FMIC Clocking Turbo Write Up

tw2

New member
This is fairly easy to do but there is lots of fragmented / conflicting info out there on it. Note- this is just how I did it. No doubt there may better / easier ways to do things that I have not considered. Firstly some obvious or not so obvious points-

1) You can do this without taking your turbo out
2) If you take out your turbo to make it easier to make a wastegate bracket you do not have to drain oil since all the oil drains into the block when the car is off. You do need to drain coolant as system is entirely fluid- no air as with the oil.
3) The C clip is not a small tiny clip you simply remove

1) So remove your intake to make things easier
2) Remove top mount IC
3) Drain your coolant so you can move the coolant bracket around. Take 2 nuts (10mm) off coolant pipe where it attaches to turbo cartridge and 2 12mm bolts where it bolts onto wastegate bracket.
4) Remove your radiator (only 2 12mm bolts on top, the wires going to sensor with plug on the bottom near the hose from the block, remove both hoses) Radiator is very easy to remove and allows rotation of the compressor housing.
5) Remove the large crap heat shield on top
6) Unbolt wastegate bracket from compressor housing
7) Unbeknown to me the C clip which everyone says to remove to rotate the housing is not actually a small C clip you pull out. It is a very large thin strip which sits inside the lip of the compressor housing and provides enough friction to prevent rotation. There is apparently a pin but I never saw it before or after I did this. To remove C clip simply get a screw driver with a square end (I found best) and pull down on the end of the clip. Push the clip towards the centre of the turbo while pulling it out away from the compressor housing and it will spring out with enough force in the right directions.
8) Rotate away- be careful pulling the compressor housing as you can bring it in contact with the compressor wheel and prevent it spinning- I do not know how much damage you could do.
Believe it or not it is actually quite easy to get the clip back in. Just hold one end in with your fingers and use the screwdriver with the same forces to snap it back in.

clockturbo1mm9.jpg


The wastegate bracket does not really have very much force on it at all providing your wastegate is not sticking/rusty/stiff/crap. You therefore do not need to create anything too substantial and to simplify things, only attaching it to the turbo and not the head is very easy. I used a random piece of 3mm stainless steel I had lying around. As you can see I chopped the stock bracket in half to bolt it up. The water hose bracket will bolt to the wastegate mount I made.

Now as you can see the water lines to the turbo will not bolt up with the bracket in the way. What I have done is cut the metal lines near the main coolant feed and the turbo and used high heat rubber hose with small hose clamps to extend it around the bracket. The one which goes under the main coolant feed I just took a hose all the way from the turbo to where it connects near the head. You can see one of the actuator lines pointing into the top of the transmission- I chose to cap off the TVSV line so this is capped off and not needed.

clockturbo2lx9.jpg


Yes I have the shitty stock downpipe- last owner decided dp back 2.5" exhaust was fine.

As for the FMIC (without air con) you will need to relocate the tranny cooler. I did not alter the lines at all. I simply unbolted them, moved them, bolted them back in. I made mounts for the cooler out of scraps I took off other things. You will need to cut the undercar plastic splash guard if you are keeping it. You will need to cut the central support in half if you locate your IC where mine is. It is very strong even with the bottom half removed- no problems opening or closing bonnet.

ct26wastegatewx6.jpg


This is a 165 pic I found on the board to illustrate the actuator rod and how it attaches to the wastegate. This is just so people who do not want to remove their turbo can visualize how you will need to bend the rod or make your bracket depending on where you are mounting it.

I will post more pics when I actually finish it off properly. Here are my pics of the IC itself mounted with the stock non rc metal bumper. http://www.alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic ... ht=#133461
 

tw2

New member
Ok here is an update. I have pretty much finished plumbing up the new turbo coolant lines. My only concern at the moment is that they may melt. The best hose I could find is 300psi, ~100+ degrees C flame resistant fuel hose. I will try and get the heat shield back on so it should not be in direct contact with anything hot but time will tell. Will also heat wrap it.
clockedturbo1hp6.jpg


So now all I need to do is temporarily plumb the turbo to the old intercooler with some flexible 2.5" hose so I can drive round the corner to get the downpipe done finally- it appears nowhere in New Zealand can you buy an off the shelf stainless steel downpipe. The only place I could find ran out of stock until november- so custom it is. As marked the IC piping will fit just under the ridge with the arrow on the stock DP but it do not really want it exactly like this. I am hoping to eventually have it going down at an angle to the top of the radiator hose marked with the circle. As you can see it is a tight fit for a 2.5 inch pipe bend between the turbo and radiator and no way the stock fan will fit.
clockturbo3kp5.jpg


Another view of the final set up. The hose bracket is a tad higher than stock but the stock hose fits fine. Actuator is connected directly to the compressor housing since I will be running ~5psi until I get head reconditioned and BOV installed.
clockedturbo2bu4.jpg
 

grip addict

New member
i like!
one comment- the snap ring that holds the compressor housing in place can be a bitch sometimes, or not rotated in the right direction to mess with, if the turbo is on the car. i suggest snap ring pliers, or needle nose. just a tad harder to mess up your hand this way 8)
 

tw2

New member
Just an update for anyone who is interested. I was hoping I could use the stock radiator fan but it is just too thick, the compressor outlet points just in front of it with 2cm or so of overlap. I could probably cut it up a bit but I'm sure the 16 year old fan could do with replacement with a thin new one anyway.

