I'm posting this in hopes of helping some others by use of reference with the work I did and the issues I ran into.
This weekend was a REALLY REALLY hard weekend of nonstop work on the old turbo MP3- probably 25 hours of work total...Expensive as well- in hardware and tools needed I spent $176.00 not including the new Air filter I got (which was $69.00). But it's a new K&N superflow cone filter- probably the best on the market and it looks damn sweet.. (first)
Situation:
As many of you knew I had 3 broken studs in the manifold that were causing BAD leaks (two far right top and bottom, and one in the benter bottom). Well I also had a few bolts out onthe turbo with even worse leaks... Then I found that the gasket on the manifold was pretty much shot to hell as well and added even more leaks and the EGR nut was never on all the way!!!! THERE WERE A TON OF LEAKS!!! lol
This caused a ton of buzzing and a bad smell of exhaust fumes up near the hood area. This needed to be fixed as two of the studs broke off shortly after install. My car has probably never used 100% of it's potential until tonight.
Day 1: Saturday
We were able to quickly take off the turbo, all lines into it, the radiator, the manifold, and a few intercooler pipes in about 3-4 hours. Once off we started extracting the remaining in-tact studs and then worked on getting the broken ones out. The in-tact studs came out one after another and beleive it or not 2 of the broken ones did as well. The last one gave us some trouble and we had to make a few runs to home depot, and autozone for a new gasket, oil line, fuel line, adapters, and wrenches. BTW the fat ass at Napa was a totall b****- if anyone goes to the napa in Gilbert, AZ Kick manuel in the nutts.
Near the end of the day we started re-studding the manifold using antiseeze ( the restudding with the extractor socket instead of using the "double" nut mehtod was a huge mistake)
Day 2: Sunday
The day started off bad while tightening all the turbo components now that I had it off. We needed to go get some bolts with threads that weren't jacked to hell- hard to find shiz... And let me tell you getting to a lot of those bolts and nuts was hard as hell.
Once the turbo was all prepped and erady to go we put the manifold back on and quickly realize the studs were way too long.... Flyin' Miata sent studs that were 1/4 inch too long. I'm not sure where themixup occured since they used the right ones onthe kits they sold, but I gotones CLEARLY toolong for the manifold. I had my suspicions but you never know till you actually test it out. Not to mention that two of them were stripped since I tried using the stud socket to install them. Big mistake- USE THE DOUBLE NUTT METHOD.. Had to use more easy outs and drilling to replace those.
I was pissed but couldn't dwell on it- so went back to Home depot (third time of the day) and had to buy an air saw and some cutting blades to cut 1/4 inch off each stud. This was expensive and a HUGE pain in the ass as a lot of the studs were hard to get to. Took about 4 hours to get everything good- mind you I had no protective glasses and my arms and face were full of metal shards lol.
Once Jessica (my gf) came over and made food and cleaned me up a bit I was able to get to work better. Ben and I (my roomate) got the manifold on and secure and then put the rubo on realizing I'd bought the wrong thread nuts and so we needed to scurry around looking for ones with the right threads to mount the turbo to the manifold. In the process we stripped one of the 10mm studs and had to replace it. Turbo on- turbo off- on- and off- finally we got it right. All nutts and almost every stud replaced and in place with anti-seeze. Radiator back on, oil line in place, and intercooler pipe on again- almost ready to rock.
We put everyhting back together (it was now 11:00 pm)and took it for a test run. Started the car and it didn't even sound like my car!! There were no leaks to be heard. No buzzing just tight smooth engine purr.
We took it for a spin and it felt great!!!! Took it on the freeway and we started to notice a lack in acceleration- to a quick BAM like a bat out of hell. This could only mean one thing. Intake or intercooler pipe loose. We barely made it off the freeway before we heard the loudest air pop in life and the car stalled.
Saw that the IC pipe connecting to the turbo blew off the hose connector. This made for a tough fix on the street becuase we had no tools. We were able to rig it to keep flcuh witht he turbo outlet and drive home using 0 boost and keeping the foot onthe gas the entire time so that we wouldn't stall.... It was super scary!!!!
I'm now home- going to take tomorrow off work to completely fix that IC pipe (will only take an hour), tighetn everything 50 times, and tune the fuel pressure with my new in hood FP gauge. This will also help with the flat spots I've been fealing and running too rich- causing the car to bog a bit.
Moral:
Having an aftermarket turbo'd car is a lot of work and a lot of upkeep. It's really a lot of fun if you like to deal with it but can also be a huge pain in the ass. I feel very satisfied knowing that I accomplished everything I set out to and fixed EVERY problem I had with the setup. I notice a big difference in the sound, and speed of my car now.
Notes:
-Air tools save a lot of time!!!!
-Electric screwdriver save a lot of time!!!
-Need Patience!!!!
-Need Caffeine!!!!
-Need to laugh BUT learn from your mistakes.
-Always anticipate, prepare, and expect the worst to happen becuase it usually does when working on cars.
-Having a kickass roomate/friend to help the entire time is a HUGE help!
-Buying the right hardware and tools the first time will save you several trips to car and hardware stores.-BRING THE PART WITH YOU!
-Having an understand wife or GF who will stand by you when you're full of grease, metal shards, oil, coolant, and anti-seeze is almost essential. She cleaned my house, fed me and gave me more moral support than I thought anyone could.
