16G and RRE Do-it-yourself hacker/tweaker kit install on a 1999 Eclipse GSX (2g)
This is an AID to Paul Estevez 16G install VFAQ
which concentrates on the RRE install kit. Some of this is repeated information.
There are some pictures here that might help those who don't even know what a turbo is. ;)
You need :
- 16G - RRE sells them, in case you didn't already know, and you can get it
ported in various places.
(Check the following diagram for those areas).
Porting the turbo allows more airflow, but too much airflow and
you will have boost creep, unless you port the O2 housing, especially the
wastegate runner of the O2housing.
- RRE Hacker/tweaker kit:
- 2 1/4" Piping that will run from the trubo compressor outlet to your Intercooler
(J pipe and a 90 deg. elbow, rubber hosing, clamps and screws)
- Stainless Steel Oil Supply line (Replaces entire stock oil supply line)
- 7cm turbo-to-exhaust manifold gasket (This is useful if you have the exhaust side
of the turbo and manifold ported. If not, stick with 6cm gasket)
- 2 1/2" O2housing-to-2 1/2" Downpipe gasket (You should use a 2.5"
Downpipe with this gasket, which is the reason they include it)
- Oil Return pipe gasket (Since the screw holes are closer together, you need a different
gasket) AND 2 new screws.
- Tools - I'll mention them as we go along... But make sure you have
them all accessible.
- Also a good idea, and with which I installed my 16G with, a 2.5"
Downpipe, a Highflow Cat, and 2.5" cat-back exhaust. BUT, Remove ALL your
exhaust backpressure and say hello to boost creep :) ALSO, its advisable you check
your DSM manual for the TORQUE specs for the bolts. ESPECIALLY the turbo bolts!!
They require I beleive 40ft lbs PLUS 70 degrees MORE of a turn. Do it right
to avoid headaches.
Here is what you're dealing with. From the get-go, these parts must be
replaced (if you car is fairly new, you can reuse many):
- Oil Feed line - RRE gave you a new one.
- Oil Return line - you will reuse this, except file/drill the bolt
holes to the turbo CLOSER together
- Water Feed line - you will reuse this, but as the return line (some bending required)
- Water Return line - you will reuse this, but as the feed line (some bending required)
- Crush washers (4 for the water lines, can be reused)
- Crush washers (4 for the oil feed line IF you decide to reuse it somehow.. but RRE
gave you a new oil feed line, so you won't need new ones)
- Turbo-to-exhaust manifold gasket (can be reused,but RRE gave you a new one, since you
ported the turbo exhaust side and manifold, right?)
- Turbo-to-O2 housing gasket (can be reused, RRE didnt supply one with this kit)
- O2 housing-to-Downpipe gasket (can be reused, but RRE gave you a new one, since you
ported the O2 housing outlet and have a 2.5"downpipe, right?)
- Oil Return line Gasket (RRE gave you a new one since the bolt holes are in closer now)
- Piping from turbo outlet to Intercooler (RRE gave you a new one, J pipe and extensions,
and the J pipe starts at 1.5", so you can port turbo outlet to match...)
I came up with this effective diagram (Using the DSM Backup Manual CD
(http://manualcd.dsm.org>), some pictures from the RRE website
(http://www.roadraceengineering.com), and common
sense :) This basically shows you what you're dealing with. Its a T25, by the
way...
- Soak all bolts overnight with Liquid Wrench, especially the Turbo bolts...This is a
safety measure, and should aid in the removal of the parts.
- Raise the front of the car. Drain your OIL and COOLANT. If you don't,
you will have a huge mess to deal with. Do this now and save yourself headaches
later.
(TOOL) - 17mm for oil drainplug
- Unbolt driver side radiator fan bolts
(TOOL) - 12mm (x 4)
- Disconnect radiator fan connector and remove the fan assembly
- Remove downpipe from O2housing AND from the cat. Put it
aside somewhere, or trash it if you have a new Downpipe.
(TOOL) - 14mm (x2), 3/4" (x2)
- Remove O2 sensor
(TOOL) - 7/8"
- Remove O2 housing heat sheild
(TOOL) - 12mm (x5)
- Unbolt the OIL Return line bolts from underneath the car
(TOOL) - 12mm (x2)
- Remove upper heat shield
(TOOL) - 12mm (x3)
- Remove entire intake hose assembly (air cleaner, maf, intake hose
and all vacuum attachments) - It's assumed you're not using the stock intake box,
so this should all come off easily AND the outlet hose assembly that goes to your
intercooler
(TOOL) - Screwdriver
- Remove water feed line rubber tubing (not the hard tubing bolted to the turbo),
this line is the upper one facing the engine
(TOOL) - Pliers
- Remove water supply line rubber tubing (not the hard tubing bolted to the turbo),
this line is the lower one facing the radiator (A LOT of coolant will leak
from here.. be ready!)
(TOOL) - Pliers
- Remove oil feed line from oil filter assembly and from the turbo housing (you may
have to separate lower/upper sections to remove). On mine, I couldn't
separate the line at the middle (there is a female/male connection there).
So I just unscrewed the female end at the oil filter using a grip wrench.
(TOOL) - Grip Wrench, OR line wrench 11mm, 10mm and 14mm for the support bolts
to the block
- Remove 3 bolts and 1 nut from exhuast manifold that hold the turbo in place (the bolts
and stud are threaded INTO the turbo, so the exhaust manifold has the un-threaded bolt
holes):. Do it gently, they are VERY tough to take out and you'll need some force.
