I've been reading these forums on and off for almost 10 years, I have not actually seen anyone attempt to break down the installation time on a greddy turbo kit. I was mostly curious where the major time sinks were in the installation as the entire process does not actually look like it would take 2 days.

A little background - I have a local shop that rents out tools and lifts for $20-30/hr (DIY Austin - I'd highly recommend them). Unfortunately it is 30-35 miles from my house. I pick and choose what work I do to maximize my chances of being able to drive my car home at the end of the day. This usually means I only install 1 or 2 parts, and leave myself 5-6 hours of buffer room for screw ups.

I was trying to plan out my turbo install in a very similar way. For example: I was contemplating mounting the intercooler and cutting the spaces for the charge piping long before I ever install the actual turbo. I was also going to drop the oil pan and tap a fitting into it around the same time.

Are there any other major time sinks in the installation process that could be worked on ahead of time? The process of removing the manifold and bolting the turbo on does not seem like it would take an excessive amount of time in itself. Does anyone think it would be plausible to finish the installation within 12 hours after the intercooler is installed and oil pan tapped? Assuming I am not missing hardware or gaskets that is.

 

meh .......... it takes as long as it takes to do the job properly !
Don't even try doing it that way , just do it once do it right and work around however long that takes .
The whole job can be done in a day ..badly . But I've seen guys take over a year to get the result they wanted.

 

Fair enough, I'm sure I'll be tinkering with the setup for quite some time. I should say I wasn't talking about slapping it on and driving home full boost, calling it a day. I know it will be a long process. I feel as if i'm drastically missing something though. To me, the initial installation sounds too easy. Bolting it on does not sound that difficult, I have new gaskets and hardware. Intercooler seems to hold pressure well. T-bolt clamps seem to be in excellent condition. I've fitted all the piping together using some blocks of wood for support with the manifold, turbo, and intercooler, everything seems to exist where it should. It's a used kit obviously. So a lot of the work was done for me as far as the fixes and upgrades. I'm sure I'll eat the other side of that coin much harder once something explodes. If it's not going to work, then I would have to leave it there. But once the coolant and oil lines are installed, the most difficult part sounds like removing the front bumper and installing the intercooler.

Am I horrendously looking over the difficulty of attaching the piping?

With all that said though, yes, I'm sure I will spend every weekend of the next year tweaking that setup. Already plan on trying a new intake/MAF tube. Possibly toy around with the idea of copying 9k's setup with a separate cooling loop. Dealing with all kinds of shitty vacuum leaks. Maybe learn how to tune it myself and most likely blow my engine by 2018. I'm expecting it to be a learning process.

 

About the most difficult part of the install is fitting the manifold turbo and downpipe . I would recommend removing both engine mounts before you do it but ......Have a read of this :

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-...ontrol-195786/

 

That's been my bed reading for quite some time now. Glad to know i'm at least starting in the right diection.

 

Beware the removal of nuts and bolts that have had years to rust on and the difficulties of getting adequate access to conversion ones (space is tight, some fasteners are hard to access and you may need to grind away part of your tools to get them on).

I know it can be a pain delving through them for helpful nuggets, but reading other's instal write-ups will be time well-spent.

If you can't do the fit at home with plans for the work taking at least 2 weekends then make sure that you have back-up plans for problems.

 

This..... and getting the new downpipe mounted took me the most time. Had to buy some really thin ratchet extensions to get on all of the nuts. Also I got away with removing only 1 (passenger side) engine mount but probably why I had to buy the extensions haha

 

pull the engine is the easiest way to install the kit!! other wise give it a couple days a week would be best so you can check and recheck everything oh and recheck it again,and one more recheck then you should be good

 

Maybe it's just me, but I feel if I pull the engine I'd probably spend a week just checking that over before I had enough ***** to start it back up.

If I did it once or twice before, it definitely sounds like the way to go though. But at this point I'm not familiar enough with the block to have any kind of confidence regarding not ******* a vac line up, "forgetting" a coolant/oil line, breaking a harness connector, etc.

Not to mention my "Extra bolts" box would probably double in weight afterwards.

 

It took me approximately a week to do mine (the bulk of the install) and it was my first turbo install ever....

If you are certain you have all of your parts this should be achievable. Things that took me longer were when I realized halfway through install that I was going to do things differently than planned and had to order parts (aka oil feed from a sandwich adapter rather than block and new O2 sensor since the stock one was seized into the manifold and I stripped it trying to get it out).

This does not include gauge install or tuning.