Hey guys, i got my greddy twin turbo kit coming next week and was wondering if anyone here installed the kit themselves. I am pretty tight on cash since i just bought the kit and would prefer to do the install myself in my garage, but if the install is too hard to do myself, i guess i have no choice but to pay someone to do it but i wont have enough money to for another few months. So for those of you who installed the kit yourselves, how hard was the install, did you need to take your engine out, and did you use a lift(i dont have a lift so i will have to use jackstands)??? Also, did you tune the kit yourself?
Any info would be helpful
Thanks!

 

I did it myself on jack stands. Looking back it wasn't that bad. Of course people have said that about torture sessions. It's very tight around the turbos (think shortly wrenches). The engine doesn't have to come out. And you don't need to tune it. It comes pretty well tuned (safe) out of the box. If you have a solid mechanical background you can do it. Until your ready to get serious with upping the boost all you need to do is take it to a shop and verify the A/F is good.

 

Make sure you change those paper wastegate gaskets with Turbonetics metal ones this will save you from headaches later on. Thanks to GQ626 for his finds on the gaskets, I've changed mine. Also, on some of the kits mine included the piping needed to be fabricated to get it to fit. GReddy claims 16 hours to install it took XS Engineering, a reputable tuner, 56 hours to install the kit. I'm glad I had it installed by a professional. Had I done it myself I would almost guarantee I would have exhaust leaks somewhere.

 

56 hours is about right... I mean yea you could do it a lot faster, but you want to do it right. Maybe if everything was perfect that would be the case... but its just not. I had to take my turbos back off to reclock them to fit better and so everything lined up better, and all kinds of other little crap. I found myself having to do almost every part of the install more than once to get it just right.

I cant blame greddy, its just such a damn tight fit to get it all in there.

I say you could do it yourself... as long as you take the time to do it PERFECT. Dont tell yourself your going to do it over the weekend. As long as you have another car to drive... who cares how long it takes... just get it until its 100%. If you dont have another car to drive, the money you save doing the install yourself could buy you a beater car!

I own a shop, and we have all kinds of tools, but to get it how we wanted it we had to end up cutting and welding tools just for the install. You dont really need to do that tho... I am just trying to express its difficulty.

Its really not so much that it is so hard, as that it is just a HUGE pain in the *** and is very time consuming. You have to have a lot of patience to get it done clean.

djgcue: Did you get billed for the 56 hours? If so, thats hardcore. But as long as it was a perfect install I wouldnt mind that much.

-Charles

 

Same experience with me. My shop charged me 16 hours per Greddy so the bill was $1600. The job actually took 60 hours.

I've redone some of the kit, and it is really challenging to work on. For instance, don't think you can get away with just one or two sets of metric wrenchs. You need all three lengths of wrenchs. The shorty racheting ones are a LIFESAVER. Get lots of extentions, in both 3/8 and 1/4 drive, and plenty of sets of allen wrenchs. It just seems that there is never enough room to do anything in there....plenty of 3/8 and 1/4 universal joints are also helpful. And impact tools are good for the really nasty bolts, sich as cat-con, and a few others. The impact wrenchs are also make certain processess fasters, such as removing the strut bar, plastic splash guards...etc.



Good luck!

 

I kinda look forward to the challenge myself when I get FI. But I'm also getting burned out doing these type of installs. On my SS I've installed long tube headers ..16 hours, supercharger 24 hours then another 12 hours taking it off and putting back to stock. So when it's time for FI for my G I have a decision to make. By the way, DJCUE, where is XS engineering? gq_626 also recomended a shop in baldwin park, but I just want to see all my options.

 

djgcue: Did you get billed for the 56 hours? If so, thats hardcore. But as long as it was a perfect install I wouldnt mind that much.

-Charles [/B][/QUOTE]

I wish my shop was like GQ's because XS originally quoted me for 16 hours but ended charging me for 46 hours, XS knocked off 10 hours. My install price w/ gauges, profec, polishing of all pipes, throttle body and plenum = $3,500

You can say I got jacked