Project-T: Turbo Trial Fit

After the pain and agony of removing the factory exhaust headers, I can now start trial fitting the turbo and manifold!

With the factory exhaust removed I can see the bolt pattern of the factory down pipe. I compared it with the bolt pattern of the Zage down pipe and a chill went up my spine. They looked different. Though only slightly.

 

I didn't expect a Yaris turbo kit to exactly fit an Echo/Vitz but I was sincerely hoping it would. Oh well, might as well try anyway. So down goes the turbo and manifold!

You know, I'm pretty good with puzzle games like Tetris and Puyo Pop Fever, but gaddam! I could not get the turbo to sit behind the engine! No matter how I turn the blocks, I mean, turbo assembly, I couldn't get it to fit. Something was hitting against the manifold and down pipe! As I slowly lowered the turbo assembly one more time, I found what it was.... The damn shifter cables.

The Echo/Vitz shifts using cables (the silver wrapped cables cascading to the right of the exhaust manifold in the above pic) from the gearbox and gear knob. These were getting in the way of the turbo assembly. What to do?! I looked at the cables and tried to find a way to unbolt it and relocate it. But I can't. The way they were designed, you can't simply disconnect it and move it to where you want. The only way is to move them ajar from the turbo assembly. Possible, but it may affect shifting.

Aw man.

I then looked at the exhaust bolt pattern again. They did look slightly different. After squinting my eyes... They were terribly different. The holes did not line up one bit. I needed to re-drill and re-tap holes... *facepalm*

via ParaChomp @ DeviantArt

After another session of turbo Tetris and facepalming. I think it was time to whip out the big guns...

When in strife and you can't figure things out... I rolled up my sleeves, took a deep breath and...

Asked for help.

I gave my local tuning shop, Boostworx, a buzz to see when they were available to help me out. They were pretty busy and they wouldn't be able to work on the car for a week or so. That gave me plenty of time to finish up the rest of the turbo kit and prep the Echo for the appointment!