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Installed the Carbnlab DP today, and as promised, below is the DIY guide for those who want to install it themselves. Overall impressions - fairly easy install. I did not jack up the car, or go underneath at all, all work was completed from the top (except for when I dropped a wrench, but I was lucky enough to fish it out, so hold on to your tools if you plan on doing it on the ground). Took me two hours exactly, start to finish. 30 minutes to unbolt the factory DP, another 10 to wiggle it out, and the rest of the time to bolt up the new one. Reason install took longer is because Carbnlab DP comes with loose hardware, whereas factory has pressed studs, meaning I have to hold both bolt and nut when installing the new one, making it much more complicated in tight places. Now that I've figured out all the correct tools to use for each bolt, it should shave about 30 minutes off your time if you just follow the guide. Oh, and BTW, factory nuts/bolts are tight as hell, so use your man arms (or cheat like I did below).<br />
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@Johann@Carbnlab , please consider pressing 4 studs into your DP, this will make install a lot easier. I actually tried hammering factory studs out so I can re-use them, but no luck. If I was to do it again, I would go buy some new ones and use them instead of the supplied hardware. Additionally, factory DP has channels pressed into the heat shielding, which allows for a socket to be put on the hardware, Carbnlab doesn't, forcing me to use open ended wrenches, slowing down the process considerably. <br />
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Tools needed were:<br />
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12, 13, 14 mm 3/8 drive sockets, both deep well and shallow, swivel, and a 3" and 6" extensions.<br />
T30 Torx<br />
Shop light (I recommend the Braun cordless LED from harbor freight, it's super bright, and only $35. The only issue is battery doens't last very long, so I would get two for use/charge swap.<br />
12 mm stubby (short) wrench - not completely necessary, looking back at it, i think I could have gotten a regular wrench in there, but it helped.<br />
12 mm S wrench<br />
12, 13, 14, 22 mm open and closed ended wrenches, and ratcheting wrenches if available. <br />
Pry bar or a large screwdriver to help manipulate the exhaust and help get the turbo/DP clamp off.<br />
I started off using mechanics gloves, but then switched to thick rubber gloves as I couldn't feel the DP hardware, and didn't want to risk dropping anything in the belly pan. Theoretically, you probably don't need gloves to do this project, but I would recommend wearing long sleeves, I tore up my forearms scraping against random shit in there while trying to reach the hardware.<br />
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Pop off the engine cover<br />
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Use a 13 mm deep well socket to remove the heat shield bolts/engine cover studs<br />
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Place somewhere where you won't lose them. Magnetic trays are great (if anything in our car was made of something other than aluminum)<br />
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There is a clip holding a wire on the front/passenger side corner, you can either remove the clip from heat shield, or pull the wire from the clip, either way<br />
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This is what it looks like underneath<br />
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Remove the O2 sensor, it's 22 mm<br />
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Here it is taken out. Remember when reinstalling, to pre-twist the electrical cable so it returns to neutral position after you screw the sensor back in. <br />
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I started by removing the nut closest to the firewall on the drivers side. Use a ratchet with 6" extension and 12mm socket. The factory DP has a pressed groove, specially designed to fit a socket and extension against it, making this fairly easy. Break loose, then take off with your fingers, and don't drop the nut.<br />
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Same bolt but different angle, showing ratchet placement<br />
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As you can see here, it's perfect length to reach from underneath<br />
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Next I removed the top bolt on the drivers side, 12 mm closed end wrench, following by ratcheting wrench<br />
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And the front bolt on the drivers side<br />
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Next I moved on to the passenger side, and started with the top bolt, same deal, 12mm closed end, then ratcheting wrench<br />
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Broke the bottom bolt loose using the S wrench, then used a ratcheting wrench to get it the rest of the way off. 12 mm also.<br />
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The rear nut on the passenger side was either super freaking tight, or I'm really weak. Tried breaking it with the S wrench, no luck, pulling on it so hard, I thought that I might start breaking shit with my body laying on all the engine bay components. Oh hey on that note, if you have a mechanics blanket to throw over everything, I would recommend it, I kept hearing plastic shit creaking and cracking the entire time. <br />
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I then got smart, and used a socket to put over the S wrench with a long extension for leverage, and it broke loose immediately<br />
