too much fun with my turbo swap

[Guest Anonymous]

hey guys, i know this isn't datsun related but i thought i would still share the experiance for anybody looking to play with turbo swaps.

 

well if some of you don't know besides my ZX project car i have a 1987 T-bird turbocoupe for my daily driver that i have been playing/modding as well.

 

for a while my car had been overheating repeatedly. i coulnd't make it more than twenty minutes before the bugger would start getting hot on me. i knew the turbo had gone bad cause i could hear the compressor wheel clipping the housing under hard boost (15-17PSI) luckily i had managed to score a turbo from a 86 cougar XR-7 from a JY for $20! the specs on that T3 turbo goes as follows compressor: .60 A/R, turbine: .48 A/R. definitely a step up from the tiny IHI RHB52 that my TC came with origonally.

 

i figured what the heck i just swap in the T3 that i got laying around and be donen with it. i even psyched my self up by thinking about how easy it would be to put the intercoller in a logical place like in front of the radiator instead of on top of the exhaust manifold like ford had it. oh and while i'm at it i can even make an quick and easy front grill for my car.

 

i was SO naive, LOL i didn't know what i was in for. first i took off my K&N and VAF sensor, followed by the intercooler and unplugginh the o2 sensor. then i went ahead and disconnected the exhaust from the turbine elbow. most of this was the easy stuff. next i sprayed everything liberally with some penetrating oil and let it sit while i continued to kill the front end of my car in an attempt to make a front grill for it. which by the way went really crappy cause i didn't know what the hell i was doing.

 

now that i've given enought time for the penatrating oil to penetrate i go about starting to disattach the oil feed line and the coolant lines. this is where i hit problem #1 all the lines were ran in stainless steel 5/16 lines with brass fittings. nothing bad here that is till i strip every damn fitting trying to get them to come loose. i enede up have to hacksaw all the lines to them then i disconnected the oil return tube as well but that was simply two bolts holding that one on.

 

next i go about cracking off the exhaust manifold bolts since i was swapping that as well. this was mistake #2. after i got it off i found out that the one i had planned on swapping was an inferior casting that is prone to cracking so back on my old one went. then i had to kick and fight to get the four bolts hldig the turbo to the manifold off.

 

okay, so now i've got it off the maifold and am ready to swap on the new one right? wrong! from eyeballing the new one i knew i was in for a trip. the oil feed line was a total different size diameter tube. as well as while the coolant lines were both on the same side for the IHI they were directly opposite from each other on the T3. then i also found out that the oil retun tube differed on them as well.

 

my solution to the problem at hand was easy to think but hard to acomplish. i had to go around town and get all new fitting for the new tubo but instead fittings that used steel line i got the ones that had simple barbs so i could run hos and just sleave the old hard lines and then route them to their new location. but being a small town i had to go to an industrial supply shop to get the fittings.

 

next problem was the coolant return line coming from the turbo was still a different diameter from the spout on the block so i had to make a double barb adapter and run two dofferent sizes of lines on the retun hose. this seemed to work out good but ie i said it took another trip to the industrial supply shop.

 

i get the coolant supply line hooked up no problem as well as the oil feed line and that was when i hit the biggest problem i had with the swap. the oil retun line (cheesy evil music in background). the problem was even though they mounted into the block the same they had sifferent flanges for the tubo side. bot a problem if you had a T3 oil return line handy. but did i? well kinda.. but only the top HALF of the line. so i end cutting the one to the IHI in half and trying to sleeve the two pieces together using some hydraulic line hose. but the wastgate actuator rod kept getting in the way and pinching off the plastic. so i spent and entire day looking for something that would work but i could find NOTHING. but then it hit me, why not have the pieces brazed together? so i went to a radiator sho and for a 12 pack of bud light they hooked me up

