1JZ Stock Twin Removal

[Kosh]

Hey all,
I know this is a crappy topic and everyone hates it. I do realize that this has been kinda covered in a few other threads but what i'm looking for is more specific answers to more specific questions. One thing i really wish this site had is a Sticky for a guide to stock twin removal. Here's the scoop, I recently bought a a new supra. Its a 1987 shell with a 1jz swap already done. The guy sold it cause the turbo's were done and i figured "what the hell, how hard can it be to put new turbos on"......Anyways you know how that goes.

So last night i started the whole thing. I got all the intake pipes off (except for that rear one), drain my rad fluid, disconnected all vacuum hoses and coolant lines, and then proceeded to undo all the manifold and y pipe bolts. I got the 3 manifold bolts off the forward turbo and the top one off the rear. I also got the 4 y-pipe bolts off the front turbo and then 3 off the rear. I can't get the one that hidden near the underside and closest to the block. I got it cracked but can't turn anymore then that due to lack of space between the bolt and the block.

Now i have not gotten the last 2 bolts off the rear turbo/manifold yet(the ones on the underside) because i figured that once i get the front turbo and y-pipe off those 2 will be easy, but now its looking like i'll have to get those 2 off to get the front turbo off. Also as a side note, i unbolted the front turbo from its mount but the left the mount connected to the block. I haven't touched the rear turbo's mount yet. I will take these off first when i get home tonight.

So where i'm at now is the front turbo is completely free of bolts except for the oil tube underneath. The y-pipe is loose except for that 1 PITA nut. And the rear is just free of tubbing and whatnot.

Where do i go from here, how do i get the first turbo off and then the second. Basically what i'm trying to start here is a step by step guide to the quickest and easiest route to gettin these puppies off. Everyone's input is much appreciated. Thanks.

BTW if anything i've said here doesn't make sense, please let me know and i'll correct it.

 

[tissimo]

pull both turbos off at once..

I unbolted the turbos from the manifolds (6 botls) along with the oil lines and drains and pulled them out.. then removed the manifolds..

I left the 2 turbos and y pipe together

 

[Kosh]

pull both turbos off at once..

I unbolted the turbos from the manifolds (6 botls) along with the oil lines and drains and pulled them out.. then removed the manifolds..

I left the 2 turbos and y pipe together

How did u get the 2 underside nuts on the rear turbo though with the y-pipe and front turbo still connected? Is it easier than i think or what? I've also seen it suggested to remove the rear manifold from the block rather than the turbo from the mani because the bolts are easier to get to. Suggestions?

 

[tissimo]

I was on a lift so much easier, but a long 14" wrench worked.. no issues.. was fairly easy to get to the nuts on both turbos

 

[OneJoeZee]

Ratcheting wrenches make things alot easier. Sometimes the long ones are necessary. Sometimes a shorty ratcheting makes things easier.

I don't know anything about taking the turbos off with the manifolds attached still btw. That method does not seem to make sense to me when I do it. Take them off from the manifold, leave the manifolds on the head.

You can pull them together or pull them one at a time. I did mine one at a time because supporting both turbos plus the ypipe by myself wasn't easy. I'm not buff like some of you guys and I was doing it by myself. If I had another set of hands, I probably would have done it with both turbos still connected. Keep that in mind. 1 turbo, not so bad. 2 turbos + ypipe, a little heavy...

Undoing the oil lines might help you, although isn't necessary.

 

[Kosh]

Well i should also mention that i am doing this in the parking lot of my apartment building and its dark by the time i get home from work already too. So getting under the car is possible but not fun. i'll try to get a wrench under the bolts from above like i did with the lower front manifold bolt. One thing that i am extremely thankful i picked up is the PB Nut buster. That shit rules!! The other thing is i have ratchet wrenches but they are to big to fit around the bolts that are in the tight crevices....Whats the best brand of ratchet wrenches u guys can think of? i need to get some.

On another note, i'm just curious, once i get them off what is easier judging from your experiences, pulling em off or putting them back on? And how long does it take to put them back on compared to pulling em off.

Another thing is torque. How much should i torque all my bolts when i put them back on? And how should i judge it?

 

[OneJoeZee]

You're gonna need to get under the car, man.

Ratcheting wrenches will be too big for some of the nuts and bolts but use them where you can and you will be glad you did. If you can't fit them, just use the open end.


Which is easier, off or on, depends on how hard it was to take off. lol. What I mean is, if the turbos have NEVER come off the engine before, they're gonna give you hell when you try to crack them free. Or if someone did it before and put thread lock or some He-man torque on nuts when it wasn't needed... Know what I mean?

It was easier for me to take them off because I was doing it by myself. I had to do one turbo at a time like I mentioned because I'm not strong enough to support the whole assembly to mount them while trying to thread a nut or stud with the other hand. Even holding up the rear turbo by itself got hard pretty quick. On that note, when putting them back on, it will help you to take the studs out of the rear turbo flange. With the studs in, getting the assembly mounted on the manifold flange can be a real bitch. The rear intake pipe will hit the firewall or whatever else is behind it before you can line up the holes. But with the studs out, you can get the holes lined up pretty easy. Then you have to be able to hold it there and thread 1 or 2 studs back in. This is where a friend really comes in handy. Doing it by yourself will make your arms tired real fast.

Also, thread the oil feel banjo bolts before you tighten up all the turbo and manifold nuts. It can be a bitch to get the oil feed line to sit flush with the block thread and banjo bolt with everything all tightened up. Not to mention, there's a good chance the line itself is a little tweaked if the turbos have come off before which would make lining up the oil line with the block even harder. Get a few threads going, then move on to tightening other things.

