Well, what a day, gentlemen (and ladies). It began very nicely and ended with confusion and frustration. Read on...

http://www.sr20deforum.com/gregturbo/dp1.jpg
Right after lunch, I began by using my high-speed cutoff tool to get rid of the old catalytic convertor bolts that were dead-rusted on. An hour of wrestling later, and we had the SR20Development downpipe on. Things were looking good...

http://www.sr20deforum.com/gregturbo/exhgskt.jpg
Next up was the prep and install of the copper Mr. Gasket SR20 exhaust gasket (Summit Racing, about $27). A little bit of surface prep (in case Ben Davis' dad stops by to check on it :p ) and the gasket went on. Smooth sailing...

http://www.sr20deforum.com/gregturbo/t28.jpg
And here's the star of the show: Pulsar GTi-R T28 turbocharger. I lucked into this one after having a T25 setup all set to go in. It appears to be in awesome shape, and there's a teensy-weensy bit of shaft play. Minimal.

http://www.sr20deforum.com/gregturbo/turboin.jpg
And the moment I've waited for since 1996....a T28 in the engine bay of my '93 Classic. I can honestly say that I briefly sported wood after this picture was taken, I might add. :D
Water/oil lines hooked up and ready to go, while the turbo was still out of the car, helped tremendously.
Terrin's tip on bending the catch-can line away from the manifold was dead-on (thanks, Terrin). Another hint: Loosen the bolts holding the A/C compressor on the block to make the exhaust outlet go on. There is no other way to do it. Fans out also helped greatly.

http://www.sr20deforum.com/gregturbo/dp2.jpg
And now, for the problem. The SR20Development downpipe (which came to me new, but secondhand) doesn't match up with the T28s exhaust outlet. Not at all. Argh. So close.
So in the dark of night, I removed the downpipe after carefully marking which way (and how far) the flanges on BOTH ends must be rotated to fit correctly. The downpipe is now in my Pathfinder, and will go the exhaust shop tomorrow morning after I finish work at 9am. My exhaust guy will have to remove BOTH flanges and move each counter-clockwise about .50 of an inch or so.
Not a huge problem, but a pain in the ass for sure. It's either take off the downpipe and move the flanges....or risk having it towed to the exhaust shop, fixed, and praying to God it fires up for the first time with everything installed and runs well enough to get me home. I'm not taking that risk. :)

Once that is done, then I have to finish up the IC piping, put the bumper back on, run the MAF-to-turbo pipe (factory one), hook up all the small stuff, install the JWT ecu, fill up fluids/oil, and then we're finally ready to fire her up with fingers crossed.

I'm getting close, guys...

TIP OF THE DAY: Make sure ALL vacuum lines are plugged in and no vacuum leaks. ALL. Do not use electrical tape. On the boost gauge, feed the hard nylon line into the rubber vacuum line that plugs into your boost source. Use about 8 zip ties along the rubber hose to clamp down on the nylon tube. Do not use the fitting Autometer gives you. Almost cost me my motor. Well, I gotta replace it anyways now. If you can, do not T anything off of the FPR.


Terrin
92 SE-R

you could just run it to the exhaust shop with the open downpipe elbow, it makes for a fun ride, and really isnt that loud. i drove right past a cop that was out of his car, and he didnt even look up at me, and he was less than 20 feet away! get everything else done, and just let the exhaust shop deal with the downpipe with it on the car, trust me.

I dunno man.. but a T28 with no exhaust is super loud in my opinion. I was driving my friends newly turbo'd car down the street and a few minutes later someone called the cops on me! (Wasn't blasting down the street or anything). It's still pretty loud with a 3 inch no cat no resonator :D

Greg, I agree with HotShot! Worry about the downpipe last. Do the rest of the turbo install first and make sure she fires up. Check for oil and coolant leaks and drive her (him) around the block. Yes, the open downpipe will be a little loud. In the long run letting the exhaust shop modify the downpipe while still on the car would be more advantageous. Trust me;)

Greg,

First awesome work! You're giving people who want to go turbo in the future some awesome footage here.

