Tell me about it! Your reply gave my heart a jump referring to the overheating issues! I'm thinking oh **** now what but then I saw south Texas and got happy, I live in way up in the PNW and it never gets anywhere near that hot so I think I'll be fine lol. It definitely tight but the kit fits well, it's really tight past the passenger side engine mount pedestal but I'm hoping with the new poly mounts the engine won't move enough to cause a problem. If it does then its BFH time lol.

 

You should be fine. I am in the Spokane area and running two derales the second they kick on when it's ~80 or so it drops down in temp right away. I haven't charged the AC and tested it in the higher temps but if I have issues with temp rising there is still enough real estate on the turbo side I figure I can mount some small pullers and treat those as the secondary switch and the front two as the first.

 

Hola fellas! I'm back from frozen New York and I can't tell you how good it feels to be back on the left coast! I made a little progress this past weekend between getting caught back up on being gone for two straight weeks. I got the Deraile fans mounted to the condenser via a couple jegs mounting kits as well as a Deraile wiring kit from Jegs that needs install next. I couldn't really get a good pic of the fans installed do to space but they do fit just do plenty of fitting cause there is no extra room. For the I/C I notched the bumper support and welded some flat stock w/ bent 90's at the bottom to support the I/C and welded them to the bumper support. Then I had purchased some pipe and couplers from SiliconeIntakes.com (the customer support sucks but they're prices are the best) and fabbed up my cold side. I can give a list of everything I bought if anyone is interested too. I still need to add the MAF and the IAT to the cold side but that may be a week or two as I'm heading out to Chicago this weekend SMH. Next time I come back I'll have completed the coldside, wired up my fans and hopefully mounted up and wired my Alternator! Take care guys and see you then!!




Notched and painted bumper support.





I/C Mounted.





Cold side 99% complete.

 

Looks good, always exciting when the cold side comes together because it almost feels like it's all done.

IMO I would look to ditch the MAF and just run SD. Tuning other boosted setups on the ECM the Fbody uses or similar you end up getting weird overlap and fueling acts goofy most of the time. Second you hit any sort of boost your going to max it out anyway making it near impossible to maintain the afr.

 

Hola Rawr! I know huh! I'm getting excited its getting close! SD vs. MAF is a really convoluted topic btw. I've been reading a ton lately and it's split down the middle, half says SD is better but less flexible and half say MAF is better for a DD due to it's flexibility. Where I live I drive over mountain ranges and the weather varies a lot, 30-40 degrees in the fall to 70-80 degrees in the summer and I've been told that a MAF will adapt better and give me better drivability than SD. I reached out to Pat G. who will be providing the tune and he suggested I stay with my MAF even though I'd rather not splice my MAF into my clean looking intake pipe. I've read lots of people say SD is fine for a DD but offer no other info or insight and for me at one point in time a huge solid roller cam was street-able lol but I now I want real world drive anywhere, anytime capability. If you or anybody can give some insight I would greatly appreciate it because I'm really still on the fence about SD or MAF tuning and am hoping somebody will have that one piece of info that's going to make the light come on!

 

I'm over in Spokane and have driven my car the last three years setup SD. Driven the car already this year with 20 degree weather and 65 degree weather with no issues with the turbo. Honestly I would look into just picking up your own HPT setup and WB setup. There is so much information out there that is floating around and the fbody is a good easy platform to really start out with.

I've only checked out what the WB said once in the last month I have been driving the car and not much if anything has changed at all. Brother in Law's MAF died on his bolt on Camaro so we just went the easy route and threw on an SD tune and he drove it year round without any issues. Even threw in the WB in December when he was out playing around and it read damn near the same as it did earlier in the summer.

If you were driving cross country with elevation changes and fuel changing on the way SD would have it's drawbacks but if you are staying within the region you honestly shouldn't have any issue.

Just my .02.

 

Hey Rawr, okay you've peaked my interest lol. I have an Innovative WB I'm installing soon so will that work for the WB your referring to? Also how much does a typical HPT setup run? I'm a little worried because I know me, when I had my carbed big block camaro I was always dicking with it even though it ran great lol.

