The instructions say to remove the two hydraulic fittings on the steering rack. The fittings circled in white looked like they fit the bill and were pretty easy to get to, so I removed them....wrong. They mean to take the two off under the red circle. They are the supply and return lines to the pump. It was difficult to see where those fittings went, so I hoped the two easy ones were the right ones. Those two are an incredible PITA to get loose. I took the hose off the bottom of the power steering reservoir, capped the reservoir with a vacuum cap and removed only the inboard connector. Still a PITA but easier than taking both off.


You better eat your Wheaties before tackling the crank bolt. My impact gun didn't touch it. So it took a 24" breaker bar and a lot of grunt.


Next step is to pin the crank. The directions are pretty clear about ensuring the pin sits flush with the balancer. I don't want to drill too short and tap that pin in because then the balancer would have to come off. So I decided to cut a zip tie the exact length of the pin. After drilling to the measured depth (set by tape on the drill bit) I'll slide the cut zip tie in to ensure it sits flush with the balancer. Then I'll pull the zip tie out with a pick and set the pin. PS The zip tie segment in the pic was a shade too short, so I cut another one.


After about 7 hours of work, it was getting dark and I was getting tired so I called it quits before drilling the crank. More tomorrow...

 

Man your going to love the new found power, your car really looks great. I'm another one the will recommend going with the McLeod clutch when the time comes, depending on how you drive your car will be the main determining factor on when that happens, I'll tell ya though, your gonna be hammering on her more often than not, it's so much fun it hard not to.

Keep us posted

Few more days and your gonna have something else to polish under the hood.

 

These are the best bar none!!

 

Finally! Happy to be done with this because now I get to move on to putting stuff back in the car


The pin isn't a press fit, but it sits nice and flush with the balancer. This is definitely a measure twice cut once endeavor.


ARP bolt. I lubed under head of bolt, threads, and washer face before installing. Instructions said torque to 235 ft/lbs.


I bought a flywheel locking tool, but before going through all of that, I tried the 5th gear trick. With my 24" 250 ft/lb torque wrench I had very little difficulty hitting 235 ft/lbs of torque. I also used a 12pt socket. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Just to make sure, I reset the wrench to 0, then back to 235 and checked it twice. I'm confident it's right.

 

Opa! It's only roughed in right now. I ran out of daylight and didn't want to try to get the belt routed without good light. That belt is going to be lots of fun.



Edit: Sat down for a little while and was annoyed I didn't get that belt on, so I went back out there after watching the video again and got it! Just need to install the tensioner and the blower is done.

Belt routed and mounting bolts started. The top bolt is missing its spacer.

 

I did some homework on the clutch before starting because I was concerned about the stocker holding up. Pretty much got the same story. Thanks for the feedback on the McLeod. Shortlist after the blower includes headers/cam/clutch.

That flex made short work of 11 years of swirls on black paint. I love mine. It was a nice upgrade from a DA.

 

A little more progress today. I routed the belt last night and found it was off one rib on the SC tensioner. I had to fiddle with that for a little while to get it right, but it's all squared away now.

Radiator trimmed for intake and intercooler plumbing.


When I first mounted the head unit, I didn't think it would ever clear the radiator. It's a very close shave.


Sheet metal for intercooler installed.


Tomorrow I'd like to get the intercooler mounted, the BOV installed, and the rest of the intake plumbing done.

 

Installed the MAF -> throttle body couplings and air bridge last night. Missing spacer showed up today, so that's in now. I also got the BOV plumbing put together. Intercooler and associated connections will be done tonight. I may even have time to get the BAP done.




Almost home

 

Got the Intercooler and BOV installed. All the plumbing is done now. All I have left is to install BAP, connect vacuum for BAP/BOV/Boost Gauge and connect the air filter oil line. Probably less than 3 hours left now.

 

It took some help from Jesse at A&A to get the Intercooler to TB piping right. It's REALLY important to secure the bottom of the intercooler to the frame. If it's off by even 1/2" the plumbing from the IC to the TB is basically impossible to get right.


Getting ready for the final step in the instructions: BAP install.


A&A instructions on this were perfect and it was a very simple job. The only deviation I made was on the ground wire. There was a grounding strap for the fuel filler just above the mounting location for the BAP. Rather than scrape paint and drill a new hole, I just used the existing ground. The BAP ground wire reached it no problem.


I drilled a small hole just below that sideways "T" to accommodate a zip tie to keep everything secure.


And there we have it. Really the last major job for this install.


The sliding tensioner rubbed the front bracket on the first start. I loosened everything, removed/reinstalled the tensioner, tightened everything back up and that cured it. Really looking forward to Saturday now.

Any guess on power numbers (stock engine before SC)?

 

Nice! I actually passed on this thread after reading a whole ton of stereo stuff (I didn't buy mine for killer audio ) but came back for some reason and went right to page two to see if there was anything interesting back there (I have my view settings maxed out, so this thread only has two pages). Wow, am I glad I came back! Nice! I can't wait to see how she turns out

 

Is that a Harbor Freight wrench?

