Well I just bought the ssautochrome turbo back exhaust and attempted to install as I had plenty of time (starting at like 5pm until about 9pm, with a few breaks). Anyways the stock exhaust was pretty easy to remove most of it, i disconnected the whole system from the bottom of the downpipe then disconnected all the hangers and dropped it on the ground. Now comes the freakin' downpipe, how should I remove it? When I searched I read mostly about removing the turbocharger which included the downpipe only without direct instructions. Of course it's not in the Haynes manual, what do I do? My car is a 1988 Mazda RX-7 Turbo II with ABS, no airpump. I think from my searching, it sounds like I need to remove the abs unit, bac valve, and acv?? that's alot of freaking work. thnx
Zach

 

has anyone even done this? and will a S5 fuel cut defenser work on my s4 car? thanks

 

You can unbolt the dp from the turbo. It's a pain especially if you have the factory precat, but a series of extensions, open ends, universal sockets and you'll have it off. One thing I did was to remove the trans mount and lower it slightly. Gave me a little more clearance. If it's still factory you will need to remove the heat shields, and there will be locking tabs bent over the dp to turbo bolts.

 

i feel ya big time on this. The heat shields took the most time for me. although i also removed the turbo in a porting project at the same time as a down pipe. But iirc you need what turbonut said open ended wrenches, (i love using gear wrenches) and some extension. whats nice is alot of the heatshelids wont bolt up right after you put the dp on so that less to put back on and remove if you have to do that again. The clearances are tight . You just have to slowly tweak the heat sheilds till you can get them out.

Sidenote: i pulled my turbo out the other day and it was nice being able to undo the down pipe from the top of the car ---- ahhh no dp heatshield

 

thanks alot guys, this is a pain, i won't be reinstalling the heatshields. I have them off except for the one at the top of the downpipe and bolted to the other heatshield which is on the turbo there is one 10 mm bolt lef t on the top passenger side. i'll try to do it tonight after work. thnx

 

ouch man, i feel for you.

i had to pull my turbo, and i actually removed and bypassed my ABS system to do it. sucks.

its hard to cram your hands down there. But you gotta. theres 3 nuts, one on the top and two on each side of the bottom, the bottom ones are easy. the top is the bitch

leave the two big heatshields on the turbo, or at least the big one on the top/side if you can. it helps.

just bust your knuckles and get er done.


btw i also put a blockoff plate on the EGR while i had all of that stuff off. makes it easier to remove the downpipe

 

well i did it, I did everything from under the car. i think the key was this 3/8" drive universal elbow socket. I installed my entire ssautochrome exhaust, it is pretty loud but so much more powerful, and much more boost and im now hitting fuel cut. which brings me to another question, could I use a RB FCD from a S5 rx-7 on my S4 model? is it just a different size connector to where I could splice it in? I'm about to change my fuel filter and re-wire the fuel pump. thanks guys, i could do it again alot easier and quicker, especially without the heatshields. i like hearing the turbo spool up with that whistling noise. how do I bypass the abs? and make block off plates to install? actually next mod is probably buying another throttle body to port because mine is messed up causing a 1500 rpm idle and the throttle doesn't close all the way so no engine braking or blow-off valve sounds, i want engine braking for my autocrossing. thanks guys.

 

Friends using my S5 RB FCD on his s4.......

 

no you can't

 

why can't you? they look exactly the same to me. Is it because of the s5's stock electronic boost control?