 

HPT pro to plug into your WB is $650 if I remember correctly. If you got a LC1 Innovative or LM1 innovative then you would be fine plugging it and data logging it with HPT. Honestly after startup stuff is done which can take some time its just a matter of building the ve table, gathering data, copy paste, blah blah blah, really isn't that bad.

Thing I like most about having HPT is if something is wrong I know about it, if I can see what's wrong, I can fix it. Just like having a scanner, you can see the trouble codes or sensor being out of wack from a change, but can't do anything about it.

Was just tunning my buddies 11 Cts V and after he did headers he swapped the sensors for the O2 on one side by mistake. Not only did I see the code pop up, but could log the sensor in real time, see it was zero, and figured out it wasn't plugged in. All GM vehicles run off the same principal, just more sensors/options get thrown in. Honestly the fbody is the best to start with imo, has plenty of tables you can make changes and see them happen.

Honestly having the wideband you are already half way to doing your own tuning.

 

Hey guys, I finally got out to the garage to get some work done! I opted to go ahead and run my stock MAF for now since I had already ordered the parts needed to splice it into my cold side and couldn't return the parts without a hefty restocking fee, *******. I was able to get my Alternator mounted up, mounted up my Mighty Mouse Catch Can which I'm very excited about using and ran boost reference and PCV lines. I mounted the catch can down low for ease of draining and to avoid any fumes entering the cab via the cowl. Time will tell if I picked a good spot lol. For the boost lines I tapped into the Brake Booster line with a Stainless Tee from Grainger (1/2"x1/2"x1/4") and ran silicone vacuum line from a USA eBay seller. For the PCV and maybe someone can chime in I reused the plastic factory PCV line that splits off to both sides of the engine and connected that to my can instead of just going to one side of the engine, we'll see how it works out. I hoping to wire the Alt and fans, complete the boost lines, get my BOV flange welded on this weekend. About the IAT, what kind should I run? I found Bellenger Motorsports sells a few like a fast acting one but do I need a fast acting IAT? Also will I need a bung for it or can I thread it into my pipe? Rawr what do you think?

 

Hey fellas, I made some excellent progress on the car this last weekend. I got the cold side completely finished so I integrated the factory MAF for now and sourced a threaded IAT Sensor from Ballanger Motorsports, they'll sell you a high quality Delphi unit and with shipping its still cheaper than buying a knock off unit locally. To mount the IAT my buddy welded a 3/16" piece of aluminum flat stock to the pipe that I then drilled and tapped to a 3/8-18 pipe tap which was cheaper than buying a bung. I then extended the IAT Sensor harness by soldiering in some wire extensions. I also had the same friend weld on the BOV flange and installed the BOV and finalized all the reference lines. Some of the pipes I had weren't bead rolled either so my buddy showed me a cool trick to do some back yard bead rolling with a set of Snap-On wire crimpers, we'll see how it works out lol. I also tracked down a Serp belt that fits right so if your using the supplied hardware in the Huron Kit to relocate the Alt and tensioner with an underdrive pulley you'll need a belt 70 1/4" in length. I got the fans wired up using a Deraile wire kit from Jegs which worked perfectly because if you mount the relays on the core support next to the fuse box almost all the wires will reach they're destinations without having to do a bunch of splicing. I also extended the Alt trigger wire and crimped a new eyelet on the output wire. Capped off the remaining vacuum sources and secured all loose wiring. So I just need to put the front fascia back on and hopefully that will only require minimal massaging. So next up is the installation of the A-pillar Gauge Pod, the Innovative AFR Gauge, AutoMeter Boost Gauge, Racetronix Fuel Pump Hotwire Kit, Front End Alignment, Figuring out what to do with the exhaust and then a Pat G tune and I'll be ready to kill it! Stay tuned!

 

Hola guys, so I made more progress this weekend, it seems to going faster now thank god. So I got the front fascia all bolted up and was even able to retain the plastic guards on the bottom side of the fascia not without a little trimming of course lol. The only part of the fascia that required trimming was under the center were it curves up to the radiator, the rest was money. I also got my gauges mounted up and will be wiring them soon. Can anybody suggest where to tap into for the dimmer lights and power? I've seen guys go straight to the fuse box but I don't want to see any wires when I open the door so that's out. Also does anybody know a good spot where to drill a hole for the AFR gauge O2 Sensor harness? Thanks guys, although I think this build has taken too long and I've lost some people lol.

