You guys asked for it…Well…One did! Please leave this here unless you speak with me. Thanks. Admins....If this is good, please make it as a sticky. So here it is:
THE AGP TURBO KIT HOW-TO!
Tools needed:¼” drive ratchet
3/8” drive ratchet
¾” socket
11/16” socket
10mm socket
11mm socket and open end wrench and if possible, ratcheting wrench
12mm socket and open end wrench
13 mm socket and open end wrench
14mm socket and open end wrench
15mm socket and open end wrench
16mm socket and open end wrench
17mm socket and open end wrench
Towels
Flathead screwdriver
Dremel, Sawzall, die-grinder or compact demo saw
Zip ties
Jack
Jackstands
Creeper if you have it
Crescent/adjustable wrench
***I may leave some stuff out and have to add it later***
Note, this was MY experience from 2 AGP installs done in my driveway. In regards to time, this is written with the assumption that you are starting out with an aftermarket intake however, removing the stock intake is not rocket science. AGP has instructions and they are wonderful, but hopefully I broke it down as simple as possible going from memory. I also claim no responsibility to the end users results be it from overboosting, lack of mechanical knowledge, or lack of attention to detail. Basically, if your car grenades, can’t blame me!
So you have your turbo kit!
What should be included:
Manifold
O2 housing
Dump tube
Wastegate
Turbo
Bag of clamps, a couple of plugs, oil drain line and some hose
The nuts and bolts included with be loosely attached to the bolted parts
Overflow bottle
Cute lil AGPturbo.com stickers
Install time: 5-7 hours
First you SHOULD have a spotter to help with odds and ends as well as to spot you while you are working under the car. You want to jack the car up on each side and place jackstands under the mounting points specified.(Refer to your owners manual) Get under the car and first, just check things out to see if you have any issues that may need to be addressed prior to the install. Look for leaks, loose cables, vac lines, etc. With the 10mm socket, follow the power steering cooler mounts to the bolts securing them, remove those. This gets the cooler out of the way for reaching up the back of the block. See Fig 1.
Fig 1
Slide towards the front of the car and look for a petcock on the bottom of the radiator and loosen that while retrieving the coolant in a bucket. Have to be OSHA and EPA friendly! Drain a good amount out, if it fills the bucket up, you should be good. You will see why later, as well as if you should have drained more!
Remove the intake using an 8mm socket for standard clamps and 11mm for T-bolt clamps. Put that out of the way somewhere. With a 13mm socket and extension, take the battery tray hold down bolt out. Take the terminals off of the battery and remove it along with the battery blanket and don’t forget to disconnect the temperature sensor. Next you will take the four corners of the battery tray, with the nuts and bolts, and remove those with a 10mm socket. Finally, pull off the front large bolt with a 13mm. Remove the tray. This gives you plenty of room to work with. You will also want to remove the coil packs 4 10mm bolts and unplug it, as well as remove the plug wires. Place tape over the plug holes to keep debris out. See Fig 2.
Fig 2.
Next, the turbo coolant hardline, running next to the valve cover, the one that rubs most intakes, Remove both hose clamps and pull the rubber line off. A small flathead may aid in this but it is still a bear. Use rags to soak up any coolant that may be left. AGP provides a cap and a small clamp to seal the bottom part of the line going to the block. Slide that on there and tighten.
Now, look at the solenoid block with your three solenoids going to various vacuum lines. Remove all lines except the red and white lines. Follow their termination point and remove from there as well. I was told by someone that it is not necessary to cap the unused ports but I did for good measure anyway. There will be a green check valve that AGP illustrates in a picture. It has 3 nipples. Cap the middle one which makes a T. Just have the vacuum line making a straight through flow.
Now that the preliminary/easy stuff is out of the way, let’s get to it. The coolant overflow bottle, a 10mm is used to remove the top nut and the bottom bolt. The bottom bolt is on the far left side if you are looking at the bottle forward and towards the passenger side fender. Carefully remove that since it still may have coolant and remove the hose going to the thermostat housing. See Fig 3. Now, with a 10mm socket OR 10mm ratcheting wrench, remove the heat shield bolts. There should be one top close to the head, one aft of that, one on the drivers side, one on the passenger side, and one to the right of that one. Work the upper shield out of the engine bay, and if you want to keep it, try to preserve it. See Fig 4.
