They have been developed for offshore oil rigs that are in North sea, with heavy vibration and very bed environment..
No suprise they are keeping the turbo, since they rely on shape to lock, not springiness which reduces as the metal heats up.

 

Ordered some off ebay 👍🏻

 

I modified a set of vice grips like the DIY option years and years ago and they were...fine. My hand would hurt after crimping and opening and crimping and opening and crimping over and over again for each bead. I got one of the cheap (~$50) rollers for Christmas this year and it does the same job except cleaner and it only takes a few seconds. I'll never go back to those pliers (unless the cheap tool breaks, which it might because it's cheap).

 

Good to know because I did end up buying one 👍🏻

 

I use one of the rollers on my ic pipework and it does an excellent job.

 

Fitted some rubber lining and connected a 150mm section of 3.5" pipe for a perfect snug fit

 

There’s one thing to remember, for Nordlock washers to work as designed, you need to torque high enough to get some stretching of bolt. It relies on bolt always keep decent tension (acting as a spring). Then the corrugated outside of washer penetrate surface of mating material slightly and thereby stay in the same position and never go loose due to higher incline between washers vs. incline of bolt threads.

So you might consider using a torque wrench to be sure you get in the right tension for material of bolts.

 

Any torque creates tension in the bolt. most overtighten the bolt anyway

 

I was hoping to finish off the manifold install this weekend, but the studs I ordered are too short. I've ordered some longer studs online, which should hopefully be delivered before next weekend.

While waiting for the studs, I thought it would be a good idea to tackle some of the pipe work. I made up a vacuum hose with some "leakproof" plugs and cut and beaded my first pipe. The beader worked a treat 👌🏻

Struggling a bit with the piping in the passenger wheel well, but I think I know how to solve it after discussing the issue with Brett and looking at the Greddy install instructions.





I also put some heatshield on the LIM and the area around the turbo

 

Sorted out my piping issue and moved the MAF sensor wire to its new location. I also trimmed the undertray on both sides in preparation for the turbo install. Thank goodness I bought Brett's pipe kit. I highly recommend all self-installers to do the same as there are loads of small bends from the turbo outlet to the front of the car and Brett's pipe fits perfectly.


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Just thought id mention the oem manifold studs are iconel, using cheap aftermarket studs may cause nuts to gall up later on or just break

 

I did make sure they were high temp studs, and I've also contacted a breaker who says he has some spare, just waiting for him to confirm the price for all 6. Thanks 👍🏻

 

I received my genuine studs yesterday and have an issue with the bottom left one going in too deep. I suspect the garage damaged the hole when they installed bolts in place of studs. I think it's about 6mm too deep, so I've ordered a few longer ones.

As luck would have it, my performance aluminium radiator arrived today, so the weekend wasn't completely wasted. I also realized that my pipes were cut too close to the bend, so I chopped up a few more and improved the wheel well 90 degree tube. I also changed to a 3" 90 degree silicone hose at the throttle body reducing down to 2.5"

 

Manifold back on. I really struggled this time because of the new studs, and I also forgot to remove the jet air hose that plugs into the LIM. Removing it isn't a big job, but the turbo was in the cavity which made things difficult.

Something else I struggled with was lifting and lowering the engine by myself, but eventually found the perfect height and bolted the turbo on.

So glad it's finally on 😁

 

it must be a great feeling !

 

It really is. Massive respect to @Brettus for all his hard work and determination.

 

I believe the jet air nipple was the reason for all my install issues last night. It's very easy to remove with some vice grips, and the hole can be plugged using an 8mm bolt. **Make sure to remove it before attempting the install. I also remembered this morning that I put a jack stand under the gearbox which might have prevented my engine from dropping down low enough.

 

Final preparations before installing everything. Turned the brake line bracket around 180 degrees and trimmed a bit off the exposed side - excuse the rust, that's next year's restoration project. I also sprayed the fuse box tray black, moved the omp plug out the way of the turbo intake pipe, and trimmed the area near the wastgate. I went a bit too deep and took off more than I should have. Hopefully it won't cause any issues

 

Quick test fit to make sure the battery doesn't get in the way of the turbo inlet pipe. The recirculation pipe is underneath. The final plan is to hide the MAF sensor wire and one of the battery leads. I also want to remove the splitter from the recirculation valve and route two silicone hoses under the fusebox to the UIM. I know the decals aren't for everyone, but they help break up the blue. They also look a lot better in person

 

Removed the upper intake manifold and replaced the front and rear intake coolant pipes with the connectors from Brett's pipe kit, then connected both to the turbo water feeds. Tomorrow I'm going to connect the oil feed and pipe to my sandwich plate and replace the injectors with the recently serviced set.

 

Had a fairly busy day today and managed to swap out the injectors and install the turbo oil feed. I noticed that the red injectors have a different size grommet so I used them on the two yellows.

With the UIM off I thought it would be a good idea to swap the last remaining vacuum hose with a silicone one and clamp it down. I also wired the VDI shut and the SSV open.

Still left to do

- Install the UIM and connect the intake pipe, vacuum hose, and the hoses for the boost controller and boost guage.
- Install sump and connect oil drain pipe to plug.
- Connect vacuum hoses from the turbo and wastgate to the MAC solenoid.
- Connect turbo inlet and outlet pipe.
- Pressure test the system.
- Transport car to the fabricator.

Almost done 😎

 

Had a very busy day today and managed to install the wastgate, 4 port solenoid, UIM, new catch can, and all the pipes and vacuum hoses. The intercooler pipe still needs to be connected, but I'll only do that after the pressure test. Didn't manage to install the sump, so that will be next weekends project.









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Took the oil sump off. The used one I bought with welded drain plug will be installed this weekend. I also purchased MazdaEdit personal in preparation for Brett's tune.

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Collected the sump from the welder. Can't believe how close I am to finishing this cool project. The fabricator is away at the moment, so I'll have to wait a couple more weeks for the downpipe.

 

Sump on and connected to turbo drain pipe. Hopefully this is the last time I have to work under the car for a while 😀