Finally, I'm almost finished with my ATI install. Just a few more small things to finish up...then I'll road test it. I tried to take some good pics along the way, as well as documenting discrepancies in the manual. That all kind of went on the back burner because I need to get my car back on the road. I ran into a couple snags that seem to be pretty rare, which wasted some time, but ATI worked with me to make sure everything was ok.

When I get some time, hopefully very soon, I plan to go back through the manual and make some notes of things that I learned along the way. No promises...but I will try! I also need to trim down the pics so I can post them up. For now, I will say this...this kit is a tight fit, its amazing that they were able to engineer this as a bolt on kit. I did have some problems with clearance around the blower, but I now have a couple tricks for making it fit.

Thanks to Altered Atmosphere for selling me the kit. And I'll be going up there next Friday to get dyno tuned by Mike.

More to come...

 

Great Job Gary! Looking forward to it!

 

god bless you, i am so jealouse..........but happy for ya

 

About how much time did it take you from start to finish to install it?

 

I didn't track the time very well, but I have about 19.5 hours in it with about 1 more hour to finish up. I wasted several hours wrestling with the blower and the brackets, so if it weren't for that it would be more like 16 - 17 hours. Of course, the time to do another one would be cut some more after becoming familiar with the car and the kit. I still think it will be very hard to do a good installation in the 8-10 hours ATI claims.

 

Gary, what time are you going up to AA for dyno-tuning? I'd love to snag a ride in your beast...

 

John, I'm going to get there between 9 and 10 AM. I don't know what time they'll get done tuning, but I'll probably be there pretty much all day anyway. I might even stay over because they're having a dyno day on Saturday and I might hang out there for a while. Lemme know if you're gonna come by...I'll keep an eye out for you.

 

Congrats on your almost finished install. I'm getting a pre install dyno done this morning and then I'll start the install this afternoon or tomorrow. Is there anything I should know that you wish you would've known before you started? I've thoroughly read through the install manual and it really looks pretty straightforward. I don't foresee any problems and I'm putting my faith in ATI that it's going to stay that way.

By the way, did you get a wideband O2 like you were thinking about? I just ordered mine from techedge, but it looks like it's gonna be a couple weeks before it comes in. Also, did you install a fuel pressure gauge like they recommend? I've been looking at my different options for those and they all seem to be mechanical, which means I'd have to buy they isolator also.

 

Gary, I am in the processs of installing my Procharger and you are right...it is VERY tight fit.......getting the blower to fit onto the blower bracket is a NIGHTMARE!!! The 2.5 in. rubber tube that leaves the blower and heads down the front drivers fender just BARELY fits and makes installation of the blower onto the blower bracket even worse. Also, the rubber tubing that heads out of the factory airbox location barely fits onto the blower because the blower seems to sit a little too high and the tubing runs into the frame a bit. I am hoping its not just me that is having these little problems...please give me more specifics on the issues you came into contact with. Thanks!

Dan

 

Some of the photos were a little misleading in the manual. This is partially because some of the parts used in the pics were prototype parts. You might have to play around with things to find the best position, for example the IC piping and the bypass valve. FWIW, I did not use the kit hoses for the bypass valve because I wasn't happy with the fit. I ended up using some other hoses I had, I'll post a pic when I get a chance. In general, just expect a tight fit, some things will be tighter than you expected. And be patient with the actual blower installation, it is a bit frustrating.

Regarding gauges, I haven't purchased anything yet. I think I'm going to run a Greddy EGT for sure, and I'll probably run cheap fuel pressure and boost gauges. I still would like to have the wideband O2 in place of EGT, I just haven't had much time to look into the options.

 

The big problem I had was the blower would not bolt up to the bracket because the volute was hitting the frame rail. There are a few things you can do here, and I had to do all of these to make mine fit.

-First of all, when you bolt the “main bracket” to the front of the engine, pull up on the right side of it (facing front of engine) as you start to snug up the bolts. There may be a little play in the bolt holes, so you want to take advantage of this by pulling it in the direction that will give the blower more clearance.

-Second, you may have to rotate the volute in relation to the “transmission” housing on the blower. You just loosen the seven bolts that hold the volute on and rotate it counterclockwise (facing the inlet). Mine was already at the end of its range as set up by ATI. If you need to rotate it further, you will have to remove four of the retaining bolts, leaving three. ATI techs and the kit engineer say it will be ok with only three bolts, but I’d rather have more if possible. On mine I just ground the edges of the washers on the four bolts that would have to be removed, which will allow for more adjustment. Doing this, I was able to keep all the bolts and still get it lined up right. This seems complicated, but if you look at the blower it should make sense.

