A note here to remember Kyle Loftis. I never knew him. I didn't even follow 1320 Videos enough to have been aware that his Unicorn build was very similar the how this Z06 over here is going to turn out. In a turn of small world crossings, I just took his intake out this weekend. It apparently came off the FRC not the Unicorn? I scrubbed it down and got all the ports and plenum as clean as I could before bolting the Mamo ported 78mm tb back onto it and hanging the assembly up on the end of my parts shelf.

Despite my not following closely I always knew of him and his ongoing support for racing and our hobby. He'd been around forever kind of like MCM and come up the same way.... From the bottom. So he always had my respect.

Now I am not one of the most rip roaring drag strip guys out there. Probably because I have to drive too far to get to one! So my right foot may not always do the man justice but I hope Kyle approves this apparent semi-clone I'm building of his Unicorn as I wager he'd be down with it.

It needs saying that rumors for whatever they're worth point to a sad end. If any of y'all find yourself wanting to hang out and talk, I'll pick up if you reach out any time. We all support each other as far as I'm concerned.

 

I've been investing time picking up the garage lately. Two years of basically dropping anything I used or pulling heavy stuff out and likewise dropping it has meant a TON of sitting in my chair going through boxes. It is pretty functional right now but I realized that if I bumped forward into some of the trunk related projects I could significantly clear up the floor space by the work bench and the better part of one storage shelf. That in mind, I go to work on the light work of disconnecting the rear bumper fascia and my buddy Joe swung by for fifteen minutes to help me get the piece off and down to storage without any paint damage. So that's a win!

The only headache was minor and that was that I needed to cut all the grounds to the bolt up near the passenger top corner. I'll have to remake them when I reinstall. Everything else was pretty straightforward.

I definitely have the space to run the 3lb air tank on one side of the rear. I had bought mounting options for the pump to also connect to the bracket around the tank but I don't think the space exists so I will keep them separated. With the battery intended for the passenger rear compartment I believe I will also put the pump to that same side to offset the overweight driver. I definitely want to keep the pump external from the cabin though I am considering options to pass the various hoses through so that service is easy if needed. Having the tank in the trunk would be a good move in that regard. It currently has a 12" bass tube taking up the center trunk space which came with the car. I'm not decided on keeping that or being rid of it yet. Most of me says I won't need it or want it, but I still want to hear it and judge for myself. So the 3lb AVS tank can go outside the driver trunk wall, down in the center trunk compartment, or even centrally mounted to the floor just behind the cabin separator while also serving as a hard mount to hold that separator in place. Any of these can work well. I still prefer the external concept, so I'll explore port management so that I might keep most working pieces aiming towards the center of the rear end where I can pull the license plate frame or a brake light for access.

Ports needed:
- psi switch
- water drain
- charge
- discharge

This tank has 6 ports. Two at either end, one centrally which becomes the drain, and another one horizontal at center to be capped or used for other. I am wondering if I can port the switch to the discharge fittings to make this all work.

The pump I'll make a bracket off the bumper for. I got enough tank, and an overpowered pump vs the demand with intent of minimal recharge needs. So maybe I flush it and recharge when I start the car be default and rely on the switch when driving. I may also wish to run a small gauge somewhere. The pump I know will be noisy. If it kicks on while driving I'd like to hear it as little as possible while still allowing it to breathe, so my thought it so box it in and sound deaden it while keeping on its spring loaded rubber mounts. There is an aluminum plate I have in mind which is extruded and has more air between each side than metal. I feel these plus some heavy butyl deadener may aid in reducing the noise and vibration a bit. I know I will still hear it but I'll feel better for the effort to reduce volume. The video below gives a rough estimation.... I wager mine would be somewhere between since I have a single 410ss pump.

 

Best guess at the system setup for now. I probably do not need two water traps, but I'm out of my element and prefer the MAC valves to be getting dry air. The rest basically culminates in a big distribution block of sorts in-line to solve some needs.

 

It's the next day and I have already thought better of my routing. I'm going to pull the flow control entirely. I may run a second regulator in the engine bay prior to the mac valves. One does not replace the other. Flow control is something I don't think I need or want. If it IS, then I'll let the car tell me during tuning if I'm getting spikes in the dome pressure. Even then I could also reduce line pressure. The second regulator in my mind is security against failure of the one at the tank. If the tank regulator is 100psi and fails while the tank has 145psi of pressure then if the mac valves actuate they are spiking boost through the roof. Mucho Bad-oh! So I'm thinking set the down range unit as a safety at maybe 105 or 110psi. Loose enough not to get in the way but tight enough to keep the engine from popping. I will figure out a sensor and gauge option for this kit. I don't know that I need it directly on the dash. Just somewhere I can check/verify when starting the car. The ECU will have a Rife psi sensor on the shared gate dome feed lines and it will know what the domes are achieving in real time and be aware for tuning and safety reasons. It won't need to know Tank and Line pressures, just me.

