With time on my hands I’m continuing to make steady progress. As of tonight, the new turbo is completely fitted. In the morning, I finished the assembly of the turbo by putting together the manifold, turbo and dump pipe with loctite and reusing the fold down nut holding tabs. The only drama was the fitment of the original oil drain, which needed some grinding to suit the narrower hole pattern.

The best news is that the new dump pipe modification lined up perfectly, minus the lower gasket, which hasn’t come yet due to a forgetful eBay seller. Everything that could be was degreased and cleaned as it went back on, such as the compressor snorkels. A key tchnique I have employed is making a list of everything taken off, including nut/bolt sizes and quantities. Everything gets crossed off as it goes back on which ensures no mishaps.

I took the time to install my GKTech larger engine fan and coolant elbow spacer. The latter has a threaded bung that will eventually have a coolant temp sensor fitted. All of the mating surfaces were cleaned before fresh silicone was applied. Finally I filled up the coolant, ready to start the car. With a new turbo, it is important to unplug the CAS and crank the engine for a while to pump oil into the new lines and turbo. After this I fired up the car and bled the coolant system.

This involves having the front end up higher than the rear, a snug fitting funnel in the top of the radiator and topping up the funnel repeatedly. The air is coaxed out the system with engine revs, squeezing the radiator hose vigorously by hand to agitate bubbles and pump coolant and opening and closing the bleeder bolt in the coolant elbow. Bubbles removed and no water or oil leaks!

In the early evening I turned my attention to trimming and fitting the new twin gauge pillar holder and routing the cable from the wide band 02 sensor to the cabin.

I have drilled a large hole next the shifter opening, and fed the sensor harness back past the gearbox cross member and up through this hole with a rubber grommet. Since it is near the rotating tail shaft, I will use some cable ties to ensure the wiring is safely managed.

Tomorrow is the first day of my extended Christmas holidays, and I have nothing planned except working on the car. First up will be wiring up the wide band gauge and going through the brief calibration process. The other main job is to install the rocker arm stoppers before taking the car for its first test drive with the new turbo.