Here is a brief document describing how to remove (or rather
how I remove) the turbocharger from the MKII MR2. The reason for
removing the turbo here is because a couple of the exhaust manifold studs
have come loose and are stripped. I plan on repairing them with
time inserts. If you have to stock exhaust system on your car,
I can't really help you out, as I had it removed by a shop. The
shop charged me $50.00 to remove the exhaust. I then installed
an aftermarket exhaust which is significantly easier to remove.
I start off by going in from the top and removing the X strut brass (2 bolts,
2 nuts), and piping going from the turbocharger to the intercooler. Here
is a picture of the exhaust (that I use) once it has been removed:
I then remove the heat shield from the turbocharger - EGT probes can be
seen in the following photo:
Next up, is to remove the primary catalytic converter. I feel this is
one of the more difficult steps in the process, as some of the bolts are difficult
to get at - particularly the bolts on the brackets holding the converter in
place. Here is a photo from underneath before the converter is removed:
At this point, I remove the oil filter, the heat shield attached to the
pipe going from the exhaust side of the turbocharger to the converter, and
the O2 sensor.
Next, I go back underneath the car and remove the engine mount shown in
the following picture. The bolt to the left of the engine mount is the
driver's side converter bracket bolt. There are 3 bolts to this bracket,
one to the converter as can be seen in the picture and two that bolt to the
block. Only one of those that go to the block needs to be removed.
Once the engine mount is removed by removing the through bolt, 4 bolts
for one side of the bracket, and 2 for the other, the driver's side converter
bracket can be loosened. The turbocharger is now clearly visible from
underneath.
After removing the 2 bolts (on the passenger side) that go from the passenger
side bracket to the converter, I go back up top to loosen the bracket. There
are 2 bolts that hold this bracket to the engine block. I remove one,
and loosen the other so as to be able to move the bracket aside. They
can be seen in the following picture:
I use a universal join and an extension to remove one of these 12mm bolts
and loosen the other.
Underneath the two brackets holding the converter to the block can now
be moved aside and the 3 bolts and 2 nuts that hold the converter to the pipe
coming from the turbo exhaust to the converter can now be removed. The
converter is somewhat heavy, but can be held with one hand while removing the
last bolt. The converter is now removed:
Back up top, I remove the intake pipe to the turbo:
Next is to remove the water pipe leading to the turbo. I do not find
it necessary to drain the coolant, but some will spill out on this step. When
the turbo is put back in, I just re-bleed/burp the coolant system. The
metal coolant lines are shown in this picture:
First - the coolant pipe bolt must be removed - it is shown in this picture
- 12mm:
The two nuts that hold the turbo coolant pipe to the turbo are then removed. I
had to use a universal joint here to remove the bottom bolt The rubber
air hose to the turbo is also removed..
The air hoses to wastegate actuator are then removed.
Next up is the 27mm oil bolt. It can be seen in this picture:
I use the tool in this picture to remove it (the bolt is in the socket). It
can be very tight.
It is now possible to loosen the bolts holding the pipe that goes from
the turbine side (exhaust) to the converter. Some of the bolts are hard
to get at. If so, just wait until you can loosen the turbo and manifold
in a later step. The nuts for this pipe are shown in this picture:
Next is underneath the car again where the oil pipe to the turbo is loosened
- it is attached to the turbo via two bolts on studs and the pipe is also attached
to the block with one bolt shown in the following picture.
After that bolt is removed the two nuts (12mm) that hold the oil pipe to
the turbo can be removed. One can be gotten to via a straight extension,
and the other with a universal joint. One of the bolts can be seen in
the following picture - the other is pointed to by an arrow.
The next two bolts to remove are on the turbo bracket. These 12mm
bolts can be very tight. I used a 12mm wrench and another 13mm wrench
connected together to make a longer lever arm. It's also possible to
use a large socket and extension on the open end of the 12mm wrench. Once
the lower bolt is removed the upper one can be removed. It is not necessary
to remove the entire bracket from the turbo.
Again it is not necessary to remove the bracket, but if done, this is what
it looks like - the oil pipe is now free.
Now the exhaust manifold nuts can be loosened (do not remove yet), and
the pipe leading from the turbine side (exhaust) of the turbo to the converter
(that has already removed) can be removed. This is not necessary but
significantly reduces the weight of the turbo assembly when lifting it out
of the engine compartment. One of the studs is very close to the oil
cooler (where the oil filter attaches), but with the manifold loosened, it
can be removed by moving the turbo assembly, and pulling the pipe out. The
pipe removed:
The turbocharger can now be removed by loosening the 4 nuts that hold the
turbocharger to the exhaust manifold. I needed to remove the rubber hose
connection from the high pressure side of the turbo to get enough clearance
for the 12mm wrench.
The turbocharger can now be removed from the engine compartment.
Close
up of compressor side (TO4E-50 trim): 
Close
up of turbine side: 
Turbo and turbo oil pipe:
The exhaust manifold can now be removed (exhaust gasket still in place):
Gasket
removed: 
