I love this thread, keep it coming!!! :cool: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

 

so does your intercooler mount infront of the radiator or like ontop like the airfilter system did when it was stock many years ago :lolg:

 

They didnt give you any trouble because that pump is junk......as i was putting the nut on the negitive post on mine....by hand......the post came right off in my fingers,believe me it will only get worse,just hope they shipped you all the parts they shorted me about 6 pieces in my kit :mad

 

Im hooked :cool: :cheers:

 

Any updates?

 

O.k. I had a little time this weekend so I did some more uninteresting stuff. I also updated my previous post with a couple pics.

Anyway, I got my plugs and wires installed. I went with the Mallory wires already made in the specified lengths. I put the black plastic wrap from the stock wires on the new ones.....just to be safe.



I also went with the Autolite 104's. Don't forget to put antiseize on the plug threads and dialectric compount on the inside of the plug boot.

First off let me say that everyone who said to do the drivers side first so that the passenger side would be a piece of cake is wrong. Sorry to be so blunt. Here's my reason. The biggest pain of changing these plugs (unless you've never changed plugs on any car before) was simply getting to know the nuances of these stupid wire-loom-clips and how the wires attach. These buggers can be a pain, especially considering the Mallory's I bought are a little thicker which makes getting these looms on a trying experience. Don't let the driver's side intimidate you.

Do the passenger side first, and get all your swearing out of the way trying to clip these things back on and then do the Driver's side.

OH MY GOD, I cannot believe how eeeeeasy the drivers side was. I remember spending at least 20 minutes looking at the drivers side plugs just shaking my head dreading doing this. All I needed was a 3" extension-rachet-socket and I could get to every plug without even scraping a knuckle. Here is why it is easy:





Take 10 minutes to remove the fender and you can reach every plug and wire from under the ASR. Just be careful not to put too much stress on the brake lines when installing/removing the plugs. Sorry to keep going on about this, I just still can believe how easy this was. ANYWAY, Something that I never thought could be so hard is the stupid power steering pump pulley! It's my luck only the '92 needs this pulley removed. I hope the tensioner and idler aren't this hard.
:mad :mad :mad :mad :mad :mad

I tried 3 different types of pullers and all I ended up doing was bending the puller or warping the pulley. I'm afraid I will have to order the GM tools for this. The cost will suck and so will the shipping wait time. If anybody already has this tool or knows of a better one, please IM me.

I then removed my new opti and marked my new wires. I had to remove it so I can put the new seals for the opti and waterpump in the timing chain cover. I'm not taking any chances. They won't be in until Tuesday, plus I'm going to reseal the cap and electrical connection on the opti with high temp black RTV. I used blue but I think the black is recommended more and it will look cleaner.

I got anxious though and wanted to see how the blower bracket would look so I tried to install it -- EMPHASIS ON THE WORD "TRY"

Guess what, the bolt holes in my heads don't go deep enough to accept the bolts that ATI gave me for the bracket. WTF!?!?!?!?!?!?! I have to go to the hardware store and get a couple washers per bolt. I hope they don't protrude too much and get in the way of anything. Has anyone else had this problem???? It shouldn't be a big deal though.

Well that's it for now. Another "Uninteresting step" I'm going to make myself do is clean the radiator really well. I'm not taking chances for this thing overheating.

T.T.F.N. :seeya

 

DAMN! you had a tough time hu! well next time dont drink so much beer it might help :D

 

O.k. I had an afternoon this Saturday so I got pretty far. I'm not done yet but I did all the fun stuff.

I pulled my Opti off and resealed my whole cap with Black RTV. Notice the bottle of octane boost I was also putting into my intake :lol:



I replaced the rubber seal that presses into the timing chain cover and put the opti back on the motor, it slid right on this time and I simply hooked the wires back up. I hand tightened the 3 bolts and put thread locker on 'em just in case. This time I put Dialectric compount on the inside of the boots for 2 reasons. 1. to get the boots off easier, and 2. to keep water or coolant from getting in there. I'm not sure if this will work but It couldn't hurt.



The next step was putting the balancer back on. no problem at all. I repainted it black and lined up the arrow. Torqued to bolts to 60 lbs. Done!



