yoda-g3
SILVER Star
Hi all,
After starting on my second round of Safari repairs over the last 6 years I decided to compile all of the threads into one place to help other Safari owners if they get into the same boat as me.
In a nut shell, my rig had the turbo installed professionally by a dealership around 50k, still on original HG. At that time there was a Unichip installed.
Years later at 144k I discovered cracks in the turbo housing caused most like by running excessively lean.
Here is a post with Dyno results / Parts info that led up to that discovery: SAFARI Turbo Dyno Results - AFR Questions
That turned into quite the saga in finding "current" replacement parts that kept me from re-working the entire system. That can be found here: Help sourcing Safari Turbo Exhaust Housing - .82AR
With a little follow up on the post "upgrade" tweaks here: Help ASAP! - Safari Turbo Rebuild - Too Much Boost - Heading on camping trip!
The summary of my repair was I had the manifold welded, turbo rebuilt / turbine housing converted to a 5 bolt Ford style flange, then mated a flapper gate to the turbo (allowed me to retain the internal wastegate), and had my shop custom build a new down pipe. I also removed the Unichip to get AFR's back to non-insane levels.
Now 6 years later and 26k on the "refreshed" unit, I have discovered more issues. You can track that saga here: Need turbo gasket advice - Copper vs SS vs V-band?
Summary take away so far:
- Flex pipe by the down pipe was added 2015 after discovering stripped studs off turbo housing. It was a cheaper flex pipe I realize now and has failed. Flex pipe is a must! But don't go cheap, next one will be a Vibrant TurboFlex Coupling with Interlock Liner
- Don't skimp on exhaust hangers.... I think it caused some of my issues. Make sure to double up where you can to take that weight off of the manifold / turbo.
- Ceramic coating on everything has essentially worn off of the turbo and down-pipe. (Waste of time and money.)
- HG is still solid (knock on wood) at 170k, with 100k of 7lbs of boost / running LEAN, plus another 24k of 7-9lbs of boost running right. (Not saying to now change it, just giving a data point for those worried about it.)
More to come...
After starting on my second round of Safari repairs over the last 6 years I decided to compile all of the threads into one place to help other Safari owners if they get into the same boat as me.
In a nut shell, my rig had the turbo installed professionally by a dealership around 50k, still on original HG. At that time there was a Unichip installed.
Years later at 144k I discovered cracks in the turbo housing caused most like by running excessively lean.
Here is a post with Dyno results / Parts info that led up to that discovery: SAFARI Turbo Dyno Results - AFR Questions
That turned into quite the saga in finding "current" replacement parts that kept me from re-working the entire system. That can be found here: Help sourcing Safari Turbo Exhaust Housing - .82AR
With a little follow up on the post "upgrade" tweaks here: Help ASAP! - Safari Turbo Rebuild - Too Much Boost - Heading on camping trip!
The summary of my repair was I had the manifold welded, turbo rebuilt / turbine housing converted to a 5 bolt Ford style flange, then mated a flapper gate to the turbo (allowed me to retain the internal wastegate), and had my shop custom build a new down pipe. I also removed the Unichip to get AFR's back to non-insane levels.
Now 6 years later and 26k on the "refreshed" unit, I have discovered more issues. You can track that saga here: Need turbo gasket advice - Copper vs SS vs V-band?
Summary take away so far:
- Flex pipe by the down pipe was added 2015 after discovering stripped studs off turbo housing. It was a cheaper flex pipe I realize now and has failed. Flex pipe is a must! But don't go cheap, next one will be a Vibrant TurboFlex Coupling with Interlock Liner
- Don't skimp on exhaust hangers.... I think it caused some of my issues. Make sure to double up where you can to take that weight off of the manifold / turbo.
- Ceramic coating on everything has essentially worn off of the turbo and down-pipe. (Waste of time and money.)
- HG is still solid (knock on wood) at 170k, with 100k of 7lbs of boost / running LEAN, plus another 24k of 7-9lbs of boost running right. (Not saying to now change it, just giving a data point for those worried about it.)
More to come...
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