Turbo Install Day Tomorrow
 

Well, I think I've done my homework, got all the necessary parts (I think) and its finally install time. The wife leaves town tomorrow till sunday night. If all goes well, I hope to have the dissasembly done wednesday night, and install on thursday evening after work. Hopefully all the elbows, tubing etc. all fit as best I guessed it. I'll document with pics all the way. God help me this thing starts and runs at all after I get it together. I'll probably be looking for tips and info for help tomorrow and thursday, so I hope someone is out there? Thanks in advance. Just a quick question please. I've read that I should replace the Greddy supplied intake manifold bolts with good studs and nuts? Is there any reason I cant just use the original studs and nuts that are on the car when I disassemble it?? Also maybe I'm being overly cautious and nervous, but the Greddy instructions don't really have a clear pic of the install of the Vortech fuel pressure unit as far as which fuel line it connects to which on the car. Does anyone have a close up pic of theirs available. Thanks again. My car has p/s and a/c. It seems like its going to be a real pain to route the pressure tubes from the turbo to the inlet of the i/c. I've never seen a real closeup of the routing but it seems mine should come from the turbo and go down in between the two elec. fans and behind the sway bar and then turn towards the front to the i/c. BUT, its really tight in there with not much room behind the sway bar to the crank pulley. Any ideas or tricks.? Thanks again. I'll be back tomorrow with pics and who knows what else. thanks.;)

Im sure you mean exhaust bolts since your replacing the OEM header with the turbo manifold.

Yes you should but its not required. I went and bought studs after i got my used greddy. Ill end up buying all grade 8 stuff soon which you should do as well

I assume you bought the greddy kit? And did you buy a aftermarket intercooler setup? The greddy kit doesnt come with one. The way i plumbed my intercooler is i clocked the turbo down. Check out my signature for "DIY intercooler" Should give you a good idea. Be sure to take lots of pictures!

I hope when you parked it tonight that you soaked all the manifold/exhaust bolts in LiquidWrench or equivalent... if not, good luck.

OK, car sat last week while we were out on vac. soaked it then, but drove it home tonight and waiting for it to cool to tear it apart. Fantastic pics on the i/c install. unfortunately mine will be the coupling and hose type to get it up and running. then I'll have some time ot plumb it with hard tube. Any pics of the vortech pressure unit installed anyone. thanks.

I barely soaked mine, but with my breaker bar, it made quick work of all of the manifold bolts. Here's a tip, you can pull the stock header/dp in one piece quite easily, so just disc your cat and you're done!


Oh, started install last Thursday, still not done lol.

Never thought of that, just in time.Cars up in the air, all intake stuff, heat shield etc. id off. just resoaked the bolts. going under to disconnect at cat. pics all the way. be back later

exhaust off, thanks, manifold, turbo and downpipe in. oil feed line in. damn the down pipe is close to the heater hoses. got to get some heat shield blanket. pain in the neck to get the turbo bolts in. bumper is off, thanks to my son, piping and rest of exhaust next.

no pix?? lame

give me a break, its still early, i've got pics, i'll load some a bit later. my son came over to help, so i'm utilizing all my time in the garage. be back later. free labor!

OK, days over, got pics, I'll try and load them. still have to finish exhaust, vortech fuel unit, timing controller, and missing a couple of couplers. anys uggestions, let me know.

well, just got it all buttoned up, kind of. aMazing it started right up, idled and sounded fine. so far so good. finishing everything else up tomorrow and hope to put it on the ground to see what happens. pics tomorrow

Looks good. Did you use the oil return that came with the greddy kit, or tap the pan? The big tube that greddy uses for that scares me... makes me wonder how much oil is out of the engine when running.

Oh and replace that top radiator hose, it looks like it's going to crack into pieces.

tapped the pan. Still that was a pain in the ass, used a right angle drill and still could barely get it in there. took FOREVER. On that oil return line, its pointed right at the fenderwell coming out of the turbo. can't get the line to keep from kinking there. heading back to the store to get a 90 deg. hose and adapt it to the drain line. Also, haven't run the vacuum line for the BOV yet, can I use the capped vacuum fitting on top of the throttle valve. Its behind the butterfly, and would read manifold vacuum, and tee off that for my boost gage???

Yes that one will work fine for both of those.

From the looks of it a 45 would probably be better for the oil drain but hard to tell from the pics for sure. Just cant see u needing a 90 but never installed a greddy kit.

how does it run?

WELL, After finally figuring out the stupid vacuum leak, tightening up the exhaust issues, heat shields, belly pan, etc. its been so hot here in St. Louis I really haven't romped on it hard. BUT, I guess I'm a little chicken shit when it comes to really gettinfg into it, but holy crap, I can't believe the difference. Begins spooling around 2600-2800, all in by 3300 or so, and hang on. I'm so used to having to sit and wait for it to reach shift point, the darn thing was so slow before, that it caught me off guard the first time it really took off. Hit 6500 before I knew it, slammed 2nd and kept going. Very, very happy so far. Only seeing about 5.5psi but thats well enough for me, (for now). Idles like it did without, driveability is clean, have to relearn how to drive this thing. The only thing I don't like is the BOV beibg one of those having a horn type outlet, damn its loud. Fun for now, but I think thats going. While I'm here, Just curious, my exhaust is solid all the way back. Downpipe bolted to the turbo and a connecting pipe for about the next 24", then welded solid the rest of the way.Thoughts on leaving it that way, or should I put in a flex piece. Just kind of nervous on the stress on the turbo and manifold if I left it solid. thanks again for the help.
jim