Only other thing is the 2.5inch piping will be a tight fit past the stock downpipe. I also envisaged this happening. I got the stainless piping free so I am not switching to 2-2.25 which would have been the better option anyway most likely. Anyway it will fit but it will have to travel across the top of the huge bulge in the DP just below the join so I might just get a new DP to match the rest of the exhaust but it will fit.
 

//Zee-Roh//

New member
What's the total damage so far on your wallet.. I'd like to go Front mount, but I don't have a grand to spend right away... Just curious what ballpark figures I should expect.
 

tw2

New member
Sure; I am not a very good person to ask though. I got all my piping free and had all my IC mounts, throttle body adaptor made up for free all from stainless steel. I did all work myself, so far anyway.

I got my intercooler new 550x230x65 for NZ$235 (~US$145),

Wastegate bracket I made from scraps- NZ$10 to get drilled and cut to size. It works really well by the way, I was worried that I could not move it by hand (not much room to grab it) so connected it up to a foot pump which supplied enough pressure to surely open the wastegate. 8)

Anyway a new slim aftermarket fan will be about NZ$100 (~US$63),
NZ$10 worth of bolts etc,
NZ$90 (~US$57) worth of silicon joiners and reducers
NZ$60-120 (~US$38 ) when I get it welded up
NZ$30- just misc stuff, ie radiator fluid, hose clamps, vacuum hose, hose caps for TVSV etc

Also I did not include tools since I had most of them already. Good socket set, 10, 12, 14mm spanners, hacksaw, drill + cobalt drill bits if you get stainless steel or just give it to someone to do since I could not be bothered with it. Then you just need lots of downtime and another car

All in all I got quoted NZ$800-1000 to have it installed even when I provided all the piping and the intercooler itself so I am definitely happy. There is heaps of info on this mod especially when I finish this write up off (pics coming tomorrow) so make sure if you do decide to do it that you get every little thing you will need first, sucks going to the local auto shop and back with no car. So it will be around NZ$5-600 (~US$350) all up. I do not know how much things cost over your way but I would budget a good US$800-1000 unless you do a lot of fabricating yourself and have access to lots of materials and cheap fans etc.

Anyone else want to guess what they paid in total to do their FMIC?
 

tw2

New member
Just to clarify for anyone else- there is no limit on the angles you can clock it at. I know some people have asked whether you can only clock a certain number of degrees- 45 or 90 etc- no any is fine.

To answer your question, yeah it (1st photo above) is pretty much the lowest it will go without hitting the tranny. That is not 90 degrees down if you mean with the compressor outlet pointing directly at the ground, its more like 35 degrees away from straight down. I could actually get it 1-2cm lower but i did not want it to actually touch the tranny. I will investigate whether the stock fan can be modified or moved over slightly for those not wanting to fork out for a new one.
 

tw2

New member
Right I am finally finished!!!!!! Here are some pics. It was an absolute pain in the ass finishing off the piping and exhaust. Once again DO NOT attempt this with the stock downpipe. The piping is also very hard to get just right. You need some pretty tight bends in places. Mine is 2.5" and there is a limit to how tight you can make it, hence there are a couple of cut welds for bends. It probably took a good 8 hours to do all the piping. This was mostly because my welder does not do IC welding and has no experience with it and because the pipe off the turbo is very difficult to get right and took 2 goes. There is still only 10-11mm clearance from the radiator and the downpipe (3 inch).

FMICwholeenginebay.jpg

You can see which route I have taken. Unfortunately the pipe running across the valve cover is quite hot to the touch after a drive. I am going to heat wrap it until it has gone past that bend and halfway down the radiator.

FMIC2wholeenginebay.jpg

I am going to redo my turbo water line which hooks into the radiator line. The bracket I made did not give the IC pipe enough clearance to close the bonnet so it will have to be lower. I decided in the end I would just cut that metal bend as much as possible, remove the bracket and just run 2 straight pieces from the radiator to the metal pipe with the nipple and then to the engine.

FMIC3DownpipeandICpipe.jpg

Here is the downpipe I had to have made halfway through the install. 3 inch. It took a lot of persuasion to get the exhaust guy to make a mount for it. I have seen heaps of cracked DP's at the top most part of the weld to the flange. Unfortunately no exhaust shop in my city seemed to have a tig to do nice stainless steel work even when i provided the piping and bends for them to use so it is done with mild.

