turbo studs coming loose

[statik]

Well i just left work to grab some lunch and i found out one of my turbo studs backed itself out, if ur facing the motor from the front of the car its the front left stud. Its so close to the manifold it doesnt seem likely i could get at it without taking the whole turbo off. Does anyone know off hand if you can? Also what have you guys done stop the studs from coming loose? Lock tite?

[mjjstang]

as far as I know, at those temps, even the red locktite would act as a lubricant rather than anything else, are you talking turbo to manifold?, there should be some plate thing that u put on there, that has tabs so the nuts dont come out, maybe im not thinkin of the right thing though.

[statik]

there was a plate thing on there, didnt know what it was for till i heard the stories of the the bolts backing out, i just hope it stays in for the ride home =\

[statik]

apparently u can get at this stud, i just unscrewed it by hand, hopefully theres enough room for a wrench to fit in there

[89s132b]

I had the same problem numerous times. I got sick of it - I was having to tighten the 2 that I could get to every week or so!!

I got some stage8 mechanical locking nuts when I did my turbo upgrade. No problems whatsoever since. They are about $3 each but well worth the price. I'm going to do the same thing for my manifold bolts when I go tubular.

www.stage8.com

IIRC, they are M8x1.25

This and safetywire is about teh only thing that is 100% effective. locktite does NOTHING.

[s13silady]

easiest way it sto find a small size ratchet open end wrench... but if not, you should just take the time to pull the whole turbo and mani off so you can change out all the bolts... it takes about less than an hour to unbolt everything and about less than an hour to bolt everything back on... theres a couple threads with this problem and some solutions for it...i would search for you but im lazy.. :o

[statik]

well my only concern was unbolting the water/oil lines. Will i lose alot? ive never taken the turbo off since ive bolted it on.

[mjjstang]

yes you will lose a lot, a buddy told me, oh just whats in the turbo, untill I did it, almost half the coolant leaked out, oil on the other hand, just a few drops, but why arent you guys just using those plates, i mean, shit they seemed to work for 14 years on the srs in japan,

[89s132b]

Mine didn't last too long with more boost. The nuts rattled off anyways. =(

[Vatche]

you have to drain the water out of the radiator first before u undue the lines, i am in the process of the 8th time taking everything apart....i bought some self locking nuts and put red loctite, but i still doubt those will hold....and nobody should ever buy ssautochrome headers, they cracked in 2 months....also their outlet pipe is smaller then stock...just letting you all know....

[statik]

OK so looks like i HAVE to take off the turbo. The turbo gasket is toast. Apparently the exhaust gasses leaking out must have cooked it, it burnt in one place and i didnt notice until i spent nearly 2 hours getting the studs back in. Now i need to take everything off and install a new gasket. I think im going to try locktite with lock washer, i doubt it will hold but i have no choice at this point. Stupid SSA crap has brought me nothing but trouble =\

[kazuo]

Lock washers should be fine provided they don't melt. Try and get stainless or something thats crazy heat resistant.

I say put little spot welds on it so the nuts don't back out...

[mjjstang]

i dont think locktites gonna do anything,

[autobahNESSA]

"89s132b


I got some stage8 mechanical locking nuts when I did my turbo upgrade. No problems whatsoever since. They are about $3 each but well worth the price. I'm going to do the same thing for my manifold bolts when I go tubular.

www.stage8.com

IIRC, they are M8x1.25



89s132b
Do you happen to have any pictures of the nuts that you bought. I see pictures of the bolts, but not the nuts.
Looks like a great find, thanks for shareing the info. Please post pictures of them if you can.

[statik]

i think im gonn try spot welding the top of the studs to the manifold, well see what happens, i have locktite on my manifold studs and that worked well but im not sure how much hotter the turbo studs get in comparrison

[statik]

I had the same problem numerous times. I got sick of it - I was having to tighten the 2 that I could get to every week or so!!

I got some stage8 mechanical locking nuts when I did my turbo upgrade. No problems whatsoever since. They are about $3 each but well worth the price. I'm going to do the same thing for my manifold bolts when I go tubular.

www.stage8.com

IIRC, they are M8x1.25

This and safetywire is about teh only thing that is 100% effective. locktite does NOTHING.

are you exactly sure on the size? im gonna try to get some overnighted because i don't wanna go thru this again.

