[masterstone]

So you want to try all of these at once while your beast is opened up? No problem, but proceed with caution. Seriously, this will both test your skills, endurance and your mental toughness.

I'm sure at this point you’re like everyone else, and you've watched some of our beloved youtubers do it, as well as read some of the fine DIY guides already posted for each part. I just want to add my 2 cents as a fellow driveway mechanic to help any future DIYers save a bit of sanity along the way.

Big shout out to u/jahwerx for his downpipe guide. Awesome.

I'm better at lists, so here goes:

DIY: I merged a hand full of different DIY's so I could attack this as efficiently as possible. PRINT THESE OUT. This will be useful in times of stress, exhaustion, etc to keep you on the right track. Also, organize your removed screws / etc whether it be with jars, paper, or whatever.

Duration: When they say it took a couple days, they are not joking. Do NOT rush this, because you will break plastics and will run out of sunlight, and maybe miss things. See below.

Inlet Removal: when everyone says CUT the inlets out, do it. Get a reciprocating saw. I used a hand saw, there's not enough room, so I used a different style one and bent the blade. It's frustrating, and time consuming. I probably lost 1 hour on this alone

Work space: that small step where you remove the steering column bolts to move it (literally) 1 inch forward, this is now your access point to everything. If you have larger hands, or arms, you'll only get one of them in there. It's wildly compact, but should not surprise anyone. It just sucks, and don’t forget it.

Tools: buy a set of ratcheting wrenches. Some sections you will not get a socket wrench into, so these are insanely handy. Having a knuckle connection (socket/bit) would be useful. Get a creeper, I can’t imagine navigating up/down/etc without it.

REAR INLET FROM HELL. Some say soap, some say they just muscled it through. I'd like to see an unedited video of this because I feel like I missed the memo on something. This portion took about 2 hours and a crow bar, plus constant dish soap. My advice here is to follow what Vehicular DIY did and use Vaseline as a lubricant. The soap dissipates quite quickly, and I get the feeling vaseline would be a better idea.

Plastics: Do your best not to break your vacuum canister when you move it or relocate it. The small nipple that the hoses sit on is obviously fragile to begin with, but remember it's on the exhaust side of the engine so puts up with even more heat. I broke mine, add on $60 for that.
While putting the rad fan assembly back in, I moved the radiator vent line out of the way. Well since it’s made of 2 rubber hoses and a McDonald’s straw, I broke the straw. That sucked, add $50. While removing that from the upper rad hose, I broke the rad hose nipple, so I ordered that, add another $50.

REINSTALL: Installing new downpipes and outlets. Ok so those V clamps...... you basically cannot have the bolt threaded in and fit it over both turbo and part side. Some guys have accomplished this, but I don't know how. These clamps are very difficult to deal with, so I highly recommend extra long needle nose pliers to pull the clamp together from OUTSIDE the work zone, and use your other hand to thread the bolt in. Seriously, this step is the worst, and when my turbos fail I'd rather pull the engine.

Finishing: Putting things back together: again, be damn careful. I had a series of issues that was essentially a culmination of the entire process. I tried to tackle it in 1 day for 14 hours, by the end of it, it was dark out, I was rushing, and was forgetting. Nothing catastrophic because I didn’t drive it after, but stupid mistakes that adding a 2nd day would have fixed.

Starting up, post downpipe install: If you have near-billowing white smoke coming from your engine bay, it's just the coating they spray on the pipes for shipping purposes. I actually thought something was melting and freaked out.


Lastly, be thankful for help. My neighbour brought me a beer around 5pm, which was coincidentally right after I finished the rear outlet. It was a much needed 15 minute break. He also reminded me to take your time and do it right. Sure this was before I ended up breaking plastic parts, but he may have noticed the dire look on my face at that point.


I hope this helps at least a few people. If there's any doubt, yes I would do it again, and I'll probably have to if/when my turbos go.