Any quicker ways of doing this?

I took the intercooler off the car to check it for leaks tonight after work with the intention of fitting it back on within the hour (before it got dark). 3 hours and a set of torch batteries later i had it refitted.

What i had to do was remove the pipe and gasket from the cooler and fit the pipe back on first. Then fitted the cooler to the intake and at it on top of the mountings. Then had to reach into the space under the cooler from the right hand side and line up the gasket and refit the pipe.

Please tell me this is the simplest way to do it and that i haven't just wasted 3 hours?? Car is a 94 WRX with the angled intercooler.

cheers,

Marty.

 

Marty,

I've done this in my sleep so I hope I can help you.

Remove Intercooler
Remove 3 securing bolts using 12mm socket
Using 1/4" ratchet and small ext rod with 10mm socket - Split 3 bolt flange underneath cooler (being double jointed is a bonus )
Slacken large jubilee clip on inlet housing pipe.
Slip off cooler and remove. Leave rigid pipe fitted to turbo.

Refit Intercooler
Replace cooler in space and locate on inlet pipe. Do not tighten jubilee clip.
Locate 3 securing bolts on i/c but only a few threads.
Now the hard bit, locate the 3 flange bolts underneath and using the 1/4 ratchet tighten completely.
Then secure large jubilee clip on inlet throttle housing.
Tighten 3 mounting bolts

This was the easiest way before the SAMCO hose kit appeared.

TO fit the SAMCO kit, you cut the rigid pipe to the required length (to retain the flange) then bolt the gasket & flange with the intercooler off the car. Now re-fit the cooler and you'll find more flex in the SAMCO hoses that allows you re-fit the re-circ dump valve and then refit onto the turbo outlet no probs.

You'd have found it a lot easier removing the whole rigid i/c pipework from the turbo but re-fitting it is a complete pain in the ***. Hence the double jointed effort to seal the flange joint.


Hope this helps you.

 

Caz

cheers. I thought i'd get away with not splitting the intercooler from the pipe coming from the turbo, found out otherwise Only difficult bit was getting the pipe back onto the turbo, not a lot of room to play with with the cooler still on the pipe. Gonna re-fit it again tomorrow cuz i don't think the gasket is sealing right (must have moved it out of alignment while i was messing around trying to get it back on again tonight).

thanks,

Marty

 

You're better not taking that rigid pipe off. Make sure the gasket doesn't kink when locating the 3 bolts underneath. You can have the i/c off & back on in around 10-15 mins. Its not the best setup but you can do it, as long as you have the ratchet & correct tools.

PS - The gaskets can be the source of leaks, its a common fault. The rigid pipes are suspect too

For £35-£40, get yourself the SAMCO i/c kit from Rally Design The cheapest place to buy these from.



[Edited by caz1562 - 10/10/2002 12:53:57 AM]

 

I think i might just get some of those samco hoses. Reason i took it off in the first place was to try and track down some whistling and whooshing noises from round about the intake.. replacing all the hoses would probably be my best bet now that i know the intercooler isn't holed.

One question you might be able to answer for me though. On the "collector" airbox between the air filter and the turbo there are 2 pipes going into it on the left hand side. One is from the air filter and the other is a smaller pipe that comes from a small sensor thing mounted on the driver side suspension turret. What is it for?
The small pipe had been "played around with" on my car before i bought it and doesn't make a good airtight seal. It's not the source of the whistling but what effect will it have if the small pipe is disconnected and the hole in the box sealed up?

edited cuz i can't spell

[Edited by marty_t3 - 10/10/2002 1:38:38 AM]

 

IIRC the sensor is the boost solenoid and you should make sure this is air tight. Your boost performance will be affected otherwise. My WRX doesn't have the OE air intake so I can't comment on that part.

