MUZZY's Vortech install ton of pics (guide for future FI Z's)
03-26-2007, 10:27 AM
#1
MUZZY's Vortech install ton of pics (guide for future FI Z's)
First before I start I would like to thank my good friends Shane and Mark that helped out with the install and Shanes grandpa for letting us use his garage.
Secondly english is my 3rd language, and I suck at composition so bare with my grammer mistakes plz.
third for future vortech installers use this little DIY story to help with your own install. allot of little things that will save u time and pain.
It started with me filing my taxes.... since I'm a full time student I was able to get all the money I payed for school somehow back to me! It was a good chunk of change $3100. Knowing this I tought to myself I could potentially go FI! I was excited. So I started searching on these vary forums. I asked tons of questions PM'd allot of ppl. Did my research and to make this thread not 40 pages long came to the conclusion that the vortech sc kit was the right one for me. Im an avid DIY guy and I have installed everything in the Z myself and proud of it. I encourage everyone to do so also, you will learn so much about your car and the mod will be more worthwhile, not to mention the ton of money you save!
Here is a list why I chose the kit:
-I could install it myself w/o a lift
-It was the most complete kit
-you can run in right out of the box
-was in my price range (thx audioblemayham)
-reliability and maintinance was simple
-easilly upgradable
-name brand with a great customer service and reliability
-sc sound (like f16 jet)
-didnt have to get rid of my existing exhoust mods
-different than all the other Z's and G's that all have TT
So during the research i started buying all the supporting mods. I knew in the end I would have to tune the car and a dyno/tune is not cheap so I wanted to get all the supporting mods installed at the same time.
supporting mods:
-pro-1 oil pan
-5/16 motordyne spacer
-440cc injector
-3.12 pully
-gator belts
-guages, a/f, oil temp, boost
-irredium 1 step colder plugs
After selling a bunch of trading cards I hade laying around for $3000 I told myself this was it and never looked back. I purchased the full kit from audioblemayham on these forums since he gave me the best price and has sold tons of thee kits b4 not to mention he knew the ins and outs of the kit and he was comfortable with me calling him during my install if I came to a problem.
So fast forward to Friday 3 weeks ago. We decided to do the whole project in 1 weekend. we all printed out the instructions and read them and basically memorized them the week b4. we read trough the list of tools required and made sure we could do everything.
Things that a normal person might not have that needs:
-silicon sealant
-an angle drill
-3/8 NPT tap (read below for the story on this)
-hose clamp pliers
Friday night we just decided to get the car setup for tom. We put the rear of the car on ramps and jacked the front up and put stands on it giving us a total of 1' overall under the car.
we installed the guages and spacer some nights b4 to give us a head start here is some pics of us removing the front bumper and splash shields/wheel wels to make the install go faster
we seriously did everything step by step from the book paying attention to every word (highly recomended). also pictures tell a thousand words, make sure what u have looks exactly like the pic for exqample hose location electrical line routing. b/c its that way for a reason!
next morning around 9am. picture of all th parts that need to be installed. make sure to do a part check list and all the parts are acounted for. the kit I got was missing 1 silicon hose fitting, I called AM and he sent it right away in 3 days, we jimmy riged something for the meantime with other fittings we hade read further down.
first thing to start the day. Drill a 5/8 whole in your engine!!!! yay!!! point of no return
taping of the block for a gravity oil drain to the oil pan. I did the research and decided I wanted to tap my block instead of using the spacer or the provided plug in my new oilpan (search the forums for reason). we just took of the stock oil pan for the night and picked everything up next morning.
