Manifold to turbo nuts, i give up.

[derrick113]

Recently pulled my manifold (stock) and turbo (T25) to replace exhaust gaskets, studs, etc. Ordered all new studs, high temp lock nuts, locking tabs, oem gaskets. I did all this app. one month ago.

Heard a boost leak yesterday, let my car cool off and guess what, manifold to turbo nuts are loose again and i cant just reach in to tighten them up because of the locking tabs in place.

As far as troubleshooting on why they would come loose the only thing i could think of is heat, because my motor and transmission mounts are all in good shape.

My question now is, should i ditch my blitz downpipe for a cheapo with a flex pipe?

In the time being ive already got everything un-bolted again, just need to undo coolant lines and oil line to take it out. Any help appreciated.

[shift_SRDETuser]

Recently pulled my manifold (stock) and turbo (T25) to replace exhaust gaskets, studs, etc. Ordered all new studs, high temp lock nuts, locking tabs, oem gaskets. I did all this app. one month ago.

Heard a boost leak yesterday, let my car cool off and guess what, manifold to turbo nuts are loose again and i cant just reach in to tighten them up because of the locking tabs in place.

As far as troubleshooting on why they would come loose the only thing i could think of is heat, because my motor and transmission mounts are all in good shape.

My question now is, should i ditch my blitz downpipe for a cheapo with a flex pipe?

In the time being ive already got everything un-bolted again, just need to undo coolant lines and oil line to take it out. Any help appreciated.

I had this same problem with my sr. I have talked to a lot of shops and they said something like to make sure your downpipe and exhaust is not pulling down on the turbo outlet. it should be able to hang straight at the elbow. I currently run a double lock nut type and it is not currently leaking as bad as it was. It could leak again-- I am switching to a tomei exhaust manifold and upgrading my turbo as well. This is a common problem and I would like to know how other peps on here have solved it.

[derrick113]

yeah ive never really heard of a definite fix, but thats why i was thinking the flex piece in the downpipe might eliminate some stress. Are you going with the Tomei expreme? I was just checking out the charts today on their website, looks like a well put together manifold.

[shift_SRDETuser]

yeah ive never really heard of a definite fix, but thats why i was thinking the flex piece in the downpipe might eliminate some stress. Are you going with the Tomei expreme? I was just checking out the charts today on their website, looks like a well put together manifold.

yep I have the expreme already just have not installed it yet. I have a bad vtc solenoid that is leaking really bad so I had to order another. I will probably just get the gt28r, some nismo 550 injectors, z32 maf and a jwt ecu tunee shooting for 320-350 hp so it will be a good street car. So I am piecing together what I can as I can afford it.

Frsport and enjuku both carry exhaust studs with locking nutts so those might be worth looking into ....

[derrick113]

yup, got all my stuff from FRsport lol

[Hijacker]

The best thing I can tell you to do is that before you bend the lock tabs in place, you need to tighten the nuts down very tight. Then after you bend the tabs in place, you need to actually dimple the metal tab into the nut. I use metal chisels for that purpose. The tabs have to be absolutely flush against the nut first, and then once you deform the tab into the nut, it shouldn't move.

I haven't had a nut back off in 4 years now using this method.

[derrick113]

ill make sure the tabs are well beat around the nut this time. Maybe they will stay tight this time since the studs and nuts already went through the heating/cooling process. Thanks for the advice.

[Justin35ll]

Yeah this seems like a common problem and when I bought my sr they were even loose. It sucks, but seems like really placing the locking tabs down may do the trick

[goalguy02]

It could also be a stud backing out.

[impact240sx]

I had the same prob 3 times, so i got a megan ex mani, lock tighted the studs into the manifold, then tightened all four corners of the turbo with nuts, then put nuts on after those nuts, so it locks, and if you want lock tight them too.

[derrick113]

Studs are all tight, rechecked them last, assembled everything with high temp lock tite (even though think it just burns up with the extreme temperatures of the manifold). Test drove it tonight to check for fluid leaks and such, everything was good and my idle wasnt whack. Countdown is on to see how long everything stays tight this time. In the meantime ill be trying to get ahold of a T28 and some other random stuff, maybe a downpipe with a flex piece, who knows.

[CMG]

Yeah, get that T28 in case you have to pull it again. I'm in the middle of that upgrade. Flex mid pipe is not necessary if everything is lined up and you have it braced right to the transmission.