If you are investigating a weirder than normal noise then checking all air pipes will be a starter. The other thing to be on the lookout for is the dump valve. Is it dumping ? Does the noise only appear under boost ? Do you have a boost gauge within the car ? When does the noise appear ? I had a weird noise and it eneded up being my inlet compressor wheel on the turbo. But I changed hoses, dump valve & i/c gasket but to no avail. Replaced the turbo and the noise has vanished. Hope it ain't this. Good Luck

 

Caz,

I've had a look at all the hoses and they seem ok at a glance. The car boosts fine (though i don't have a gauge fitted yet to verify). I can't hear the dump valve but it's the factory recirculating one and i didn't think i should be able to hear it.

I think it's looking more and more like damaged compressor wheel (not something i was hoping for as i only just got the car).... I just hope my warranty covers it.

cheers,

Marty.

 

Marty,

You should still hear the re-circ d/v dumping when you lift off the throttle. Remove the air induction hose to access the turbo inlet passage. Now the tricky part is looking into the exposed turbo entry, get a torch and attempt to stand at an angle looking down this port and you will just see the inlet wheel blades. Get a junior hacksaw blade or welding rod and bend it to allow this to access the turbo. Now carefully insert into the hole (without dropping) and turn the turbo wheel and try & view the condition of the blades. All blades should be straight, if so then it may NOT be the turbo. My blades were all slightly angled at the tip of each whell with one blade dog-earred, hence my whistle/whining noise.

Noises are very hard to diagnose especially on this forum and even more so if its turbo/induction related as the car needs to be driven with boost to hear. Trial and error I guess unless its on a rolling road but that costs money to hear. Good Luck.

 

Caz,

I'm more convinced that it is the turbo thats making the noise now but i'll check the blades tonight (tried to have a look last time but it was getting dark and i was in a bit of a rush).

I brought the car to work today (taking it very very easy as the intercooler gasket isn't sealed properly). I noticed that the whistling noise comes in earlier in the rev reange (about 1700 as opposed to 2200 before i took the intercooler off).

Feel free to correct me if my theory is wrong here. Because of the bad seal on the intercooler gasket the pressure on the engine side of the turbo would be lower than normal. This would cause less back pressure on the turbo and allow the turbo to spin up at lower revs. Hence the whistle is now audible lower in the rev range.

On the dump valve front though, i must admit to never having heard the valve opening. I listened for it when i first bought the car and just assumed that since it was a factory one it would have been designed to be very quiet anyway.

If i remove the small hose from the top of the dump valve and block it off at the intake end would this effectively make it dump to atmos? If it does i should be able to hear more clearly then?

(edited to add dump valve bit)

[Edited by marty_t3 - 10/10/2002 2:14:50 PM]

 

Well i checked the turbo compressor fins and they look ok. Checked all the pipework again (and fitted the intercooler back on properly) and the whistle is still there. Guess it's just the dunp valve to check now. Made a point of listening out for it.. nothing.

Can i remove the dump valve and block up the pipes (temporarily or course) without causing any grief? This whistling is really starting to P1s5 me off.

cheers,

Marty.

 

From the link that you gave to rally design, which turbo samco's would i need for a MY95 WRX..???

Dan

 

Dan,

You would need the STi ver 1&2 TCS 22 kit @ £26.20 + vat + p&p for the WRX 95.

Two hoses, main stubby one from i/c to throttle body & the turbo exit to i/c inlet. Carry out the cutting mod with the rigid pipe carefully as not to cut it too short and use a jubilee clip to secure.

Marty,

DO NOT RUN CAR WITHOUT DUMP VALVE Not advisable

As for the d/v I'd remove the standard one & spray release oil down both inlet & outlet pipes and leave to soak overnight. Then replace, as for the small vacuum hose this needs to be fitted as to maintain a hold on the small piston. Try it & hope its jammed open. Other option is to borrow someone's Vent to atmosphere d/v and try it out. I tried a Bailey d/v at the start but my noise was still there so have re-fitted the standard one.

Good Luck

Just re-read and edited to add the DO NOT REMOVE warning

[Edited by caz1562 - 10/10/2002 8:37:02 PM]

 

cheers caz,

I'll set about it tomorrow night with a can of WD.

I've got the car booked into the garage to get checked out next thursday so i'm sure they'll sort it out for me anyway. I'm just trying to get it running well and get an idea about "what's where" on the car before i start modding it.

thanks again for the info.