(TOOL) - 14mm (x4) Impact Socket AND breaker bar (you'll need it!)
 |
NOTE, you'll have to remove the STUD that is on the turbo
and reuse it on the new Turbo. The turbo SHOULD slip out after you remove the
3 bolts and 1 nut. If you let it slip out just a bit, you should be able to
hold the smooth section of that stud with some pliers, but you must hold it VERY
tight and try to loosen it from there. If that doesn't work, you can try double
nutting it to spin it out. Use some WD40 to help it budge. Also tapping
the stud from the top can help it move. DON'T break or strip the stud, you'll
need it. If you're good, you can squeeze out the turbo from underneath WITH the
stud in place, but you'll have to remove it sooner or later.
(TS - do yourself a favor, and order another bolt from the
dealer, and use it in place of the stud. This will make it easier to remove just the
turbo or just the exhaust manifold in the future.)
IF you break a nut/bolt/stud, you can remove it using a bolt extractor or EZout.
You drill a hole into the bolt/stud and screw this thing in there
(counterclockwise) and it should come out... |
- Take the turbo out and remove factory water lines, their respective Banjo bolts and
crush washers
(TOOL) - 22mm (x2)
- Remove 3 bolts and 1 nut from O2 housing-to-turbo. (The 3 bolts and stud are threaded INTO
the turbo, so the O2 housing has the un-threaded bolt holes)
*see begining image for placement*
(TOOL) - 14mm (x4)
At this point, you should be going on 2 hours worth of work....
- File the holes on the Oil Return line closer together, enough so you can screw the bolts
into the new turbo (you may remove it completely from the car if needed, but you'll have
to deal with trying to avoid oil leaks at the pan.. It's recommended you leave the line
bolted to the pan and just do the filing on the car)
(TOOL) - Long round metal file
- Put oil in the oil feed of turbo housing, the oil feed line, and the fitting.
- Connect S.S. Oil feed line to banjo bolt fitting, then bolt this with the banjo bolt
and crush washers onto the turbo. TIGHTEN (22ft lbs) very well, or it will most
likely leak. (use 2600 deg antisieze when putting it back together)
(TOOL) - 2600 deg Antisieze, 11/16" TORQUE WRENCH
- **NOTE** It's a good idea to put the turbo onto the exhaust manifold and
bolt on 2 bolts to try to figure out which water pipe would be best and where.
I had to play around with mine to get the right angles, and bent them a bit...
- Install water lines onto the turbo. (TS - on the 2G 14B install
I worked on, we left the back water line on the turbo and it was already in the correct
spot to attach the rubber line after cutting the rubber hose shorter. We cut the mounting
bracket off of the T25 front water line, and bolted it to the turbo facing downward, and
it came out under the turbo next to the wastegate actuator. Bending it a little got it
to line up with the water line on the engine, the rubber hose required no trimming
to match up to the 2 lines.)
- Install stud (O2 housing one) onto the NEW turbo, install the gasket, and install the
O2 housing onto the turbo
- Install the stud (exhaust manifold one) onto the NEW turbo, install the gasket, and slide
the turbo onto the exhaust manifold. (TS - This is where
you want to use a new turbo-exhman bolt.)
- Tighten 3 bolts and nut. Make sure everything is tightened to specs.
- Attach ruber hoses to the water hard lines. (I had to buy some 3/8" rubber
hose (1 foot) and route it around so it wouldn't get in the way of the intake hoses
and whatnot).

- Place new gasket between oil return pipe and bolt onto turbo
(TOOL) - 10mm (x2)
- Tighten oil feed line fitting onto oil filter assembly, then the feed line ONTO this
fitting (The fitting only goes on so much. It actually became tough to turn right
where I wanted it so I could then screw on the feed line)
(TOOL) - 11/16" for the fitting, 9/16" for the nut to the fitting
- Install Downpipe (Use new 2.5" gasket if you have a 2.5" Downpipe)
- Install O2 sensor, making sure you run it through the lower heatshield first
(TS - I trim out the bottom hole on the heatshield so it is an
upsidedown "U":, so that the heatshield can be easily removed without having to
pull the O2 sensor. Make sure to fold over the edges of the trimmed sections.)
- Install BOTH heat shields
- Install Radiator fan
- Install intake hosing and vacuum lines. You might have to remove the little sleeve
inside the intake hose that goes over the turbo intake snout. Make sure you have
some pressure going into the wastegate actuator. I run a JBC which uses positive
source from the intake plenum/1gBOV. If your setup is different, you'll have to
drill/tap a hole in your J-pipe to get a boost source. (Actually, my 90 deg elbow
CAME with a fitting for boost pressure.. so you might be fine)

- Connect the J-pipe and 90deg elbow to the intercooler. It goes like this:
Turbo > J pipe > Short rubber tubing > 90 deg Elbow > Rubber tubing (you'll
have to cut this to size) > Intercooler
- Add oil/coolant (Make sure your oil drain bolt is tight, and your radiator draincock is
also tight...)
- Prime the oil passages by running your car 15 seconds or so with the spark disconnected.
(Just disconnect the connector near the 4 plugs, you'll see it, it's triangular in shape,
this cuts the spark) Check for oil leaks. On some cars, cranking RPMS arent
sufficient to sustain any oil pressure. You might be better off just letting
the car idle. Now, go for a spin, at no BOOST. Make sure everything is ok.
You'll see some smoke, that's ok (antisieze and wd-40 burning off). When you think
everything is OK, give it a push, but be careful, keep your eyes GLUED to the Boost gauge.
Make sure your boost is at the level you want.
- Total time ~ 6 Hours
Credits
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Last modified: Aug 23, 1999
Copyright 1999, Tom Stangl, Andre Cardadeiro
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