I have tried to compile a little refernce for a turbo swap. I did this mainly because when I swapped my turbo I had lots of questions and no answers. So here it is!
Diagnosis
Is your turbo bad? Well, there are some tell tale signs of a bad turbo. Smoke or steam can indicate a bad turbo. For instance my car only smoked when it was warmed up. This led me to the turbo. Be careful not to diagnose a bad headgasket as a bad turbo!
2.2 Turbo R & R
Once you are sure that your turbo is bad decide if you are going to replace your headgasket at the same time. No matterf who tells you what YOU DON'T NEED TO TAKE THE HEAD OFF TO SWAP THE TURBO!!! There is enought room to to work and manuever the turbo out of the car. I've done it, I know! If however, you are going to replace the headgasket too, then remove the turbo and head as an assembly. For this I will assume your NOT removing the head.
First start by getting the aircleaner box lid out of the way. Take off the two nuts on the throttle body and set the lid/snorkel asside. Drain the cooling system. Next get out you tape and pen. Start at the throttle body and disconect the vaccum hoses and the wiring. There are about 1,000 vaccum hoses, but label them all and things will be good. Draw a picture if you need to. Next remove the throttle linkage. Loosen the hose clamp that holds the turbo tube to the bottom of the throttle body. Then remove the three bolts that hold the throlle body on. Get the throttle body outta there!
Now start at the top of the motor, label and remove the vaccum hoses and wiring that goes to the fuel rail and the turbo. Don't unplug the harness at the injectors. Remove fuel pressure at the fuel rail by pushing the valve stem on the fuel rail. Now find 2 little clips that slide over the fuel rail bracket and hold up a heat sheild. Remove these. Now, remove the 4 bolts that hold on the fuel rail and carefully pry it from the intake. You shouldn't have to remove any fuel hoses. Then remove the heat sheild.
Now it starts to get dirty. There are oil feed and water feed lines running to the turbo. They come from the thermostat housing and the oil sending unit respectively. Chances are these will be so rusted they will just bend and break or twist. Don't bother with them, just cut them and buy new ones. They are around $55 for the pair. Now get the car in the air and unbolt the exhaust from the turbo. There is an oil return line on the bottom of the turbo. Remove the 2 bolts and let the hose stay on the motor. There is also a coolant return line. Remove it at the motor so it stays with the turbo
Well, your almost home free. Brush yourself off and get you WD40. Spray down the bolts that hold the turbo to the intake. Start working these 4 bolts but be careful. It will suck alot if they break. Once you've got the loose, loosen up the hose clamp that holds the turbo tube to the intake and remove the turbo. It's a little tight behind there but it will come out!
Congrats! you've got it off, follow these procedures for putting it back on. It does seem to be a little easier putting it on so you have that to look forward to. Don't forget to crank the motor for a few seconds before initial fire up. This will send some oil into the new turbo.
Well, I hope this will help someone out there. If anyone has any questions or knows of anything I've missed ot any tips, e-mail me!