Thread: Where to buy turbo oil drain barb / bung? Also 90° or straight?

Leave the engine in. No big deal. Yes, you will have to remove both oil pans. Take my advice and be prepared to remove the front bumper and the radiator as well to give yourself access with the long drill bit and drill you'll be using.
Under no circumstances should you leave the bumper and radiator on. They aren't hard to remove, so do it first thing.

The entire job is not too hard, it just takes time. You'll need to get the exhaust out of the way, and the cross member. Then the oil pans and baffles come down (don't forget to drain the oil). Then you can drill a pilot hole then the larger hole. Make sure you aim a little high so you don't drill into the oil pan mating surface. That's an easy mistake to make. Tap the threads and clean up the shavings from inside the block (there will be some on the girdle). Don't drill through the girdle by accident either.

Then you can put it back together and add back the oil and coolant. Don't forget the RTV.
Piece of cake. It will just take a while.

Will I have to take out the lower cross member brace, or should I be able to work around most things without removing them (besides bumper and radiator?

Bumper and radiator will be off anyways so I can route the intercooler + piping and move the fans around

Yes, you're going to have to remove the lower cross member brace. Also the portion of the exhaust that goes under the engine.

Exhaust portion will be no problem, it'll all be coming off to make room for the new exhaust I'll be making. The lower brace sucks. I don't want to go about it the wrong way, but the lower oil pan sounds so much easier :\ My buddy with a turbo'd NX is trying to convince me running the drain to the lower oil pan is fine, but with that plug right next to the turbo, it will look much better and work better. Ugh.. so much more work.

The crossmember is nothing. Just do it.

Two bolts and pull, you'll be fine. You don't have to mess with the mount on the back of the motor...

I'm planning on doing it now. How hard is it to take off the upper oil pan? Can I take it off without removing the lower oil pan? I've never taken either of those off. And as far as the drilling and tapping, as long as I have the right drill bit sizes and tap, it's pretty simple, no?

The upper oil pan is not hard to take off, but you do need to take off the lower oil pan first. You'll also have to remove some baffles too, and maybe the pickup tube too.
To split the lower oil pan, you'll want a thin paint scraper or something.
To split the upper oil pan, there are threaded holes on the upper oil pan that should have no bolts in them. You can thread bolts straight up through them and the bolts will push against a spot on the block and that will release the seal.
Don't forget to remove the two 10mm nuts over by the flywheel side!

As for drilling at tapping, yah, it's real simple.

For anyone that needs it - I have the correct size drill bit. It's new (still packaged). PM me with an offer if you want it.

This causes the oil not to drain from the turbo correctly. I do not recommend doing it this way. Drop both pans and drill the block. There is a reason Nissan did it that way on the DETs.