Atmo Install w/Pics (Elite 71mm)

Blowby

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Well I thought I would spend the day documenting an installation of the atmosphere turbo. Keep in mind that this is my take on the procedure and I'm sure there are better, faster or simpler methods to this process. With that said please post if you have shortcuts or a simple step to eliminate a few of mine. I encourage interaction from the 6.4 pro's out there.

To keep this short and to the point I will not discuss removal of the air intake system since everyone probably has different ones. This is the engine bay of a 2009 F350 ready to start the job.

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Make sure you get the Turbo Install Kit from your local dealer or any sponsor that has access to it - P/N 8C3Z-9T514-C. It will include everything needed including new bolts to replace the frikin studs that you will fight with while removing the up-pipes from the manifolds.

First thing I noticed was missing bolts holding the top of the turbine housings together. After I did a little research I was told they don't come from the factory with any. I did end up using this feature upon installation and I will cover that later.

Remove the oil feed tube assembly from the top of the turbo center section. New washers will be included so make sure you remove any that are stuck to either side.

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The lower connection is press fit. First remove the hold down bolt then pry it to achieve a straight up motion. I just used the hold down plate cocked at an angle to bind and lift the assembly.

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Remove the down pipe clamp and you will notice a tab and a copper gasket (gasket not included in kit). Please keep the gasket for later use.

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Pry up on the tab and push the pipe back and away from the turbo.

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Now remove the bolts that clamp "Both" turbos in place over the oil drain system. Use a 1/2 breaker bar to make the job easier and a 15mm socket.

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Remove the 4 nuts with a 13mm 1/4 socket to get into the space next to the hose. I removed 1 nut to release the dip stick tube first and a second nut underneath. This is the mounting bracket for the air charge from the atmo to HP turbos with other item on top.

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You can see I pushed the dipstick down for clearance to access the last bolt. Also my 1/4 drive is in the center with room to work.

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Look at the location of the stud after I removed the nut on the front in the middle of the first picture and on the back side in the second pic.

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Now you can pry the bracket away from the center of the engine which will pop off the two turbos with a rubber seal in place.

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Separation for the air charge between turbos. You can see the pry bar's black handle in the middle for location reference.

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Now the fun part!
Removing the up-pipes at the exhaust manifolds. The best thisn to do is remove both wheel well covers. You can see I just let the cover rest on my tire. Access to the bolts and studs is much easier coming from the side. Spray with PB Blaster the night before.

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On the passengers side I can remove the two to the right from the side. The one towards the center took a 13mm socket to break it loose. Remove nuts and spray with PB. Head to the other side and do the same.

Head back to the passenger side and with a 5mm 6 point socket remove the studs. Break loose or any sound or movement, spray then tighten the same amount. Repeat this and it will wick the PB Blaster into the threads. I had to use an extension of 1/4 to a knuckle to a 3/8 to be able to stay on the stud straight and apply a steady even force with the on/off technique.

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Drivers side is a bitch. From the bottom the two center nuts and studs were not a problem accessing but the top was difficult. I used a 5mm 6 point, a knuckle and the driver. Worked perfect for the room available.

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Removing the actuator nut. "Do Not" try to remove the nut without supporting the actuator arm on the VGT housing. This will put undue pressure on the arm controlling it. I used a socket that was long enough to stop movement before the any pressure was applied the the electronic device.

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That's it for tonight! I'll finish the write up tomorrow. I'll ask the mod's to merge my posts when I'm done. If you want to comment or beat me up, go ahead.

