M35 DIY turbo replacement

[Akshunhiro]

M35 DIY turbo replacement

Hi all, 

Apologies for creating a new thread but I can't for the life of me find any DIY threads for replacing a blown turbo on the VQ25.

Funnily enough the threads I have found refer OP to the search function. 

I understand a few owners have had to go through this heartache but has anyone documented it for use on this forum?

Keen to grab an M35 and want to research turbo replacement as it's going to need it sometime down the track but sale depends mostly on ease of replacing this critical part.

[Tommy Kaira RL]

Here is a swap I did over 5 years ago.

https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/352166-m35-engine-and-turbo-out/

Its a fun job that I personally would only do once so never again. 

Some owners love swapping there turbos out.

[Akshunhiro]

Thank you! 

Damn, what a mission. Probably the best way to do it though. Saves the frustration of having to cut down spanners and fighting for space with huge man-paws.

[scotty nm35]

Engine out is definitely not required

[admS15]

Have just been unfortunate enough to have replaced the turbo on my M35. It is definitely diy able but by no means an easy job. Patience is the key. What makes it difficult, is the lack of access to the dump pipe/t3 flange bolts. The bolts are more than likely rusty and fused on. Each bolt takes quite a while to remove because of this.

You will need a jack, stands/ramps or hoist, wd40, inox or penetrine etc to spray the bolts with and let soak overnight (i used chemsearch yield) worked brilliantly. A range of extensions, uni swivels for your ratchet, long spanners, shorty spanners, an obstruction style 14mm spanner helps with dump pipe bolts as well, a 22mm spanner for the 02 sensor. A couple of brake line clamps to clamp the coolant feeds so you don't have to dump the coolant. You may have to make or bend a spanner to remove one of the heat shield bolts or smash it off. You will need to remove the front pipe, brackets, disconnect the gear shifter and then unbolt the gearbox cross member and lower transmission to give you access to dump pipe bolts. If you've removed turbos before you will eventually get there, if you haven't, it's not the car to learn on. Just pay someone else to do it and save yourself the headaches.

[Jetwreck]

lol......after doing about 30 of these I can tell you its a different experience everytime. I think the fastest I ever did one was 5hrs......the slowest was about 18hrs. You could never guess which one was to make you its little b@#ch.....the only thing that was always consistent were the little cuts all over your hands and arms. I ended up with 2 draws of my toolbox that was specific to the NM35 turbo change.

 

Glad you had fun....and I'm glad I will never touch another NM35 for the rest of my life!

[WAGON_BOY]

19 minutes ago, Jetwreck said:

lol......after doing about 30 of these I can tell you its a different experience everytime. I think the fastest I ever did one was 5hrs......the slowest was about 18hrs. You could never guess which one was to make you its little b@#ch.....the only thing that was always consistent were the little cuts all over your hands and arms. I ended up with 2 draws of my toolbox that was specific to the NM35 turbo change.

 

Glad you had fun....and I'm glad I will never touch another NM35 for the rest of my life!

Bullshit you still owe me a turbo change

[admS15]

lol......after doing about 30 of these I can tell you its a different experience everytime. I think the fastest I ever did one was 5hrs......the slowest was about 18hrs. You could never guess which one was to make you its little b@#ch.....the only thing that was always consistent were the little cuts all over your hands and arms. I ended up with 2 draws of my toolbox that was specific to the NM35 turbo change.

 

Glad you had fun....and I'm glad I will never touch another NM35 for the rest of my life!

Lol, sounds like fond memories. I wouldn't touch another one either unless it's mine. Believe it or not, no cuts on my hands but elbows took a beating. Definitely the shittest job I've ever done on a car, actually timing belt and supplementary auxiliary drive system on an import diesel Toyota estima was almost just as bad.

 

P.s I put a used stock turbo in it, may need to be done again soon. I'll bring it over to you[emoji1]

 

[admS15]

My secret weapon. After soaking in this overnight some of those bolts turned by hand. There was still a few though that had me sweating.

[admS15]

 dp

 

 

 

 

[scotty nm35]

If those bolts turned by hand the turbo had already been replaced, and done by someone who knew it was coming out again. The nuts are all crimped from the factory.