Shots of my upcoming IC setup

[Tjn182]

Been piecing things together.... I'm at the point where I can install everything and get her going now.

This is as of tonight, the BOV hasn't come in yet, but when it does I should be able to get the car up and running problem free without water circulation.

Yes my engine is dirty as shit

Yes there is oil in the intake, I have a catch can to catch it now






God I wish it didn't say "XSPOWER" on both sides.................

And yes, I am using a BOV, HKS SSQV... I'm fully aware that they can cause a rich problem with the AFM blah blah, but my car runs rich as snot as it is, so I'm really not worried. Flame all you want, this is how I want my car to be.

Anywho... hopefully things will run more smoothly than my old ass -- halfed-ass -- retarded setup, which was probably full of leaks left and right.

[T_C_D]

Good idea, hopefully the cheap ass intercooler holds up. Similar wastegates and turbos have no lasted long.
Todd

[al525i]

good luck tj, the piping looks a hell of a lot better than what you have had on there in the past.

Let us know how it runs afterward

[Duke]

Much better than PVC pipe . You need to wash the crap out of the engine compartment. You know a clean engine runs MUCH better than a dirty one.

I had a 1972 Fiat Spider for my last year of school. I never even dreamed of anything turbocharged. You are doing much better than I.

[Tjn182]

Good idea, hopefully the cheap ass intercooler holds up. Similar wastegates and turbos have no lasted long.
Todd

Yep, I'm well aware of their reputation for shitty turbos and wastegates... Yet I've not heard of any problems with their intercoolers - they seem to do a good job of pushing out cheap but good ICs.

You can see in the pics that the welds are good, nothing super awsome, but definetly solid.

good luck tj, the piping looks a hell of a lot better than what you have had on there in the past.

Yeah no joke! There's a reason I've been aprehensive about showing people my engine bay, was a pretty choppy setup.

You need to wash the crap out of the engine compartment. You know a clean engine runs MUCH better than a dirty one.

Yeah I know, I'll be picking up some serious engine degreaser along with some some elbow grease and clean her up... but the fact that cylinder 6 is shot doesn't help too much. The catch can has done a good job so far on keeping large amounts of oil out of the intake piping.

I actually had a problem yesterday from the get-go -- my car studdered and misfired all morning -- then on a trip after work to pick up my boss' girlfriend, the car was studdering heavily and almost dying... turns out that the 6th spark plug was so heavily carboned that it didn't fire, causing the whole car to run extremely rich... thus killing it over and over. Got a razor blade from the back and cleaned it off - no more problems for now.

[90e34535i]

Hey, for a 125 bucks, those intercoolers arent bad. Even if it did only last for a year, the welds on mine looks pretty damn good though.

Looks WAY similar to my setup, except I ran the Intake and Outlet on the Intercooler, the opposite ways. Looks good , I like the 3" pipe comming off the turbo, if it fits, why not use 3".

[Tjn182]

so you had one previously and it only lasted one year? What happened?

[Tjn182]

Here's some updated photos as of today's work...





I know the radiator is crooked.... but... whatever... It was a bitch it get mounted securely without taking the spoiler off so I'm happy.

[90e34535i]

Ive never used one for a year, I just meant hypothetically, EVEN IF it only lasted a year, its just so cheap, but I dont think its gonna fall apart.

Your charge pipes should flow well with those long 90 degree bends.

Looks good. Heat exchanger does look a little funny though

[terrybpp]

Looks good, I'd lilke to see dyno #'s air vs. water.

Does it come with the water pump? That is the expensive part.

[90e34535i]

80-90 bucks for Ford Lightening/Bosch pump on Ebay.

[Tjn182]

Yep, got that lightning pump on ebay.

Here's some fresh photos as of today. I started her up and even with numerous disconnected vacuum lines and a huge gaping hole in my piping, she still started and idled at like 7 whatevers of vacuum.

And yeah... heat exchanger is quite crooked and such, but it was the best mount fit I could do without taking off the spoiler... your hands and fingers can only fit so far.

The pump flows very well, even with a couple of kink/bends in the lines, it pushes a nice stream of water throughout the entire system, it's slowly pushing out all of the air bubbles which I'm sure is holding it back. There's a littttttle leak where the line connects from pump to heat exchanger, but it's like 1 drip every 10 seconds... nothing big at all, would take weeks to drain the water level so I don't feel like F-ing with it right now.

