My hubby and I just got back from our cross country trip driving our '99 CTD unloaded. I had bought gauges to install before the trip, not that we really needed them since we didn't end up pulling our 5th wheel, but we didn't have time. I brought them with us to install at our destination since I have a couple of uncles who are skilled at mechanical stuff.

Well, my husband got worried about drilling into the manifold to install the pyro, and my uncle wouldn't touch it since they're so much to replace! My husband thinks you need to have a drill press or something to drill straight!

Okay, maybe it wouldn't have been the smartest thing to do while we were on the road, but I think this whole procedure is not the super precision job he thinks it's going to be, by the sound of the posts I've read on it.

I know the hole has to be "straight," but how straight? Eye-ball straight should be good enough, right? I mean, should we somehow be using a torpedo or something?

Also, how do you know you've tapped far enough since they say don't overdo it? Just checking visually until you have gotten right to the bottom of the hole? Having never drilled and tapped before, I'm just not certain of how to go about these things, even with instructions!

TIA,
betsycam

 

It's pretty straight forward, I just did mine over a week ago. I would recommend removing the entire turbo before drilling and tapping to make sure you don't get any chips in there.

To remove it's 4 bolts at the manifold, 2 bolts at the exhaust coupler, and 2 more for the oil return.

I drilled mine with a hand drill. I pilot drilled first, then reamed it with correct size bit, then tapped it at 1/8" NPT. I tapped in to where I thought it was deep enough then turned the fitting to see if I had gone deep enough. Just keep trying until you seat the fitting at the right depth. Clean out everything as good as possible and hook everything backup.

As long as you don't have a shaky hand, you shouldn't have to worry about drilling crooked.

Good luck.

 

Eyeball straight is fine, there's no real reason for it to be straight other than it makes it easier to start the tap.

As far as tapping depth, pull the tap out now and then and thread the fitting in. Once you can screw it in far enough with your fingers that half the threaded portion is in the manifold, you've gone far enough. The reason you want to avoid going too deep is that the threads do the sealing, if you go too deep it will leak.

No super precision here, just do what looks OK and it will be OK.

 

with a pipe tipe, as it is, you hole can be a little off anyway, the pipe tap is tappered and will actually enlarge the hole a bit.

I second taking it apart before doing it, you WILL be sorry if you get any kind of debris or chips into the manifold

 

There's really no need to remove the turbo other than peace of mind.

I moved my probe from post to pre. I drilled the hole until I was just almost about to penetrate the manifold. Then a started the truck and finished drilling the hole. The exhaust blew out all the chips-- no problem. I had also greased up the drill bit to hold metal particles.

For the tapping, you can just grease up the tap and SLOWLY cut the threads. I just started it until I felt it cut a little bit, then I backed it out, cleaned, and regreased it.

A little tedious? Yes. A lot less hassle than removing the turbo? HECK YEAH.

I have 12K hard miles on the truck since I moved the pyro without a hint of difficulty.



Note the depth and location of the probe. You dont want it to be deep into the manifold-- you want the tip of the probe as close to the center of the flowpath as you can get it. I measured and mine's as close as I could get it.

It's also on the rear of the manifold where it will read cylinders 4,5,6. These tend to run a little hotter.

Justin

 

After seeing how many chips came out after drilling with the turbo off, I can't imagine it blowing all of them out of the whole just by starting it.

Seriously, taking the turbo off isn't a big deal at all. It takes about 10 minutes to remove (depending on how rusted your bolts are) and about 5 minutes to put back together. Sometimes peace of mind is good.