Just like math, order of operations is really important.

You may also want to move your lowest brakeline down off the bracket if you have ABS. The rear turbo intake pipe nut sits very close to the brake lines. If you don't move them, that nut can rub against the brake line and puncture it. That's like... bad and stuff? :biglaugh:

HTH

 

[Kosh]

Thanks for the info ^^^ How about tightening when going back on? How tight? Also another thing, wut is ur guy's method for oiling the system. Do you change out the oil before you put the new turbos on? etc...

 

[annoyingrob]

I never change the oil when I swap turbos, I don't see the need for it. Of course, I change the oil a lot for other reasons.

Getting those oil drains off is kind of a bitch. For the back bolts on the y-pipe that you can't get off, what I did was take a tiny 12mm wrench, and bent the box-end at an angle giving me just enough clearance to undo the bolts.

 

[viperkillertt]

Good luck dude!

 

[Kosh]

Success!!!! Oh sweet and yet a lil bitter success!!! I hate that shit, i can't believe the stupid problems i ran into! Tomorrow i'll try and get some pics up. I honestly don't know how i'm going to get it back together now though....my biggest problem is the tubing. its everywhere and near impossible to get to around the turbos.


Anyway's a lil about my night. Started at around 6 and finished at 10:30 with an hour supper in between. I also worked for a good 4 hours last night as well. So my biggest problem was once i got the mounts and all the bolts off, i went to just pull both turbos off. You think they just came off??? NOOOOOOOOOOO!! Of course not, the rear intake bolt on the rear turbo hit a lil ridge on the sidewall and wouldn't come out at all. because of this i couldn't get either of the turbos off. My solution? I reefed on the front turbo so hard i almost pulled the car off the jack stands. in doing so i finally got the bolts out of the holes, but it still wouldn't come out because it was wedged in the y-pipe. However that allowed me to get a wrench in the gap and release the one last bolt on the y-pipe. Once i got that off the pipe just popped out. Once the front turbo and the y-piope were out, the rear turbo came out with ease.....yeah right!! I just pulled on it till it came out....it was a long day and i was tired of fighting.

lol so anyway that was my night, did i mention that before i tried reefing on it i tried to release it by loosening the manifolds from the block, and when i got to loosening the last of the 6 bolts on each mani, the 6th one stripped on both of them!!!!!

I hope to god i have better luck putting my new ones on. Any tips as to the order of reconnecting the tubing is much appreciated and welcome.

thanks everyone...

 

[OneJoeZee]

I hope to god i have better luck putting my new ones on. Any tips as to the order of reconnecting the tubing is much appreciated and welcome.

thanks everyone...

I'll write more tomorrow. I'm too lazy to do it right now and I'm tired.


Welcome to the "CT12s ftl" club.

 

[Bigzavs]

Joe, you are the founder and president of that club

congrats on gettin those lil SOBs off there

 

[935motorsports]

12mm ratcheting flexible head wrench

This will allow you to remove the rear intake pipe easily. Once this is done, and the oil lines are unbolted, you can slide both turbos towards you easily. Removing the motor mount allows you to keep all the oil lines assembled and it all comes off together.

 

[Kosh]

12mm ratcheting flexible head wrench

This will allow you to remove the rear intake pipe easily. Once this is done, and the oil lines are unbolted, you can slide both turbos towards you easily. Removing the motor mount allows you to keep all the oil lines assembled and it all comes off together.

I can't remove the rear intake pipe though because the bolt hits the firewall. That is going to be my biggest challenge when putting everything back together. Making sutre the oil lines get connected properly.

 

[Kosh]

Welcome to the "CT12s ftl" club.

LOL thanks, i kinda feel accomplished now. Like I've done something that not many can do. lol and now I'm going to make the horrible mistake of putting them right back on!! oh i hate myself...lol, the worst thing is i still have not gotten to drive the car. I haven't even felt the true power of the 1jz at its finest. I hope its worth it...

 

[fstlane88]

LOL thanks, i kinda feel accomplished now. Like I've done something that not many can do. lol and now I'm going to make the horrible mistake of putting them right back on!! oh i hate myself...lol, the worst thing is i still have not gotten to drive the car. I haven't even felt the true power of the 1jz at its finest. I hope its worth it...

Been almost 3 years and I still haven't, if I didn't know how to work on these motors so well, and for some odd reason enjoy working on them, it would have been sold a loooonnnggg time ago.

 

[annoyingrob]

LOL thanks, i kinda feel accomplished now. Like I've done something that not many can do. lol and now I'm going to make the horrible mistake of putting them right back on!! oh i hate myself...lol, the worst thing is i still have not gotten to drive the car. I haven't even felt the true power of the 1jz at its finest. I hope its worth it...

That's the realization everyone makes the first time they swap twins. "Wow, that was NOT worth it. I should have gone single".

 

[viperkillertt]

That's the realization everyone makes the first time they swap twins. "Wow, that was NOT worth it. I should have gone single".

TOTALLY AGREE!! :word8kn:

 

[Kosh]

Good news!!! THEY"RE BACK ON!!!! lmao, i don't really know if thats a good thing or not but we'll see i guess...haha anyways once i get her back running i'm going to start a build thread with pictures and everything i've done so far!

BTW I wish someone would have told me that if you remove the pins from the turbos then life becomes way easier to mount em back on the manifolds, and vice versa!!