the kit does not come with the 3/8 NPT tap required so the none mechanic that I am I went to lowes and got a 3/8 tap the night b4. mike and several forum members warned me how hard this tap was to get and to my suprize I went across the street and bought one. Then I was like WTF. we hit our firt wall of the install. a 3/8" tap is totally diferent than a 3/8" 'NPT' tap! the size required was more like 5/8". so we panic. we have a hole in the engine and have no tap. We called/went to every store imaginable in town to get the tap.... 4 hourse later I told myself I should have known something was up when 3 seperate ppl tell me to get this part in advance and its not easy to get ($30 tap). So we get our first break and become luck. After calling a hardware store he gives us aa number to a plumber, who then gives us a number to a shop, who then gives us a number to his buddy that has a 3/8" NPT tap! MIRRACLE I tell you. This guy lives literally 1 block up the road and volenteared to open his shop to rent us the tool. I was willing to give him 30$ but he only wanted 5 so I gave him 10. OBTW this guy was 9 foot tall and 400lbs and had 2 dogs with him that could bite my heaed off ( different story). anyway first obsticle conquered, the fitting for the oil return line:
The upper intercooler piping is up next:
blower mounted to the bracket and bracket assembly. when installing the setup put some silicone on the washers so they wont fall off the back when you try to manuver it in position. also make sure that the AC line fits perfectly in the groove in the back of the assembly. in the blower area make sure all your lines dont kink and clear each other. we removed the full assembly and blower literally 7 times b4 we got it perfect! do not get frustrated. this is an important part.
key points in the blower area:
-ac lines out of the way look at the instruction manual pictures for how they bend theirs.
-gravity oil drain goes to the passenger side of the intercooler piping and clears the ac wheel.
-oil feed is ran on the outside drivers frame, cramed in the plastic wheel well.
-no upwards bends allowed for oil drain. make sure there are no kinks!
-vacume line runs passenger side of the ic piping also.
-zip tie from under the car all lines away from the ac belt
new oil pan with oil tempareture installed on one of the ports:
Secondly english is my 3rd language, and I suck at composition so bare with my grammer mistakes plz.
third for future vortech installers use this little DIY story to help with your own install. allot of little things that will save u time and pain.
It started with me filing my taxes.... since I'm a full time student I was able to get all the money I payed for school somehow back to me! It was a good chunk of change $3100. Knowing this I tought to myself I could potentially go FI! I was excited. So I started searching on these vary forums. I asked tons of questions PM'd allot of ppl. Did my research and to make this thread not 40 pages long came to the conclusion that the vortech sc kit was the right one for me. Im an avid DIY guy and I have installed everything in the Z myself and proud of it. I encourage everyone to do so also, you will learn so much about your car and the mod will be more worthwhile, not to mention the ton of money you save!
Here is a list why I chose the kit:
-I could install it myself w/o a lift
-It was the most complete kit
-you can run in right out of the box
-was in my price range (thx audioblemayham)
-reliability and maintinance was simple
-easilly upgradable
-name brand with a great customer service and reliability
-sc sound (like f16 jet)
-didnt have to get rid of my existing exhoust mods
-different than all the other Z's and G's that all have TT
So during the research i started buying all the supporting mods. I knew in the end I would have to tune the car and a dyno/tune is not cheap so I wanted to get all the supporting mods installed at the same time.
supporting mods:
-pro-1 oil pan
-5/16 motordyne spacer
-440cc injector
-3.12 pully
-gator belts
-guages, a/f, oil temp, boost
-irredium 1 step colder plugs
After selling a bunch of trading cards I hade laying around for $3000 I told myself this was it and never looked back. I purchased the full kit from audioblemayham on these forums since he gave me the best price and has sold tons of thee kits b4 not to mention he knew the ins and outs of the kit and he was comfortable with me calling him during my install if I came to a problem.
So fast forward to Friday 3 weeks ago. We decided to do the whole project in 1 weekend. we all printed out the instructions and read them and basically memorized them the week b4. we read trough the list of tools required and made sure we could do everything.
Things that a normal person might not have that needs:
-silicon sealant
-an angle drill
-3/8 NPT tap (read below for the story on this)
-hose clamp pliers
Friday night we just decided to get the car setup for tom. We put the rear of the car on ramps and jacked the front up and put stands on it giving us a total of 1' overall under the car.
we installed the guages and spacer some nights b4 to give us a head start here is some pics of us removing the front bumper and splash shields/wheel wels to make the install go faster
we seriously did everything step by step from the book paying attention to every word (highly recomended). also pictures tell a thousand words, make sure what u have looks exactly like the pic for exqample hose location electrical line routing. b/c its that way for a reason!
