pipe

Ok guys anyone who has had the experience of installing a Mini Ram please let me know what problems i'm going to run into when I put this thing on.Will my vacum hose for the brake booster fit up? Will my MAP and MAT sensors work? How about the Pvc hoses? How about the rear steam pipe that hooks up to my original intake? Anything else that you might think of that might help me would be greatly appreciated by the way the car is a 90 coupe auto L98 350 THANKS

jburnett

It's fairly straight forward. There are tapped holes for brake booster and vacuum lines so that's not a problem. I do NOT remember there being a hole for the MAT sensor on mine but there probably was; I had mine located in the airbox so I didn't even really look. The steam fitting for the rear is another story. My MR (and others I've seen) did NOT have a provision for this. No biggie; I drilled and tapped the manifold for a 1/4 NPT to -6AN 45* fitting. The I cut off the fitting on the steam line and used a -6 tube nut and sleeve and flared it; connected right to the fitting I installed in the manifold!

Those are really the only issues I can think of...
-Jeb

LD85

First I would do a search her on teh CF, I learned a lot from previous posts'

Bolt on is very straight forward, but which Miniram do you have? I have the Miniram II.

I moved my MAT to the snorkel on my car, other than that everything bolted in place.

C4-Wolf

Connecting the fuel lines was my biggest issue. The units from TPIS aren't so good, so many people make their own with flexable steel braided lines. Seems to work well.

johnnyevans

One other thing to watch for. Get a Stant HD t'stat. It's not as tall and will open all the way. Use a regular one and you will probably have overheating problems. I did. It's really short in the t'stat well.

pipe

Jeb you woudn't happen to have a pic. of the steam fitting to the back of the mini ram would ya so I could see how you did it? Also what Fel Pro gasket# do I need to install it? THANKS GUYS I HOPE THE INSTALL GOES SMOOTH

87Z-ya

If you havent bought it yet, I would recomend buying the cheaper fuel rail kit. I bought the specialized one and didnt even use the extra stuff. I just ran 6 an line to it on my z.

88_vette

I think a number of people don't even hook up this vent line in the back. You will have to run a standard 5/8 heater hose to replace the built in T for the vent line. Of course if you have the oil cooler you will have to do away with it, or by one 5/8 T fitting for the new heater hose. From my understanding you don't have to have this rear vetn thing. I think I had to put a T fitting to hook up the map, and FPR. There is only two vac hook ups on the pass. side and this is not enough for a MAP car. The MAT, relocate.

hookedup

I ran one of the small vacuum lines to a "tee", one side for the MAP the other to the FPR.

Dave :yesnod:

jburnett

I don't think I have pics of that...But I might, I'll look through my discs in a minute while I'm taking a break from the EFI SP project... But it's relatively simple, just drill a hole where the water port is in the pass. side rear of the manifold, tap it for 1/4" NPT. Go to your local speed shop and buy a 1/4" pipe to -6AN 45* fitting and a -6 tube nut and sleeve. Thread the fitting into the manifold and cut the Saginaw fitting off of the steam tube. Slip the sleeve and tube nut over the steam tube and flare the end with a flaring tool; it will the connect right up to the fitting you installed in the mani...

Everything else is rather simple on the MR.
-Jeb
Edit: I just looked through the two discs I could find that had my MR on it and neither had a pic where you could see that fitting. I know I've got another pic I took of it when I sold it but can't find it; it probably has a pic of the fitting... I could swear I sold it to someone either on here or the VN, though. So, whomever bought my MR, step-up!!


[Modified by jburnett, 6:20 PM 11/7/2003]

pablocruise

pipe,
when I switched over to a stealthram, it did not have a rear cooling passage either. I thought about just putting a cap on the line, but I just alltogether got rid of it. A length of new hose and eliminated the oil cooler, but you can easily make a "T" as mentioned above and another 2 pieces of short hose.

Please report back on your findings of switching over to the miniram from a TPI set-up. Interesting!

pipe

Also will I have to have my computer chip changed from just putting on this intake? Also what is the wire connector for that is mounted to the back bolt of the thermostat housing? THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP GUYS I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M GETTING INTO YET BILL

pablocruise

That is the EGR solenoid line. It has some vac lines on it too right?
Not sure where the miniram has it's EGR. At least chassis dyno it after the swap. The dyno needs to be a wide band O2 sensor eqipped dyno. They will give you a printout of the air fuel ratio at various RPM. I am guessing with the additional flow of the mini, you might be lean sometimes.

Da-Cajun

The Miniram has no provisions for the EGR. I didn't see this mentionedin the above. Just in case it becomes an issue you now know. Good luck!!

pipe

Just was wonderin if this swap is gonna set off any codes or make the car run crazy or what? Dad said ya can't leave your hands off it can ya? Racin it and stuff. If ya break it at the track don't call me to come get ya! (he he )

Skippy Stone

If you don't mind grinding new parts, fabricating fuel lines and brake lines and water lines and make new brackets and running new vacumn hoses all over the place, yeah it's a snap.

This is on vortec heads. I was particularly unhappy about grinding the fuel rail to fit the distributor, buying 45 degree fuel line connectors for the "vette" fuel rails and having a new brake line fabricated.

TPIS ALWAYS says their stuff is just a bolt on. It almost never is.

You will be missing a couple vacumn connections. I would not tee the MAP sensor to anything since this might through off your ECM. And obviously, you shouldn't mess with your brake connection.
http://www.photohost.org/gallery/sho...t=7&thecat=500

ol,RJ

biggest problem I ran into was the thermostat. you have to get one that is stepped for more clearance underneath it. otherwise it has no room to open.
check out my home page on the subject: http://temp.corvetteforum.net/c4/olrj/index2.shtml


[Modified by ol,RJ, 2:09 AM 11/9/2003]

LD85

:iagree:
I bought a STANT Part Number 29306,,, 160-F thermostat for my MINIRAM manifold. When all the way open it is 1/16" longer than the hole is deep, so I bent the outer flange downward just a bit (@.060" or 1/16") so it now allows the thermo unit to open fully.

pipe

If I dissconnect the EGR Solenoid since the Mini Ram does not have a provision for one will this set off any codes or make the car run funny THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR ALL THE FEEDBACK ABOUT THE MINI RAM YOU GUYS ARE A GREAT HELP

Steve85

Everything related to EGR operation on my 85 is now gone. For some reason, I do not get any EGR codes :confused: .

Here is something I've never seen mentioned, the front of my TPI intake had two sensors and a heater core outlet, the MR has only two holes here. One sensor is the Engine Coolant Temp sensor for the ECM. The other I could find little information for, I have only seen it refered to as a thermo time switch. I know OBDII cars monitor how long it takes for the coolant to reach operating temps, honestly don't know if this sensor is doing something similar. So in order to keep two sensors and a heater core outlet I had to put on my plumbers outfit and came up with this...


I did a much better job on the new engine, looks much better, but don't have any pics.

Anyone else run into this??? Is my heater core plumbed wrong? (water pump to core to intake) It was bypassed when I first got the car.

Onto the fuel lines, finding a way to reroute them may be beneficial. I can tell you that the way they're run for an 85, the right side of the throttle body is packed with AN fittings, a TPS, IAC and breather inlet. I'm on my way to Summit.com now to order what I need, killing two birds with a bunch of compression or AN fittings.(fuel lines on right front frame rail VERY close to headers)

PS> The MR needs to done as a package, I went from 230 RWHP to 234 RWHP with the ONLY change being the MR. Package, package, package.