Replacing Upper Turbo Gasket

Question for you guys with a ssc or bing mani

how hard is it to replace the upperturbo gasket with out taking the mani off? of you have to take the mani off how hard is that to do, I want to do it tonight but I also do not want to be replacing thei one gasket all night long

I’m assuming you are talking about the one connecting the mani to the head…

Not too tough.

I’d disconnect your downpipe so you have some play. With that off you should have enough wiggle room to pull the mani, turbo, extension off the studs in the head and slip on the new gasket.

I’m assuming you are using hardlines?

You’ll want to disconnect thoue too probably so you don’t damage them.

Go get some coolant cause your gonna loose it when you disconnect hte coolant line from the block.

Other than that, pretty straight forward

Thanks dan

Actually the guasket I am replacing is the one between the torbo and the Mani

Okay – then you gotta get the whole assembly out of there.

Take of downpipe
Take off elbow
Undo oil return to block
Undo Hardlines oil and water from Block
Undo and remove upper rad hose and housing
Undo intake and remove
Undo hotpipe and remove

Then, remove manifold from head.

Pull exhaust manifold and turbo (and lines) from car. Be carefull not to damage hardlines.

Then, remove turbo from manifold and replace gasket.

This will take you a good while, and even longer if you have some stubborn bolts

You will need: coolant and gasket maker for reassembly

Shitzzzz that sux just for 1 freaking gasket, I do not want to be doing this until 12 tonight. Boooooo

are you sure I can not get to those 4 bolts with out taking out the mani?

But even if you had small, super strong fingers and small tools you would still need to:

Undo all hardlines
Undo downpipe
Probably move hotpipe and intake out of the way – probably out of the car cause they’ll just piss you off

Really the only thing different from my list above is the elbow (which is easy once the downpipe is gone) and removing the manifold from the head…which is the easiest task of the whole lot.

It may seem like a lot to do, but it is certainly easier to do all those things that fiddle with those bolts hidden under there…just MO

Hahah aya I was hoping I could just get the 4 bolts out and then the turbo will drop enough just to slide the new gasket in there and then tighen it up.

Nope – your exhaust will keep it pretty tight. You can probably muscle it but if you crimp your hardlines your really gonna be pissed at yourself.

Once they’re crimped - they’re trash.

Hahahaha ya I know, My DP actually is pretty good, they place the the flex pip is place and where the exhaust is bolten on it should drip about 1 to 2 inches when taken off,

Thanks Dan, you are a great help as usuall

word of advice… be VERY careful not to cross-thread or over-tourque the oil/coolant feed bolts on the block. the hardlines easily bend out of shape and, when bolting everything back up, if the lines are not on the right angle to the holes in the block you’ll have trouble getting the banjo bolts in straight.

do not attempt to tighten these bolts with tools until you’ve threaded them in easily by hand first… trust me. my turbo gasket replacement resulted in me pulling the entire motor/tranny to have a machine shop install a heli-coil in the block… i’ve since developed a hatred for anything aluminum!

oh, and you might want to use new crush washers to ensure a tight seal.

definitely use some lock-tite on the 4 bolts (i actually tack-welded mine) unless you wanna do this all over again in a few weeks.

all in all, i’ve done this (removed mani to downpipe) a few times now and it really is not that challenging or time-consuming. you’ll see… good luck.

btw, there’s no need to remove the turbo extension… 5 nuts/bolts that you should just maybe loosen to lock-tite and re-tourque.

:thumright:

Thanks guy

Maybe not with a small T25, but with a bigger snail you need a little more wriggle room…and the elbow just gets in the way

I nominate Dan, for Tech help SON member of the Year.

^___^ hope u can change ur gasket easily benson…im the dude in parents sunfire that day O_O? lol…

dam original… ur halloween avatar is freaky

thanks man

haha she will get done Ssaturday

Hey, so I am going to get everything fiex up tomorrow but what should I do so the bolts dont come loose again, it seems that locktite can not widthstand the heat???

any suggestions??

the red loc-tite should do it… i also put a little tack-weld on each nut just to make sure.

Ya well I have nothing to weld it but the Red locktite really is not make to take temps that high.

haha but ill load it on and try it out, any kind of lock washer that could also work??