Now it's time for the Waterpump. Make sure you put your opti coil wire and the electrical connection to the computer on now. I scraped clean the surfaces of the block with a razor blade and put a couple dabs of RTV on the gaskets to hold them in place on the water pump while I mounted it to the block. No problems. I put thread sealer on ALL the bolts just in case. I remember taking one of the bolts out and coolant ran everywhere. When I looked in the GM shop manual it didn't specify ANYTHING about thread sealer but I'm not taking chances. Torqued 'em down to 30lbs. DONE!



I installed my new 160 T-stat from TPIS. It already came with the gasket so I bought one for no reason.



I cleaned the thermo housing real good with brake cleaner and scraped all the scale off and put it back on.

Now onto the blower bracket. I put the extra washers on that I got at the hardware store. Not big deal and just tightened as much as I could get them.



As I was putting the bracket on a bushing fell under the car. I went to go pick it up and I saw a water pump gasket sitting on the ground :mad :mad :mad :mad :mad :mad

It fell off when I was putting the water pump on. so off came the bracket, and off came the waterpump and back on went the gasket. It didn't set me back more than 15 minutes, but it pissed me off somethin' fierce. At least I caught it though, I would have been more pissed if I started the car like that!

So back on track.

NOW FOR THE BLOWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wait-a-minute, it doesn't fit in the car!!!!

You can see where the bushings have major gaps because the outlet of the blower housing hits the frame rail. HOW COULD THIS BE! I couldn't understand it. I just shook my head for 45 minutes, and even got on the internet to see if I could call ATI. of course, they're closed on the weekends. This has got to fit! There must be something I have to do. Then I looked at the blower housing and noticed it was clamped down with hex screws. I contemplated rotating the housing and did just that. I hope ATI doesn't void my warranty for this :lol: :lol: :lol:



Once Rotated it it went in with some force. The inlet plenum gets jammed right up againt the radiator fan.





MAN this thing looks sweet! :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

Once that was on I bolted the power steering reservoir to the bracket with the coil and installed the coil wire from the opti. Now I had to replace the pulleys. Since mine is a '92 I had to replace the tensioner pulley and the driver's side idler pulley. The Idler pulley bolt came right off, but the tentioner bolt was a bear. I simply took the tensioner off the motor and put it in a vise and it came right off. The power steering pulley came off with a puller/remover kit from Autozone.



The belt. I though this was going to be hard because of what I hear, but OH MY GOD was this simple. As long as you do the blower pulley first you can stuff it around the bushings and twist it around the pulley, then line up the crank and accessories and the rest is text book.



Once that was done I hooked up the new lower radiator hose (in previous pic) and the old upper hose. Piece of cake.

That's it for Saturday. Sunday was a family day so I couldn't work on it, but I'll install as much of the intake and intercooler tonight as I can.

:seeya


[Modified by vvv90, 11:34 AM 6/16/2003]


[Modified by vvv90, 11:36 AM 6/16/2003]

 

Thanks for the updates! :seeya

 

Lookin good :cheers: :cheers: :cool:

 

O.k. Back at it. I was on vacation all last week so that's my newest excuse :)

I started installing the intake tube that runs between the blower and the radiator shroud. MEGA tight fit! The plastic plenum was already installed with the head unit, but there's a series of tubes that wrap around and go up into the passenger side wheel well. This involved removing the surge tank. A piece of plastic 1" X 4" had to get cut off to fit.

WAIT! problem, it appears that I'm missing a 4" rubber elbow. I called ATI and Had to pay $30 for them to send it to me and when it got to my house I realized I DID already have it :cuss: The problem was in the POS instructions the elbow is 4" but in real life it's more like 12". WTF!!?? I guess I'll just have to cut it down to 4" and ship the one I just purchased back. Oh well.

INTERCOOLER

I started by cutting the two bumps out of the shroud where the old Bellow used to mount. I used a grinder which melted the plastic into strands of a black cotton candy-like mess. I had to clean that up, then I laid the intercooler in place. I then closed the hood carefully to see if it would fit. The Intercooler fit, but then I figured out the new lower radiator hose that wraps around the blower sat up too high and was getting pinched. I had to remove the hose (only from the top) and cut about 3" off and then it hugged a little better (this sucks though because this is something hot against my blower. Oh well.

Then I put the intercooler back in place and outlined with a marker where the corners went. I lifted off the intercooler and then drew a box inside the previous marks a 1/2" smaller. Then I used my grinder and cut this out (approx. 12.5" X 5")

Then I took that piece of 12.5X5" plastic and cut two smaller pieces to cover the smaller holes and used JB weld to hold them in place.



