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Had to relay my weekend fun!
I purchased a new 3" downtube for my 1996 900 SE Turbo. I've got most of the goodies to make the easier breathing worthwhile, but that's not the hitch in the story.
Installed the new downtube as it's quite easy to fit. I found I had a small exaust leak right at the flange from the turbo. Tightened up the nuts to try to eliminate the leak, but the top two (of the three) nuts just didn't feel right, like the studs had softened and the nuts started to cross-thread.
OK, decided to stop and get two new studs before I went any further. Hey, I'm thinking ahead! Picked up some stainless steel nuts and washers too.
Try to take the nut off the closer of the two top studs and the stud breaks off. Crap! I've got easy-outs, so I drill the stud and put an easy-out in, try turning it and break the easy-out right at the face of the proken stud! Crap, crap...
I go work the other stud (lock two nuts on the end) and it seems to be coming out, but I soon notice that the stud is spinning and not moving any farther... so I manage to get some leverage behind the nut face and turn the stud out, knowing the threads in the turbo housing are all messed up.
So I work a tap into the hole to clean the threads. Don't get 1/2 turn and the tap breaks off in the hole.
OK, so I call it a night, knowing I get to drill for a few hours the next morning...
To make a long story short, well, shorter than it coulda' been...
I manage to drill the stuff out, knowing I will be drilling the holes larger and fitting thread-coils due to all the previously mentioned drilling.
This is where I find out WHY I was having so much trouble...
My turbo was replaced (under an extended warranty) for the seals leaking oil many moons ago. They must have used a rebuilt turbo because...
The holes I was working on ALREADY HAD coil thread replacements in them. These little buggers we causing most of the problem (once the studs started giving way).
Hints: (lessons learned)
1. Do not try to run a tap through coil-thread replacements.
2. do not try to use easy-outs with studs broken off when in coil-thread replacements.
Yikes!
Once I drilled all the crap out of the holes, the tap used for the thread-coils was a snap to use! (Well, it had apparently already been thru the holes once!)
The coils went in real easy and the new studs installed "like buttuh".
If it wasn't for the 6-7 hours of drilling hardened steel bent over the front of the car, this would have been a cakewalk!
Oh, and the downpipe is totally cool! And no more leaks!
On the other hand, this was almost enough of an excuse to get a bigger turbo!
If you made it this far, hope you enjoyed my little disertation! It was very therapeutic...
posted by 146.174....
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