LOL! I said the same thing on another thread on here when I was doing mine. Little did I know that the very guy (Ken Nunn) who designed these blowers was also posting on the thread. He's a really nice guy though, and handled it gracefully and pointed out that the two bolt bosses that you see on the inside of the blower manifold towards the rear were originally intended to hold the rear of the lid, but there were problems with it flexing, so they were left with no choice to do those two rearmost bolts from the bottom. He actually indicated that he would look at the design and see what if anything could be done about it. Bear in mind that this blower was originally designed in Australia, so maybe they didn't have a Vette to test fit it on??
But I agree with you that there must be a better way to fasten the rear part of the lid, especially since the manifold assembly already is notched inwards there, so there's no need for that part of the lid to be under the cowl, IMV.
My hands aren't that small either, and it was simply excruciating for me to shove my left arm behind the blower and the cowl from the passenger side and use a small wrench to tighten those suckers. That took me a couple of hours of contortion and cussing and when I was done my forearm looked like I had gone catfish fishing and shoved my hand in a barracuda's mouth instead. It doesn't help that the friggin oil pressure sensor is right in the way of one of them. Maybe try lowering the engine into the cradle with the cradle still lowered and see if that gives you more space?

 

The funny thing is I read your post, and thought you were referencing the back two bolts on the lid under the cowl, on the top. They were not that hard to get in and get tightened, so I thought maybe I had a redesigned unit. Then I noticed the extra bolts and the instructions about doing the back two up. I reached back there behind the unit, barely getting my hand in there, and thought, on no, there are a couple required back there. Never thought to look while it was on the bench.

I'm beginning to see why they want so much to install this blower...

 

Yep! I seem to recall reading somewhere where someone was saying that you could get at those two rear bolts from underneath with a bunch of extensions and a universal.
But then I crawled under my car and I couldn't see **** from any angle. maybe with the headers off, or with stock exhaust manifolds that might work, but I think I would need a "bolt-seeking-fiber-optic-flexible socket and extension assembly" to reach mine.
Invent that, and the world will beat a path to your door...

 

Yeah, tried looking at it from below to see if that would work today when I got home, no way in hell. Finally got it done by prying the subframe down about an inch and wedged it there. I could barely contort my arm and hand back there to operate a wrench. Still an absolute pain. I just hope I have them tight enought, no leverage whatsoever, and sure no way to torque.

Past that, started making some progress. I'll tackle the coolant side tomorrow evening.

10-12 hours my butt. That must be with two experts going at it at full speed. Without my wasted day on the HB bolt, I've already got about 16 hours in it and still have the exchanger to go.

 

So the HB is installed as of late last night, all the final stuff buttoned up, wired up, car back together with the exception of the hood, and fluids began. The Hurricane intake will not work, doesn't come close to lining up properly and the turns would make for some bad airflow, so I had to rig up to close the opening so the exchangers will work properly. Have to buy a new shroud.

Those of you that installed your own HB, did you use the stock tune from Magnuson to begin with, or just start it and drive it over to be dyno tuned? I plan on starting it up after work today to do the final checks on fluids and operation, just not sure what I should do for the tune.

I've sent in my stock tune to Magnuson, should receive something back soon. I'm starting with the stock pulley, drive that for a bit, then see where I go from there. Ultimately, plan on a dyno tune, just have to get it scheduled.

 

If you're using their injectors (I'm assuming they include larger injectors?) I wouldn't try to use the original tune

 

Good work!
None of the N/A air inlets can work, because of the position and angle of the TB on the HB snout.
I had a similar problem with the shroud, because I had also butchered mine to get cold air to my Halltech prior to buying the blower. I used a piece of thin sheet metal over the large hole, double-sided taped that to the shroud, used gorilla tape to cover that, then used a sheet of adhesive heat reflective insulation and pasted that across the inside of the shroud (the side next to the rad). It ain't pretty, but it works. One day I'll get a new shroud - maybe.
The only problem is that since the shroud is now flat, as the bulge towards the radiator in the middle of the shroud was cut out, it was hard to get the Magnuson air filter assembly to fit without resting against the front bumper.
If you need a stock Magnuson tune, in HPT format, send me a PM with your email and I can email it to you.

 

Here a picture of my patched up shroud. In the words of Fat Bastard, it's "dead-sexy", ain't it?
Gorilla tape, FTW!!
Note: I cut the slots in the bottom to get cold air to the filter...

 

That looks great compared to some of the junk on ls1tech

 

That is too funny, that is the way mine looks now, duct tape to the rescue. It's a shame, because I really wanted to use the Hurricane.

Magnuson sent me my tune back, so I should be good to go for the stock SC tune, but it doesn't take into account the Longtubes according to their tuner. They can't due to CARB requirements. I guess it will be good enough for a week or so until I can get into a shop for the tune.

 

Using the larger Maggie injectors, stock 97mm pulley (for the time being until I go for the tune with the 87mm) and a ZR1 Map sensor. BAP and Irridium plugs. All the toys you guys suggested.

 

Good deal. Got a wideband?

 

No, that is the one thing I haven't picked up yet. Got a DashLogic. I thought I could see AFR on it?

Also Sammy, no excuse dude....I just checked and ordered in a new shroud...its like $88.00. Might be a bit more to get it shipped to your little section of paradise however...

 

You can see commanded AFR, but actual would have to come a WB. The car doesn't have any sensors capable of reading AFR at anywhere except 14.7:1. Gotta love GM.

You can connect a wideband to dash logic and then see actual AFR that way, which is what I do

 

Which one you use?

 

PLX gen 4

 

What he said.

 

Yep. $88.00 and probably ~$200 shipping. And then it will probably come wrecked, half-hanging out of the box, and Customs will still charge me 27.5% import duty on the cost, shipping and insurance. Or, I could always get the local "dealer" (pronounced "stealer") to bring one in. That'll only take 2-3 months, cost $500.00 and most likely will not be the right part. That's the cost of living in "paradise", I guess...
Seriously though, I'll probably order one at some stage, probably soon, so that I can replace it when I go at the cam.

 

Be warned Woodstoc, this is gonna pi$$ you off.
Check this out. Just found this on Magnuson's website. This is the new blower for the LT1 Camaro.
Notice anything?
Yep, that's right. It has a notch in the rear middle part of the blower, right where those two damn bolts are on our blowers!! If ours was designed like that, we would probably have more skin on our forearms today!!

 

I thought all you have to do is click your heels 3 times. Great movie quotes from you. I bet Woodstoc wishes he could do that about now?