Fig 3&4
From there, a small flathead or needlenose pliers will aid in taking the cotter pin off of the wastegate flapper then 11mm(I think) socket will be used to remove the wastegate. Now, time to crawl up under the car! You are going to want to remove the down pipe at least. This entails unplugging the O2 sensor, should you still have one, while being very careful not to damage it. 13mm or 14mm on a 3/8” drive with a 6” extension should do the trick and provide enough leverage. There are four bolts holding this to the O2 housing. Take the downpipe out and set it aside. The O2 housing will be next and again, it is either a 13mm or 14mm socket/extension pair that will remove this. Possibly coming from the top would be easier for a couple of bolts. It just depends on what is easier for you. Pull the O2 housing through the bottom of the car. Next, you will see a black bracket connecting the turbo to the block for support. A 10mm socket will remove this and the bottom heat shield SHOULD drop down. That bottom shield is a pain and may need some caressing.
Get back up top and with a 16mm ratcheting wrench preferably, or open ended, remove the banjo bolt on top of the turbo for the coolant feed line. On the back, there are two more banjo bolts which one is an oil feed line and the other is a coolant return. Remove both of those again, with a 16mm whatever is comfortable wrench! From under the car, there is a larger oil drain hard line terminating just above the oil pan. With a 10mm socket no a ¼” drive and 6” extension, you can remove the 10 nuts holding it onto the turbo. Then, with some channel locks, open the clamp near the pan and slide the rubber hose up. Again, a small flathead may be needed to aid in this. The final part would be using an 8mm socket, for ease, or a flathead to loosen the clamp that mates the turbo and the hot side charge pipe . Under the car, again, use the above tools to loosen the clamp leading from the factory black charge pipe to the intercooler plumbing be it hardpipe or factory rubber. With an 11mm socket, remove the two bolts attaching the pipe to the bottom of the oil pan. With some work, the pipe should slide off of the compressor outlet, and be able to be removed from under the car.
The oil feed and coolant return can stay there since they are off of the turbo, these will come off later due to ease. At this point you should have easy access to the head bolts holding the turbo/manifold combo to the head. This would be a good point to smoke a cigarette, get a drink, relax, whatever….Because after this, it is smooth sailing.
Welcome back! With a 10mm socket on a ¼” drive, and a 10mm open end wrench, or ratcheting wrench. You will now remove all of the head bolts and nuts. CAREFULLY, to not damage the head, remove the combo from the head and pull, while turning/caressing the combo from the drivers side where the battery tray would reside. See Fig 5. You should inspect your gasket between the head and manifold for any loss of integrity. If it looks good, which it should, reuse it. You should have 3 head studs and the rest bolts. See Fig 6.
Fig 5.
Fig 6.
From here, you will remove the coolant return and oil feed lines. This can be accomplished with a 3/4 “ socket or 11/16”, can’t remember. But first, an adjustable wrench or 14mm wrench can be used to remove the smaller brass fittings. These are what are actually connected to the lines. Remember, you MAY get some coolant spillage should the block not be drained enough. You will then remove both of the larger brass fittings going into the block with the above mentioned larger sockets. AGP supplies a block plug for the coolant port. Block this. Do not use Teflon tape or sealant as it is already coated with a greasy type sealant. Otherwise, you risk small bits into your cooling system. Also, the kit’s SS oil feed line has a larger block fitting on the end of it with a -4an port. You can now secure this piece, the brass fitting only to the block which is the right side port you removed. Again, already prepared to tighten in. So as of right now, you should have the bare exhaust side of the head, the coolant return blocked, the oil feed set up with the brass -4an adapter and the oil drain tube disconnected. Good!