 

You can run power for your gauges out of the fuse panel by the driver door. In the electronic part of the forum there is a post in there one of the guru's posted up about which one goes where, is an ignition, battery and accessory port you just plug in a spade wire. Not sure if it gives you the dimmer or not, I just threw in my Eboost2 going that route and don't pay attention if it goes dim or not.

Are you planning to log the AFR or just use it as something to monitor in case there is an issue? If you are going to monitor it then you would probably be better off running the cable through the firewall down by where the pedals are, can drill a small hole and grommet the cable and it should put you close to where the WB will plug in with the exhaust. You can also go down through the trans/shifter boot or run it through the main grommet the PCM harness goes through over behind the passenger kick panel.

If you want to really get tricky and not cut anything, you can run the wires down through the door jam to the front fender. There is a small hole where the inner shroud meets with the bottom kick panels that the sensors usually will fit through, then can run the cable behind the shroud and wherever else you need it to go. I run my NGK AFX this way just because I bounce it between so many different cars and don't always run with it.

If you are going to data log would be easiest to run it through the passenger side just because it gives plenty of spots to have the cables out and stow them away when they aren't needed.

 

Nice progress! Did you figure out a sway bar fix?

 

Hey Rawr, I won't be data logging just observing. If the dimming feature is no big deal then I'll just bypass it. The cable isn't long enough to run across the car twice so I'll have to run it out of the driver side somewhere. The sensor isn't attached to the harness so I'll have no trouble running it through a smaller hole. I don't mind drilling a hole I'm just leery about the location of the hole lol. I'll check out the post on here, do you know what its under cause I tried to search AFR gauge install and got bubkuss.

I'm sorry SVG210 but it looks like I'm SOL on the sway bar. I bolted it up and it's sketch big time. It hangs down lower than the K-member so I'm thinking its no bueno but I'm going to start a thread and see what comes up. I tried flipping it over and too and its not looking good which really sucks because I want a front sway bar. I never heard from that guy who said just lower it and he never sent pics so I'm thinking he was full of it. I have some ideas but they require some serious fab work and money which I'm out of.

 

SVG210 our prayers have been answered! Toxic has supplied pictures as well as real world testing for his setup so I will post pics tonight and begin planning the fab work immediately. I have a few small changes in mind and will cover those as we progress. Today is a good day! Big shout out to Toxic!!

 

Sweet. I've read that thread as well lol can't wait to see what you come up with. I'm currently fixing my down pipe with the 45* angle and also going to get a pipe for the wastegate and weld it to the DP.

 

Hola guys, so this last weekend I wrapped up my gauge install except for the down pipe bung but that's an easy one. Let's go over the AFR and Boost Gauge install which was easier than expected thank god lol. So start by installing the gauges into the gauge pod. Some finessing may be required and then set the pod on the A Pillar to where they can best be viewed. Mark the location on the A Pillar cover and remove. Drill two holes in the A Pillar cover behind where the gauges will be taking into account where the wires exit so as not to make any sharp bends. Install pod onto cover. Extend wiring, you'll need it long enough to fish down through the dash then back up to the fuse box and head light switch. Drill a hole in the floor below the body harness bulkhead or where ever else you choose. Feed the O2 Harness through the engine bay into the cabin, up through the dash and plug into the AFR gauge harness. Feed the remaining wires and plastic boost line through the dash next to the vent outlet. AFR power wire, there is a open terminal, second from the bottom all the way to the front that has keyed power. Come in from the inside of the dash, trim a spade terminal down and remove the plastic insulator and bend it sharp and install. You should be able to get the fuse box cover on and not see any wires. *Can someone chime in on whether this is a fuse terminal or not?* AFR Ground and Boost Gauge ground, solder or crimp these two together and using a 5/16 eyelet install them into the body ground above the hood release behind the driver kick panel. Boost Gauge backlight, this one worked pretty well too, remove the headlight switch. Strip back the insulation on the large yellow wire and solder in your extended white wire for the gauge. The gauge will then light up when the headlights come on with the switch or automatically. Then run the boost line through the hole in the firewall and to its source. Tuck the wires in along the A Pillar and mount the cover. Done and no wires visible running to the fuse box. *If anybody sees any potential problems with the wiring locations please make it known here.* I'll be heading back to New York for two weeks on the 11th but when I return we're going to tackle the sway bar relocation and I've got some ideas on that one thanks to Toxic. See you next time!