Anywho, here's day 3 of my project, including shots of my infamous bmw tabagin BOV.





Here's a shot of how the system works, good ole microsoft paint

[Shawn D.]

Anywho, here's day 3 of my project, including shots of my infamous bmw tabagin BOV.

What's a "tabagin"?

[Tjn182]

Anywho, here's day 3 of my project, including shots of my infamous bmw tabagin BOV.

What's a "tabagin"?

AKA a beanie

[Shawn D.]

Anywho, here's day 3 of my project, including shots of my infamous bmw tabagin BOV.

What's a "tabagin"?

AKA a beanie

AKA a toboggan to those who can spell! I knowed what it was, I was just funnin' with you!

[Boru]

You realize there will be an air pocket in the IC unless you bleed it somehow, right?
My plan of action would be to add a fill port at the high (obviously) point of the IC and relocate the input water line so it flows 90 degrees to the core to prevent short circuiting.

[Shawn D.]

Here's a shot of how the system works, good ole microsoft paint

I'd suggest running the pump into the bottom of the radiator -- IMO, you're asking for an air bubble with it running upwards and into the top.

[Boru]

Ditto Shawn on filling the heat exchanger from the bottom.

[Tjn182]

good thoughts guys!

I mainly did the setup to prevent major kinks in the lines from having them bend at awkward angles... but I understand what you are saying.

As far as the air pockets... I'm not sure what I can do with that. I've been running the pump by itself over and over and I've watched huge bubbles come out of the lines until it's down to itty bitty tiny little soda-pop bubbles... I think they're slowly working themselves out.

[Duke]

Install another HE in the other opening next to the pump.

[90e34535i]

To force the air out of the Intercooler, couldnt he unhook the silicone connections+mounts, Hold the core Vertical, so the outlet is at the very top, try keeping the core lower than the tank water level(would you have to? so air pockets are forced out the lines?), and just let it circulate for a little bit. All the air should be forced out right?

[Azure]

God I wish it didn't say "XSPOWER" on both sides.................

Take a dremel to that sucker!

Or just sand/file off the XSPO ER and fool people into thinking it's some sorta M part! lol

[Tjn182]

^ Nice


Duke, another heat exchanger is planned for later, but not at the moment -- probably in a few months from now.



Anywho, I got everything done - she started up on the first try - I drove her around... blew the piping off twice (found the weak spots)....

In the lower gears there's really no difference, like 1st and 2nd. In the other gears, 3rd & 4th there is a difference... a fun and good difference

I would dog her out and stop and feel the IC afterwords, it was always noticably colder than the pre-IC piping -- so I'm happy.


In my 1 hour of driving I experienced zero problems with the BOV blowing my metered air into the atmosphere.... no sputtering, stalling, idle problems -- she ran just fine... actually... more than fine

[T_C_D]

There isn't much difference because your intercooler is full of air and the water probably isn't circulating.
Todd

[Tjn182]

Oh I drove her again tonight, I was wrong

I'm having a huge problem with my piping busting off under boost - i think the BOV is taking too long to respond -- it came with a restrictor valve that I installed, I'll probably end up taking it off to prevent this over-surge of boost due to the delay.

[Duke]

I'm having a huge problem with my piping busting off under boost

Get stronger "T-bar" clamps.

[Tjn182]

Well the problem with the piping is that it doesn't have any "ridges" on the ends of them.... so they can slide right off.

I was having a nonstop problem with the pipe right off the turbo busting out, so I went to napa and got some metal sheers and made my own little flare for that pipe --- rode her hard since and haven't had any problems yet. I will probably have to do that with many pipes if they continue to be a problem.

[90e34535i]

My charge pipes arent beaded, or have any flare or ridge, just sawed off pipe. They could never blow off with T bolt clamps torqued down crazy, its amazing how tight they can get. I got a couple of the Constant torque worm clamps too that are heavy duty and can go way tight. Ive never had any problem with them blowing off, though they havent seen more than 9 psi yet, im positive it wont blow off at much much more psi.

You can get them so cheap, I think its worth it.