Take the AGP manifold and inspect it for any debris. Packing peanuts, dust, shavings, anything that can be drawn into the turbo needs to be removed. AGP provides head studs for use with their kit. They are black, with a nut on them, and an allen recess on one end. The instruction show one way, however, I have found it easier with this way. It is up to you. Where the instruction say to place the studs in the manifold, match them up with the corresponding head recesses. Hand tighten them into the head and then use the allen key to tighten a little more. You are mainly checking to ensure that enough of the stud sticks out to have a descent 1/8th” sticking out of the nut when bolted down. This also helps to avoid the stud from backing out at some point and pushing against a flange. From here, you will want to place the gasket back onto the studs, if I remember correctly, it was the actual metal side towards the head. Bring the manifold over from the side of engine bay and rest on the studs ensuring that the flanges are facing UP. The nuts that go with the AGP provided studs should now be gathered. In a careful way, pull the manifold towards the firewall so that enough of EACH stud can be threaded. Once that is done, you can now tighten the head bolts to spec as stated in the FSM. I did not use Loctite as the factory bolts have a good amount on them which should still hold. However, if you desire, a dab of Loctite will work. The nuts AGP provides are 13mm I believe and tightened best with an open end wrench.
You manifold should be tightened. From there, place the wastegate onto the manifold WITH the supplied gasket. There should be studs/bolts already there and tighten. You can now place the dump tube onto the wastegate from the top should you be gentle and patient. If not, go from the bottom. Again, supplied bolts are used as well as a gasket. These should all be 12 or 13mm.
Now, go over to your precious snail and remove the heat shielding bolts and the shield. At this time, the oil feed line can be connected with the -4an SS line. Again, no Teflon tape/sealer as they are not pipe fittings. Tighten that line up with a 13mm wrench I believe. The underside of the turbo, there is the drain fitting. With the large supplied rubber hose and clamps, use the stock heat sleeving, slide that onto the hose, then slide the hose onto the flange and tighten with a flathead or ¼” socket. See Fig 7. Place the turbo from the battery side of the car onto the manifold while turning and gently place it on the manifold. While common sense hopefully, ensure that the compressor is on the drivers side. Place the supplied gasket in between the turbo and the manifold and tighten the bolts down with a 17mm crows foot preferably or open end wrench.
Fig 7.
The old O2 housing, which houses the upper O2 sensor, which hopefully should have been unplugged from behind the alternator can now part with its O2 sensor. For $9, parts stores have an O2 sensor socket that makes this easier, yet it is just as easy with an adjustable wrench to remove. Then, tighten the O2 sensor into the new housing. Now take the heat shield from above and drop it over the exhaust housing. No gasket is supplied for the exhaust side as the shield acts as one too. Take the O2 housing and line it up with the way that the downpipe would fit. This is self explanatory when you get to this point and see what I am talking about. Start the bolts supplied with the lock washers into each hole. Then tighten with a 12mm or 13mm. Again, can’t remember. You should be able to plug O2 sensor back into it’s plug now. Finally, the brass fittings supplied with the wastegate can now be fitted into the wastegate. There are two. For a T’netics wastegate, you will have two 1/8” pipe straights and 2 90* angled fittings. Use whichever you deem best for your vacuum line routing. See Fig 8.
Fig 8.
Reality check:
Your manifold is bolted to the head. The turbo is bolted to the manifold. The wastegate is bolted to the manifold. The dump tube is mounted to the wastegate. The O2 housing is bolted to the turbo. If it is not like this, go back and re-read either this, or this AGP instructions.
Back to the black charge pipe. You will see that it has a compression ring on it holding the coupler to the pipe. Remove this compression ring. For me, I used a dremel with a cutoff wheel and carefully cut this off without damaging the rubber. Pull off the coupler. You will see 3 ribs on the pipe. The 3rd, going to the bottleneck, is the 3rd I am talking about. Just above there, after the first two, cut the first two off. This should leave you will ONE rib which will act as a bead to secure the coupler. ENSURE YOU KEEP THAT 3rd rib on there! From there, debur the inside and outside dulling all sharp edges. A nice run through the water hose will get rid of the metal shavings that have accumulated and 30 minutes in the sun will dry it out.