I hope this may come in handy for some of you who may go boosted one day.
This weekend was a REALLY REALLY hard weekend of nonstop work on the old turbo MP3- probably 25 hours of work total...Expensive as well- in hardware and tools needed I spent $176.00 not including the new Air filter I got (which was $69.00). But it's a new K&N superflow cone filter- probably the best on the market and it looks damn sweet.. (first)
Situation:
As many of you knew I had 3 broken studs in the manifold that were causing BAD leaks (two far right top and bottom, and one in the benter bottom). Well I also had a few bolts out onthe turbo with even worse leaks... Then I found that the gasket on the manifold was pretty much shot to hell as well and added even more leaks and the EGR nut was never on all the way!!!! THERE WERE A TON OF LEAKS!!! lol
This caused a ton of buzzing and a bad smell of exhaust fumes up near the hood area. This needed to be fixed as two of the studs broke off shortly after install. My car has probably never used 100% of it's potential until tonight.
Day 1: Saturday
We were able to quickly take off the turbo, all lines into it, the radiator, the manifold, and a few intercooler pipes in about 3-4 hours. Once off we started extracting the remaining in-tact studs and then worked on getting the broken ones out. The in-tact studs came out one after another and beleive it or not 2 of the broken ones did as well. The last one gave us some trouble and we had to make a few runs to home depot, and autozone for a new gasket, oil line, fuel line, adapters, and wrenches. BTW the fat ass at Napa was a totall b****- if anyone goes to the napa in Gilbert, AZ Kick manuel in the nutts.
Near the end of the day we started re-studding the manifold using antiseeze ( the restudding with the extractor socket instead of using the "double" nut mehtod was a huge mistake)
Day 2: Sunday
The day started off bad while tightening all the turbo components now that I had it off. We needed to go get some bolts with threads that weren't jacked to hell- hard to find shiz... And let me tell you getting to a lot of those bolts and nuts was hard as hell.
Once the turbo was all prepped and erady to go we put the manifold back on and quickly realize the studs were way too long.... Flyin' Miata sent studs that were 1/4 inch too long. I'm not sure where themixup occured since they used the right ones onthe kits they sold, but I gotones CLEARLY toolong for the manifold. I had my suspicions but you never know till you actually test it out. Not to mention that two of them were stripped since I tried using the stud socket to install them. Big mistake- USE THE DOUBLE NUTT METHOD.. Had to use more easy outs and drilling to replace those.
I was pissed but couldn't dwell on it- so went back to Home depot (third time of the day) and had to buy an air saw and some cutting blades to cut 1/4 inch off each stud. This was expensive and a HUGE pain in the ass as a lot of the studs were hard to get to. Took about 4 hours to get everything good- mind you I had no protective glasses and my arms and face were full of metal shards lol.
Once Jessica (my gf) came over and made food and cleaned me up a bit I was able to get to work better. Ben and I (my roomate) got the manifold on and secure and then put the rubo on realizing I'd bought the wrong thread nuts and so we needed to scurry around looking for ones with the right threads to mount the turbo to the manifold. In the process we stripped one of the 10mm studs and had to replace it. Turbo on- turbo off- on- and off- finally we got it right. All nutts and almost every stud replaced and in place with anti-seeze. Radiator back on, oil line in place, and intercooler pipe on again- almost ready to rock.
We put everyhting back together (it was now 11:00 pm)and took it for a test run. Started the car and it didn't even sound like my car!! There were no leaks to be heard. No buzzing just tight smooth engine purr.
We took it for a spin and it felt great!!!! Took it on the freeway and we started to notice a lack in acceleration- to a quick BAM like a bat out of hell. This could only mean one thing. Intake or intercooler pipe loose. We barely made it off the freeway before we heard the loudest air pop in life and the car stalled.
Saw that the IC pipe connecting to the turbo blew off the hose connector. This made for a tough fix on the street becuase we had no tools. We were able to rig it to keep flcuh witht he turbo outlet and drive home using 0 boost and keeping the foot onthe gas the entire time so that we wouldn't stall.... It was super scary!!!!
I'm now home- going to take tomorrow off work to completely fix that IC pipe (will only take an hour), tighetn everything 50 times, and tune the fuel pressure with my new in hood FP gauge. This will also help with the flat spots I've been fealing and running too rich- causing the car to bog a bit.
Moral:
Having an aftermarket turbo'd car is a lot of work and a lot of upkeep. It's really a lot of fun if you like to deal with it but can also be a huge pain in the ass. I feel very satisfied knowing that I accomplished everything I set out to and fixed EVERY problem I had with the setup. I notice a big difference in the sound, and speed of my car now.
Notes:
-Air tools save a lot of time!!!!
-Electric screwdriver save a lot of time!!!
-Need Patience!!!!
-Need Caffeine!!!!
-Need to laugh BUT learn from your mistakes.
-Always anticipate, prepare, and expect the worst to happen becuase it usually does when working on cars.
-Having a kickass roomate/friend to help the entire time is a HUGE help!
-Buying the right hardware and tools the first time will save you several trips to car and hardware stores.-BRING THE PART WITH YOU!
-Having an understand wife or GF who will stand by you when you're full of grease, metal shards, oil, coolant, and anti-seeze is almost essential. She cleaned my house, fed me and gave me more moral support than I thought anyone could.
I hope this may come in handy for some of you who may go boosted one day.
