Back in '09 I installed a vf34 on my car. When I was 99.9% done with the install thats when some bs happened. The oem 14mm stud got stripped when tightening it down. Tried swapping it out with a 14mm bolt with no luck, the actual hole on the hotside got stripped as well. Got fed up and cranked in another 14mm bolt (coarser threads) with a spacer. Its still holding as of now.

I passed emissions the last 2 times with my hi-flow dp but the 2nd time I came close to failing. Don't wanna chance it this time so I'm gonna throw on a stock dp.

I'll need to get that bolt hole re-threaded before installing the stock dp. Is this something a shop can do without having to pull the turbo off? Or am I going to have to remove it and take it to a machine shop?

 

Looks like you could do that one without removing the turbo. Remove the DP and you should have plenty of room to fit a tap in there. Just go buy the correct tap for the bolt that you intend to use.

I would pick up a whole new set of bolts from the dealership and then use those to mount up the stock DP for the smog.

Just make sure before you use the tap, cover up the turbo with some rags or something so you don't get any metal shavings in there. And make sure to clean up all that stuff after you tap out the threads.

 

^^^^^ +1 . Put the car on ramps and you should be good.

 

Also if you have a shop vac/ garage vac (or any vac for that matter) use it to suck up any pieces of metal shavings that come off while tapping the hole.

 

Nitril gloves work well for stretching over things to keep out detritus.

 

I'd remove the turbo but that's just me!

 

Ok well thats good to hear. Anyone good with tapping want to help me with this? I'll gladly pay for you time. If not I'll probably take it to a shop since I don't have much experience with tapping and don't want to fubar this up any further.

edit: ^Yea Mike I'll probably pull it off if theres no way to get a tapping tool in there while the dp is off.

 

Yup why I found it a little odd people advising leaving it on the car, I can think of a couple of other reasons to remove it as well but even with some of the badass taps we have or the machinist next door I doubt we'd attempt that on the car given it would be faster, safer and easier to do with the turbo locked in a vise. Like I said that's just my opinion.

 

Very true. I may even go ahead and smog the car but leave that 1 bolt off, then afterwards remove the turbo and get it repaired properly since there won't be time constraints.

 

So I managed to install the stock dp on the car while being able to re-install the bolt with the spacer on the bottom... surprised that even worked. Probably will go smog this weekend or early next week.

After that's done I plan on pulling the turbo off to get the hole re-threaded. Mike, do you think you guys could take care of that for me as well as installing new studs/hardware for the hotside? I'll also need a new set of uppipe studs/hardware too (just for the upper flange), might as well have all new stuff if the turbo is coming off then back on.

Lastly can anyone here get me access to a decent sized sand blaster? I wanna clean up my Perrin dp and paint it with black high temp paint while its off.