About that downpipe, I have an SR20Dev DP too and looks like they changed things since I got mine, which was back in Oct. That port is now a lot higher. Mine is in the middle of the bend. But at least mine fit. ;) But it hangs below the x-member and now it's dented! Doh! The exhaust elbow is the same between DETs and T28s so the problem isn't the turbo setup, it's the DP. Dammit! I have their piping kit for an IC and I really hope that fits. Quality control at that place has taken a big downturn IMO.

How far is the exhaust shop you want to get the work done? If it's within a few miles, I'd say just go for it and drive it there. If a cop pulls you over, say you're on your way to an exhaust shop to get it fixed. If you have to get on a highway, yikes! Your ears will bleed!

Greg, these guys are right. Just drive the car there and have them mod it on the car. If you try to have them weld it while not bolted to anything, i GUARANTEE it will not fit or sit flush on the exhaust elbow or cat. it is almost impossible to do something like this and have things line up. One flange being a couple of degrees off in the mating surface plane will prevent the joint from sealing, and no gasket or sealant will fix that. You can drive the car with open exhaust to your local muffler shop no problem. I drove home from the shop and back the next day (60 mile round trip) with my big honkin T4 dumping out a 3" tube sticking out under my front bumper, and it wasn't too bad. Just put it in 5th and don't mash the gas. :)

andris

DO IT DO IT DO IT!!! A T25 with no downpipe being easy on the gas sounds like a tiny little semi truck. :) If you decide to get on it watch out, it's LOUD but awesome sounding!!! :D

Open downpipe is dope. I sounded like a V8. And you could hear the turbo whining. It's nto that bad. I daily drove it for a week.


Terrin
92 SE-R

actually, try to stay on the freeways as much as possible, the car is quieter there because there is less load, making less noise. also, every cop usually has his windows up on the freeway, plus you have road noise, etc to drown it out.

it is nowhere near what i would call too loud, until it reaches full boost, then the wastegate opens, and it sounds really nasty.

the coolest part is hitting the gas, letting off, and hearing the turbine spin back down again.

as for pedestrians, i gunned it past a lady near my house that was jogging, and she fucking hit the deck when i gunned it, covering her ears and everything. i was laughing so hard i could barely drive. she must have thought a spaceship or something was decending right then or something. :D

HAHAHAHAHA, that exact thing happened to me, except it was in a parking structure. A lady walked by me while I was casually going through a parking structure with her hands over her ears, I wasn't even gunning it. I thought she had gotten into the elevator but it turns out she had stopped at her car. I gunned it to show my friend how loud it was and she freaking flipped. HAHAHAHA. She's all, ASSHOLE!



Terrin
92 SE-R

I had the opertuninty to drive an 11sec civic this week through
a ghetto neighborhood.. It didnt build boost till 5K but 5-9K oh my god with 3 inch turbo back and no cat etc everyone was ducking covering and looking as this thing incninerated the tires for a block no traction in 1st - 4th unless i part throttled it and this was on drag radials.. I need my damn booost!

ya, no exahust is sweet, I have a friend who had a nice subaru with a minum stage II kit on it (big ball bearing turbo) and he ran straight downpipe for a while and it was excessively loud, but it was nice, and you can just hammer it, let of the gas quick and it would sound like a shotgun. needless to say, we would go down to downtown dallas sometimes just to have "fun" with people :D

So the SR20DEvelopment downpipe DOES fit a t-28, with slight modification to the flange? GOOD.

My downpipe doesn't fit all that great. It was two inches too long, and it just barely hits the bottom of the oil pan. I think just taking the flange off and re-angling it will give me just enuff clearnace. But the downpipe is just barely lower than the crossmember... Too late to send it back, i've hacked at it to make it fit. So much for 'bolt-on' parts.