I've got the radiator out, the downpipe dropped, all the nuts off the manifold, the lower IC pipe off and the oil feed and drain pipes disconnected. All set to pull off the stock assembly, which I understood could be pulled off as a unit, but it doesn't seem like there is enough clearance between the lower heat shield and the hard A/C line to get it far enough forward to clear the manifold dowel pins.

Do I need to pull the lower heat shield off first? I guess that would mean removing the O2 sensor first.

I'd like to drop the starter so that it's easier to get to the bolts for the lower IC pipe and the oil drain line when I put everything back together. I removed the heat shield on the starter, which is held on my 3 bolts and 2 studs. I only found one bolt holding on the starter and it looks like a dowel pin on the opposite side, but the starter doesn't seem to want to come off. I'm reluctant to hit it with a mallet or try to pry it off because I'm suspecting that I missed a bolt. Are there 2 bolts or just one holding it on? Do you need to whack it loose with a mallet?

That's about it for now. Thanks for any advice on these questions.

 

The starter has two bolts holding it to the tranny. One facing the passenger side, the other faces the driver's side. With those two bolts and the wiring removed, it basically falls out of position.

It would be best to remove the O2 sensor/heatshield. The last thing you want to do is add a few hundred bucks to your install by accidentally damaging the sensor. Summary: Unplug sensor under the spark plug cover, remove the bolts holding the heatshield, pull it away from the sensor, loosen sensor, put heatshield back into position (no bolts), unscrew sensor, remove sensor, remove heatshield.

 

Why are you guys removing all of that? After the removal of the radiator, and all things attached to the turbo assembly, tilt the manifold/turbo/O2 assembly toward you at the top... slightly twisted to the right... and right out of the top! Of course you have to keep an eye on the A/C line, but it is doable. At this time, an extra helping hand is worth their weight in gold...

Anymore advice is going to cost money or parts

 

i got my entire assebly off with the radiator in the car(not the best thing to do, but it can be done)

i pulled the manifold off by itself(easier for me) then took the whole turbo assembly out....couldn't get the o2 sensor out, so i left it in and had no problems with it being in the way.

its easier to move the turbo where you want it with 2 people

 

It's off now. I ended up pulling the O2 sensor. I'm a little worried that I might have hurt it because it took a ton of force to turn it and then it seemed like the hex part of the sensor was turning but not the rest of the sensor. I'm not sure. I didn't want to hit it with PB Blaster because I was worried about hurting the sensor, but then after it didn't want to go more than 1/4 turn or so I sprayed it anyhow trying my best to keep it off the sensor. Then it came right out along with the heat shield. Then the whole assembly slipped out without a problem. Hopefully the O2 sensor is okay.

Tomorrow morning I'll try to get the starter off and install the new turbo.

 

why taking the starter off?

 

Yes, why are you taking the starter off? There is no need!

 

I agree that you don't HAVE to take the starter off, but it's a lot easier to get a straight shot on the bolts for the oil feed and especially the problematic Buschur upper IC pipe than to be working with an elbow socket at the end of an extension.

 

you know, i never tried that....but it took me and a friend atleast 1hr just to bolt the damn turbo to the lower intercooler piping when i changed mine.....one damn bolt and that little *** gasket SUCK

 

You can take the turbo outlet elbow off w/ the turbo and just swap it onto the new turbo while it's outside the car.

 

yeah for the lower ic pipe its better to take the starter off plus its like another 2 min and not a big deal makes a world of difference....

with the heatsheild and o2 sensor all i did was taky my heatsheild off the bottom and unplugged the 02 sensor from under the sprat plug cover... left it intact cause i couldnt get a good angle on it in the car and didnt want to strip it.... pulled the sheild off pulled it out of the car and took the o2 out.

evoisdream

 

NOOOO!!!!!! The banjo bolt on the oil feed line to the head just snapped in half when trying to torque it to 12 ft lbs with a torque wrench It twisted and broke right below where the big hole in the bolt is. There's no way that I overtorqued it, so I think that it must have been overstressed when I removed it from the head. Something tells me that Mitsu doesn't use the best antiseize and torque specificity when assembling their cars.

Anyhow, I'm afraid that I'm SOL until I can get the bolt from a dealership on Tuesday. I was really looking forward to driving/tuning the setup over this long weekend

I guess I'm going to hunt for a bolt at the autoparts stores in the area, but I'm not hopeful...

 

Damn! Sorry to hear about the broken bolt. But consider yourself lucky you didn't strip the threads in the head. That would have been WAY worse. At least you're able to get the remaining part of the bolt out w/ the threads in your head still intact.

I actually left my turbo oil feed line attached to the head when I pulled my turbo because I've been warned of the possibility of the threads stripping on the head from my DSM days. It makes a job a bit more difficult.

I'm assuming you were using a 3/8" chicking torque wrench. I've snapped a few bolts trying to torque small bolts down before. With such a long handle, you really can't feel when you're over-torquing and yielding a bolt. This sounds like one of those bolts you just have to torque it down w/o a torque wrench. If the bolts aren't resting against a flat or solid surface, you'll never get the torque wrench to click.

 

My first thought was that the threads were stripping in the head because that's the way it felt. The bolt was turning but not getting any tighter past a certain point. I saw your post about leaving that attached when removing the turbo, but when I was in the middle of the job it looked impossible to manipulate the assembly around the A/C line with that line still attached to the head.

I was using a 3/8" clicking torque wrench BTW.

I may be saved though. I called a local Evo club member with a Buschur turbo kit (doesn't use the stock upper banjo bolt) and he is going to bring his stock bolt by later today, so there is still hope for completing the project today as long as the problem was just the bolt and not the threads in the head. It's impossible to say for sure until I get a new bolt.

 

I thought about doing that, but since I have the Buschur deluxe FMIC and I'm working by myself it would have been near impossible to drop it in and simultaneously line up the LIC (attached to the core) and the turbo outlet pipe. The way the silicon coupling is you can't slide it up the outlet pipe because the adhesive heat shielding that Buschur puts on there is in the way.

Until I broke this bolt, everything was going great, but I do have to say that this is an involved project relative to what I expected. Definitely not a quick bolt-on. I could see this costing some significant money to pay a shop to do the job.

What does a shop charge to do this? Anyone paid a shop to install a TME, etc.?