Broken turbo stud

Last January I had to replace my turbo because of the common smoking issue. All was fine until I discovered an exhaust leak between the exhaust manifold and turbo, and re-tightening the nuts fixed it. But it kept coming back, so I ordered OEM locking nuts to replace the generic exhaust nuts I had used. First one I begin to tighten completely breaks the stud in half (picture). The other 3 are not tightened. It did not reach the torque spec of 40 ft-lb I was using, and Corksport recommends 45-50 anyway (link).

The only way I see to fix this is to take the turbo completely out... again... just for a fucking stud. Am I correct or is there some magical fix I am not seeing?

 

Turbos coming out you're not wrong

 

Coming out. 4 new studs and nuts. OK. 9 with downpipe.

 

I had this exact thing happen to me 12 hours before race day. Didn’t have to fully pull the turbo. Remove the nuts, unbolt your Downpipe from the turbo pull off the turbo inlet, and you will be able to lower the turbo enough to sneak in there with Vice grips or a stud extractor tool(what I used) and you should be able to pull the stud out EASY. after that, bolt the other 3 back up, install a new stud in the 4th spot and good to go. Took me like 5 hours to complete this? And at one point I wasted about 30 minutes thinking “this is impossible”. Keep in mind I’m big turbo, gt3071r with Ewg hot side. If you’re stock ko4 this should be a piece of cake. I did not have to pull off any lines at all.

 

How did you manage the oil return line? I have a BNR S1 so it is essentially identical to the stock one, it uses the metal return line. I assume I'll have to at least take that off.

 

Ah. So I’m using a custom made drain line, AN hose so it has some good flex. The oem line also has a flex section to it but I’d suggest unbolting it from the block(simple enough to reach) then drop the turbo.

 

So I got the turbo off and new studs in, all the way attached, before running into a major roadblock.

The oil return line uses 2 8mm bolts, the one closer to the oil pan will not thread in correctly at all. I would have had the car done today but instead wasted nearly 5 hours trying to thread this fucking bolt in with no success. Can I just lose the metal gasket, liquid RTV it, and use 1 bolt on this? Or will I be leaking oil all over the place if I try this.

The 8mm will thread in and go fine-ish until halfway down and then it gets extremely difficult to turn. Could I get a similar bolt from Home Depot or something and cut the threaded part in half?

I'm at a loss, this bolt is in the most awkward place on the car to work on, and it's really frustrating being held up by something so minor when I'm *that close* to having the car running again.

 

Did you remove all 4 bolts on the drain line (2 on turbo, 2 on pan) or just the ones from the pan?

 

Put in studs. Its much easier that way.

 

I removed 2 from the pan, not the ones from the turbo. It was in fine when I took it out. So I have no idea why it is being so difficult going back in.

I think I may just use liquid gasket stuff and leave the 2nd bolt out.

 

It will leak with liquid gasket. Get studs

 

I think the same problem I'm having now would happen with studs. It won't go straight in, it wants to be angled. I suppose it would be easier with the line out of the way.

Do you happen to have the specs for the stud I would need?

 

If you still have the bracket holding the turbo to the block, take that off to give yourself more room to move the drain line. Idk if that your problem or if it’s the actual studs that are fucked but it’s easy enough and worth a shot

 

The bolts threads are fine. One goes in clean, the other can get barely halfway. So I bought another bolt from Home Depot that was like 12mm long (stock is 20) and that got all the way down tight. I'll just keep an eye out for leaks.

I would like studs but there doesn't seem to be a store near me that has them in stock... so this is the best I can do.

 

It's marred. I split the head off a bolt that way. Had to tow it to a shop. They drilled and tapped it. 2 bolts or you're gonna have a bad time.

 

Yes I have 2 bolts in. One is just not the stock bolt, it's shorter. It's still down tight though. If I have a leak I may have to have a shop work on it... but that is my last resort. Otherwise, if this bolt works, then it works, I guess.

 

About how much of the shorter bolt is threaded I to the block? General rule is you want to be more than the diameter of the bolt in this case longer is better since it's aluminum

 

Stock is 20 mm. I threaded in 12mm (it is M6-1.0), so that fits the general rule. If it doesn't work (ie leaks) I will have a shop re-do it.

 

I'd definitely go deeper where you can on small diameter bolts.

Looks like under $15 bucks for whatever length you think you'll be able to use. Longer is better if you have a dremel to cut them short.

https://www.mcmaster.com/threaded-r...el/metric-18-8-stainless-steel-threaded-rods/

 

I got the car finished today. The shorter bolt on the return line seems to be working but I'll keep an eye on it. Everything else went back on fine.



I replaced all 4 studs on the top of the turbo and the gasket which was damaged due to the exhaust leak.