Guest bastaad525 Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Well, been a long coupla days for me. Thurs and Friday being my days off, I decided I'd try to persue getting the stuff together for my I/C install. For once, things went BETTER than I had planned or imagined. First I drove some 70 miles to Burns Stainless (I'm always looking for a good reason for this kind of drive) to pick up a couple 90* bends, and then I stopped at a performance shop and picked up all the silicone I would need (plus a whole lot that I wouldnt' need ). Got it all home and went to work trimming the silicone. Next day, just eyeballing it... it looked to be sooo easy that I figured just take some loose measurements, and hit a muffler shop to see about cutting the pipe and getting my BOV attached to the new pipe. Well... it looked pretty easy to them too, and the guy was like "yeah lets just do it" so about an hour later everything was cut to size and mocked up and looked just perfect. I mean it just really fell into place, didn't have to recut any of the pipes or anything, first time it was perfect. Unfortunately they couldn't weld the BOV as they didn't have the right kind of welder for stainless, so I had to hunt down a place with a TIG welder. Then I stopped one last place to get new hoses for my BOV, and voila!!! And there you have it. Got it all in and started it up... everything seemed okay... took it around the block, and the boost is only going to like 5-6psi and is lagging HORRIBLY... WHAAAAT??? Damn... 4-5psi pressure drop??? What'd I do wrong??? So I tried adjusting the boost controller two turns (usually about 1 turn = 1psi (grainger style valve) and it seemed to have no effect. At this point I'm thinking I gotta leak. On a whim I removed the boost controller and cleaned it out, put it back in, and suddenly I'm boosting 15psi!!! Yeah so I guess that was it! A few trips around the block and trial and error and I get it back down to about 8-8.5psi. I figured on just leaving it alone after the I/C install, and fully planned on about 1.5 psi pressure drop... which is almost exactly what I got. When I pulled the boost controller out I was getting 5.5psi in 3rd gear, and I know for a fact it used to boost 7psi even w/o the boost controller... so since I was running 10 w/o the I/C, minus the 1.5 and 8.5 is just right. Other than that, all seems well. The temp gauge runs a little lower now... an unexpected side effect, as I thought blocking off the radiator would make it run hotter. The car is still a bit more laggy than it was but I didn't really drive it after fixing and readjusting the boost controller so it might not be that bad... w/o the boost controller it was HORRIBLE (the grainger valve actually helps with lag a bit). It doesn't seem to have any more power... but then I wasn't expecting any. I'm going to start shopping for larger injectors or just get an adjustable FPR in there ASAP. Total bill came out to just under $500 BUT, that's less than what the three shops' estimates I got by about $100, and they weren't going to use stainless or even aluminum, rather, just aluminized exhaust pipe, and I was going to have to pay extra to powder coat them. Tim240z very kindly offered to help as well... MANY MANY thanks for always being helpful when you can Tim, but I really wanted to go with stainless or aluminum, So still woulda had to get some of the stuff done elsewhere... anyways that and I'm impatient as all heck and my friend at the muffler shop really hooked me up with cutting the pipes and such. So... there it is... maaaaaaaaaaan I can't wait to get more fuel and turn this puppy up a few psi and REALLY have some fun Many thanks to Cygnus and Jersey for the routing idea... pretty much copied them exactly except for one detail... I think this was the saving grace detail as well as it allowed me to keep my 280zxt fan shroud and everything in place. Instead of running a straight coupler off of the T/B, I ran a 45* bent coulper, pointing down, which brings the pipe just below the dizzy and from there straight across to the corner there... worked PERFECTLY and it clears everything nicely. So let it not be said that you can't easily route 2.25" pipe with all stock stuff in place. Well, off to work I go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Wow, a problem free project......I can't believe it!! Well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 2slo4u Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Pretty cool. Where are you getting your intake air from? 81zxturbo 95slobaru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jersey Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Way to go 525. Nice job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Looks good. Keep us updated on how it runs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Sweeeeet...good job....the fun begins now.... Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Way to go Bast! Job well done. I remember when I got the pipes I laid them on the floor lined up as they would be in the car. I was amazed at how it looked like it would fit right in. In about a 1/2 hour with a hacksaw, I had it all mocked up in the car. For me the experience was 90% desperation and 10% installation. Much easier than I thought. I am running 13-14 psi with the stock injectors and eccs. With a small bump in fuel pressure to about 45psi with an FMU. I have no dyno data but it runs great. Feel the intercooler after you drive. There is a huge temp diff. from the drivers side to the passengers side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Running good so far... the boost is doing all kinds of crazy things, for no reason I can figure out. My idle also seems intent on sitting at about 900rpm, though I keep trying to turn it down to 850ish. This suggests vacuum leak to me, but I have checked and double checked, none of my clamps are coming loose, there are no leaks that I can tell. However, I've had this problem before... somehow the throttle linkange stop screw kept adjusting itself and raising the idle... I finally got rid of the problem by putting some loctite on the screw... I've adjusted it quite a bit since then for various reasons, and the loctite has wore off. So I'm betting this is my problem (I hope... ) I'll drop some more loctite on there today and hopefully fix that problem. Would the I/C have anything to do with a raised idle (colder air, leaner running, raised idle?). I hope the darn thing doesn't have a pinhole in it or something like that... I should have had it pressure tested My air filter sits out in front right next to the intercooler. I'm running the stock 280zxt AFM-to-turbo rubber accordion pipe, the airflow meter sits right next to the radiator. At some point I want to have a fab place make me a metal pipe to replace this piece, I've had three up til now and they've all cracked right at the turbo inlet. This one has jussssssssst started cracking, though it hasn't gone far enough yet to cause an intake leak. There IS a very large temp difference on the pipe going into the I/C, and the pipe coming out of it. Very nice. I worry about the efficiency of the I/C being a bit lower than it should be... when I dropped it off at the radiator shop to have it hot tanked, the guy decided w/o any input from me to paint the thing silver... I was pissed, almost refused to pay him. Well... I know at some point I'll strip the paint back off... unless you guys think I don't need to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 I worry about the efficiency of the I/C being a bit lower than it should be... when I dropped it off at the radiator shop to have it hot tanked, the guy decided w/o any input from me to paint the thing silver... I was pissed, almost refused to pay him. Well... I know at some point I'll strip the paint back off... unless you guys think I don't need to? That sucks. Maybe he can hot tank it again and get all the paint off of it for you. I'm sure it causeing some sort of effiency loss but, unless it's real thick I would dought it being huge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 I dont figure it's that much of a loss either... I thought maybe since it is metallic paint it wont hurt much or at all. Then I think, well... radiators are usually painted, though they are usually painted black... if he had painted it black I would have minded less. I dont think I should have to pay him to hot tank it again, and he isn't gonna 'fix' for free what he thought was doing me a favor.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 I dont think I should have to pay him to hot tank it again, and he isn't gonna 'fix' for free what he thought was doing me a favor.... I agree, I dought he'll do it again for free but, I still can't figure out why he would paint something that was never painted to begin with. I had a radiator redone once and they didn't paint it or anything. Not only that Radiator paint is a special formula that is super thin. It's kinda like 1/2 paint -1/2 thinner. Atleast the radiator paint that I bought from Eastwood was. I'm not sure why but, it really irks me that he did that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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