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The socket that fit over my 12mm S wrench was 3/4"<br />
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To get to it the rest of the way, I used a ratchet with a 6" extension, then a swivel, then a 3" extension, and a 12 mm socket<br />
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You can see the socket on the nut in this picture<br />
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That's it for the DP bolts. <br />
Next I loosened the clamp and took the screw completely out<br />
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Then used a screwdriver to break the clamp loose, and wiggled it off the rest of the way by hand<br />
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Aaaaand it's off<br />
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I wiggled it and forced it around until I got the passenger side off first<br />
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Then used a pry bar to help manipulate the exhaust on the drivers side to get that side off<br />
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Pulling it out took about 10 minutes of f'ing around with it, as it kept hitting the firewall. I finally just ended up forcing it up against the turbo, and it came out. No damage to the firewall.<br />
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That dent on the top was there from the factory<br />
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Here's the cat<br />
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Watch out for the gaskets, they will stay put on the rear studs. You can pull them off as Carbnlab comes with new ones, interestingly enough, factory had 2 on each side, Carbnlab came with 1 each<br />
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Took the turbo side picture just because<br />
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Side-by-side comparison<br />
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Fitting the new one in there was fairly simple, just be careful with the gaskets, they will want to keep rotating on the single remaining stud on each side<br />
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For the install, I started by putting the clamp on the turbo side, and getting it fairly snug. I then put all the new bolts through the flanges, and started tightening. Note!!!! front bolt on the passenger side provided from Carbnlab is too long, and can only be inserted facing up. Fully inserted, I feel like it would hit the heat shield, and definitely not allow me to put anything other than an open ended wrench on it, so I replaced it with a shorter bolt from my personal collection. This bold ended up being 13 mm, and it's the only reason 13 mm wrenches are included in my tools needed list. Carbnlab bolts/nuts are 14 mm.<br />
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To tighten the passenger side top bolt, I used a 13mm socket and a 14mm open ended wrench. remember, it's only 13 because it's my bolt.<br />
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To get to the bottom bolt on the passenger side, 14mm deep well and closed end of a wrench<br />
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Now for the fun part. The rear nut, which went on the factory stud, is kinda hard to get to. However, you can hug the DP and stick your hand all the way through underneath, then use a 12 mm wrench to get the nut on somewhat tight. <br />
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I used the stubby wrench to get it to a 90% solution<br />
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Then used a normal size 12mm to torque it down. What is not visible in the photo is I had both hands in there, left hand to hold the wrench on the nut, right hand for tightening. Actually not as bad as it sounds and you can get a decent amount of force on it. If you are lifting the vehicle and removing the belly pans, this is the one that may be easier to get to from underneath, but completely doable from the top side.<br />
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Tightened the other two passenger side bolts using the tools below<br />
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For the drivers side, top bolt is easy to get to<br />
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Here's the tool setup for the drivers side bottom bolt<br />
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Drivers side rear was a deep well (for length) 12mm socket, 6" extension, and a ratchet<br />
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That's it, easy peasy.<br />
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Don't forget to put the O2 sensor back in, start up the vehicle, listen for leaks, and reassemble the heat shield and engine cover.<br />
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Initial impressions: holy hell it's loud on cold start. Only took it for the short spin around the block so far, in Dynamic, it lets me know it's alive. Farts and pops are back with a vengeance. Sounds amazing. Under heavy throttle, it's quite noisy in the cabin (combined with my VPS delete), but not ricey noisy, deep, throaty racy sound. In comfort, especially at high gear/low RPM highway-style driving, no change to noise level or drone. In manual, if kept at high enough RPM, there's definitely a drone, but I don't expect anyone to just cruise in manual at 2500 RPM all the time. I will have a sound clip for you tomorrow, as the wife was not happy with me revving it in the garage today. No CEL so far, will update if it appears, but guessing on all the reviews, it won't.
Originally Posted by Tyler Gray
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