Basic steps to swap stock turbo out for TME, White Rabbit, etc.
 

What are the basic steps to swap out the stock turbo for a bolt-in replacement? I know you need to drain and pull the radiator, remove the downpipe and the bracket holding the O2 housing, drain the oil.

What are the gotcha steps and which parts need to be replaced?

Do you need to replace gaskets for the water or oil lines?

Any advice welcome. Need to install a WR turbo next week. Thanks.

bump

Does this sound like a plan?

Drain oil
Drain radiator and disconnect radiator hoses
Remove radiator
Soak bolts in PB Blaster (better than WD-40)
Disconnect O2 sensor
Disconnect bracket to O2 sensor housing
Disconnect downpipe (but I'm hoping I don't have to actually remove it)
Remove MAF pipe from turbo
Remove cold downpipe from turbo to FMIC
Remove upper IC pipe/BOV
Disconnect oil/coolant lines and plug with foam earplugs
Pull out turbo and O2 housing all together
Reverse to assemble

Before starting, disconnect crank angle sensor and crank car to prime turbo with oil.

I know I'm not hitting every little step, but are these all the important ones?

who's got the white rabbit turbo? If you need any help with the install I'm sure Myhar and I would be more than willing to lend a helping hand. Myhar has done it a couple of times on his Evo with the ATP kit (pretty similar)

Let us know

Chris

Chris, it's my white rabbit. I think I'll be okay doing it on myself (I like to work slow and methodically) but if you could PM me your cell numbers it'd be good to know how to reach you in case I have a question or get stuck. I just arranged for priority shipping for the miscellaneous dealer parts, so I should definitely be doing it over the long weekend.

Your above steps are correct. You can actually pull the whole turbo/exh manf/o2 housing/o2 sensor/lower heat shield assembly as one piece after you've disconnected everything off the turbo.

I chose to disconnect the turbo oil feed line at the turbo and leaving the eyebolt connected at the head because from my experience, aluminum threads wear after a number of assemblies/dissassemblies. It makes the job a bit more difficult though.

Oh, here are some more install notes:

1) You can convert those two exhaust manifold-to-turbine housing studs to bolts.
2) Parts you'll need to order include:
- 2 exh manf-to-turbine housing studs (or bolts if you want to convert them)
- 2 turbine housing-to-o2 housing studs
- turbo drain tube gaskets (inlet and outlet are different gaskets)
- crush washers for oil and water lines

I have removed and put turbos on my car more than 10 times and Chris can vouch for me :).

Its easy, just take your sweet time and don’t rush it or force anything as you will brake things. your biggest nightmare is when you snap a stud. See so much heat in there that after a while everything gets sort of welded together (turbo, manifold). However I know that your car has 4K miles on it so most likely you wont have issues. Please use new gasket for the turbo and the manifold. You will not need new gaskets for the oil lines.

I will be happy to help you as I can finish the job in no time and I will do it for free :)

oh and crank the car before you start it. you need oil to get into the turbo for the first time :)

Get yourself some replacement studs and nuts just in case. And, while you're at it you should consider replacing the O2 housing and lower IC pipe too. I didn't, and I regret not doing it while I was down there. If you don't replace them, make your life easier and notch the lower heat shield around the O2 sensor so that you can remove it in the future without having to pull the whole assembly out again. I used a pair of tin snips.

Sam

Do you have all the tools? or is sears close to your house? Does the White turbo come with studs or you have to add them? most likely one of your studs on the turbo will be stuck to your bolt. get studs they are 10 mm 1.5 pitch. I would get 4 just in case. you will not have to remove the manifold as you can get the turbo from the bottom up but you still need good tools to reach the oil lines screws through the manifold runners. or you can move the manifold and have more space. Always removing less parts is better and your chances of breaking things becomes less. You can attach the lines outside the car before putting the turbo in as well. let me know if you need any help. I will be driving to Watkins glen Sunday morning so I will be here FRI and SAT.

Good luck

Az3ar, which fuse do you pull to crank the engine over? Is it the engine fuse?

I would not replace the o2 housing as the stock one has a bracket on it that holds the turbo up so the manifold wont be carrying all the Weight of the turbo. our manifold is strong but i would rather have something helping it. beside minimal power gains if any were proven with an after market o2. I would just clean the stock one and give it a bit trim and hair cut :D.

yea u can do that or pull out the 2 plugs on the coils so no power is provided to spark :)

Thanks for all the thoughts. I do have a good collection of sockets, elbows, extensions, offset box wrenches, etc. I also ordered new studs and oil line gaskets from Mitsu which I'll pick up in Rockville on Saturday morning. I was planning to reuse everything else in the way of gaskets. I didn't get new nuts, but if they are 10mm 1.5 pitch then I'll just pick up some Grade 8s this week from the local parts store -- or do these need to be special Mitsu nuts (just saw EvoSam's post about Mitsu using small head nuts?)

Az3ar, please PM me your cell number.

Thanks,
Rich