Hello,

I bought the T04S turbo kit from XS in the last group buy with the "RX-7 Store"... here are my comments on the install so far:

To start off, you should know that I installed mine as part of an engine rebuild, so I did everything starting with the engine OUT of the car. This brought up a few challenges.

To start with, in my test fitting/lining up... I thought that the edge of the wastegate fins might contact the transmission bell housing just a TINY bit when I put the engine in, so to be safe, I used a dremel to buzz a millimeter or two off the offending areas. I think it would have fit OK without me doing that, but just to save myself a potential headache later, I used a sander bit to shave a small amount off.

It was apparent that with the wastegate installed on the manifold, I would not be able to get the engine in the car while simultaneously clearing the engine mounts and also lining up the transmission. To 'fix' this, I just removed the silver parts of the wastegate (just the top, not the whole thing) and that gave me some more clearance. The wastegate sorta wraps around the bellhousing a bit, so it means that you can't just push the engine straight on with the wategate fully installed on it.

Another issue which came up was clearing the driver's side engine mount. I found that I wanted to push the engine toward the passenger side to let it get down into the driver's side engine mount from a more favorable angle, BUT, the new turbo comes so close to the passenger side fender that the compressor housing hits against the fender before you get the needed clearance for the driver's engine mount. To overcome this, I removed the driver's side engine mount and then got everything lined up to within about 2 inches and then installed the engine mount and completed lowering the engine down into the car.

Overall, I think the install is pretty straightforward. All directions were clear to me and all parts that I needed were provided. Besides the issues above, everthing went together with no problems.

Regards,
Brian

87 TII
93 R1

 

Thanks for the detailed feedback. Is the car back on the road yet? If/when it is, can you post comments regarding how the new turbo performs? TIA.

 

First off, thanks for the write up!
Do you think that overall it was a lot better to put the turbo on while the engine is out. How does it compare to installing with the engine already in there?

 

The car won't be on the road for a few weeks due to holidays/girlfriend/whatever... and when it does get back on the road, I have to break it in slowly....

BUT having said that... once I can open 'er up a little, I will definitely be posting here in the single turbo forum again to let everyone know my impressions.

Probably won't have anything useful to post for about a month or two.

Brian

 

wReX,
I have never installed an upgraded turbo on a car with the engine IN before so I can't comment on this too much.

I will say that I would never take out the engine just to put on a turbo kit!

Brian

 

I'm planning on doing an engine rebuild soon with turbo upgrade. since I have access to a lift do you think it would be easier to drop everything from under the car?

 

Hmm. Well if you put the car on a lift, I'm assuming that you mean take out the engine/trans combo as a unit...

To do this, you'd have to drop the entire front subframe which means removing the front suspension and subframe entirely. You'd also have to hold up the engine while taking out the subframe.

I have never tried this, but it doesn't sound easier than the 'regular' method to me.

Brian

 

just put a new motor in my car, and going single turbo. to me it was much easier to just put the almost bare block in the car and then put on the turbo manifold and all the other stuff. I would say its better to pull the stock turbos off and on with the motor out of the car. but with a single setup its pretty easy to have access to all the stuff.





James
93 mbm
86 gxl

 

This is how I remove Skyline R33 and R34 engines, always complete with transmission and front subframe and I intended doing my FD the same way. For reasons irrelevant to this discussion I ended up leaving the gearbox and all subframe et cetera in situ and just pulling the engine.

In this case it was dead easy as I run without ABS, air con, pas or air pump, so there is good access from above and far fewer pipes to remove. If I needed to work on transmission or front suspension as well as the engine 'd drop the whole mess out from underneath, for sure, given a 2 post lift.

 

It is a two post lift and I failed to mention a trans rebuild, so after reading all your comments I would assume the best route to go is to drop it from the bottom with the knowlege that the suspension and subframe has to come with it. Thanks. If there is something else I should know to ease this project please inform me. Thanks again.