trying to think what else.

i think thats it of the weird things youll need. pace yourself, its not a race. do it right the first time so you dont have to do it again. follow my uninstall and you should be fine. that uninstall writeup was my first turbo swap, and it went great, i have since then done dozens of them.

 

[Korndogg]

very nice guys. so it looks like for the most part it goes pretty smooth. keeping my fingers crossed

i'll be installing a johnny racecar FMIC at the same time too, by the way. didn't mention that before, but i don't see many places for that to go wrong

thanks for the additional write-up thomas. i'll check that out tonight when i get back from work. p.s. thomas is my name in "real life" (but i usually go by tom or tommy).

 

[oldman]

Congrates, you're finally getting that new turbo. I would suggest looking at this new tech article and port the turbine housing before you install it so you won't run into boost creep issues. Good luck.

 

[blcknspo0ln]

PORT THE CR*P out of it! .

anyway, as far as breaking studs/bolts... maybe you won't have need for them NOW, but it's always convenient to have a clean uninstall/install just for sake of knowing that if you ever need that t25 or other things.. you'll have it available

 

[Thomas91169]

thomas is my name in "real life" (but i usually go by tom or tommy).

hah i go by Tom at work, and my grandparents call me Tommy. my cousin calls me TJ though.

 

[Boiler2]

I just removed the radiator fan (drivers side) on mine. 4 bolts and a plug and you have more room. You may want to have some extra coolant hose around in case one of the short lines cracks from age. Also, I would take off the 2G manifold to port it and especially clean it from carbon buildup. You might be surprised how much builds up in the runners near the head.

 

[imdrax]

just curious, but ive been searching for a while now and cannot seem to get a solid response about what has tobe done in order for the turbo to be removed from under the car? obviously the intake, coolant&oil lines, turbo/manifold bolts/stud, downpipe, licp, radiator & fan assembly, wastegate?? is there anything else? i heard someone womewhere mention a motor mount? please let me know i havent found a single write up or any pictures with someone removing from below. last time i did it i took my turbo off with my manifold and it was a huge PITA and i busted 3 studs flush in the head. and i dont want to do it again on my new car im on a bit of a budget. BTW the car is a 97 gst

 

[RavenX]

just curious, but ive been searching for a while now and cannot seem to get a solid response about what has tobe done in order for the turbo to be removed from under the car? obviously the intake, coolant&oil lines, turbo/manifold bolts/stud, downpipe, licp, radiator & fan assembly, wastegate?? is there anything else? i heard someone womewhere mention a motor mount? please let me know i havent found a single write up or any pictures with someone removing from below. last time i did it i took my turbo off with my manifold and it was a huge PITA and i busted 3 studs flush in the head. and i dont want to do it again on my new car im on a bit of a budget. BTW the car is a 97 gst

It doesn't matter which way you do it you still need to take out the 4 turbo bolts. Doing it under the car is more of a pain in the ass because of the many things you have to disconnect and take out. Theres no need to take out a motor mount or the radiator unless you have the stock fans then you will have to of course. Your best bet for a quick and painless removal of the turbo is after you park your car wait like 10-15 minutes and take out a can of PB Blaster. Spray the 4 bolts as much as you can. Start loosening the bolt and after a few turns spray the bolts with more PB Blaster. They will come out like butter. I just took out mine a few minutes ago and it was painless and easy . Hope this helps

 

[blcknspo0ln]

better yet, 2-3 days prior spray everybolt down with PB blaster every night and day. by the time you're ready to uninstall, let the car run for 3-4 minutes to warm it up a bit. this will help with taking the bolts out.

use ANTISEIZE on everything. this will help removing the bolts if you ever have to in the future.

aaaaand, take the radiator out.. it makes life easier.

 

[imdrax]

ok cool. and i knew i would have to undo the turbo/mani bolts i just dont want to take off the manifold. on my old 90 i snapped 3 studs in the head and i dont wanna deal with that on my new spyder. so it looks like under the car is where i will go. was my list pretty complete for the things that need to be removed? is there anything i was missing? or is there any little snags any of you guys have encountered when removing from below?

 

[WhiteCloud]

It's good that you wont' have to worry about broken turbo bolts. Those were a huge problem for me before.

Make sure you torque everything down properly, or at least close to spec. If you don't have a Haynes manual that lists the torque specs, time to get one . Don't just heave on a 1/2 inch drive ratchet and think that you tightened things properly. Make sure your new turbo bolts thread smoothly into the housing, and I would recommend using anti-seize to prevent them from being a problem in the future.

After everything is hooked back up, crank the car over a couple of times with no fuel or spark to get oil into the bearings of the new turbo. Then start her up and check for leaks repeatedly.

Good luck with the installs; may everything go smoothly!

 

[Jetblack]

Yes definitely port that O2 and wastegate area and have extra transportation to run back and forth to the store to buy tools that will make life easier especially ratchet wrenches if you don't have them already.

 

[imdrax]

well i decided to remove the turbo and leave the manifold connected to the head and it was VERY simple and a lot less troublesome than when i removed everything as one peice on my first gen. i actually was able to pull the turbo out from ABOVE even with the manifold on. there is a ton of room for that thing to get out. for anyone out there thinking about removing there turbo and keeping the same manifold i definatly recommend doing it this way. you will sleep so much better at night knowing you dont have a crapload of work ahead of you because you have to tap out broken studs and possibly helicoil your head and even then you may still have exhaust leaks. thanks alot to everyone for there comments.

 

[LRS95TSI]

http://www.dsmtuner.com/forums/showthread.php?t=184255

i did it all myself with no experience. i gave some pointers on my install. take the exhaust manifold off and take off the drivers side fan. plenty of room, don't cheat!...the oil feed line from the car, completely gut that bastard and put the braided one in. be ready to cuss cuz the bolts are a pain. if ur careful u won't strip nething. goodluck