Once that dried, I spray painted the JB weld black. The flash from my camera makes the black stand out, but to the eye you can't tell a diff, besides, you won't see these holes anyway once everything's sitting in place on top.



I then used the supplied foam tape and cut them and stuck 'em on.



This "supposedly" keeps the intercooler sealed. I then put the intercooler in place and it fit nice and snug.



Now to fit the hoses to the Throttle body. No problem. However, I noticed now my IAT sensor harness isn't long enough. I guess I'm going to have to do some splicing. Imagine that...Instructions didn't mention that :rolleyes:



Now tightening the hoses with clamps was not an amusing experience. WHAT A PAIN! For whatever reason they gave me hose clamps that barely fit around the hose, let alone the hose and the intercooler snout together. After a bunch of swearing I ended up doubling up 2 hose clamps and cutting off the ends. Wallah!



O.k. Now I had to modify my IAT sensor. What this entailed was to pry the element out of the plastic/brass unit it comes in. How in the hell you're supposed to get this fragile thing out I don't know, but wouldn't you know it. I DESTROYED IT!!!! So I had to order another one. I ordered 2 just in case :thumbs: Should be here early next week for me to break..er...try again. :rolleyes:

I also started my gauges. I started by removing the vent on the drivers side and taking out the battery. I then dropped the cover under my steering wheel and took off the panel on the dash next to the door. I took a drill and opened 3 holes. One for the harness to the FP sender. One for the EGT probe wire, and one for the boost tube. I ran into a problem however. The fiberglass is too thick to permit proper mounting of the rubber grommits that come with the gauges so I'm just going to use some RTV and make my own. It won't look pretty but it will work, seal beter than the grommits, and you won't see 'em anyway. I'll get some pics of my gauge pod soon. :thumbs:

That's it for now. Tonight I'll put the intake tubes between the blower and intercooler and surge valve together.

Coming attractions:

Add Oil to Head unit
Change Oil and Filter
Add Coolant
Modify IAT sensor and harnass
Modify PCV

Then I can start her up and check for leaks. If everything idles o.k. the only other things I have to do are:

Swap intank and aux fuel pump with my new Walbro GSS340 255lph pump! :eek: :eek:
Install my new Aeromotive AFPR
Install vacuum fittings for vented opti and boost gauge
Install FP sender into Schrader Valve hole
Install EGT probe into exhaust manifold (This is going to suck, I can tell :cry: )
Install reprog'd chip from ski_down_it (Jesse) and hopefully she will fly :thumbs:

I'm hoping to have all this done by next week. Wish me luck!


[Modified by vvv90, 2:03 PM 7/2/2003]

 

Good luck! :thumbs:

Not that you will need it though! You sound like you are doing an excellent job as you go. Thanks for all the updates. I anxiously await the next phase!

:cheers:

 

Great progress!! :cheers:

Are you going to dyno or get some track results after the install?

 

Yeah, once I get the thing running right, I'll take it to the dyno and do a couple pulls. I'm going to pick up a wide band O2 next month so that should help with the tuning. Once I get my 315 Nittos I'll take it to the track. I'm not going to waste my time with street tires because all I'll end up doing is disappointing myself :nonod:

 

Well, I wanted to have it running by Sunday, but like everything else, it just wasn't in the cards. I partied my butt off Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but I managed to get some stuff done.

O.k. Thursday night I installed the rest of the intake. I installed the hose between the blower and the intercooler intake. There is a metal tube with a fitting for the surge Valve also. I had to hack the lower rubber tube, it was about 2" too long.



Once that was done I concentrated on the pre-blower intake side. I don't have pictures under the car but it's nothing to look at anyway. The problem was that the rubber elbow that connects to the air filter/surge fitting coupler and the intake plenum on the blower needed to be hacked down about 6" :eek: :eek: Even AFTER I did all that hacking I still could not get this air filter to fit in the wheel well with the overflow tank in the way.....so out came the horn. I'll have to work on a relocation of the horn later. It's not like I need it to get the car running anyway ;)



You can see the red-striped surge hose. What this does is allow excess boost to vent into the pre-blower intake side. I guess there's just a diaphram that pops at a given level of boost. There's a vacuum hose on the valve that I have yet to attach to the intake manifold.