Gauges installed into pod and pod mounted to A pillar cover.





Added hole under Harness bulkhead for O2 Harness.





Power wire for AFR Guage. Second row up, far left.





Ground terminal by hood release behind kick panel.





Boost gauge backlight tied into headlight harness.





Completed install.

 

Hey guys, still in New York but my insomnia is in full swing so I figured I'd update the post lol. So last weekend I started the Racetronix Hotwire Kit install and while I'm back there put some Bilstein shocks in too. Gaining access to the areas in which you'll be working is pretty easy too so lets begin. Start by removing the flip up panel in the hatch area, then remove the screws that attach the B pillar covers where the t-tops latch in, remove the speaker grills and the single Phillips head screws behind them, work them loose and unplug the speakers and remove. Using a torx bit remove the floor anchors and peel back the carpet and it should like picture one. After peeling back the carpet look for the foam plugs on either side of the cabin, pull them out and there are the tops of the shocks. If the car is on the ground continue. If in the air be sure to support the rear axle! Hit them with an impact gun and remove the nuts and isolators. Remove the nuts/bolts that retain the lower half of the shocks and lower the rear end until the load is off the shocks and remove them. Then reverse the procedure for reassembly.
So while I had the inside apart like this I went ahead and installed the Racetronix Kit which is an excellent kit! Includes everything for install, all the zip ties, all connections are clearly labeled and it even includes and extra fuse in case you make a mistake! Luckily for me the previous owner cut an access panel in the floor so I didn't have to drop the tank, sweet. So take the fuel tank end of the harness and fold back one connector and using electrical tape wrap it up so as to reduce the diameter of the harness so you can feed it up from the bottom of the car to the fuel tank. Start about the middle but favoring the passenger side of the car especially since if doing a turbo build since the alternator is now on the passenger side of the car. Feed the harness up next to the tank and plug into the factory harness. Then route along the underside of the car avoiding pinch points, moving parts and exhaust parts using the supplied zip ties to secure it. Route it up along the frame following the factory harness up to the alternator and attach to the back of the alternator. The ground is attached at back above the rear axle so just clean the paint off a spot and secure. Unbelievably easy. I'll attach more pics when I get back because my phone didn't seem to keep them. So after this I just need to secure the front brake lines, get an alignment, hook up the exhaust and get a Pat G tune. So close... Thanks guys and please let me know if anyone has any questions!

 

Hola guys, well I've completed all the parts installations. Just need a tune, alignment, hook up to the existing exhaust and fluids annnnnnnd I ran out of money lol. So after seeing what Toxic had done with his sway bar I took the plunge. I bought some 1" 1/2" wall DOM tubing and cut it to 4 1/2" long and used 1/4 plate on the back side of the sway bar mount, bolted the clam shell, plate tube and factory bracket and welded it all together as shown below. You will need to trim off a portion of the factory bracket on the passenger side to clear the hotside so you'll lose one of the bolt holes but oh well. I got the sway bar bolted up and I know ideally it's supposed to be flat but there is no way that is going to happen so I hope there won't be any side effects and perhaps someone can chime in regarding that aspect. She hangs pretty low but not lower than the air dam and if you think about it, the whole car would have to slam down for it to hit the ground taking consideration of angles and what not, the front bumper would hit the ground before this does, speed bumps are another issue lol. Another item was the brake line brackets, just trim the tab off and run a bolt through the existing hole to secure those, you may need to zip tie in a few spots too. I ran the hotwire kit along the fuel lines then crossed to the passenger side at the transmission following the factory harness to the alternators new location, super easy. Do I need a little piece of pipe for the wastegate exit too? So it's all back together, I'm hoping to have an idle vid soon so be sure to check back! If anyone has any questions or feels like I missed anything let me know and I'll see if I covered it. Thanks everybody who followed and I'll get the idle vid up soon!

 

As long as ground clearance is good I think that will work great. Its just needs to tie the front together and it can still do that.