Yes boys and girls, there is a way.
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Find a suitable location that you can spend more than a few hours in. I chose my garage.
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You’ll most likely need to cool your car down before you work on it. I used numerous fans to help in this process. The heatshield, exhaust manifold, bolts, etc. will be EXTREMELY HOT if you do not let it cool down. You’ll also need good lighting, halogen work lights are t3h w1n. I’d also advise you to take your bonnet off as it makes things easier.
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You’ll now have to remove various things in order to clear the way for your exhaust manifold. Intercooler piping, charge air outlet, heatshield, whatever hoses are in the way, etc. You can also clean stuff at this step but I chose not to.
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Put all the stuff you removed somewhere special. For some unknown reason I have a couch in my garage so I put it all there. Keep track of bolts, nuts, screws, etc.!
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This step will suck. You now have to remove 8 bolts from your exhaust manifold (use WD-40 or liquid wrench if you need to), and 4 bolts from UNDERNEATH the turbo flange (turbine side/exhaust side). Chances are (if you’ve blown the gasket) these bolts will be lose, but that does not mean it won’t be difficult and time consuming to remove them. Just keep working at it. You’ll then have to take out the exhaust manifold (which will also suck). There are the 8 studs going through the manifold from the engine itself, and there are the 4 studs going through the turbine (you’ll understand the problem better once you get to this step). Rock it back and forward, side to side, or whatever you have to do to get it out, trust me, it will come out. The downpipe (attached to the turbo) will have some give that you can play around with but be careful with it.
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The hard part is over with and there is the turbo sitting there with all it’s glory. You’ll also find bits and pieces of your old gasket that you’ll want to be careful with (the pieces are sharp and you don’t want them falling into any openings).
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Don’t stare at it too long. You must now block off any entrances to the turbo or any holes anywhere with rags or paper towel. You do not want any debris falling in these holes. You can also clean everything at this step. Now is also a good time to replace your exhaust manifold gasket.
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Here’s a shot of the old gasket beside the new gasket.
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Put the new gasket on the exhaust manifold, flip it over, and put everything back in. This will be time consuming. Put everything back in the opposite order you took it out.
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Now you can start her up and relax.
