E89 Z4 35i Turbo Replacement DIY

osiris

///Member
Hey Guys,

So its been a while since I made a post on this car so I decided to make a whole new thread as this is a big one and I think it deserves its own thread!

So long story short bmw fitted a set of "New" turbos to my car last year sometime. 4 or 5 months later they started making the dreaded howling sound! I took the car back as the job was under warranty and they told me the sound is normal :roflol:
Anyways I decided to just drive it till the turbos popped which was roughly another 4 or 5 months and boom last week they popped.

So around 2 months before this catastrophe happened I decided to buy a set of used turbos from my buddy Justin, They were in pretty ok condition and had the waste gate rattle kit fitted already. I also bought a Mamba hybrid kit from him too and sent the turbos and mamba kit off to Gabby at fastec to build and balance.

I spent some time going to different workshops and investigating who I could have fit my turbos and decided that I would rather just do this myself as I just want to know that everything is torqued correctly and it would give me a good chance to learn how to do a job this big.

anyways I spent about a month or a little more preparing myself and getting all the parts I would need, Gaskets, orings, a bigger torque wrench, lighting, extra jack stands etc.

Here are the set of old turbos I bought from Justin
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Mamba kit
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Gaskets for downpipes
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Turbo gaskets
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Right time to get the garage workable as I only have a single garage with a shitty rough concrete floor and I wasn't about to take on a job like this under these conditions! :roflol:
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And done, this will do! Yes I will add more at a later stage.
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and onto all the bits and pieces for the install:

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Oil and oil feed and return lines and upgraded coolant hose connector to engine block all supplied by Zander, very cool guy to deal with, great quick service! Thanks man.
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This was the last item I bought as when installing the new inlets we disconnected this top radiator hose and when we fitted it back the bladdy thing started leaking, turns out orings say howzit after ten years :fencelook:

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Sent the turbos I got from Justin to Gabby at Fastec for assembly of the Mamba kit and balancing! He did an outstanding job so big ups to him for such awesome work!
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Getting ready for the install, cleaning and organizing!
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Right onto stripping!
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Heat Shield and boost solenoids off!
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Car properly jacked up onto 4 jack stands as high as they can go for good clearance!
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A view of the clearance I was able to achieve!
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Draining of oil
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Went out and bought myself an engine Brace/hoist thingamajig and Thanks to Justin for helping me get it on the car, we struggled with this as the brace isn't high enough for this engine so it was a bit of a balancing act but we got it right in the end.
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Then I got to work with stripping the hell out of the car to get at the turbos:

First thing to come off is the intercooler so that I could drain the coolant from the radiator!
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Next up control arms and all that suspension bits to try free the subframe.
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Sway bar off!
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Steering rack off! This took me a good 2 hours to get off as it wouldn't free itself from the spline U-join! was a proper PITA! But alas it came off.
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Lots of other stuff got taken off and disconnected before this point but photos were of my least priority as I was on a mission! So subframe finally off the car here, what a jol this was! :eek:mgwaiting:
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So dirty! I spent allot of time cleaning each and every single part I removed from the car.
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Yay we finally almost able to get to those bastard turbos!
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Down pipes off! This was next level PITA cause of the bolts on the exhaust being very difficult to get to and one of them was stripped!
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Parts drawer starting to full up nicely!
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First view of the turbos, water pump still on and engine mount!
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Water pump out and a nice view of my sorting cups :smilebounce: (yes there will be no unaccounted nuts, bolts or screws upon reinstall!)
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Bam! We at them Turbos!!! :thumbs:
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At this point I had to call it a night as I did not have a T50 torx bit!! :skit: but for one nights work this wasn't bad!
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Right Next day and my buddy Justin rocked up again with his T50 torx bit and helped me strip the turbos off the car and start removing the engine exhaust studs and what ever else needed to be stripped from the motor!

