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JUST ORDERED THE EC “Stuffed Turbo “ !!!!

4K views 24 replies 9 participants last post by  csierra09 
#1 ·
Hello my fellow 124’ers

After lots of research and countless hours of figuring If my previous turbo was salvageable
I have decided to make the leap to the 1446+

( A little back story, I have 37k miles on the car it’s a 2017 )

About 2 weeks ago I started hearing a blow dryer sound upon acceleration along with a small loss in power. Me thinking it’s just a hotter day in Florida shook it off and kept driving, and the next day decided to check all the hoses to make sure everything was tight as I just had an oil change a few days before.

I personally asked Milo (Spoolin32) what he thought and told me to check the impeller for “play”.

I took off the intake tube and do a visual inspection, hmm no damage to the impeller now I go to see if there is any movement to the impeller wheel and what do we have, some SERIOUS impeller play. Side to side up and down all over.

Seems as though there are a few turbos that are experiencing this premature turbo failure. I’m just happy I caught it before it got worse.


Seeing as though I don’t see an exact diy step by step install for this turbo I would like to know if there are any tips and tricks for the installation thank you guys
 
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#2 ·
Now I know where that video Milo sent me came from!

Best advice I can give you is use safety wire and the associated bolts on the turbo to manifold connection. The studs/nuts can fall out and replacing with harder bolts that don't deform/stretch at lower torque can fall out over time with vibration also. I plan on doing it this time around since I am taking everything off the top end again.

Will look something like this when done:
Hood Motor vehicle Bumper Automotive exterior Bicycle part


The wire is strung and twisted to always pull clockwise on the bolts so they cannot unscrew. I used this on a Vulcan 20mm 6-Barreled A-A cannon to hold the receiver housing together, it will work just fine on our turbo manifolds.

Use 0.025-0.032" stainless or inconel wire and Pliers that twist look like this:

Tire Bicycle tire Wheel Automotive tire Helmet
 
#3 ·
Well in that case thanks for your help as well !

I wanted to know why does the factory one stay put but when we change them they start to walk themselves out ? Are we using the wrong bolts ?

Should we use locktite or is that not proper installation?
 
#9 ·
Damn it! Y'all made me go check. Driver's side rear appears to be gone....where's that link to the bolts?
 
#6 ·
So you're the one that sent me that video about the blow dryer sounds lol @Calehedron & @Spoolin32 have much more experience in that department than myself so i'm glad they helped you out! I'll be putting the 1446+ on mine very soon and @Spoolin32 recommended a set of locking bolts/nuts which I picked up and also referenced the wire so might do that too.

Sucks the turbo went that quick, but made the perfect excuse to upgrade 🐌💪
 
#13 ·
Look what just arrived !



On quick glance I noticed that the bolts are actually welded on now !
The Studs are not welded.

We would do that, but then changing studs if one got stripped or damaged would be dang near impossible.
 
#8 ·
Is that the case going forward with the EC turbo?
 
#16 ·
Assume this question is for gpop and EC. I got replacement bolt and stud from gpop directly for the first repair. It lasted less than 6 months and 2k miles, so I'm taking a different route now
 

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#17 ·
Whew [emoji28] that was a fun first day.

Today was removal of the previous turbo.

A lot of those nuts, bolts & screws don’t like to come off lol

Only 1 casualty and that was the stud on the downpipe that connects to the mid pipe. I am going to drill out and figure out a replacement. Other than that not a bad job just very tedious.



Stay tuned will be doing turbo install tomorrow!


 
#18 ·
Congrats on the removal. It is tedious but not that bad when you get right down to it. If you are good with the studs, there are also nuts with holes drilled for safety wire to keep them tight.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Day 2 !

Ok so today was definitely a tougher day as I changed the oil return lines and fitted the new turbo.

The oil return lines weren’t bad to change just the tight spaces are difficult to get to. I had to order those through NGEN.

Next up I fitted the turbo to the exhaust manifold.

Now here is the part that I got stuck on for almost 2 hours.

The return oil line at the bottom of the turbo would not match up with the screws for nothing, I even removed it and adjusted it and nothing to no avail. I ended up calling GPOP ( the company that EC had make the turbo) and spoke to one of the mechanics there. He informed me that I was shipped a turbo fitted FOR A FIAT 500. I stayed calm and he asked me how mechanically sound I was, I told him very fluent, he proceeded to tell me that there was a small pin I needed to take off the compressor housing and also on the actual cover.
He continued to tell me how incredibly sorry he was that this had happened and I assured him that it is totally ok and I was just glad that I was able to get it working properly.

So then I continued with the install and it got late, and now tomorrow I will be finishing up by reinstalling the downpipe and the exhaust side of things !

Very excited!

Here is the photo of the small pin can be pulled with needle nose pliers
 
#22 ·
Ok so today was definitely a tougher day as I changed the oil return lines and fitted the new turbo.

The oil return lines weren’t bad to change just the tight spaces are difficult to get to. I had to order those through NGEN.

Next up I fitted the turbo to the exhaust manifold.

Now here is the part that I got stuck on for almost 2 hours.

The return oil line at the bottom of the turbo would not match up with the screws for nothing, I even removed it and adjusted it and nothing to no avail. I ended up calling GPOP ( the company that EC had make the turbo) and spoke to one of the mechanics there. He informed me that I was shipped a turbo fitted FOR A FIAT 500. I stayed calm and he asked me how mechanically sound I was, I told him very fluent, he proceeded to tell me that there was a small pin I needed to take off the compressor housing and also on the actual cover.
He continued to tell me how incredibly sorry he was that this had happened and I assured him that it is totally ok and I was just glad that I was able to get it working properly.

So then I continued with the install and it got late, and now tomorrow I will be finishing up by reinstalling the downpipe and the exhaust side of things !

Very excited!

Here is the photo of the small pin can be pulled with needle nose pliers
That is what is called "clocking" the Turbo to get the oil path to 90* if you have seen that reference before. The pin will hold it for a specific application as you found out but it doesn't have to be there at all. Then all you have to do is loosen the band on the housing and compressor cover to rotate it however you need it. Pay close attention to the compressor housing rotation because it affects the angle of the wastegate actuator to the flapper arm and someone in the past had some binding until they rotated more.

Great job so far and congratulations!
 
#21 · (Edited)
Day 3
All done !

Today was the final install day, placement of downpipe and final check through of all parts to make sure of leaks and other fittings.

Everything went well except aligning the downpipe with the turbo.
( thank you Spoolin32) he advised me what to leave loose towards the mid pipe and voila !

Now something that isn’t said since I changed some coolant lines as well is sometimes the car will take some more coolant

So after the first couple drives make sure the care is staying at the right operating temperature as the car is warming up and throughout your drive

Guys I’m so glad I’m done [emoji736].
This accomplished feeling is what it’s all about.

 
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