Now I installed the new bracket that extends the overflow tank out a little bit from it's previous position where the air filter is now. (I'm still worried about enough air getting to the filter :skeptical: )



The problem now was the hose to connect to the overflow tank. Now that it's been extended, it won't won't reach. the kit didn't come with any way of getting this to work, so luckily I was able to save myself some time and found a brass mender and some 3/8" fuel line and host clamps to extend the connection a few inches to the tank.

Sunday I came home and did some miscellaneous stuff. I changed my engine oil and GET THIS! The instructions don't say anything about adding oil to the blower! :eek: Good thing I remembered. I added one 6 oz. bottle. It's going to be a pain to change the oil on this thing though, considering how cramped the engine compartment is now.

Oh yeah, I also did the "PCV Mod" but I forgot to take pics. I'll update that tomorrow.

I got my IAT sensor on Thursday with my new fuel filter so I'll do that tomorrow. Hopefully my new fuel pump and AFPR will be waiting for me when I get home today.

:seeya

 

DAMN!!!!! you have got alot done i am excited to see what kind of power it makes!

 

:D Me too! :steering:

Should be running by tomorrow or Wednesday the latest.....KEEPING it running is another thing as long as there's no leaks, squeaks, etc...

....Then I have to worry about detonation! :nonod:

 

Matt
You should be fine...i am sure it will start right up and no problems :skep: No but i would say at first it might be a little grumpy but i bet after the computer see's the extra air and keep the air down it should run fine! I like the intercooler you have i know i can buy one from a forum member but i ran out of money but i guess that is a great intercooler and i know guys spraying NOS on the outside of the intercooler during races and it keeps the air super chilly! like ice cold! but i have never seen it except on this guys car mark? but i wanted to say it looks so good and keep us informed!

 

As for the IAT sensor and getting the sensor out of the housing, I simply used a pair of needle nose pliers and pulled at the bottom prongs (wire connectors). By firmly grabbing both legs of the connectors and pulling you should be able to pull the entire sensor assembly out of the housing.

 

I'M soooo close!!!!

PCV mod:

O.k. this was from the weekend but it's important to add. Since the PCV won't funtion if there's boost preventing the crack case from venting, the valve needed to be removed from the driver's side. An elbow fits in it's place and routes to the other side breather hose and then it get's T'd off.



Then the openning on the throttle body gets capped (see arrow)

The third leg of the T goes down to the air filter and you need to punch a 3/8" hole in the top to put the elbow in. Of course, the instructions don't mention this step when I was putting everything together :mad so I had to take everything apart to get the filter off. Jeez! Oh well.



Now back to the IAT sensor that I destroyed.

The new IAT sensor was all plastic, so I put it under my bench grinder until the element came out. Plugged it into the connector and attached it to the bung on the intake. The wires stretched just enough to connect it.



O.k. now for the fuel pressure gauge. I hooked up the sender to the AN fitting with teflon tape, but I didn't use any on the flared fitting on the fuel rail. Oh BTW, I removed the valve stem on the schrader valve too :)



I had to cap the vacuum hole on near the FP sender with a brass plug because I couldn't put the injector cover on with the sender swung out that much. Therefore I capped it and routed my vauum lines to the driver's side and installed a bunch of T fittings.



Luckily with the PCV mod it gave me another vacuum hole to put a T fitting in. I have sooooo much plugged in here. My vented Opti, my boost guage, my FMU, my Surge Valve, and my power brake booster. :eek:

O.k. Now I double checked all my fluids and hoses and clamps, and triple checked my belt clearance. I installed the battery back in the car and power came right back on.

I turned the key and:

VROOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!

Started right up on the first try!!!!!!!

:party: :party: :party:
:hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

Man is this blower loud!!!! I knew it was going to whine and chrip but it actually sounds like shaking a tin can full of marbles!!! Once it gets above 1100 RPM's though you can barely hear it.

It started running really rich but after a while it leaned out. I let it get up to operating temperature and it ran smooth.

DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!

Shut it off!!!!! I forgot to add Power steering fluid!

:mad :mad :mad :mad :mad :mad :mad :mad

I hope I didn't ruin my pump. Well that's it. It ran and didn't leak. I'm happy.

Today's duties:

Pick up PS fluid
Mount my gauge pod and hook up lights for gauges
Take her out and wash her
Take her for a spin! :thumbs: :hurray: :chevy :flag :rofl: :auto:

Thanks for all your support guys! I couldn't have done it without you.

krivera, blackbart, jburnett, ski_down_it, and others I can't think of right now....Thank a million! :seeya