The mac valves themselves are said to cease functioning at or above 120 psi. You want them snappy, but able to function. That in mind I realized my pump switch is not correct for my needs. It is a 90/120 switch and analog with a 5% variance. If I tune the gates to run with 90psi feeding the mac valves then this would be a fail waiting to happen, and tuning to 100psi would just not work. That seems a pretty straightforward topic but I missed it until now. A replacement 110/145 switch has been ordered to account for the need.

One thing I encountered in an old note of mine while reviewing this system is that for the winter months you can insert one or two cap-fulls of air brake antifreeze into the tank when you let the pressure down and this will prevent condensation, or at least prevent it from freezing. Not that this particular car will be seeing cold pavement or cold tires once done - even with the traction control functions. Anyway... one step closer. I need to decide on some regulators to use and a gauge/sensor setup for pressures. Vixen has some 2-signal setups which solve the problem easily as a first option.

 

I am also puzzling out how to mount the (fairly heavy) pump. I don't expect to hear it often or at all while driving based on my current understanding of the need by the turbo gates. Still, I only want to have to address it once and I want to at least give an effort at vibration and sound mitigation while prioritizing strength and durability of the mount.

The pump itself comes with spring loaded isolator feet which sit within heavy rubber pads on the bottom of the pump. I probably have to rivnut into the bumper bar to set whatever first layer of mount in .... but I'm going to see about welding instead. If I measure and drill everything right beforehand than I can also weld studs to this same plate to be used to secure other layers. I am thinking a 3/16 aluminum floor plate off the bumper. I'd want to find the thickness I prefer but I'm thinking a heavy epdm layer sandwiched between another 3/16 aluminum plate using compression limiters sized to the epdm. This strikes me as structurally sound if the top plate layer is bolted down to the baseplate with enough pressure to mildly compress the epdm but not displace it. Might need standoffs. The pump can mount to this 3-layer base plate. If it makes no difference so be it. I can't think of anything else which would help dampen vibration and also retain enough strength to comfortably hold the pump in place with the car jamming around. Definitely thinking welding a few bolts to the bottom layer and grinding them off to be studs Then even if something comes loose or starts to fail nothing would be walking away as no fittings could be dropping off from vehicle vibrations.

So a 3-layer aluminum and epdm baseplate welded to the bumper and self-secured as a unit using maybe 4 studs, then the pump and isolators bolt to this layered plate assembly which would need to be pre-drilled for the mounts. To save effort maybe I just go ahead and fit everything so the pump mounts work as the securing bolts for the plate once torqued in.

Here is more amazing excel artwork and notation

 

Just collecting parts again as the new switch arrived today and I placed orders for a Wilkerson regulator. A lot of searching went into that. I trust SMC, but the model I wanted is factory order and way too expensive. I would trust chinese parts in the shop but going onto a sports car and the harsh environments of the road I took my time to review much of the field. The domestically produced Wilkerson unit has a broader operating temperature range, 50 to 100psi higher max rating, much higher flow rating, and with some hunting I found one for just $65. Score! The tech sheets make me want to trust it, so I hope it exceeds all expectation.

I looked around at a number of dual and multi pressure gauges. Some go up to 5 feeds for air ride cars. I went with a clearance unit from GlowShift for half price which is a 7-color 200psi dual digital display gauge. I plan to open it up and cover the logo anyway, so the half price for the white plate is a good deal. I'll spray it all black.

The existing gauges on the center dash... I'm not going to touch them until the car is running since they're already rigged up. But I don't think I like the AEM appearance at this point. I realize the ECU is getting all the feeds and reacting to them far sooner than I might so the gauges existing on the center column become largely vestigial or just for show. They are currently: AFR/Boost, Boost, Fuel Pressure and each of them have digital displays in the center with the LED ring on the outside blinking in and out of existence as values change. I am very certain that at some point when the car is running those will be swapped out for something similar to the GlowShift Elite dial gauges which strike me as being less blinky and attention stealing when not wanted.

 

And poof just like that a new topic has entered the ring. I went to a car show tonight with the little lady and my wife and ended up speaking to a young guy with a Camaro showing off his air suspension in the trunk. He was saying how his kit has leaks from time to time and needs light regular service. Hiding my rig behind the rear fascia does not lend a lot of service access to the kit. Granted, he had two pumps and five lines and everything was teflon taped instead of sealed but it raises a fair question about maintenance needs.

