Turbo install woes

[Dave7.3]

Sometimes I just can't win.

Ended up being a little short on piping for my up pipes with my hypermax turbo install. Since the pipes are over $300 combined, I thought I would save some time and take it to a local shop to have them run it for me. Note that I spent a few hours each evening getting the thing jimmy-rigged so that I could drive it as N/A to the shop, then literally drop the turbo in myself right in the parking lot. Even ran a temporary RDT to bypass the CDR valve.

Called in over a week ago and took several minutes explaining what I needed. The guy I talked to seemed to understand and mentioned they had done one of these before. GREAT, took it in this morning to have it completed...

Soon as I pull up, I get some odd looks. I will be DAMNED if the first thing out of the guy's mouth was "that doesn't look like a powerstroke to me". SON OF A B****.

I kept my cool, kindly explained the generational differences between the two and he understood. So after about an hour of crawling around the truck and looking it over with me, he gives me a rough estimate of labor. Soon two hours of estimated work turns into eight or more. No way I can afford that with a $68/hr labor cost.

I told them I would have to coordinate a later day and brought her home. One nice thing they did point out was the lack of clearance for the up pipe...STILL. So now I am back to square one, even after mutilating my firewall for the most part.

Is there anyone located in Western South Dakota that can help me out on this? I'm starting to lean toward a 1-2" body lift for this truck...that or sell the damned thing! Either option is looking pretty good after all the money I've been pouring into this sucker.

Please help/advise!

 

[Rot Box]

What a pain the the a$$ Around here if it is not as simple as clamping on a vehicle specific exhaust system nobody will touch it. Nobody does custom tube work anymore it seems...

It might be best to just order the complete set of tubes you need from hypermax and be done with it. You could also wrap them while its all apart. Even with good body mounts and a clearanced firewall there is still no room for up pipes--it takes a f*$%*&# miracle to put them in

Best of luck

 

[Dave7.3]

What a pain the the a$$ Around here if it is not as simple as clamping on a vehicle specific exhaust system nobody will touch it. Nobody does custom tube work anymore it seems...

It might be best to just order the complete set of tubes you need from hypermax and be done with it. You could also wrap them while its all apart. Even with good body mounts and a clearanced firewall there is still no room for up pipes--it takes a f*$%*&# miracle to put them in

Best of luck

Thanks for the response Rot Box,

No kidding, on that front I am fortunate that this shop (Exhaust pros btw) actually can do the custom bending.

I'm praying for a miracle to get this in...the cab flange is bent back to where it is almost flush with the floor pan. The only other alternative is to start pressing into the damn floor pan. Which will be tough as I have already broken a scissor jack (designed for a Ford Taurus) getting the downpipe side clearanced. The kid at the shop was even talking about grinding ALL the ribs off the driver's side of the trans for clearance.

I do have a roll of wrap for this sucker. Went the extra mile and got a 50ft x 2" roll of DEI Titanium wrap (good to 1800* direct or 2500* radiant heat).

An extreme scenario would probably be pulling the engine and beating the thing with a 20lb sledge. But that is a ton of extra time right there...

 

[Dave7.3]

Well, seeking more guidance, I went out and took some photos before it starts to get dark.

As you can see, the flange has been fully rolled back into the floor pan and you can even see the turbo mount pedestal:

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Probably the biggest concern is the clutch and fuel return lines toward the bottom of the gap.

 

[cm1hedge]

IIRC, the Hypermax pipes route behind the clutch fork. They are really long.

 

[Diesel JD]

You need to talk with agnem about how to get the uppipe clearance, he's done 2 Hypermax pulse turbos on the Moose and Lady Moose, and 83 and an early 90s truck. I had always heard that the hypermax pipes were doable as long as your cab mounts were good and easy if you could handle a 2" or bigger lift.

 

[Dave7.3]

IIRC, the Hypermax pipes route behind the clutch fork. They are really long.

Yep, thats the angle I went for in the photos. I have a direct route but it just isn't quite enough it seems

 

[Dave7.3]

You need to talk with agnem about how to get the uppipe clearance, he's done 2 Hypermax pulse turbos on the Moose and Lady Moose, and 83 and an early 90s truck. I had always heard that the hypermax pipes were doable as long as your cab mounts were good and easy if you could handle a 2" or bigger lift.

Believe it or not, the guide that he wrote up for installing these kits was the guideline I used! A wealth of good information but just things like this that have me turned upside down.

My cab mounts seem like they are in good shape, although my front springs do sag a little...unfortunately I can't even find a body lift kit for these. Every one I find clearly states that it won't fit a diesel

 

[Agnem]

Pay no attention to those "won't fit a diesel" wordings. As long as you get only a 2" body lift, it will all work out fine. That aside, it can be done without one. But if your not using Hypermax's pipes to do it, I seriously doubt you will find this an easy task. You have your cab seam bent back better than we did, and I still got their pipes to work, so it should be easy for you. Can we see some pictures of the pipes you had made?

 

[jhnlennon]

That turbo mount pedistal doesnt look anything like the hypermax pulse kit that I had

Mine had two inlets and they were slip fit, not bolt on like in the pic. That looks exactly like the banks non gated set-up I had????

 

[Agnem]

Good observation. Must be the pre-pulse kit they used to make that was just like the Banks. That means the up pipes are actually an up pipe that is a single larger pipe, rather than the two smaller ones. Could account for why he is having so much trouble compared to my installs, as both of mine are pulse type.

 

[jhnlennon]

If thats the case, I wish him luck. Routing the single large pipe for my non gated banks kit was a MAJOR PAIN!!! I had to bang the hell outta the firewall and cut slits in the seam and into the floor boards a little bit. And after that the only way I could get the flange in to mate to the pedistal was to jack the cab up about 4 inches!!! I never want to go through that again!!!! My banks kit also had the up pipe flattened where it went around the cab. Without that I doubt without a 3 inch body lift if woulda ever fit.

 

[Dave7.3]

Pay no attention to those "won't fit a diesel" wordings. As long as you get only a 2" body lift, it will all work out fine. That aside, it can be done without one. But if your not using Hypermax's pipes to do it, I seriously doubt you will find this an easy task. You have your cab seam bent back better than we did, and I still got their pipes to work, so it should be easy for you. Can we see some pictures of the pipes you had made?

I neglected to mention, the pipes I had were made from the factory ones. BUT, I did buy the actual pipe from Hypermax that bolts to that pedestal ($65). I can get a pic for ya as I did get it to fit by flattening it slightly as jhnlennon described.

And this is the older pre-pulse Hypermax kit with a single up-pipe. In fact, my homemade piping was just a reverse and remodel of the N/A pipes to meet the Hypermax pipe. I'll try and get some pics, but I did have to swap it back so I could drive it to the shop. Thank god I didn't do any permanent welds before noticing my lack of properly bent pipe!

A few years ago, I did own a banks kit. Sold it for financial reasons before picking up this one.

Here is a turbo pedestal pic I had on hand:

You must be registered for see images attach

For ***** and giggles, before and after rebuilding by type4, wish I could have kept it:

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Going out to get a pic of the Hypermax up-pipe. Thanks fellas.

 

[Dave7.3]

Here is a pic of the Hypermax up-pipe:

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

My camera is acting up and I can't get the N/A pipe pics to load, but the general routing is the same.