Morning All, I finial bit the bullet and picked up a gauge kit (trans, boost and pyro) and other goodies from http://www.vulcanperformance.com/

most of its straight forward, but i have a question about drilling the manifold for the pyro,

 

who has drilled and tapped the hole with out removing the turbo?

 

also, is there a standard paint number for matching the gray trim?

 

thanks  (truck is a 99 2500 auto)

It's a 21/64" drill bit, Just have the engine idling & the chips blow out the hole. It's very easy & quick. I did 2 holes like this.

Ed

There is a couple ways of doing,  one is my way, but that is just cause I'm lazy.

 

The most common way seems to be setting up a shop vac while your drilling and tapping,  and  then when done put a small magnet down the hole to grab any shavings you can.

 

Haha, My way is the same as Ed's  But I stuck a piece of firewood in the exhaust pipe. 

It's a 21/64" drill bit, Just have the engine idling & the chips blow out the hole. It's very easy & quick. I did 2 holes like this.

Ed

this is one option that crossed my mind, the second was using grease on the tap to capture the chips

There is a couple ways of doing,  one is my way, but that is just cause I'm lazy.

 

The most common way seems to be setting up a shop vac while your drilling and tapping,  and  then when done put a small magnet down the hole to grab any shavings you can.

Thanks for the ideal

I do the same as Ed does, never had any problems with the handful of trucks I've done it on, when I tap the hole I have the engine off and just put a little grease on the tap. Even if you did get some shaving in the exhaust it won't hurt anything.

I do the same as Ed does, never had any problems with the handful of trucks I've done it on, when I tap the hole I have the engine off and just put a little grease on the tap. Even if you did get some shaving in the exhaust it won't hurt anything.

that is my thought also, i have machined a lot of iron and unless you are really hogging it, the chips comes off darn near as powder. but that also depends on the grade of iron.

I just was not wanting to pop the turbo studs loose known they have been on there a long time,,, not ready for that circus    LOL

but before i can start, i need to get the paint to match the new A piller pod.

any insight on the gray color code

Check geno's, I saw the spray in the paper catalog the other day

I drilled w/ turbo on. drill the pilot hole but not quite through, about 3/16". Remove chips. Drill tap hole and not quite through, remove chips. Now set up a shop vac or other with the smallest nozzle you have and direct it at the tap drill bit as you break through. Leave the shop vac there as you run the tap in. When done take a small magnet and put it in the hole and move it around to collect any chips that may have fallen through. I had next to none that fell down in. This is how I did it w/ no problems. Enjoy!

Havent done this yet on my 5.9 but I will soon install pyro and boost guages.

 

I installed a pyro on an isuzu box truck I used to own. As Yankneck mentioned, it's very easy to do - drill and tap while engine is idling. Chips blow up and out of the hole. Just wear safety glasses. It's easier to do this on a cold motor on first startup of the day. Don't do it if you have been driving it all day.

Edited February 14, 201510 yr by Ironforger

I bet if installed at a shop they'd not be near as careful as any of the above suggestions. They all sound good!

Way too worried about such small things, even if there were any small flakes to fall in they are so small they would blow right through the exhaust at startup before the turbo even thought about starting to spin.  To be honest there are probably bigger pieces of carbon going through things quite regularly than you do small bits of one time metal specs. Look at how many engines have catastrophic failures with missing piston chunks valve head pieces and injector tips that have gone through without so much as a mark left on the turbo fins.

Honestly,    PAY ATTENTION!    When  the  bit   breaks  through, and  you  lunge  the  bit in and it breaks off  against the  opposite wall....       We'll be reading

 

"whoops..  now I gotta  take the manifold apart to  retrieve  busted bit" 

My brand new bit didn't have that problem at all. The moment it went through, I pulled back & then shut down & tapped with a greased tap. Done.

Ed

yah,  that    hint  was intended   for the guy  who hasn't drilled too many holes  in thin cast iron.

I have always drilled with greased bit and had a vacuum running at the same time with the engine off. I also run a pen magnet down the hole after drilling and tapping. I'm going to drill and tap my manifold today.

Edited February 15, 201510 yr by 98whitelightnin

I was scared to do it with the engine running, for a couple reasons.

 

1) metal shavings go through the turbine instead of coming out of the hole.

 

2) bit breaks off and runs through the turbine.

 

 

I placed big magnets around the hole I was drilling, and that caught most of the shavings, along with a greased bit and tap.

After I was done drilling and tapping, I used a shop vac and small magnet to clean up shavings.

yah,  that    hint  was intended   for the guy  who hasn't drilled too many holes  in thin cast iron.

who me?   LOL,,  im not too worried about drilling and tapping iron, thats the easy part. i may be replacing the manifold after all, I found a crack between three and four. I may end up holding off on the pyro install

I just got done tapping this 12v and couldn't find my pen magnet so I did it with the engine running. I got to say, I think I will do it this way from now on. I drilled a bit and blew the shaving out a few times and when the bit broke through, the little shavings blew right out. I left it running while I was tapping it too, worked great!

My brand new bit didn't have that problem at all. The moment it went through, I pulled back & then shut down & tapped with a greased tap. Done.

Ed

What he said.  As long as you are sure exactly where to drill the hole, you should be fine. I did it in less than 10 minutes.