I'll mock things up more before considering those implications further. If I can set it up so it can be largely serviced then we might be ok. One of my ideas is to mount the tank perfectly vertically so I can get easy and adequate water drainage vs mounting on its long side. We'll see.

The other thing was encountering a truly wicked build. A 48-53 Chevy pickup with twin turbos, gate control through mac valves, and all the bells and whistles. Plenty of room under that hood to run everything very cleanly, and everything on a four-link suspension. Definitely built to whichever class standards he is competing in and hitting mid 9 second passes so far. I can only imagine. I believe we'll see that truck on some of the track event tours in the future. I didn't get a picture because I was just pinging the poor guy with questions, but it has a proper patina forming. Don't trust any trucks with side dumps and 28" slicks if you see them!

 

This 3lb tank easily fits laterally in this space and will not interrupt the rear panel.

But. I'm wondering about cutting part of the bumper itself to allow it to sit vertically in the same area which would allow effective drainage.

I mocked up the pump on the passenger side and it tucks in very nicely. Depending on final tank placement it may need a longer charge tube.

The regulators came in today and are some beefy units.

Musings on trunk mounting for the tank still exist. I'll have to disassemble my jury rigged amp and label the wires and pull the center compartment tube to see it all before getting more serious or not. The pump will definitely exist externally to the cabin but the tank has a small chance of coming inside.

 

The cart went before the horse for a long time today before common sense hit. I spent an inordinate amount of time researching industrial vibration isolators. After seeing reviews of an old Accuair Endo/Exo plate mount indicating it made the quietest pumps on the market I began trying to find a similar hover style plate-mount or similar. Aircraft parts. Heavy equipment parts. You name it. A trip to several stores seeking inspiration too. My inner geek adhd enjoys the minor self education on vibration isolators which I will now never use, but the common sense voice struck and I set the huge heavy pump on three spring loaded legs (one in the car from when I went to some parts stores) on a flat metal table and when the leads got sufficient juice I wa surprised that it was actually pretty darned quiet. Cheat note: I don't know how may AMPS it was getting so it might be louder still at a higher rpm. But the thing was quiet enough that I know without question if it is mounted on the bumper and the tub and cabin are sound deadened that with the car running I for sure will never hear it and certainly not in any objectionable way like a shop tank.

Common sense took too long to answer that one.

I switched focus to the battery mount and was going to rivnut the base plates. The idea being that the bolt and nyloc nut combo it came with suggested any time I serviced the battery needing to undo or reset that top mounting plate I'd for sure be fumbling and trying not to drop small parts into the abyss below. Rivnuts would work but would leave the locking plate that small bit extended away from the battery. Eh. So I swung by Joe's and he booger welded the bolts to now function as studs which is I think the optimal rig.

As for mounting it, I have to figure out how or where to put some bolts and washers through the fiberglass to secure it. As it is right now it compression fits with the sound material under the carpet but there is no battery in place to help weight it down further.

 

If someone in the future comes across this part of the thread and is deciding between onboard air and a Co2 tank, absolutely go the CO2 tank route. Agim had told me he went over a year without having to refill. I don't see it as a crime to keep more than one tank if needed so you never have down time.

The differences are vast. The air tank route vs CO2 is:
- Vastly more complex
- 2 to 3 times the expense because there is no kit
- Weighs more
- Takes up a lot more space in/around the vehicle
- More fittings. Therefore more potential fail points

I am committed to getting this done, but it is frustrating to look at the Motion Raceworks CO2 kit for $320 with its simple PTC setup which already includes that sweet DiversiTech $200 valve which shows tank and line pressure in one place.

And here I sit having burned another half hour trying to find new check valves now that I have gone to a 1mpa switch and require parts rated higher than 145psi. It's a small expense, but not a widely common part in the line sizes I am working with.

 

Minimal progress on the air system, but progress nonetheless. A few days of high heat have chased me indoors but the next four should be decent.

Fitment of the setup and fittings are going to be key here. I'm no plumber so I'm learning more about NPT as I go. My simple prior experience did not prepare me for having to get certain fittings like the traps to align up and down correctly. One fix is how many wraps of teflon you use, though I am trying to err towards using sealant everywhere I can instead. Another fix is PTC or compression lines which may help with flex or bend angles for overall fitment and I am ordering them tonight.

