Turbo melting airbox

[ri06667]

Hey guys, has anyone else run into the downpipe from the t3 actually touching the airbox? Mine does and the o2 sensor from the top of the pipe literally cracked its way through the plastic on the airbox....
Am I the only one with this problem?
I dont have a very clear picture of it, this is the only one i have.
http://members.shaw.ca/ri06667/airbox.jpg

91 2.9 enginebay 86 xr4ti engine

[D94R]

You have to notch the air box.

[Jesshwarren]

The 95 and newer are even worse.

[roadkill]

i cut most of the box out and put a peice of al. sheet to make more space

[nagelandy55]

I've got pics for a 95+ airbox but its quite a bit different than the one you have. I think i remember a pic of your model floating around, was is you D94R who posted those pics?

[AJ_Fritz]

yup thats why everyone is using a forward mounted turbo manifold.

[nagelandy55]

yup thats why everyone is using a forward mounted turbo manifold.

not everyone, lots of people notch the heater box and run a stock location header. :thumbsup:

The only problem with a stock location header is that you can't notch the air box and keep AC (95-97) ..... well not without alot of extra work.

[D94R]

I have a modified AC/Heater box, but not heater box alone.

RPS had some pics floating around for a while. Doing a search doesn't bring up anything now though.

[nagelandy55]

So where you able to keep your AC? I should rephrase my statement above.

[AJ_Fritz]

his is a 91. comparing it to a 94 and up is like apples and oranges. they may look the same in pictures but if you put a 91,94,and 95 all side by side the 91 has the least amount of room the 94 is second and the 95 is roomy compared to the 91.

there is no way to run all the stock stuff and not have something melt. even with notching it will still melt. its just to close. now if you cut the housing off the t3 and weld a 90* down pipe to it will give you plenty of room with just the heater box, a/c different story. with a/c the turbine housing will almost touch the evaporator core, and thats without the cover off it. i know the 91's the 94's and the 95's.

[D94R]

So where you able to keep your AC? I should rephrase my statement above.

No,... well, I couldn't keep AC because I removed the condensor for the NPR intercooler. To get mine to fit around the turbo outlet though I just removed the right side of the box where it separates, then used sheet metal to replace that side and made a low profile air passage.

It would still function as a heater box if I had that wired up. It's just not pretty.

[ri06667]

In other words get a new downpipe made? This was onthe list of things to do anyways because the current one is only 2 1/2"s i believe and I wanted true 3" the whole way..
I'll probably pull the whole heater box for now, I dont have a/c and this is going to be a summer truck only. Atleast this will let me drive it till I get a new downpipe somehow.



his is a 91. comparing it to a 94 and up is like apples and oranges. they may look the same in pictures but if you put a 91,94,and 95 all side by side the 91 has the least amount of room the 94 is second and the 95 is roomy compared to the 91.

there is no way to run all the stock stuff and not have something melt. even with notching it will still melt. its just to close. now if you cut the housing off the t3 and weld a 90* down pipe to it will give you plenty of room with just the heater box, a/c different story. with a/c the turbine housing will almost touch the evaporator core, and thats without the cover off it. i know the 91's the 94's and the 95's.

[Bill G]

I have a 92 with one of Bob's flipped and forward manifolds with a Garrett T3. I'm keeping my AC as I live in Arizona and it's way too hot here. There isn't much room left if you want to run AC. I'm going to have to add some heat proof material to the AC parts as the turbo outlet is maybe one or two inches from the dryer. I haven't measured but it's real close. I'm running a 2 1/2" downpipe and exhaust. I can't see running anything bigger without running into clearance problems.

If I get a chance tomorrow I will post a few pictures of the outlet and the AC dryer so you can see how close it is.

[96lowslow]

D.E.I makes a ton of heat proof products, i notched mine and riveted together a sheetmetal aluminum duct on my box as well, you could also tip the engine a little bit by adding a washer or two under your motor mounts, make sure you have enough thread left! i think i had to do this on my drivers side of my 96 to clear the p/s box.

[PvtRanger]

as for the o2 sensor you can put a pipe plug in the o2 sensor hole, and drill and tap a hole in the side of the down pipe, and put the o2 sensor there. but i had to modify my heater duct to clear both b/c i have a/c...(had a/c).