Turbos removed! Finally
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Now onto the studs! Now this is where things go pear shaped as dear old BMW over tightened these guys massively! They are only supposed to be torqued to 10nm! I think they managed to torque the one stud to 100nm :rage:

The state of some of these studs!
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So at this point we tried the two nut method which worked for all the studs except one which was so tight that even my vice grip didn't work so I had to call in the pros. The thread king rocked up at my house the following morning and tried to remove the stud, he almost had to resort to drilling it out but tried one last trick and managed to remove it! Thank goodness as this kept me up with stress the night before!


Studs removed and I scraped all the sealant that bmw used for some reason! I then got very smooth grit sand paper with a sanding block and lightly sanded the surface to clean it nicely.
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New studs fitted with copper paste at 10nm. The correct way!
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And now it was time to fit oil feed and return lines to the turbos prior to fitment as well as all the new orings for those lines!
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all fitted and lubed with the engine oil in the shot glass.
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So shiny and nice!
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Right time for turbo fitment!

First turbo is on! :thumbs:
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At this point Justin rocked up and helped me with the rest of the build that day, so we got the next turbo on together which made life so much simpler as its a bit of a balancing act doing this on your own on your back especially with the top bolts.

Second turbo on and all lines fitted!
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As expected this water hose connector broke when we disconnected it to fit my upgraded billet replacement part supplied by Zander!
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Here it is installed! I would like to just add that this was a very difficult part to install due to the angle, it took Justin and I a good 2 - 3 hours of struggling to get this part to go in as the oring is so thick! But it was worth it as this part is prone to breaking always
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Always wandered why my car had this annoying knocking sound when driving over uneven ground or going over speed bumps! Check the state of this engine mount!
Well I ordered both left and right engine mounts and replaced them. two months ago I replaced upper and lower control arms too as well as rear discs, So this should tighten things up even more!
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This was already after cleaning a bit and look how disgusting this still is! It was caked in thick grease!
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Nice and clean now! Used engine cleaner a paint brush and a tooth brush!
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Downpipes on and new engine mounts:
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Cleaned subframe ready to go up!
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The rest was videos which ill upload as soon as I have put it all together. We finished putting the subframe back and steering rack and all the suspension bits with inlets and all that jazz and filled with new coolant and bled the system to make sure of no leaks. We had non after fitting the new Radiator hose.

Then I put new Motul oil in the car with a new oil filter and we then disconnected the coils and injectors and gave the car a couple cranks to prime the turbos with oil.
We then connected it all up, double checked everything and then started the car for the first time and it was a great success :smilebounce:

A little peak at how my house looked :biglol:
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We left the car on the jack stands and under tray off and let the car idle till coolant reached 105 Celsius and oil temp got to 90 and kept checking for leaks and none were present. So I have switched the car off and will go check in the morning if there are any leaks, if all is good then wheels and undertray goes back on and ill take her for a spin around the block, bring back and check one last time.

Thanks Justin AKA General.Massacre for all the help man, was an epic experience and I think we both learned a lot!
 

Razz

Well-known member
Wow, awesome write up of what looks like one hellava job
Well done


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NBN

Well-known member
Nice write up, care to share the costs of some of the parts and speciality tools you had to purchase for this project?
 

///Avi

///Member
Absolutely brilliant! Well done you 2. :praise:

Next up ya'll have to get Justin's car running right.

Again absolutely brilliant work!
 

PLV

Well-known member
Absolutely next level sh*t Nick. Well done on the most amazing bit of work and awesome write-up!

:bravo::bravo::bravo::bravo::bravo::bravo:
 

FiRi@Rennzport

Well-known member
Official Advertiser
And that is a proper DIY. Well done gents.

Mods please sticky this thread.

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sash

///Member
Great work Nick and Justin.

Theres no better feeling than the accomplishment after a task like this.

:bravo::bravo:
 

Twinz

Forum - Support
Staff member
Wow what an awesome job. Well done guys.

Replacing the engine mounts saved you from many future repairs. Consider doing the right side engine mount too.

I was able to do my stage 3 turbos without removing the subframe or the steering rack. We just loosen the rack for clearance.

Well done again. :bravo::thumbs:
 
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