 

Ya, I've done quite a bit since the stereo even.

No. I got it on Amazon.

 

I waited until the end for this step because I wanted to make sure everything ran and operated normally without fighting with a severely rich condition and because for a while I thought about driving the car to the tuner with the stock injectors and swapping them out at the shop. Either way, waiting until the end for the injectors worked out well because I did have to do some troubleshooting and fortunately I didn't have to worry about the engine dying out while sorting issues.


I didn't have fresh engine oil handy, so I used some of the extra oil they sent with the supercharger to lube the o-rings on the new injectors.


Photo bomb: I was walking around the car to do something and this shot just caught my eye Oh, I did fix the gauge pod to the A-Pillar.


I put the coil covers and battery shroud back in. The A&A instructions say the passenger side coil cover has to be trimmed to fit over part of the mounting bracket. Mine did not. It's not even close--fit right on there with no trimming. The rest of the pictures are just me being very happy this install is done. I finally get a night off.




A few lessons learned from the experience:

- Install the injectors last. It gives you the opportunity to find problems while not dealing with a rough running engine. i.e. If you have a plug wire not connected correctly it might be hard to figure that out pre-tune with the new injectors.

- Make sure the Intercooler wings are flush against the sheet metal at the top and bottom. a) It creates the Intercooler Ram Air condition and b) The top plumbing will not fit right if it's even 1/2" off. You may have to cut a 1" square from the bumper on each side where it meets the sheet metal to press the bottom of the IC wing to the sheet metal. I had to cut mine in order to get the bottom wing tight.

- The steering rack isn't particularly hard to remove or put back, just take your time and don't get frustrated. Make sure the wheel is turned 2 degrees left of center and you should be able to get to the steering shaft to steering rack coupling bolt from the side of the alternator with a couple of extensions and a swivel joint.

- If I did this again, I would probably take the radiator out or at least remove the top hose just for the room.

- Rotate the hot lead on the alternator up so the main red wire is facing upward when working on the steering rack. You'll be surprised how much extra room that gives you to work on the hydraulic lines.

- Make sure to check the injector cups for leftover o-rings before putting the new ones in. I had two new injectors in before I realized the old ones were still in the cups.

- I was able to release the crank bolt with a 24" breaker bar and the tranny in 5th gear. Get good tension on the bolt and give it a good shove (I released mine from the driver's side). The ARP bolt torqued to 235lb/ft without too much fuss using a 24" 250lb/ft torque wrench.

- Measure twice/cut once when drilling the crank for the pin. It's worth taking extra time and being methodical here.

- Watch the A&A Belt Install video on Youtube. I didn't have any idea how I was going to get that belt routed until I saw that video. Their method works.

- Highly recommend a die grinder for trimming the radiator if you're sticking with stock. I tried a dremel, but the die grinder made short work of it.

- Don't be afraid to trim the coupler from the air bridge to the SC inlet but be judicious.

- A little grease on the inside silicone hoses helps A LOT during install.

- The MAF screen faces forward. That was an uh-oh moment late at night. Flow direction is also marked on the MAF but I didn't see that while I was reasoning which way to put it back on.

- Buy and install your gauges while you're waiting for your kit to arrive. I'm really glad I did this. The boost gauge vacuum tube was sitting right where I needed it. All I had to do was hook it up when the time came.

- A right angle drill saved my bacon on several occasions. Highly recommend having one handy before you start.

- Make sure you reconnect the under hood light before installing the shroud. I didn't and had to close the hood to make the connection.

- I've seen several installs where the oil line to the air filter is plugged into a 3/8" nipple on the valve cover. I spoke with Jesse @ A&A about this and he advised against it. He said the 3/8" opening doesn't flow enough and he's seen it cause blown out rear seals and other odd venting noises. You also need a 3/8" NPT-18 TAP. Amazon and Harbor Freight had them. Autozone, O'Reilly, and Home Depot did not.

____________
I tried to comment on things I learned that weren't obvious or clearly spelled out in the directions. That's about all I can think of for now. Stand-by for the dyno slip Saturday night!

 

This thread is full of win. Amazing work!

 

After you drive your car a few months, the heat and cool cycles will help with all the real tight fitting hoses, I have removed a lot of mine during cleaning and other maintenance and every time it goes back together it gets easier and seems to fit better each time.
Car looks great, looking forward to seeing where the numbers land.

 

Thanks! It's been a fun couple of months. Thinking about what's next and I keep coming back to headers/x-pipe and perhaps cam.


Ya, when I realized just how stretched the top coupler was due to the fact the IC wasn't flat against the sheet metal, I called and spoke with Jesse @ A&A. He said the same thing--heat cycles would relax the fit some.

What revision head unit do you have?

 

Are you completely satisfied with it? Link?

 

There was a calibration slip inside the box with hand written QA boxes signed. I don't have any sort of measurement system to validate the calibration though.


PS Forgot to answer your question: Yes, I'm happy with it. I have no reason to doubt it.

 

Game time! Base tune loaded. Dyno up next.