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intercoolin aint easy......but it sure is nice.


fl327

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meant to add this to an old thread that got deleted or something.

finally installed the smallest NPR ic and 2.5 piping to tb and 2.25 to turbo

had to relocated the coil (easy) and get busy with a sawzall to open up the passenger side radiator support a little bit, since the inlet goes diagonally up i had to get it to clear. also had the driver side inlet changed to come straight out the side of the endtank (thanks MIKE D!)

ended up working out really good, i had been stacking up random turbo hoses and pipes and ended up bearly using any of them. took me thirty minutes to mount the intecooler with two L brackets and four bolts, it was a lot easier than i thought it was gonna be. part of the L bracket that holds the ic down on the passenger side is gonna recieve another bracket that i will weld onto the pipe to keep that one from moving as well.

i used part of the j pipe to start my other turbo pipe, keeping the bracket that solidly mounts the charge pipe to the intake manifold, for insurance.

piping took me about four hours to cut and line up right in the engine bay, its a lot harder than it sounds i find out, but not that bad in the end.

got my couplers and transitions from HOOVEr, thanx partner, as well as a bunch of stainless clamps with no worm gear to eat up the hoses. need to fix my boost guage capillary, its not sensing boost right now, so i havent turned it up yet, currently as stock minus a psi or so. the wastegate doesnt even open right now, thats fine though.

car looks mean, i had to put the stock grill back on it had that "steal me"

look.

stuff i never thought would happen:

 

car runs just as cool as it did before, even with this big honkin ic in front of it, i guess the intake charge does that or something.

 

off idle response isnt as perky as it used to be, but midrange and top is just as fast as it was with 7psi non intercooled, and im probably about 5.5 psi right now. car still feels just as fast as it was before, just takes that millisecond longer for the turbo to kick in, bearly anything.

 

had to turn down the fuel pressure back to stock, started running rich?

on the freeway, my car accelerates like a monster, and its easier to maintain a 80-85mph on the freeway, i guess its the high speed pressurization effect?

 

mpg is up to heights i never thought possible- im not sure what its at now, but im getting way more out of the same gas, at least 2-3mpg more. once im done with the tank ill know for sure, but im getting at least 27mpg right now.

 

im very impressed to say the least, once i add a rev limiter and an ignitino box and fix my boost guage i will start turning up the boost slow, over the next couple weeks, tuning and tuning with each increase of course to make sure its running its best, once i break 14.0, which i should once i empty out my car and pop the dr's out back, its going to paint and wheels jail-----------------AND IM DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

all other improvements wil happen when the parts wear out from age and abuse, but for now my little Z is earning its keep just how he is.

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-----------------AND IM DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

all other improvements wil happen when the parts wear out from age and abuse, but for now my little Z is earning its keep just how he is.

 

haha.... how many times I've said that!!

It only takes a minute till you get used to the power, and WANT MORE......

 

 

Sounds good...... post some pics :2thumbs:

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Hey Len, nice writup with some good info. Make sure you do an update when you are back at 7psi as well...

 

Started running rich: You are cramming denser (cooler) air into your cylinders, however, with the loss of boost the net result is less air overall. In which case the same amount of fuel is too much. Go back up to 7psi and you'll be back on track.

 

On the highway you will get much more of the cooling effect (wind chill on the IC) and have much denser air, which might be having more effect than the lost 1.5psi of boost. (though it doesn't seem to me that it should have that much effect)

 

As for fuel economy... you turned your fuel pressure down man. You are making less power on less boost, of course your economy has gone up!

 

Looking forwards to hearing more results!

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Guest livewire23
You can do a burnout in front of the office (again)

 

It's a crazy world. I'm right behind Len, I just got through paint on my car, and Im just about to clean it up. And then tommorow its time to plumb the IC, get some 92 Octane and then hope the whole thing doesn't just blow up. You never know when I build the thing. :twisted: Me and Len should host another car show, so we can show our new stuff off to all the locals. BTW, mudge, you ever get that car going?

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Glad to hear your almost "done" Thanks for the info Len. I just bought the same NPR I.C. as you i believe....

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2417650600

 

And will hopefully start the install this weekend, along with a custom DP. If you have any pics or anymore helpful tip on this install, please, by all means...POST 'EM or email me! :D Thanks.

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thats the one, and i love the sucker.

install was really easy, but i did have to get one end of the ic, the drivers side of it tig welded and the outlet relocated so that it came straight out the side, i kept it 2.5 inch so maybe later ill go 2.5 off of it, for now i reduced it to 2.25. so far, so good, the ic works good and fits well.

i also had to had to sawzall out alot of the drivers side radiator support to fit a 2.25 radius bend and a 3" pipe for the air intake-very tight fit, but i made it. i like cutting things with a sawzall, so i had a ball with this one.

if you mount it a little more forward, you may be able to get away with not having the outlet modified, and you will look meaner with the ic mounted that forward, i wanted it to not be so noticeable, im trying to keep it a sleeper.

mounts were stupid easy. two L brackets a chop saw, a drill, and four bolts-done. i used long allen headed bolts for all the mounts and put them in with the allen head facing the radiator, for safety. you will also need to do some cutting to the passenger side radiator support to clear the other inlet, since it slants up a bit-thats actually a small flow restriction, but not bad at all. i dont have a digital camera or i would have posted these photos a long time ago, sorry about that.

