OK so I finally have everything I think I need to do this swap, but I still have a few questions.

I have a low millage IX turbo with the IX j pipe and oil/water lines. I just bought a ceramic coated Megan O2 housing from MaPerformance (great looking piece) and a handfull of gaskets and copper washers that Ill need.

Questions:

1. I have bought a OEM Mitsu hot side to O2 housing gasket but i see that my Megan O2 housing came with one. The OEM one looks to be a better quality as it is a metal coated gasket but Im not sure if the Megan O2 is ported or setup differently so i was unsure of which gasket would be better to use.

2. Do I need to prime the turbo before start up if so how do I do this? It doesnt seem to be covered very well on the forums. I found one post of someone from FP saying to crank the engine over a few times with no plugs installed and the crank angle sensor removed. What about pouring a little oil inside the flanged where oil lines go? Is this a good idea or bad idea? I dont want to ruin anything on first startup as that would royally suck.

3. My megan O2 came with new hardware/fasteners and im not sure what would be better to use. The new stuff of the stock stuff. Some of the nuts and bolts I have are pretty beat up so Id like to put as much new hardware on as possible. Is stainless ok? Or should I be using carbon steel? The factors stuff seems to be painted carbon steel? I have a brand new tub of anti seize that I plan on using on everything.

4. I am running the stock intake tube with a MAF adapter. Is the VIII and IX turbo inlets the same size?

5. I plan on removing the radiator to make this a bit easier so Im going to drain the coolant. I still have a little life left on the oil that is in there. Should I just drain it while im under there? When I remove the oil lines will oil pour out of there? or is the non pressurized level below these points? I dont mind changing the oil while im at it I was just unsure of weather or not its a good idea.

6. I was going to keep the coolant that I take out to put back in. Is this ok? I though i remember hearing somewhere that it is extended life stuff from the factory or something.

Thanks for any help!

-Ethan

 

1. I used the gasket my aftermarket o2 came with because it is divided, the stock gasket isnt.
2. Yes pull the ecu fuse or whatever you choose and crank it
3. oem
4. same
5. Drain oil and coolant
6. Coolant is cheap, dont risk pourng possibly contaminated fluids back in your car

 

Thanks for the response!

you mention to use the OEM hardware but some of the stuff I have is pretty beat up and I dont want it to cause problems later. I had to clean a couple threads on the studs and nuts/bolts. I pretty much ran a tap and a die through everything. Also one or two of the nuts seem to be replacement anyway as they dont match the rest of the nuts. So any advice on what kind of material is best to use? Stainless or carbon steel?

Thanks again!

 

Use the factory gasket(s) whenever possible. In fact, you can reuse your old ones(turbo/mani, & turbine outlet/O2 hsg.) over and over because they never seem to wear out. The shiny gasket that comes with the aftermarket O2 housng is junk. Eventually that aftermarket gasket will burn out creating an exhaust leak. It is garbage. Then you'll have to Remove the DP and O2 housing again to replace it with the stock gasket.

 

I like replacing the two studs in the turbine housing with bolts. This will make any subsequent turbo, or turbine housing removals a piece of cake. But one or two of the bolts require the same bolt size and thread but with a 14mm head instead of the 17mm head on the two factory supplied bolts. This is due to the flycut relief in the manifold where the bolt head(s) will reside The nuts that originally secured the studs were smaller than the 17mm bolt heads and the flycut reliefs are a smaller diameter than 17mm.

 

Thanks again for the info.

I have two more questions as of now.

I still havent heard any advice on weather stainless or carbon steel will be better for the nuts/bolts that I need to replace.

Also what type of coolant can I use in the Evo? I saerched a bit and cant get a solid answer. Surely I dont have to go to the dealer and get some overpriced premixed stuff for $30 a gallon? Can I top it off with 50/50?

Thanks

Ethan

 

do yourself a huge favor and attach the oil drain line to the turbo before you put it on the car trust me........

 

Yeah I was thinking the same thing when taking it off. I just unbolted the line on the pan side and pulled the whole kit with all lines attached.

Thanks for the tip! Any other info like this is much appreciated! Im putting the new turbo on in a few hours here.

Most people that have asked how to do this get an answer like "step 1 removed old turbo. step 2 install new turbo. Step 3 start car and hammer." Theres obviously much more going on here....

Thanks again!

-Ethan

 

Cant wait to hear your results

 

Napa $8 coolant is fine btw

 

hmm... cant get the O2 sensor out of the stock O2 housing..... Im assuming I actually need the upstream sensor? Can I disable the O2 in the periphery like the rear one? Or does the ECU actually use the upstream for a calc?

Or any good ideas of how to remove it?

I have a torch PB power blaster and a 22mm wrench. Its a standard lenght box wrench not a long handle type. I have soaked it a few times in PB some today and some last night and heated it up a little still no movment...

Thanks for any advice

-Ethan

 

You defiantly need the upstream sensor. Maybe an impact? Or some good ol' muscle

 

u could unplug the sensor from where it attaches under the spark plug cover and remove the sensor once u have the o2 off the car and have a bit more freedom to move.

 

oh and u gotta be delicate with that sensor...i broke mine cus i got rough with it trying to remove it. didnt realize it til i reinstalled it and had CEL

 

Ive already got the whole manifold turbo o2 housing off of the car. Ive got all the bolts off of the o2 housing except for the one nut that is under that are that the down pipe connects to. I didnt have a wrench that worked well in this area so im going to try to find something at work today that would work better.

As far as the o2 sensor goes ive been doing it out of the car but unfortunately my 22mm wrench isn't very long Its almost shorter then my 14mm wrench. So I need to find something else to do that with maybe? Ive been giving it healthy portions of PB power blaster and wrenching on it as hard as I can while still being careful. Ive already broke a few bolts from being too aggressive. This is like those other bolts but a little more expensive so id like to not break it. I didn't however find a universal BOSCH O2 at autozone for $55 which might make an ok replacement. I just have to splice in the new connector which is no big deal.

Side note. I was VERY surprised at how easilly the O2 housing bolts/nuts came off. I hit them a couple times with PB and then took a medium breaker bar to them with light torque and they broke loose no problem without stripping or even dulling the heads. There just that one that you cant get a socket on.

Breaker bar used with care = lifesaver.