-Third, you may have to bend the lip on top of the frame rail over to gain a little more clearance. I did this on mine. If you end up rotating the volute a good bit, the coupler on the outlet will really be getting into a brace on the other side of it (opposite of the frame rail). This makes everything a little harder to bolt up as well as squashing that coupler even more than normal, so bending the lip on the frame rail might help. I’d recommend trying it first without doing this, then bend it if you need that last bit of clearance.

As a result of the amount I rotated the volute, I did have another problem. There is a small steel triangular bracket that bolts onto the blower using two of the volute retaining bolts. A third hole is slotted and allows for bolting to one of the large aluminum brackets. You will likely not have enough adjustment with the slot, but there is an easy solution. Just don’t put that bracket on. I talked to ATI about this and they claim that this small bracket isn’t even needed. I did put it on mine after modifying the bracket, but it looks like crap so I’ll end up taking it off. They have assured me that it was something that carried over from testing even though it is not needed.

Even after all this, the blower can still be a bear to get bolted up. You just have to pull the thing into position to get the bolts started. Reaching up from the bottom and pulling on the outlet coupler to compress it will help get the blower rotated to where it needs to be.

I think you were also talking about the fit of the intake coupler that goes onto the inlet of the blower. This coupler does get deformed when it goes through the hole in the radiator support. The coupler should be cut at an angle on one end, this end goes on the blower so the coupler actually angles down towards the front. Just use a little oil on it to help it slide onto the blower. I was able to reach through the coupler from the front to help push it onto the blower as well, so it actually went on fairly easily.

I hope that helps....its kind of hard to explain without pics.

 

Regarding the Wideband O2, I went with the Techedge one because it has a lot of things available and it's a damn good price.

My favorite thing about it is it has a simulated NB O2 output so I can just pull one of the 4 NB O2 sensors out and replace it with the wideband sensor. Then the NB that's missing gets simulated by the O2 computer. I wasn't relishing having to weld in another O2 bung. It also has logging available for RPM, AFR, 2 EGT Ktype inputs and 1 user definable input, such as boost or fuel pressure I suppose.

If you've got an in car PC, once there's some more software support for it, you could theoretically have all of the pertinent information on one screen without the installation of the different gauges.

I ordered it yesterday though, and they're a little backordered so it'll probably be a couple weeks before I get mine.

 

Glad it's going well for you Gary. See you next Friday!

 

Dumb question from someone who has never added FI to a car before...

Why is it important to have an EGT gauge? I understand you may want to measure this for tuning or to see where it will max out, etc. But is a gauge for constant reference really necessary after the install is done?

 

No, its not a necessity. But, it is a good way to keep an eye on things. The Greddy EGT will allow you to set an alarm level which turns on a light on the gauge. So if you see it come on, you know the temps went too high. It could be because it went lean, in which case you could troubleshoot the problem before any damage occurs.

 

Most people use a EGT gauge for tuning. When temps are high you usually can increase the timing or gap the plugs differently to lower the temps in the chambers. It's a good way to tune the engine.

 

I'm personally relying on a wideband 02 sensor for tuning. The wideband O2 will give the a/f ratio, which is the the best parameter to tune from since it is an absolute value.

Once that's done, I will have a reference point for the EGT readings. Since a reference point at a given location in the exhaust has not been established yet, the EGT would not work well for tuning initially. But if I know the a/f ratio is right, then I can read the EGT and have a future reference to indicate rich or lean conditions.

Just my opinion, not necessarily fact....

 

Thanks, guys! Guess I'll decide closer to install time whether I want to add an EGT or not. I don't expect to do make many changes to the FI after install. It sounds like if the kit is set up properly, I may not need the EGT.

 

I'll see if I can escape work early, but I'm not too optomistic in that regard. What time does the dyno day begin on Saturday?

 

John, I don't know for sure what time the dyno day starts. There is a thread somewhere, I think in regional, that has the details. It looks like I won't be able to stay over for the dyno day at this point.

Pics...I have put some pics up for anybody that wants to see some "work in progress" pics. I'll add more later, and I still need to find some time to put together a list of tips. Here is the link to the picture gallery:

http://www.krichbaum.net/pics/ati/