next morning around 9am. picture of all th parts that need to be installed. make sure to do a part check list and all the parts are acounted for. the kit I got was missing 1 silicon hose fitting, I called AM and he sent it right away in 3 days, we jimmy riged something for the meantime with other fittings we hade read further down.
first thing to start the day. Drill a 5/8 whole in your engine!!!! yay!!! point of no return
taping of the block for a gravity oil drain to the oil pan. I did the research and decided I wanted to tap my block instead of using the spacer or the provided plug in my new oilpan (search the forums for reason). we just took of the stock oil pan for the night and picked everything up next morning.
the kit does not come with the 3/8 NPT tap required so the none mechanic that I am I went to lowes and got a 3/8 tap the night b4. mike and several forum members warned me how hard this tap was to get and to my suprize I went across the street and bought one. Then I was like WTF. we hit our firt wall of the install. a 3/8" tap is totally diferent than a 3/8" 'NPT' tap! the size required was more like 5/8". so we panic. we have a hole in the engine and have no tap. We called/went to every store imaginable in town to get the tap.... 4 hourse later I told myself I should have known something was up when 3 seperate ppl tell me to get this part in advance and its not easy to get ($30 tap). So we get our first break and become luck. After calling a hardware store he gives us aa number to a plumber, who then gives us a number to a shop, who then gives us a number to his buddy that has a 3/8" NPT tap! MIRRACLE I tell you. This guy lives literally 1 block up the road and volenteared to open his shop to rent us the tool. I was willing to give him 30$ but he only wanted 5 so I gave him 10. OBTW this guy was 9 foot tall and 400lbs and had 2 dogs with him that could bite my heaed off ( different story). anyway first obsticle conquered, the fitting for the oil return line:
The upper intercooler piping is up next:
blower mounted to the bracket and bracket assembly. when installing the setup put some silicone on the washers so they wont fall off the back when you try to manuver it in position. also make sure that the AC line fits perfectly in the groove in the back of the assembly. in the blower area make sure all your lines dont kink and clear each other. we removed the full assembly and blower literally 7 times b4 we got it perfect! do not get frustrated. this is an important part.
key points in the blower area:
-ac lines out of the way look at the instruction manual pictures for how they bend theirs.
-gravity oil drain goes to the passenger side of the intercooler piping and clears the ac wheel.
-oil feed is ran on the outside drivers frame, cramed in the plastic wheel well.
-no upwards bends allowed for oil drain. make sure there are no kinks!
-vacume line runs passenger side of the ic piping also.
-zip tie from under the car all lines away from the ac belt
new oil pan with oil tempareture installed on one of the ports:
Last edited by MUZZY; 03-26-2007 at 01:09 PM.
03-26-2007, 11:55 AM
#2
Next inline is the intercooler and ic piping. This part was real easy everything fit real nice. Some holes need to be made in the plastic pieces to make room but overall it was a nice fit. tolerances are rediculousely close but work.
pictures of the jimmy riged fitting.We are missing a 2.75-2.5" fitting so we used a 4"-3" and clamped it down real harrd for now. It worked great and 3 weeks later im still to lazy to fix it lol.
FMU, blow off valve, inline fuel pump. FYI your fuel feed line has a quick connect. its an elbow quick connect near the inner wall of the passenger side engine. It has a blue cover. when u dissconected you will get fuel in ur face! the small blue plastick piece is for ur FMU's male end that will connect to ur existing female end.
hard to describe this but here is the SS box wiring. its hard to describe but the instructions are vary clear and easy. u can buy a harness to make this part of the job 400% easiers but I am confident at my electrical skills and didnt want to spend $250 since im on a strict FI budget. showes how crazy it looks but once u get on it its pretty easy.
pictures of the jimmy riged fitting.We are missing a 2.75-2.5" fitting so we used a 4"-3" and clamped it down real harrd for now. It worked great and 3 weeks later im still to lazy to fix it lol.
FMU, blow off valve, inline fuel pump. FYI your fuel feed line has a quick connect. its an elbow quick connect near the inner wall of the passenger side engine. It has a blue cover. when u dissconected you will get fuel in ur face! the small blue plastick piece is for ur FMU's male end that will connect to ur existing female end.
hard to describe this but here is the SS box wiring. its hard to describe but the instructions are vary clear and easy. u can buy a harness to make this part of the job 400% easiers but I am confident at my electrical skills and didnt want to spend $250 since im on a strict FI budget. showes how crazy it looks but once u get on it its pretty easy.