 

now that i'm all excited i get home and slap it on and go about trying to get something riged to use for intercooler tubing. guess what, nobody has anything that will work in my stupid little town. (i really like it here can you tell?) the local muffler shop said he couldn't put as many bends as close together as it would need and the only sor of flexible how i would be willig to trust to handle the heat and pressure i will be puttting out cost a whopping 20+ bucks a foot! i ened up at the last minute at my towns bulders mart purchasing soem ABS plastic tubing and an assortment of bends. i tried to make something to work for it but i didnt have the time (it was real late into the third day by now) to really sit down and think it out. so i just jimmy rigged it and had two bends coming directly from the turbo to the throttlebody. this was just a quick fix to let me get around till i can get something worked out

 

next came the exhaust which is just a simple 3" down pipe off the turbo the terminates right about where the passenger's feet are. thats it. sounds lound & very mean. i like it you can really hear tthat tubo whining up. thats definitaly a noise i think i've fallen in love with. i plan on putting a 3" super turbo muffler on it and just having the pipe ext right in from of the passeger side rear tire.

 

i thought i was pretty much done till i could get the intercooler hooked up. but murphy's law had kicked in and little did i notice till too late but when i had put in my oil retutn tube i had tightend the part wher it meets the block but had forgotten to tighten the flange to the turbo and these bolts were only hand tight couple that with a leaky coolant line and you get one very grumpy car. i noticed the coolant problem firs cause it would squirt onto the manifold and you could hear it hissing when i got out of the car. nothig too big here. but i didn't notice the oil problem till almost too late. i had went to pick my GF up from work the next day and y sheer luck i checked y oil pressure gauge and noticed IT HAD BOTTOMED OUT. i don't know how long i ws driving like this. i had planned on changing the oil as well and had allthe stuff at home waiting for me so i went straight home with the GF in tow. there i got very greasy trying to find the problem and by sheer luck i remebered or didn't remeber actually tighteng those two bolts. i got down doing that then threw in a quart of some gunk out in the oil and ran the motor for five minutes. then i pulled the plug on the oil pan and let it all drain. i only got 2 1/2 quarts out of her! so i was actually running on a quart and a half of oil for who knwos how long. scary huh? i changed the filter and filled her back up with oil and all is well at least for now...

 

i almost forgot to say that i think i was correct i my assupmtiont aht the old turbo was causing me to overheat cause i checked the bearing play in it and that thing had tons of play in every direction. now all i need is a boost valve so i cant turn it up to 22 PSI and get my intercooler hooked up as well as the compressor bypass valve i just got from ebay today. maybe a bigger fuel pum and a adj. fuel pressure regulator a i think i should be pulling and hones 280HP or more out of this little 2.3 four popper.

 

another funny thing is since i have that intake jimmy rigged i have to keep my foot out of it. a friend tried to race me and i went for it. i gave it some gas and the next thing i hear is a VERY loud POP PSHHHHHHHH. i haod blownmy home made intake right off the turbo ooopsy

 

this story just serves as a warning to you guys doing turbo swaps. i'm not trying to discourage but you really need to pay attention or the little thigs can bite you in the butt. also it helps if you actually live in a place where you have decent stores like a home depot or ace hardware. out where i live there isn't much to promote the do it yourselfer. sorry bout the length guys but just felt like relaying what kind of week i had

[Lockjaw]

Swapping a turbo in a Z is a little easier than your experience.

 

Man what a nightmare

[Guest Anonymous]

LOL, don't i know it. it actually wasn't all that bad. i was just stressed cause every time i would make a little bit of headway i got roadblocked again and would have to make ANOTHR trip to the stores in search of some part. plus i don't really have that much of a tool collection yet (getting there though, way better than what i had when i first started wrenching)

 

the worst part is goign through a nightmare like that which you know can only be called a labor of love and then having to watch it burn down in front of your house less than two weeks after having getting the project done . and no it wasn't the turbo, it was either the alternator or someting electrical in that area. at least i still got the learning expierance from it and the staisfaction of knowing i CAN do something like that while most of my fiends can barely understand the basics of a turbo system.