:swordfight:
 
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Just a couple things i thought i would throw out there i learned while rebuilding my stockers. First off good write up. Thanks, When i first did mine i used the write up thats floating around here. If it wouldnt of been for people ,like you, writing up these procedures i wouldnt of attempted it myself. So, Thanks. Second, I found it easier to remove the fuel cooler and vtg actuator and sit it on the battery. Dont have to unhook any of the lines besides the sensor and the two fuel lines. Also i removed the heat shield right away to gain me some more clearance to the up pipe bolts. I used a 10mm shallow well socket and a 4in extension and a reducer and a bigger ratchet. and it fit right in there on most of them. The other tops i used a ratchet wrench. Also i took the oxidation pipe apart right above the tubos, then used a pry bar to wedge up slightly on the oxidation pipe to gain enough clearance to get the socket and ratchet on the top bolt that is holding the oxidation bracket. I only removed the drivers side up pipe bolts that bolt to the manifold. I left the passangers side still attached at the manifold. That way i didnt have to remove fender wells. i just reach my hand around both sides of the turbos to run the ratchet. Then i unbolted the drivers side first so i could push it back to get even more room to access the bolts on the passanger side up pipe. But, thats what worked well for me. Theres always more than one way to skin a cat. lol Also Just one more tip. Make sure you DONT knick the fuel line running to the head on the drivers side. Dont ask me how i know this:fustrate:
 

Blowby

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Just a couple things i thought i would throw out there i learned while rebuilding my stockers. First off good write up. Thanks, When i first did mine i used the write up thats floating around here. If it wouldnt of been for people ,like you, writing up these procedures i wouldnt of attempted it myself. So, Thanks. Second, I found it easier to remove the fuel cooler and vtg actuator and sit it on the battery. Dont have to unhook any of the lines besides the sensor and the two fuel lines. Also i removed the heat shield right away to gain me some more clearance to the up pipe bolts. I used a 10mm shallow well socket and a 4in extension and a reducer and a bigger ratchet. and it fit right in there on most of them. The other tops i used a ratchet wrench. Also i took the oxidation pipe apart right above the tubos, then used a pry bar to wedge up slightly on the oxidation pipe to gain enough clearance to get the socket and ratchet on the top bolt that is holding the oxidation bracket. I only removed the drivers side up pipe bolts that bolt to the manifold. I left the passangers side still attached at the manifold. That way i didnt have to remove fender wells. i just reach my hand around both sides of the turbos to run the ratchet. Then i unbolted the drivers side first so i could push it back to get even more room to access the bolts on the passanger side up pipe. But, thats what worked well for me. Theres always more than one way to skin a cat. lol Also Just one more tip. Make sure you DONT knick the fuel line running to the head on the drivers side. Dont ask me how i know this:fustrate:

I noticed I did dent the fuel line a little on the passengers side. Is this going to be a problem?
fuel_line_nick.jpg
 

powerstroked08

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Very good write up! Keep on posting, im going to be doing a turbo swap here soon and ill be using this as my guide! Thanks :toast:
 
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I noticed I did dent the fuel line a little on the passengers side. Is this going to be a problem?
fuel_line_nick.jpg

Probably not, i knicked mine with the cut off wheel and didnt notice it, because it was on the back side of the line. Got it all together and went to start and it started spraying fuel. DANG!!! turbos had to be pulled back out to change the line. And as of today i think the turbos aint done with me yet :(
 
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NathannialD

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Just a question, why go to all the effort to unbolt up pipes from the manifolds?
also why remove the vgt actuator, it can stay on the hp turbo as long as you are only swapping the atmosphere turbo.
 
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Just a question, why go to all the effort to unbolt up pipes from the manifolds?
also why remove the vgt actuator, it can stay on the hp turbo as long as you are only swapping the atmosphere turbo.

You probably wouldnt have to remove the up pipe from the manifold i just found it made it easier.
 

Blowby

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Just a question, why go to all the effort to unbolt up pipes from the manifolds?
also why remove the vgt actuator, it can stay on the hp turbo as long as you are only swapping the atmosphere turbo.

Good feedback:
I just looked at the problem and took my best shot. I wasn't sure how everything connects.

1) To lift the turbos since they are attached to the mess behind them. In the replacement kit it provided new bolts and gaskets for the up-pipe/manifold connections so I thought it made sense to keep the whole piping system intact.