Last edited by MUZZY; 03-26-2007 at 12:10 PM.
03-26-2007, 12:11 PM
#4
well thats the install part. we started the car and checked for leaks per the directions. we emedietly got a fuel leak. WTF second road block... FYI when u get a fuel pump and it has fittings on it... the fittings arnt in the fuel pump tight! lol. no worries we tightened it and we are good to go after we check/sdjust the following:
-the belt tensioner
-the idler for the coged belt for the s/c
-BOV
and then its time for a test drive. the kit is tuned out of the box so we progressed slowly till we hit WOT... the whole night we hade so much fun in the end b/c we did a bunch of digs... allot of 40mph 2nd gear rolls. I could not be happier it pulled like a ****! I had a grin all night. We got done with the install about 7pm sunday night. some pics of the testing w/o the front bumper and putting the car back together.
yea we decided to cut the front bumper to get more air:
Fast forward to wednesday, hi of 70 degrees beutifull sunny day, Thursday high of 86, yay spring is here!
Friday, sleet and snow WTF!!!!!!!!!!!! I took off from work since I got an appointment from AAM for a dyno/tune. out of all the days that are beutifull.... the one day I have to drive 3 hours its ****ing like winter I was pissed.... but made the best of it.
at AAM weiting+dyno pics
at AAM got it on a dyno for a base run with the 9psi pully i got:
ended up leaning towards 6k rpm so we decided to throw in the 440cc injectors on. I also got an ECU flash to raise my idel and take out my speed limiter and increase my rev to 7,100 plus allot of other stuff and 3 maps. here is a pic of the base dyno run b4 the ECU flash and tune
the final numbers with a real conservative tune is 401rwhp around 478hp at the fly.
my goal from the beginning was 400 so I was really happy that my research payed of and was 1hp short of hitting the mark! (in a good way)
I ended up having to leave my car at AAM b/c mike tunes the car on the road and that how he guarantees his work and obviously god was against me so he couldnt do it that day. So i ended up making that 6hr trip 2x that weekend to pick up my car... yay!!!! in the end it was worth it.
My total budget for the whole project was $6,100
my total was $7,400
what made the difference do was the injectors.... I knew there was a chance that i might needed them but didnt count them in my budget. th injectors set me back a whopping $650!!!! I got rapped >< for a total of $1,000 for them to install my injectors b/c I couldnt do anything. This is the only part ware I shouldhave prepared for and bought a set of used injectors from the forums b/c I could have saved myself $800. the other part of why I went over budget b/c of AAM steap $98 an hour labor charge witch hit hard as a rock. I think the weather had something to do with it and set me back a couple.
The guys at AAM know what they are doing and I have no doubt that they are the best at what they do since they onlyy really work on Z's and G's. But when I setup my appointment I asked for a tune and ECU flash and mike sayd it will be under $1k but when I got there is was $1.3k! >< I cringed. In the end my *** was soar since They ended up with $2,560 of my money! thats like 1/3 of my budget. Anyway they did a great job in tunning it and I love how the car feels and pulls now. I rather have spent that money knowing I will be safe then be the cheap *** that I am and blow my investment!.
I have been itching to go to the track for the last 2 weeks now and every friday its Fing raining! hopefully this friday it will be clear. I have a huge tracktion problem right now since im still using stock 17" and cant go WOT in 1st,2nd, or 3rd gear b/c I just spin out from the power! I love it and hate it that my car has so much power now but I cant planted on the ground. from a good 40mph or 60mph roll its rediculouse and exilerating.
I enjoy the investment I have made and dont regret one bit. And I know when I get some new wheels and tires (275's in the back) that I will totally love it even more since I will have traction.
One thing I have learned in my FI story is that if you are looking for a decent power gain (350rwhp) the vortech kit is perfect out of the box. But if you want to upgrade it you can save urself some money and just get the tuner kit. With a little more research I could have saved myself $1000-$1500 on a tuner kit and invested it on a uteck and FMU. In the end my SS box is fine and I enjoy driving my DD supercharged Z!