A buddy turned me on to running a cooler on the compressor side to help pull the moisture out at the trap before hitting the tank so that sent me in another new direction. A twenty dollar 7" push/pull fan fan from Amazon and a Derale 6-row cooler with 6an fittings resolves that. Derale was the choice because they list the PSI ratings on all their coolers as being over 200psi and this one was just $60 or so.

This will take a little work to get it all to fit right and there may be several loosely fit iterations before I lock it in. I'll move on to the remote battery setup as I wait for parts. I also want to resolve the valvetrain, button up the heads, and swap the rear Ridetechs out for the Vikings. That done, clears me hot for grinding and clearing of engine bay parts for the turbo manifolds themselves. Fitment there may be tricky as the engine is already in the car so I expect a frustrating number of on/off/adjust phases before it is right. But this now is a lot of the backfill process before we get to proper and meaningful headway.

 

Aside from a final mock up and adjustment to the charge side pieces to ensure fitment, I've got the kit sorted and the final fittings and adapters ordered. I'm not certain it will fit as intended but it will be close and I can probably make it work. Now I just wait for shipping on those and move on to the battery setup next. Maybe some progress tonight if I can get some spray paint work done between baby follow up appointments today.

I'm hoping this doesn't bite me in terms of air leaks when done. There are a TON of connections and adapters to pose as fail points.

 

I don't know that I mentioned it above, but I decided heck with it and burning up space inside the trunk. All the air ride guys mount their tanks horizontally and that will be good enough for me. They probably run their pumps a lot more than I will and I guarantee I've got a lot better vapor reduction strategy than they do.

The final shipments of fittings ought to come after the holiday unless guys are out delivering tomorrow. I took to fitting the tank around and made some final choices on direction and alignment. I also ditched the fancy mounting rings in favor of some basic straps which sit nearly flush to the tank walls and allow me to nudge it up tight to the trunk wall. I started locking in some of the confirmed / permanent plugs and fittings with the Loctite 656 sealant - which, by the way, smells like dog ****.

With the straps ratcheted down in best placement and some of the fittings locked in - notably the discharge side water trap which extends lower than the tank level - I did a quick mock up and darn if this doesn't look like a real trick setup which ought to fit just about right. One of the final fitting issues is going to be the distribution block since some of the pieces stick off a ways from center and I can't have them shoving into the trunk wall.

Looks good to me!

When it is all near to complete and done I'll go back and see about adding a support or extra mount structure for the connections coming off the tank. I'm sure they're more than fine driving around or even through hard cornering, but drag launches are going to play hell on that sort of thing riding on the bumper line so extra support is warranted. I don't know quite where the cooler will end up yet. Dead center top? Passenger side near the pump? I'll figure it out once the tank is more permanent. I could even mount it up over the tank potentially.

 

I'll have to find some 3/16" aluminum plate the next time I'm out for the tank and compressor mounts. 1/8 would be too flimsy, 1/4 may be too heavy, so 3/16 seems the right porridge for this one. If I had developed the comfort I had intended with actual CAD software I might be able to bring a file with me and even have them cut to spec at my local metal distributor but it seems I'll be cutting and deburring it all myself.

Still waiting on fittings from Redhorse. They looked out for me on something which was out of stock, but that may have delayed shipping until today and so I hope I'll see the parts before the weekend. Fingers crossed because I'd like to wrap up the air kit for now.

I caught a small deal on what looks like a mint setup for my power distribution needs. The connections are weatherpak into the back side and the cover is also weather sealed. I got one for the trunk and one for the passenger footwell. It can do 5 relays at 35 amps, or 3 relays up to 50 amps.

I began reviewing some now ancient notes on electrical needs and ECU wiring. There is a lot to be reviewed and re-learned as I go.

I also emptied the passenger seat. The trunk and seat had gradually become storage locations. Now much of it resides here in my office for now. I only need to clear the deck behind the seats and it will be good to go as far as trying to pull the seat and get down to the floor to redo all the stereo and battery cabling the length of the car. The amp had previously been left free floating and secured to the passenger side pillar. I am going to find a way to secure the compartment divider panel in place and mount the amp vertically to the back side of it up and out of the way to retain maximum trunk space should it ever be used.

 

I didn't plan to have the seat out so soon, but the passenger Corbeau came out in prep for routing the battery cables and redoing the stereo routing as well. I guess this means I'll have to wire up the Comp seat and a harness for it to swap in when the battery work is done. My office is overflowing with the more delicate items like headlight covers and central column panel. Hopefully I can get the battery and compressor work done by end of week or close enough to recover some lost storage and work space again.

Or at least before my wife puts the heat on me!