Turbo in

[Firesong]

Yeah!
Yesterday I attempted to do it myself.
Before I tell you of this crazy battle I want to thank
Noel from EnviroImports.. he's been a fountain of info.

I got a turbo and manifold from a guy who had some used
stuff out of a wrecked delica he brought from Japan. He brought
some for parts. Got a new gasket for the intake/exhaust manifold
and was ready to rock. Thought I should do the block
heater at the same time. I wasn't planning on taking the turbo
off the manifold it came with so didn't order a gasket for it.

So this is what happened.
My friend who has some mechanical experience was supposed to
help me. I talked to him the night before... 'yup yup, sounds
like fun no worries'... go to pick him up and he's been up till
5am drinking. What a bloody nightmare... I should have left
him but no, I didn't. He basically fell asleep for the morning.

Taking everything out was daunting but thanks to my dad
for lending me the use of his garage. AND he stayed out of
it while I was swearing.
Hard parts... Intake manifold came off nice.
Exhaust manifold... ouchhhhh it was just too big.
Tried to drop it down through the bottom, tried through
the top. This is funny, (not at the time) I was lowering
the exhaust manifold down through the bottom and was
like ...'what the....' I met resistance and couldn't figure out
what was going on. My drunk friend was pushing up
and trying to rehook the exhaust up to it. He thought
we had done everything already.. <sigh>
my fault right??

Then the surprise... the exhaust manifold on the one
I got from the dealer guy had a huge crack in it.. .. ..
Talk about frustration...

Ended up splitting the turbo off the new and sticking onto
the old manifold. Both used turbo gaskets came off in
great shape thank goodness.

So while I set my kindergarten student up to clean the
old gasket stuff off with a razor... hint hint.. I went
to work on the frost plug.. pushed the darn thing in..
a little more stress... finally got a hold of it and took
a proper long punch and used some leverage...
10 minutes later that was installed.

Ever have a not thinking moment? I went to drop the
oil out and accidently dropped the oil from the front
differential instead.. hmmm small town... sunday....
where do i find oil to replace it? Good stuff mind you
too.. My dad came through and called up his bud who
owns the shop in town and by the end of the day..
10 pm sunday I had some synthetic to put in it.

Hardest part was trying to figure out where all the
vacuum hoses attached and then the deep breath
before trying to start it all up.
It did start.

Drove it home. Fed my friend a couple of beer
for thanks since he did end up helping in the
afternoon once he woke up. Still had to tell him
to keep his oily hands off the white paint on the van.
I cleaned that up today.. it was like being in kindergarten
telling the kids not to write on the wall.

I want to check the boost and make sure that's all working
since it seems a little low on power.. not hearing it
spool up. Thats a today job.

Backyard mechanics.. and how much in labor did I save
:)

James

[Chewy]

Hey, at least you noticed the crack before you installed it!

My guess(and likely yours too) is that your wastegate has gone a bit soft on you and a little adjustment should fix the sluggishness. The spooling sound however may have been a boost leak on the old setup.

[Tinytoy]

Glad to hear your back on the road!
Should have our ride by the end of the week. Might have to meet up between mods!
Eric

[Pacific JDM Parts]

Glad to see you managed to get the job done even if sounded like quite the challange!!! Drunk/severly hung over friends are always ever so helpfull!!!!
Gives you great satisfaction getting stuck in and getting your hands dirty!!!
Well done