 

good luck with the install, cant wait to see what you run with more boost

youll be in 12s for sure.

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Guest livewire23

well, I have my intercooler hooked up now, I tightened everything down and took it for a little test drive. Right after the first attempt at WOT, my idle jumped up to about 3k and jumped around there, and the A/F gauge pinned all the way lean. Great. So I limped to the gas station to get some 91 octane and have a look around. I had blown off some liquid steel that was covering the EGR hole in the manifold (huge vacuum leak), apparently I had forgotten to sand the area down before applying it. :roll: No sweat, I just put it back in place enough that the vacuum will hold it in, and limp home. After applying a band-aid to the spot, I think take it out for another test drive. took it up Union City boulevard, punched the throttle a couple of times, and wasn't really impressed. I got up to around 90mph (kind of hard to tell because all the dash lights went out) before letting off. Really wasn't all that exciting, didnt feel much faster then my prelude which is a 16 second car. So I took it home, inspected for boost leaks all over the place, found nothing and parked it for the night. I guess there's always tommorow. I don't have a boost gauge hooked up, and the threaded wastegate is as unthreaded as I can get it, so its possible that Im only developing like 1 psi of boost or something. Tommorow I'll hit up NAPA for a boost gauge, and try and see what's really goin down with this car.

 

Oh, and len, you know how the intercooler keeps everything after the intercooler nice and cool? Well, on my car it seems all for moot, because the intake manifold is real toasty. The intercooler is cool, pipes post IC are cool, TB is cool, and then bam, the IM is warm as all hell.

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Thanks Len. BTW, great name - i'm a Len also 8) It's like you already did half the work for me! I also like the inconspicuous look so i will most likely have the drivers side outlet modified as you did. I cut the rad support a bunch already to get the 3" air intake through, no problem using the airsaw again :D Thanks for all the info. Let you know how i make out. I hope with the gradualy bend downpipe and I.C. i can boost a little more and get those 12's next week. We'll see.

 

livewire - if you threaded the wastegate actuator to adjust your boost, you need to tighten it up for more boost and put more preload on the spring, not unthread it. I'm sure you know this already and posted wrong, but just making sure. It would be nice if something this easy was your problem, and i'm hoping it is. If your intake is warm as hell, sounds like you're detonating in there. Anything change with the AFM during the I.C. install? Timing changed at all? Hope you get it figured out. Good luck and keep us posted.

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Guest livewire23

heh, actually you're spot on, that's exactly it. I have no idea how much boost im putting out, so for safety's sake I have the wastegate unthreaded. I wasnt boosting before the IC, so there's really no way for me to compare really.today I'll get a boost gauge, and thread the actuator a bit more if needs be. But now you've got me scared, I sure hope Im not detonating. my manifold was still warm even about an hour after I had shut the car down.

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Could you have possibly unthreaded the wastegate actuator a little too far which would have the wastegate constantly open a little? That would also cause the intake to be a bit warm and your turbo would never get up to speed. Like you said, the boost gauge will hopefully help you diagnose a little further.

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Guest livewire23

well, I threded the wastegate down a bit more, and then hooked up the boost gauge and took it for a spin. I hit 1 psi, *maybe* 2. alright, so there was my first problem.

 

Took it back in the garage tightened the wastegate 3 turns or so, checked everything once over, and let er rip. This time I was hitting around 4 psi, thought it was cool, A/F gauge read upper stoich, oil pressure was good, so i tap the throttle a bit and pull into the driveway. As soon as I get into the driveway, the wind blows this HUGE cloud of white smoke across the engine bay. :shock: OH SHIT!!!! (oh ain't that cute, it censors me)

 

So im thinking, crap I must've blown a head gasket. I start the car up once more, limp it into the garage and jack it up. sure enough ol is dripping from the turbo side of the engine bay, the steering linkage is covered in oil, and so is the DP and the oil return line. Now I have to figure out what is leaking. My best bet is that the oil return line gasket is leaking, because I can't think of anything else that should be spraying oil like that. shit that had me scared. Fortunately I think the smoke was just from oil getting all over the hot DP. Is there any possibility that the turbo is leaking oil internally into the exhaust stream? Anything in particular I should look out for?

 

learning as I go...

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Guest livewire23

wait, oil smoke is supposed to be blue/grey right? hmm, thats not good. Hey len, I need the turbo oil return fitting if you can find it. I think this one im using has too much restriction, because the hose is a bit kinked.

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Guest livewire23

i think i may have solved my oil return woes, I'll take it for a drive in a minute. I'd love to go t4, but Im flat broke, so unless you want to do an even exchange for some stuff :D What happened anyway? it didnt work out the way you plan?

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