FMIC4Compressorside.jpg

FMIC5uppipe.jpg

View from the right hand side of the car toward the AFM and my relocated and nearly empty overflow tank. I will take the heat wrap to the top of the blue joiner shown half way down the radiator. I should also bolt my new fan up also.

FMIC6UnderIC.jpg

Crap shot to show how it all fitted underneath. The bottom of the brackets are pretty much level with the bottom of the bumper so it is not very obvious unless you look through.
 

tw2

New member
Performance wise I have no radiator fan, coolant lines which need finishing off, blocked off TVSV and no boost controller. I have heaps of wastegate creap until 4 psi which seems to be where it sits. Once I correct all these problems it should be fantastic. It seems just as fast on 4psi as the stock 7psi beforehand once I reach "full" boost- it just takes until 4000rpm to get to 4psi. After a drive though the turbo side pipe is quite warm to the touch but the engine side is very very cold, completely ambient temperature as far as I can tell- just like a fridge.

Please feel free to request any photos...
 

tw2

New member
I have now fixed the wastegate which was leaking and causing the low boost. It had 2 thick washers between the bracket on the turbo and the actuator. I removed 2 of them on one bolt and 1 on the other bolt. This corrected the angle. I put my boost controller in and slowly turned it up to 10.5psi. It pulls very hard, I am liking it a LOT. Starts spooling up around 2300-2400rpm which is pretty much what the stock top mount did so it appears unless you get a huge core and very large piping there is negligible difference in boost threshold. I have a turbosmart MBC which I will eventually leave around 11.8 or however close I can get to boost cut without ever being able to hit it in different conditions. I do not want to remove it assuming it is 12 on my car.

I also made a new radiator hose bend where the single line to the turbo splits off. I will post more pics soon. Next week i will finally be installing the radiator fan and having a new turbo coolant flange made where the stock metal lines attach to the turbo. I cut these lines and attached hoses to the remains. One of the hoses cannot be fitted quite properly so I will redo the whole thing. It hasn't come off in 50km around town but I want it to be as reliable as possible. The pipe above the engine will finally get heat wrapped as well. Then a BOV finally so I can happily boost without worrying about slowly destroying the turbo.
 

tw2

New member
Finally finished, everything done. No more photos I promise, I think the clocked FMIC is 100% explained one way or another. First of all here is the C clip mentioned many many times around the inside brim of the compressor. You can see the small 2 holes which I now recommend small round end pliers to remove/replace after trying that technique.
FMICCclip.jpg

Here is the rebuilt water supply lines for the turbo. Basically 2 pipes welded onto the original ones. I wanted to make a whole new one but it seemed too much work.
FMIC12.jpg

The top of my 10" radiator fan. Just 1mm stainless steel cut and drilled to size. That fan is not coming off, it is very sturdy. Then just wired up with the original blue fan wire and the negative going straight to the chassis.
FMICfan1.jpg

The bottom of the fan. All the brackets used the stock fan holes and bolts. I find the fan hardly ever goes on. I have no undercar splash guards as they do not fit with the IC and the stainless steel IC shields the radiator from stones completely anyway. Only if I am sitting in traffic for ages does it ever go on and it flows a lot more than the stock one. The red is my turbosmart MBC, only place I found made sense to put it, not too hot but still close to the turbo and actuator.
FMICfan2.jpg

Sorry for the poor pic i really did not want to take it out to photograph but just showing the radiator line with the T-piece I made to go off to the turbo. 10mm pipe with a 12mm lip welded onto 32mm with 3mm sides stainless steel (notice a pattern with materials? :D )
FMICTbit.jpg
 

tw2

New member
I designed/made it. 6mm stainless laser cut with 2.5" stainless pipe welded on. I have a spare laser cut one if you want to buy it. Only the flat part, it doesn't have a pipe welded onto it.
 

WarTowels

Active member
Eh, I don't have a welder. I might as well just put a piece of piping in the stock adapter, and then a coupler onto that...

What would you want for it out of curiosity?

-Towels
 

tw2

New member
$30 since I only had two cut so it cost quite a bit more per unit than ats etc for example cutting a whole pile.
 

WarTowels

Active member
I think after shipping + welding a tube to it, I would probably better off getting one in the states. Thank you for the offer though!

-Towels
 

tw2

New member
No problem. In a few months I will sell the adaptor I have on the car at the moment and make a new one but it would be way cheaper for you to buy a ready made one unless it wasn't to your spec.
 

WarTowels

Active member
Where do the bottom support brackets mount to?

Do you have top brackets also? If so, where did you attach those.

I'm looking for some ideas.

-Towels
 
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