simon's learning what to do with the polo thread

[simon k]

so I have a bit of a problem...

I found a few pieces of nice 3" stainless tube in the scrap bin at work, did some practice welds on them which turned out nice, so decided to bite the bullet and take the exhaust off

First turbo nut (one of the two at the bottom) was a bit tight, it undid half way and then stopped, so I left it and moved on to another one, that came off OK so I went back to the first and tried a bit harder, then it came off OK. Then I tried the top two, and both nuts seized when they were half way off. I could do a turn in either direction and that was it, couldn't take them off, couldn't do them up again.

I sprayed them with freeze and release, no different, WD40 and left them for a bit, no different. I decided a bit more muscle might help so got my breaker bar onto one of them, felt OK, undoing maybe? nope, bent the stud

So now I'm stuck with two turbo nuts that won't come undone and I've gotta take the turbo out to replace the bent stud, if I can get the f*cker out

Any advice?

[sambb]

try and get some heat just onto the nut? keep hitting it with release. You may have to hit the studs with release from behind too and hope that the stud itself comes out If the nut wont.

[Sydneykid]

Same as Sam's suggestions, try some heat, keep up the lube and if all else fails cut a slot in the nut with an angle grinder and then hit it with a cold chisel. Access is always the problem.

Cheers
Gary

[simon k]

Well the studs snapped off cleanly with a decent amount of thread poking out which is a bonus, but my stud remover won't budge them - heat or otherwise. Exhaust is off...

I'll take the turbo off, cut the studs square and drill them. I test drilled one of the broken pieces and it drilled easily so it should be OK. I could try welding a nut to the studs, but I doubt I'll get anywhere with it, they are seriously tight. The heat from welding might get them loose, but I'm not confident

I'll try my local nut and bolt shop (they have nordlocks too), or is the VW dealer is the smartest place to go for a set of studs and nuts?

maybe I'll do that port job on the manifold sooner rather than later, hey Sam....

[sambb]

I removed twisted off studs from a turbo for a guy on here by welding nuts onto the studs. Before going to undo them, we hit their seats with the heat gun and they came straight out. Yep with the turbo coming out, now would be a great time to do the mani as it must be out to get at the oil/water inlets to the turbo that have to be undone for the thing to be extracted. You may as well get a nut/washer set for the mani, gasket, the studs you need for the turbo, bot turbo gaskets etc from VW. I'd remove the turbo with water/oil outlet pipes attached but you'll need the inlet fittings' copper crush washers too.
I think I remember you getting the workshop manual that Gav linked once yeah?

[simon k]

yep, I have the manual - about the only thing it doesn't say to replace are the copper washers on the banjo bolts! I'll replace them anyway

Have you replaced the manifold-turbo bolts with high tensile cap screws or have you kept the originals?

I keep finding references to those bolts coming loose once they've been disturbed, and Eddy talking about welding them on, but can't find any pictures.

Do you have nordlocks on the turbo inlet AND outlet? (7 in total)

Is the 'high temperature paste' they talk about *just* copper anti-seize, or is it something special?

[sambb]

On exhaust mani to turbo I used 12.9 tensile cap heads. I chased the threads inside the turbo right through and ran much longer bolts. The VW ones go in only 1/3rd of the way possible. The bigger O.D nordlocks that are available (standard ones are too small) need to be used and I torqued mine up to 60Nm. I cut off a ball head allen key to make a bit to access those cap heads with a torque wrench and left the heat shield off so that I can check them easily at the track if the dreaded whistle sound starts. Its taken a hiding and has stayed firm. Just normal washers on the turbo exit. Yeah I used silver grade anti seize. Not sure if its the same thing.
Was it you that I sent the nordlocks to?

[simon k]

On exhaust mani to turbo I used 12.9 tensile cap heads. I chased the threads inside the turbo right through and ran much longer bolts. The VW ones go in only 1/3rd of the way possible. The bigger O.D nordlocks that are available (standard ones are too small) need to be used and I torqued mine up to 60Nm. I cut off a ball head allen key to make a bit to access those cap heads with a torque wrench and left the heat shield off so that I can check them easily at the track if the dreaded whistle sound starts. Its taken a hiding and has stayed firm. Just normal washers on the turbo exit. Yeah I used silver grade anti seize. Not sure if its the same thing.

gotcha... it's all apart now, the turbo is sitting on the driveshaft ready to drop down after I undo it tomorrow night. Does the driveshaft need to come all the way out?

I've left the water and oil inlet hoses attached like you said, but I reckon it'll be awkward to get it all down through the hole... we'll see

the turbo to manifold gasket is cracked in 2 places too, so maybe it wasn't going to be long before it was going to come out anyway

Was it you that I sent the nordlocks to?

YES YOU DID!!! I forgot all about them, they're in with the gasket set I got from Europe! legend, thanks very much (again I hope!)

[sambb]

The inlet hoses are on the top of the turbo and have to come off for you to get it out from memory. The steel hardline inlet that has a tall post that the bolt goes down through, the coolant one, is the one that stripped for me. Make sure you use a nice thin washer on it so you've got lots of threads engaged. That was part of the cause of mine stripping I think, that and dirty threads - stupid. Still ****s me that I did tha but it hasn't leaked yet!! The outlet lines are on the bottom of the core and can stay on I think and it'll save you re-gasketing those. I got my turbo out through the top cos I didn't want to remove the driveshaft, but yes the manual says to remove it and it would be a more straight forward job with it out of the way........assuming nothing goes wrong when you remove it!........which is why I left mine in. I put some anti seize between the faces of the nordlocks too.

[sambb]

Also if you use cap heads on the 3 mani to turbo bolts, if the gasket does go and assuming you make up a ball head drive bit and don't have the heat shield in the way , you can easily access the bolts, remove a torched gasket and replace it with another by sliding it in/out from the side. With hex heads and a heat shield you are a) basically screwed trying to get back there and b) having any chance of re torqueing them properly afterwards.