Turbo Removal - Can It Be Done In Situ?

[Glyn Harper]

Hey guys..

I've got my shiny new WC engineering turbo to go on.. but the question is.. Am I going to be better off trying to remove the old one complete with the manifold to then remove on the bench, or is it easier to take off on it's own?

I replaced a turbo a few years ago and even with the manifold on the bench we struggled like mad. Out of the 4 bolts, two look easy to get to, one looks hard, and the other looks impossible!!

[esp88]

Hi Glyn

I just replace mailfold on my Esprit it was hard work !

Before removed the maifold I removed turbo but but these to nuts behind the turbo was very hard to removed end up with hamer/scredriver etc.. to spilt the nuts and new stud !

replace mainfold and I put back the turbo again very hard to turned the these nuts (it took I guess 1 hour ) !!

good luck !

Y.Hotta

[Jonathan]

Was gonna say - does a nut splitter help in any way ?

I bust the nuts off as a matter of course now if they look remotely stubborn, replacements are peanuts vs the time and effort of slogging yer guts out to remove them.

[rens914]

no problem to do it in situ

but the amount of work/time depends a lot of the used bolts

if the are copper it will be easy

if not yust split them because 2 are difficult to get acces to.

you can always loossen the screws on the inlet housing of the turbo.

in that way you can turn it a bit to get more space to work around it

i wouldnt remove the manifold without need. thats really a hell of a job

So simple answer. Yes

rens

[Glyn Harper]

Cheers chaps..

I'm going to have a go at the weekend.. With a suitable nut splitter!!

[Glyn Harper]

Just an update on this!!

The old turbo is off now. Yay!

Not actually as hard a job as I thought in the end either, once you resign yourself to the fact that the old nuts are going to be trashed.

Access is obviousley a problem, but removing the heatshield off the end of the engine allowed access to the really tricky nut. I basically drilled all the nuts to take the tension off them, then knocked them round with a chisel and hammer until they could be removed using a normal spanner.

Shame I lost all my coolant though! I only changed it recently.

Just need to fit the new one tonight, and get some more tacfire to make a new heatshield out of and I'll be ready for a test!!

thanks for all your help chaps.

[SE Owner :-D]

Hi Glyn,

I have a stage 2 WC waiting fitting to my SE - i am a complete nob when it comes to spanner work so any pics would be great!

Good luck though,

Rog

[Glyn Harper]

Hi Glyn,

I have a stage 2 WC waiting fitting to my SE - i am a complete nob when it comes to spanner work so any pics would be great!

Good luck though,

Rog

Too late I'm afraid.. it's all more or less back together.

I'll tell you one thing though, getting the nuts back on is as hard as getting them off!! you have to put the turbo on, then put each nut on only a couple of turns.. Then lift the turbo up in order to get a 12mm spanner into the gaps where they are.. you'll know what I mean when you come to do it. Start by tightening up the bold at the very back on the left (as you look at the turbo) then the front left, then the rear right then the front right (the easy one you can do with a socket!)

You can't get a socket on of them.. and two of them you can only use an open ended spanner! so don't expect to get much force on them tightening them up.

Also.. when you have your old turbo sat next to the new one, make sure the centre housing (the bits the water and oil pipes connect to) is lined up the same as the old turbo.. Then align the compressor housing (the bit the inlet and outlet air pipes go into) is also aligned in the same way or you'll have a real job trying to get the bottom oil pipe on, as I found last night once I'd already spent two hours screwing the turbo down!! Nightmare...

If you're a nob with spanners, I hope you're better with hammers and chisels. You're going to need them! It's a horrendous job to do. In fact the only two jobs I've ever done that were worse were re fitting the heater flap actuator hose in the front, and changing the middle universal joint on the steering column..

Cheers,

Glyn.

[Glyn Harper]

Just the final word on this..

Before you go for a test drive, I can highly recommend checking you have tightened up all the bolts. Especially the ones that hold the high pressure oil feed pipe onto the turbo.

Otherwise, it might throw oil over the road for about 3 miles before you notice the clouds of blue smoke coming out of your rear vents, and require you to get the department of transport to call out a sweeper lorry.

Of course I checked mine and they were all fine, so i'm just offering this advice to everyone else. honest..

[SE Owner :-D]

Cheers Glyn,

How's she running now?

I guess i maybe biting the bullet and employing someone handy in the spanner department...

Good luck,

Rog

[Glyn Harper]

It's running really well. I kept the same amounts of boost as before, but it comes in much sooner, lasts further through the rev range and runs cooler.

Ace...

[Artie]

Just the final word on this..

Before you go for a test drive, I can highly recommend checking you have tightened up all the bolts. Especially the ones that hold the high pressure oil feed pipe onto the turbo.

Otherwise, it might throw oil over the road for about 3 miles before you notice the clouds of blue smoke coming out of your rear vents, and require you to get the department of transport to call out a sweeper lorry.

Of course I checked mine and they were all fine, so i'm just offering this advice to everyone else. honest..

Good advice, same thing when reattaching the oil cooler lines! If the tires go slick on you all the sudden, it could be oil spraying everywhere on your tires.

Artie