Like to thank all the ppl that contribute to this forum since that is what made it possible for me to accomplish this big DIY project. and thank you for reading this BIG A$$ post. hope you enjoy and if you have any questions I will be glad to answer.
BTW modding is addicting... look at my sig... it has only been 6 months
-the belt tensioner
-the idler for the coged belt for the s/c
-BOV
and then its time for a test drive. the kit is tuned out of the box so we progressed slowly till we hit WOT... the whole night we hade so much fun in the end b/c we did a bunch of digs... allot of 40mph 2nd gear rolls. I could not be happier it pulled like a ****! I had a grin all night. We got done with the install about 7pm sunday night. some pics of the testing w/o the front bumper and putting the car back together.
yea we decided to cut the front bumper to get more air:
Fast forward to wednesday, hi of 70 degrees beutifull sunny day, Thursday high of 86, yay spring is here!
Friday, sleet and snow WTF!!!!!!!!!!!! I took off from work since I got an appointment from AAM for a dyno/tune. out of all the days that are beutifull.... the one day I have to drive 3 hours its ****ing like winter I was pissed.... but made the best of it.
at AAM weiting+dyno pics
at AAM got it on a dyno for a base run with the 9psi pully i got:
ended up leaning towards 6k rpm so we decided to throw in the 440cc injectors on. I also got an ECU flash to raise my idel and take out my speed limiter and increase my rev to 7,100 plus allot of other stuff and 3 maps. here is a pic of the base dyno run b4 the ECU flash and tune
the final numbers with a real conservative tune is 401rwhp around 478hp at the fly.
my goal from the beginning was 400 so I was really happy that my research payed of and was 1hp short of hitting the mark! (in a good way)
I ended up having to leave my car at AAM b/c mike tunes the car on the road and that how he guarantees his work and obviously god was against me so he couldnt do it that day. So i ended up making that 6hr trip 2x that weekend to pick up my car... yay!!!! in the end it was worth it.
My total budget for the whole project was $6,100
my total was $7,400
what made the difference do was the injectors.... I knew there was a chance that i might needed them but didnt count them in my budget. th injectors set me back a whopping $650!!!! I got rapped >< for a total of $1,000 for them to install my injectors b/c I couldnt do anything. This is the only part ware I shouldhave prepared for and bought a set of used injectors from the forums b/c I could have saved myself $800. the other part of why I went over budget b/c of AAM steap $98 an hour labor charge witch hit hard as a rock. I think the weather had something to do with it and set me back a couple.
The guys at AAM know what they are doing and I have no doubt that they are the best at what they do since they onlyy really work on Z's and G's. But when I setup my appointment I asked for a tune and ECU flash and mike sayd it will be under $1k but when I got there is was $1.3k! >< I cringed. In the end my *** was soar since They ended up with $2,560 of my money! thats like 1/3 of my budget. Anyway they did a great job in tunning it and I love how the car feels and pulls now. I rather have spent that money knowing I will be safe then be the cheap *** that I am and blow my investment!.
I have been itching to go to the track for the last 2 weeks now and every friday its Fing raining! hopefully this friday it will be clear. I have a huge tracktion problem right now since im still using stock 17" and cant go WOT in 1st,2nd, or 3rd gear b/c I just spin out from the power! I love it and hate it that my car has so much power now but I cant planted on the ground. from a good 40mph or 60mph roll its rediculouse and exilerating.
I enjoy the investment I have made and dont regret one bit. And I know when I get some new wheels and tires (275's in the back) that I will totally love it even more since I will have traction.
One thing I have learned in my FI story is that if you are looking for a decent power gain (350rwhp) the vortech kit is perfect out of the box. But if you want to upgrade it you can save urself some money and just get the tuner kit. With a little more research I could have saved myself $1000-$1500 on a tuner kit and invested it on a uteck and FMU. In the end my SS box is fine and I enjoy driving my DD supercharged Z!
Like to thank all the ppl that contribute to this forum since that is what made it possible for me to accomplish this big DIY project. and thank you for reading this BIG A$$ post. hope you enjoy and if you have any questions I will be glad to answer.