With the supplied clamp, you will slide the rubber coupler back onto the black charge pipe and tighten with the clamp using an 8mm or flathead. A little bit of Armor All, motor oil, or Vaseline will be smeared inside for the next step. Under the car, bring the pipe up like it was when it was stock. Hopefully, with a friend helping, line up with the compressor outlet. It takes some work but it does go on once reached. Clamp the coupler onto the compressor outlet with the supplied clamp, attach the hot side charge pipe be it stock rubber or aftermarket hard, and bolt back to the bracket which it came off of earlier.
Now, the rubber hose/oil drain tube can be slid over the fitting near the oil pan. With the supplied clamp, tighten so that it is secure. The oil feed line can now be attached to the brass fitting earlier attached to the block. Again, no sealant is needed for the AN fittings. Tighten down.
You are getting closer to the end so reality checks are important.
Again, the turbo should be mounted, along with the wastegate, dump tube, O2 housing, charge pipe and oil lines.
From under the car, slide the downpipe up to the O2 housing and mate. Use the supplied copper gasket in between and tighten the for supplied nuts. Bolt the downpipe to the rear section. Typically, the rear section should use 15mm sockets and the O2housing/downpipe will use 14mm.
Vacuum lines:
With the supplied vacuum line, run the line from the compressor housing nipple to the BOTTOM wastegate fitting. Zip tie the ends. If you are not using a boost controller, leave the top port open. However, for a GReddy Profec B Spec II, here is what you do:
Maintain that line from the compressor housing to the bottom WG port. Take the GReddy solenoid and remove the brass fitting going to NC and have it going to NO port. It should be a straight through connection with both fittings, while leaving the unused port open. Run a line from the NO port to the TOP wastegate fitting, and T into the compressor line and bring a line to the COM port on the solenoid. This is the proper setup, from the GReddy tech line to run an external wastegate and their EBC.
Now, take your intake, whichever it should be, and secure to the compressor housing. The coupler needs to be 3” to fit snug. Replace the battery try and battery along with the blanket and sensor. Under the car, reattach the power steering cooler to the K-member. Replace the coil pack and plug wires to their location.
Run a rubber line from the thermostat housing nipple to the AGP supplied overflow tank. Mount the tank on the radiator bracket using the stock bolt. See Fig 9.
Fig 9.
You SHOULD be done now. Take a step back. Think about things and what you have done. Do a once over, a twice over, and even a thrice over. Ensure ALL of your vacuum lines have zip ties securing them. Should there be anything close to parts that get hot, secure them with ties to avoid the hot spots. In a nutshell, just check EVERYTHING! You can never be TOO careful when doing a project of this magnitude.
Fill up the coolant level. Ensure that the heater is one to fill the block and circulate the coolant so that it is truly FULL! Check you oil level.
Now, start the car. Check for boost leaks, exhaust leaks, oil leaks, water leaks, ANYTHING. Repair what is wrong prior to driving. The turbo will smoke for a good 15 minutes. DO NOT FREAK OUT! It is normal from assembly lube, oils in the turbo, your greasy fingers, everything. Ensure that the temperature is at a normal temperature.
Jack the car up and remove the jackstands. Lower the car. Again, check for leaks now that the car is level. Take it for a spin. Do not go around boosting like crazy until 150 miles or so. Just to give it a decent break in. The urge will kill you but it is just measures to ensure turbo longevity. Once you are done driving, bring the car back and park it. AGAIN, check for any leaks that may have formed. Clean up, take pictures, whatever! You now have a balls fast Neon!
However, before boosting anything over 12psi, ensure that you have the supporting fuel and ensure it is tuned on a dyno for good measure.
I hope this helps some people out on their quest for power. Good luck and happy boosting.
Kris
HOW-TO: AGP Turbo Kit -Freaking Long
Thanks bro! Tell Jean 2 more months until my jail sentence!!! (Wedding!)
Linear Mode