2) Wanted to get everything out of the way. This is the first time lifting the turbos so I wanted all the room and ability to see what I have to deal with.
 

Mpoage

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So If your just swapping the atmosphere turbo do you have to pull the high pressure?
 
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So If your just swapping the atmosphere turbo do you have to pull the high pressure?

I might be able to be done, but its probably allot easier to pull both.. First off they sit on pins on the high pressure side. And being able to serperate the two while in the truck. Then getting them back together. I wouldnt try it.
 

6.4psd916

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I wonder when the change happened, but the piece on my actuator had a e clip not a 10mm nut, and mine broke. Can't get the broken chunk out of the arm either.
 

White_monster

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On you had that actuator. Those suck to deal with, I replaced my actuator because of that e-clip pressed in junk.

As far as installing the atmo without pulling the vgt goes is really basic. Leave the up pipes bolted to the turbo, unbolt from manifold if you prefer. Undo the turbo hold down clamps. Pry up on them and tip towards th drivers side. Undo the clamp holding the atmo turbo to its exhaust housing and so long as its above the drain tube it slide right out. Install a new drain tube with lots of assembly lube and then install the new atmo turbo. Exhaust housings are the same as factory so no need to switch them. Installation is the reverse of removal. Hope this helps some ppl. Takes me about 40mins start to finish now.
 
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Blowby

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Part-2 Atmo Install:

Once the actuator arm is disconnected remove the electrical connector.

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Separate the inter-cooler tube from the HP turbo to allow less to fight when lifting the turbo assembly.

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You can now remove the coolant lines. Very little coolant will drip but fold the line from the res to stay pointed up to keep from draining the tank.

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Remove the 3 bolts with a 10mm socket to free the electric actuator. A plastic gasket is underneath so you might have to slide a thin blade screw driver to give it a little nudge.

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Move it out of the way just to have a good visual and room to work. Now lift the assembly and pry, slide the atmosphere turbo to the passengers side. You have to lift the assembly or the mount of the atmo will hit and not have the distance needed to slide past the collar on the atmo turbine housing.

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In this picture the atmo is already removed. Install the sleeve (looks like carbon/fiber around the collar and then the brillo pad all the was against the shoulder. Swipe some anti sieze to help the installation. With help from a friend slide the atmo on. Also replace the orange oil drain sleeve/gasket that came with the kit. You can see it in the middle covered with dirty oil.

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In the picture you can see I used the bolts provided to replace the studs on the up-pipes to help pull the atmo into the HP turbo. The bolts are the correct size, pitch and length to not bottom out. Pry/rock the turbos and push together while using the bolts as a little persuasion if you need to help align. This will also help clock the turbos. Anti seize is your friend put it on the bolts to pull the turbos.

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There will be a little gap between the housings so just make sure the center drain holes line up with the block/drain tube.

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Start to pull the turbos down with the clamps. Use a mirror to see if the oil drain holes line up. If not I loosened the copper drain tube and pried with little force to allow the HP turbo to drop in place. Make sure you do not have any down force on the clamps when trying to move the drain tube. (using my old pic).

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Now reverse the process to put the engine bay back to the way it was. I used the pry bar to get the down pipe back on by lifting under the tab and using the band clamp as a handle to pull it onto the collar.

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So to sum it up the method I used was for my assurance that I did not miss any little item that could turn into a problem later. I wanted to make sure I saw everything while I was removing all the supporting clamps, mounts and connections. This is a long though description to achieve what some experienced 6.4 mechanics can do with fewer steps and a shorter time.

I would encourage a top installer to please use my photos and write up your own, paired down, quicker install. I would have loved to have a post like that when I decided to turn some wrenches on my 6.4.


:blitzed:
 

Blowby

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Just a follow up.

Dyno'd 564 and 650 hp (position 3 and 4) with the H&S MiniMax (MCC tuning software) and minor daily driving adjustments. So far it's running great for a tow vehicle and the Elite 71 w/Batmo is a real nice upgrade.

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