Another solution you can look into since you have a Garrett turbo is bump up to M10 studs.

 

Very nice! Where did you purchase that threaded rod and heim joint ends from?

Nevermind.. google ftw.. Summit sells various lengths, very handy!

 

I think this particular one came from Amazon, but there are plenty of turnbuckles out there.

 

Midtenn, looks good.My studs are definitely getting stretched under the tension, vibration, heat, supporting weight of turbo + exhaust.

I went ahead and started looking into mine. Current combination: ARP M8 studs, and Stage 8 locking hardware. 3/4 nuts backed out, 1 nut and locking hardware is completely missing. Even the turbo to downpipe bolts all backed out. During removal 1 stud snapped just using a 3mm allen key to remove it. I suspect ARP studs to be the problem here should of stayed with the provided kraken studs.

As of now I am going to dismantle everything and figure out what's the game plan.

 

Got it all apart. One stud is broken in the manifold. I thought I ordered Inconel studs but I actually accidently ordered stainless steel. I took a look at the order and shook my head.

I will be drilling it out and bumping all the studs to m10. I am debating if I want to hand tap the threads or take it to a machinist to get it done.

 

I'd never heard of anyone bumping the studs to M10, but it makes sense if there's reasonable space for it. Interested to see what you come up with and how it works on track

 

It's been done here previously a few times. I did it on a previous turbo.

 

Sixshooter, the Full Race M10 kit, did you purchase this kit specifically when you converted to M10? I want to make sure the none threaded space between the thread itself is not to large.

 

Yes

 

The manifold is now threaded for M10 studs, and the turbo has been drilled to accept them. Both faces have been milled again, and the downpipe now has a bracket that connects to one of the bell housing bolts. One or two additional braces will be made for the turbo. My welding can get better, my excuse is I use a $150 HF welder .

 

Hell yeah dude, can't wait to see if the new setup erases your previous issues.

 

Those be some serious sized studs! What kind of welder are you using just a flux core? Welds look good to me. Hopefully all the bracing will keep things from moving around and shaking loose. I'm hoping the bracing I made does the trick as well.

 

Just a HF flux core.

Went ahead and added a brace to the front of the turbo, took an hour to make. Uses the power steering pump bolt and some thread on the compressor housing. The car has just been flared and is fitted with 245's all around. All this tire is gonna allow me to do some serious testing. Going to take it out soon!

 

Need some pics of the tire and flare setup!

 

 

I REMOVED both bracings as I am concerned the manifold and downpipe will crack. The a286 SS hardware upper two studs still backing out. Bottom studs were staying in. I am going to special order some 718 Inconel studs as they have much higher yield points at > 500F temperatures and use stage 8 locking hardware. The studs loosened every 3 sessions at Sonoma. Was running constant 1:48 - 1:49s that day so i am getting some good heat in this thing.

 

Sick times dude! How insane is the car with those new spring rates and tires?

 

The car looks great, and those are some good times! Definitely putting the car to work out there.

I'm going to give a big +1 to the m10 studs idea, that fixed my issues completely on my track car.

I feel like I missed this thread because it's not in the build threads section. Really cool car you got going on.

 

Bummed to hear you still had some hardware issues. Hopefully Inconel studs will solve the issue. I would still recommend getting nuts that you can safety wire in place over the Stage 8's. I went all year (5 weekends as the track) with no issues on M8's holding the EFR in place. I purposedly didn't touch any of the turbo hardware (just visually monitored) as a test to confirm everything was working.