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 needing to talk sh*t out, I'll pick up if you reach out. It has come close to happening once through the forum here before in fact and I was glad to be a hand.

 

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.

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