BTW modding is addicting... look at my sig... it has only been 6 months
Last edited by MUZZY; 03-26-2007 at 02:10 PM.
03-26-2007, 01:11 PM
#7
Originally Posted by THE TECH
Not bad. You'll want to get a different serpentine belt though. The Goodyear stretches too much.
Trending Topics
03-26-2007, 01:32 PM
#8
as long as you're not having problems with the belt, then everything is good. Usually it'll stretch after a bit though. The GATES belt doesn't stretch as much and usually can also grip better
400whp is pretty good! congrats BTW, I tried to straighten out your graph some
however your power below 4000 rpms looks kinda low. Even the overall shape of the tq curve below 4000rpms looks very much like a bone stock NA curve. Does the car feel stronger at all or about the same driving it below 4k rpms?
400whp is pretty good! congrats BTW, I tried to straighten out your graph some
however your power below 4000 rpms looks kinda low. Even the overall shape of the tq curve below 4000rpms looks very much like a bone stock NA curve. Does the car feel stronger at all or about the same driving it below 4k rpms?
Last edited by sentry65; 03-26-2007 at 01:36 PM.
03-26-2007, 01:36 PM
#9
Registered User
iTrader: (9)
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Davie/Lutz, Florida
Posts: 1,918
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by MUZZY
really? I havnt had a problem with it so far. your talking about the ribbed belt right? what you replace urse with?
Get a gates belt from NAPA.
03-26-2007, 01:49 PM
#10
Originally Posted by sentry65
as long as you're not having problems with the belt, then everything is good. Usually it'll stretch after a bit though. The GATES belt doesn't stretch as much and usually can also grip better
400whp is pretty good! congrats BTW, I tried to straighten out your graph some
however your power below 4000 rpms looks kinda low. Even the overall shape of the tq curve below 4000rpms looks very much like a bone stock NA curve. Does the car feel stronger at all or about the same driving it below 4k rpms?
400whp is pretty good! congrats BTW, I tried to straighten out your graph some
however your power below 4000 rpms looks kinda low. Even the overall shape of the tq curve below 4000rpms looks very much like a bone stock NA curve. Does the car feel stronger at all or about the same driving it below 4k rpms?
Last edited by MUZZY; 03-26-2007 at 01:51 PM.
03-26-2007, 01:55 PM
#14
Originally Posted by MUZZY
well like I say'd I tried to highlight it. The only print out I have is a base dyno beforeI got a tune and ECU flash.I start geting power around 3k. below 3k it runs like stock witch I like b/c its less stress and good for DD. The car feels great when I go WOT. Mike was being a little stingy on pressing PRINT on his computer. he didnt even provide me with an a/f print out. ><
03-26-2007, 01:58 PM
#15
all I did was straighten it out real quick so I could overlay it with other people's 3.12 pulley 400whp vortech charts because I thought the tq curve looked a little odd - it's usually flatter overall than his tq is. Granted everyone's car is different, but everyone seems to have 40-60 more tq than him at 3500 rpms which creates a flatter tq curve which makes me think something weird is going on with the tune or something down low
Last edited by sentry65; 03-26-2007 at 02:00 PM.
03-26-2007, 01:59 PM
#17
Registered User
iTrader: (154)
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Hills of Anaheim
Posts: 10,735
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by MUZZY
already got them on. yup I beleive it was one of you 2 who told me to get that b4. if you look at the assembly pics they are the gates belt from napa.
03-26-2007, 02:02 PM
#18
Originally Posted by booger
So what your saying is...you made 400whp before AAM tuned it....and 400whp after they tuned it ? The graph you posted is the before dyno ?
but the base dyno was pretty much on the edge of blowing up... 7psi tune but with a 9psi pully. Im going to get it redyno anyway. b/c I felt that mike and AAM just wanted to get rid of me after they got my money. They even havnt returned my mail since the tune requesting the charts electronically so I can post them.
03-26-2007, 02:04 PM
#19
Originally Posted by THE TECH
Not the ribbed cog belt, the serpentine belt. The one you have is the Goodyear one.
so if i go to napa what exactly do I ask for? b/c I asked for 93" 6ribed gatorback belt and thats what I got.