I'm feeling the urge to clock my compressor down. I've never clocked a turbo before, though I have no doubt in my mind about being capable. My question is can I clock the turbo still on the car? If so, I'll probably go for it this weekend. If not, well **** it, I ain't interested.

 

Do you have a/c and p/s? Those may not allow you to clock it down. I was able to rotate mine without releasing the snap ring. Here is a pic:

 

Yes I do have A/C but there should be a good path. How did you clock yours without removing the ring--just force it? Did you do that when the turbo was new? Mine's got plenty of miles and heat cycles on it now.

I just looked at it, and all I see is a snap ring. In theory I just remove the ring and the compressor housing comes off. That's what it appears to me anyway. If that's the case, I'll probably put on my spare compressor housing that's been polished.

 

Use some big 90* needle nose. Like the ones from Big Lots or w/e, mine were $7 at the local parts store. Grind the tips a little to fit in the snap ring holes. Or just use a broomstick, ratchet handle w/e you have to try and turn it. It might be rusted pretty good so some oil will help.
I say use the 90* needle nose because that big badass snap ring will ruin most snap ring pliers.

With A/C and PS clocking down makes life a bit of a PITA. You pretty much have to have a 90* coupler coming off the turbo to make anything fit right. Though I didn't have to modify the lower rad hose or anything to make it work. If you look at FM's silicone pipes you can see how things will be routed when clocked down.

 

How does a greddy normally sit? Outlet facing the fender?

 

it fits....barely....

 

Really? How come?

I tried snap ring pliers on mine and broke them, so I said "fuggit" and used socket and extension (broomstick method) Once it was clocked enough that I wasn't able to fit the extension between it and the shock tower, I used a ratchet, so I had a de-facto 90* cheaterbar.

How will you address the oil drain? The Greddy-supplied outlet will want to occupy the same space as the compressor if you leave it in place.


Yep.

 

Looks like I can get a 90° elbow in there, just like how scott did. I don't have P/S so that leaves more room, so I can probably even use a tight radius pipe instead of a sharp bend elbow. In fact, it looks like all I'd need is a 90° and to rotate the intercooler pipe some, and that's it. I eyeballed the oil drain, and it looks like it will clear.

The question will then become how will I address the wastegate. Which sucks and needs to be replaced anyway. I'll clock my spare turbo and mock the nrew wg actuator on it, maybe this weekend. I'll also order a bend and a 90° coupler to have on hand. Actually it looks pretty easy to do.

 

To bad you didn't get one of those FM actuators from DOTD. Drilling and tapping the front of that housing shouldn't be too hard.

 

You have to bend the stock drain line or get a npt adapter like I did from Function7. I have a braided stainless drin line now with AN fitting. The pimp factor is high. I made a bracket for the wastegate, you can see it in the pic above.

 

I've got a 16G actuator here anyway that atl93 gave me. I'll figure out a bracket, cut the rod down, thread both ends with a die, and add a turnbuckle. Ala adjustable length actuator arm.

I have a super bad *** oil drain kit I got from TunerToys. Sitting brand new in the box. I'm just too lazy to install it. Plus I literally just changed my oil--and **** that's almost $30 for synthetic these days.

 

bracket is easy.

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aluminum flatstock, some sort of saw, and a drill, viola!

I have to make a new one for the FMI WGA I'm about to install, sigh. If you were keeping your stock WGA I'd just give it to you.

 

Man, removing PS and AC creates so much open room in the engine bay, I'm jealous.

 

Yeah, his engine bay looks really good. Those are 2.5" pipes too.

BUT, today at lunch, we had our choice of 2 different turbo NA miatas. Mine, with my ghetto greddy, and my buddy's with his higher end "big name" hardware and turbo. When I asked, "Mine or yours, we took mine last time and I'd like to ride in yours," his reply was, "Yeah, but let's take yours. Mine's hot as **** without A/C."

 

A/C and a fast car...thats like....blasphemy or something.

 

When I'm in uniform, I can open my sleeves up to about a 7" opening. Sticking my arm out of the window creates a balloon effect inside the ACU jacket, which is all the AC I need.

I've done a catch can, heatshielding on the intake breather line, and a bowser shield since that was taken, it looks a lot better without that ugly cotton mess by the master cylinder.

 

No joke. 2.5" pipes? Crap! No way I am giving up my A/C though. Life in South Texas sucks *** without one.

I was looking at the FM hot side pipe so seeing some real-world picts of similar routings helps. Thanks.

 

Friday is payday and snap on day here at the shop. Couldn't resist picking up a nice set of large 90° snap ring pliers. They're the shiza. $30

 

They'll make it easier, that's for sure. Still might take a couple love taps to break the compressor free but after that it'll be cake.

Let us know how that actuator swap goes, too! I've hit a speedbump with mine, need to make the rod longer.

 

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