Help with SR turbo elbow....

[adrians_s13]

let me just say first off.. this thing is a bitch to change out while the turbo and manifold is still on the engine, and engine is in the car...

but anyways... I was trying to upgrade to a divorced elbow and I have 2 questions...




1. How the hell do you tighten the nut on this one? Is there a special trick or tool? With whatever wrench or tool I try, the tranny gets in the frekkin way for me to even try anything...

2. Now.. how the hell do you even fit a nut on that stud??? When I put the elbow on... the stud almost even touches the elbow itself... let alone trying to slide a nut on it.

[littlekids13]

i had the same problem i just use an open wrench and some sockets and a couple of hours it was done ha very fustrating

[sr20det drift]

i know exactly what you are saying.
make sure everything is loose so you can put all the nuts/bolts on jiggle it around.
then get a swivvel impact with a 3/8 extention and with a criss cross pattern tighten them all, for the one nut that almost touches the tranny i used a open end wrench
maybe this helps

[g6civcx]

Originally Posted by adrians_s13

1. How the hell do you tighten the nut on this one? Is there a special trick or tool? With whatever wrench or tool I try, the tranny gets in the frekkin way for me to even try anything...

2. Now.. how the hell do you even fit a nut on that stud??? When I put the elbow on... the stud almost even touches the elbow itself... let alone trying to slide a nut on it.

I always remove the turbo manifold to downpipe as a whole. It sounds like a lot of work but it's easier than what you're talking about. Even pro mechanics complain about changing that gasket without removing the turbo.

Plus it's a good opportunity to change out all of your gasket, tack weld the manifold to turbo nuts, and inspect your turbo.

[GSXRJJordan]

Lol G6 is right, it's actually easier with everything out, but then with stock turbo lines it's a bitch to get the turbo out too. I've changed out just the elbow a couple times, and yeah, it's a bitch, but totally doable.

It's even harder with the stock elbow on there, because usually there's all sorts of corrosion on the stock studs. If the stock one's out of there, you're home free.

About the stud closest to the tranny - box end wrench that's not too long is your friend here. I have a set of Craftsman ratchet-combos, so they've got an open end on one side and a ratcheting-box-end on the other - they're awesome, except they're too long to work well in that spot! A short combo will work wonders for ya here.

The middle one on the bottom needs to be the first one you put a nut on - if you wait until the elbow's against the turbo, you can't fit a nut on there. So as you're massaging the elbow onto the stud, get a nut on there and hand tighten it as you move the elbow closer to the turbo. After that it's an open end wrench and you're done

[racer98]

Oh man I will have some fun again this weekend replacing my chi-bay turbo manifold.....

[racer98]

Originally Posted by GSXRJJordan

Lol G6 is right, it's actually easier with everything out, but then with stock turbo lines it's a bitch to get the turbo out too. I've changed out just the elbow a couple times, and yeah, it's a bitch, but totally doable.

It's even harder with the stock elbow on there, because usually there's all sorts of corrosion on the stock studs. If the stock one's out of there, you're home free.

About the stud closest to the tranny - box end wrench that's not too long is your friend here. I have a set of Craftsman ratchet-combos, so they've got an open end on one side and a ratcheting-box-end on the other - they're awesome, except they're too long to work well in that spot! A short combo will work wonders for ya here.

The middle one on the bottom needs to be the first one you put a nut on - if you wait until the elbow's against the turbo, you can't fit a nut on there. So as you're massaging the elbow onto the stud, get a nut on there and hand tighten it as you move the elbow closer to the turbo. After that it's an open end wrench and you're done

yeah , untill you deal with that water feed line that is on the back of the engine !

[jr.]

i swapped the #1 stud to the bolt hole on the other side of the #2 stud this allowed me to get a socket on the bolt in there on #1 and clear sailing for every thing else.

[racer98]

Originally Posted by adrians_s13

let me just say first off.. this thing is a bitch to change out while the turbo and manifold is still on the engine, and engine is in the car...

but anyways... I was trying to upgrade to a divorced elbow and I have 2 questions...




1. How the hell do you tighten the nut on this one? Is there a special trick or tool? With whatever wrench or tool I try, the tranny gets in the frekkin way for me to even try anything...

2. Now.. how the hell do you even fit a nut on that stud??? When I put the elbow on... the stud almost even touches the elbow itself... let alone trying to slide a nut on it.

its possibile but just very time cosuming with it in the car to put it on and bascially nearly impossibile.

1st off

can I ask and see photos of the lock nut set up you will put in there once you get it tightened up ?

why I ask if you do any of the hard driving i do the bolts will back out and fall off and bascially start to have an exhaust leak....................

[clark]

you need to either pull the entire turbo, and while you have it out do some preventative maintenence like changing gaskets and lines blah blah.

but try a stubby box wrench

i've always pulled the turbo to do anything on it.

g6 and gsx already stated, but who doesn't like beating a dead horse!

[adrians_s13]

thanks for the suggestion guys...

GSXRJJordan: thanks man. I'll try that.
G6: I might try that....

Originally Posted by racer98

its possibile but just very time cosuming with it in the car to put it on and bascially nearly impossibile.

1st off

can I ask and see photos of the lock nut set up you will put in there once you get it tightened up ?

why I ask if you do any of the hard driving i do the bolts will back out and fall off and bascially start to have an exhaust leak....................

I know exactly where you getting at. At the moment... I only have a temporary homedepot steel nut in stud #1.. and NOTHING on stud #2
I'm probably gonna go to the junkyard and see if I can pull out some high-temp hardware from a z or something...

hell, when I first got under my car to take my oem elbow off... I found out that I've been running my car WITHOUT the lock nuts in place!

lol.. no wonder my cars been running like shit

[mjjstang]

shit it was easy for me, I have small hands though, good for working, now changing oil filter is diff, I would rather kill ones self.

[g6civcx]

Originally Posted by mjjstang

shit it was easy for me, I have small hands though, good for working, now changing oil filter is diff, I would rather kill ones self.

I have small hands with long fingers, if you know what I mean

I seriously don't understand why people complain about the oil filter on KA and SR motors. I don't have any problems with them. I actually like the placement because I don't have to go under the car to remove the filter.

[KasperSlide]

my GReddy elbow had the same prob its way easy when its off the motor. save your self the pain!

[burnsauto]

doing a job like this snowballs into blowing a decent chunk of change..

because if you take the turbo out, you start thinking about all those "might as well" parts... and then if you decide to use all new OEM hardware..that can get a bit pricey too...

i'll never attempt to put an elbow in while its still in the car.. i always just yank the turbo out and do it... incase a stud breaks off...you can get at it a lot easier.

[norbac]

seems like you need to call up frodo to do this, i saw my friend help change out to the greddy elbow upgrade, and you really need hobbit hands...

[Addicted2Kouki]

To answer your question...
Use open wrenches, little by little and flipping the wrench to the other side so that the wrench can fit the nut.


As for the nuts, first just put the elbow on the studs.
Then get the nuts and pull the elbow away from the turbo but still on the studs.
Make sure theres enough thread to screw on the nut.
Little by little is key.
Screw it in some and tilt, push towards the turbo, whatever you gotta do to get the right angle.

Like they said, as long as you got the stock one off, you should be fine.

[BiG MiKE86]

Hey Ive had the same problem before as far as tightening those down - I bought a Stubby Set of GearWrenches - Works every time! As far as the stud hitting the elbow - thats usually just crappy design - trim the stud as required or get a new elbow goodluck

[The ROMAN]

Haha I also have nothing on #2, been like that for years. It's the 240 equivalent of the 8th spark plug on f-bodies.