Tip: Intake hose - Turbo inlet

Hi all,

After having the wonderful experience of my aftermarket EGT probe launching through the turbine and causing mass destruction to my turbo, I then had the luxury of replacing said turbo. As usual, I consulted the various posts of others experiences with turbo removal/installation to see what I was in for. Through the various posts I came to the understanding that the intake hose was going to be a PITA:

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47584

John M:

“Subaru's intake hose design SUCKS. Oh, it's a model of efficiency with all those hoses connecting to the main intake, all hidden under the manifold, but it makes it impossible to get the hose back onto the damn turbo.”

BoostJunkie:

“While it is not easy to get the inlet hose back on with the manifold in place it can be done. You will need a liberal application of elbow grease and curse words to make it work though!”

So, after 45 minutes of trying to coax it on there by hand (no pick set and did not really want to pull the intake off) to no avail, I had an idea, gave it a shot and voila, first attempt with no help had it on in less than 5 minutes. Mind you that I have no idea if I just completely lucked out on the first and only attempt so individual results may vary, just posting what I did as it worked for me.

Having done some fiberglass work for a friend a couple of months back I had a Marson fiberglass spreader (these are like $2 at most) sitting in the tool box. For those who don’t know what a fiberglass spreader is, basically it’s just a 3” x 4” piece of soft flexible plastic about 1/8” thick (pic attached).

I took the spreader and held it over the opening of the intake hose to block the hole. I then took the turbo in my left hand while holding the spreader in place with my right and seated it onto the rear most stud (closest to firewall) on the uppipe first. This will result in the bottom edge of the turbo compressor inlet now resting against the spreader. At this point you should now be able to remove both hands and the turbo will sit as is and the spreader should be pinned between the intake hose and the compressor inlet. The rest is simple, you are just going to push down on the turbo with your left hand to begin seating it onto the remaining studs of the uppipe while making sure to keep the intake hose and spreader as centered as you can over the compressor inlet. The hose will ‘compact’ at the ribbing under the manifold getting the clearance you need to get the turbo in place. Once the turbo is fully seated, it’s just a matter of slowly pulling out the spreader like a shoe horn (you will need pliers as it’s wedged in there pretty good now) making sure that hose stays lined up relatively center. Mine popped right onto the compressor inlet as soon as the spreader was out. You will have to pull the spreader out towards the driver’s side as there isn’t enough clearance to get it out from the top or passenger side.