Wheel_Man

iTrader: (1)

Hey Guys,
I recently purchased a GS3 NA-T and the wastegate went bad. My question is, do I have to pull the entire turbo kit to change it? It's an HKS style 4 bolt wastegate. It seems very hard to get to the bolts closer to the block without pulling out the header and all. Any thoughts?
Thanks so much!!!

99 GS3

iTrader: (14)

It's gonna be a ***** both to get to and to loosen as it runs so hot those bolts are usually seized.

I would just take the time to pull the turbo and manifold off, it's not that bad. Then buy a V-Band mounted Tial, and since the manifold is off you can cut off the 4 bolt and weld on a vband flange. Then you won't have any issues taking it off in the future, and with the v-band you can rotate the valve into the best direction for clearance and if making a dump tube for it you'll have more placement options and forgiveness in making the pipe angles work.

Even if the 4-bolt WG was an authentic HKS they had issues sticking or leaking after being on the car for a while and WG's have come a long way since... Get a Tial MV-R 44mm v-band it flows as much as and is more responsive than as the old HKS 50. And the MV-R/MV-S series are VERY small in comparison to any older gates, giving plenty of clearance. But if you are making real big power and insist on bigger then you can go with the Tial V60, but the housing is getting very large again, it doesn't share the compact formfactor of the MV-S/R, so I wouldn't go with it unless you truly were making the power to require it.