[statik]

ah fcuk it, the guy from stage8 seemed to think it was 8x1.25 too, so i orderd 4 of them, too bad overnighting cost me $30, $42 is the most i will ever pay for some nuts, but if it stops this from happening again its money well spent

[Flybert]

For those of you who are ripping on SSautochrome manifolds, did you guys have it properly braced? Did you use the exhaust/transmission brace, flexpipe, good exhaust hangers? If not, they most likely cracked because of that.

[89s132b]

pics of the stage8 harware installed on my GTiR turbo...

http://nismokc.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/normal_stage8%20lock%20nut.jpg

I hope the size I gave you was correct. :x:
I'll double check tonight to see.

[statik]

i hope so too, theyre in my hands! they look like the righ size tho, time to go tear everything apart, yay

[TampaLinc]

The turbo studs backed out on me last week. The shops I talked to said the best thing to do is put a small tack weld on them to hold them in place.

[statik]

i must be an idiot, took me like 8 hours to take off my turbo, replace the nuts with the stage 8, and bolt everything back up. The water feed on the back of the turbo was such a PITA to get to, but at least i wont have this problem ever again.

[Vatche]

well i finished doing this also the other day on friday.....and on friday night after work i had an exhaust leak again....how i have no fucking idea....but im getting sick of this stupid bullshit. WHAT A PEICE OF SHIT

[kandyflip445]

Maybe you need to get your stuff machined to make sure its flat.
.

[blu808]

Just tack weld the bolts on, Barely weld it, so when you put a wrench on it, it will break the weld and come loose. Thats what i do. Or else my turbos fall off.

[Vatche]

all 4 nuts on my turbo came loose in 12 hours......i have the worst luck in the world just to let you all know if you have this problem not to complain, because my problem is worse then yours

[mjjstang]

i must be an idiot, took me like 8 hours to take off my turbo, replace the nuts with the stage 8, and bolt everything back up. The water feed on the back of the turbo was such a PITA to get to, but at least i wont have this problem ever again.

yes it was a bitch for me too, didnt take quite as long though, id imagine though that when I get ss lines for the new turbo im going to get in the near future, that should cut some of the PITA work down.

[TNathe]

I have the same problem and this is the way I am going to fix it. I'm afraid to weld it on there for fear of grinding the weld of and disforming the head of the bold.

You make a plate that goes between two of the bolts and the plate has tabs on it. Put it between the bolts and turbo mounting flange, whens its all tightened down bend the tabs up to stop the bolts from turning.

[statik]

I have the same problem and this is the way I am going to fix it. I'm afraid to weld it on there for fear of grinding the weld of and disforming the head of the bold.

You make a plate that goes between two of the bolts and the plate has tabs on it. Put it between the bolts and turbo mounting flange, whens its all tightened down bend the tabs up to stop the bolts from turning.

thats similar to the way stage 8 nuts work. it has a tab that fits around the nut, it acts like a wrench, u position against something so it CANT spin loose, they work awesome so far.

[89s132b]

The stage8 stuff has been great for me too. robably my favorite upgrade on my car!! LOL
I tell people about this over and over but it never really seems to catch on.

[TNathe]

kinda expensive though. Just suggesting my way for those DIY's.

[Touring240]

Shortly after installing my red top I had the same problem and so did my buddies.

The turbo to manifold nuts came loose and blew the gasket. Make sure you have coolant because you will lose a lot when removing the lines.
I installed a new gasket and just bent those clips over the nuts REALLY good. spent 15-20 mins just hammering the clips of the nuts to make sure they would never come loose. Took more like 4hrs from start to finish to remove the turbo assembly and reinstall everything. PITA!

[kazuo]

Hey guys, guess what?

MY shit came loose today! Hardy har har!

Time to buy those super lock nuts....

...and a TRUST turbo outlet...

...and metal gaskets...

fun fun fun

UGH

:/

89s13 & statik, How well are those nuts working out? I'm probably gonna pick some up. :)