HKS Supercharger and my Z
HKS Supercharger and my Z
Well, I finally did it. For the first time, I am force feeding my car. This all started 3 years ago when I bought my 2003 Z coupe and I told myself I will work towards FI. I never let up!! Throughout these years and after countless hours of reading and learning from everyone on this forum, I can confidently say that I am enjoying the fruits of my labour in terms of building my Z. I am not fully done however, there are still some misc. parts here and there that I still haven't gotten, and future fine tuning to maximize my setup.
The HKS GT supercharger has always been a kit that I have liked, however it has been quite pricey, but thanks to its recent drop in price, I took the plunge earlier than expected. I was actually gearing up to go built engine, TT, the whole bit; but this road seemed a bit more sensible, me being a new home owner and all, and getting into less trouble with the lady friend
. Once I am done with my home projects and other stuff, I am sure I will be back to the drawing board and shoot for even more power!! Damn, power is addictive. 
Everything fell into place. I ordered the full kit from MVP Motorsports in early January, got it shipped across the border, drove down to pick it up, and the install began the very next day. Luckily I was on my week off from work and was able to get it finished in roughly 2.5 days. I had my brother's help throughout which made for a quicker install. We didn't rush anything, but what took the longest was actually sorting out the required parts, nuts, bolts, and washers. The install was exactly as per the instructions, just not in the right order. I left the fueling for last, just didn't want lingering fumes while still working. We came across a few hurdles along the way, and I will do my best to point them out throughout this thread. And now on to the pictures.
The first thing I did was to get a pre-supercharger dyno. I hadn't done one since last installing my Berks HFCs with my wideband. Nice gains from the HFCs alone. Other mods at the time included Nismo CAI, 5/16" plenum spacer, and HKS Ti TD catback.
Then the install began. My fiance was pretty cool and supportive throughout the whole thing. She even offered to park outside for the next few nights so I could use the whole garage.
Off came the bumper, the crash bar, the strut brace, the engine cover.
The Nismo CAI was the very first mod to my Z. Hate to see it go bye, but it is replaced by something that sucks even more!!
Here is my engine bay ready.
... and everything set aside and out of the way.
Oh the memories and frustrations of sorting small things...
Relocating horns and installing supplied brackets for PS cooler, and airbag sensor.
The supercharger bracket and the blower itself. A little bit of lubricant and the supplied collars can be pressed/hammered in more easily. I have to say this kit was very well thought thru. No fitment issues. Everything is pretty much like stock in the end.
Ah looking so much better already.
Next came the idler pulley. Boy there is very little clearance between the fan shroud and the pulley. Especially where the bolt sits. We ended up having to diconnect the fan and dropping it in order to mount the pulley. No problem there. Putting the fan shroud back in place was the tricky part. There was not enough clearance to make it pass over the pulley bolt and as a result we cracked the fan shroud a little right at where the yellow sticker sits. No big deal. It was just a little bit of plastic that broke, but I would recommend taking a dremmel at it and trimming it more precisely instead of risking a big break in the shroud.
You can't see the idler pulley from this shot, but you get the idea how tightly everything fits together.
The intercooler and piping was pretty straight forward but again a very tight fit. Didn't want to scuff or scratch them all that much. The pipes that go in and out of the intercooler get secured to a bracket with rubber strips and clamps that are included. Getting to these was a pain since you can only access them from the wheel well. Also routing a wiring harness around this braket was a pain. It took a couple of tries in different ways to get it right. Trouble shooting is always fun, if not things would be boring.
Then came the oiling system. Pretty straight forward also. Here is a pic of me hard at work.
Boy it was a cold day that day, good thing I got the tuque for free in a box of 28 Canadian Lagers earlier. YEAH!!
Here is what we relied on to keep warm and have our brains working full throttle the whole time. Good old Tim Horton's eh?
The crash bar back in place and everything secured. Things are starting to wrap up nicely.
Next we put the belts back on and tightened them. I still have to re-tighten the new powersteering belt, it stretched from new i guess and squeals on cold startups. The biggest problem we had with the install was actually changing a big a$$ bolt that holds the powersteering pump bracket in place. The direction of the belt changes when a new idler pulley gets installed, so a new bolt is supplied that has a much smaller head compared to the OEM one so that the belt will not catch it. We probably spent an hour and a half trying to figure out what the heck the problem was when this new bolt would not thread into the rear part of the bracket.
We figured the thickness of the bolt after the threads was a hair thicker. No joke here. We used a dremmel and lightly sanded it so the threads could get through and catch the bracket in the back. Also the OEM bolt is tappered at the end, so it centers itself. Not the case with the supplied one. 
We then tackled the fuel system. Here shows the two additional injectors facing the wrong way. They are installed facing the opening of the plenum. The fuel lines were very hard to push into the fittings. Make sure to do this in a warm environment so the rubber is more flexible. These lines come measured to the millimeter, so very little slack is provided making it a bit tough to route and fit. But patience goes a long way. I also had to worry about saving the plenum gasket and reinstalling the plenum spacer. All went well though.
Once the fuel system was installed and no leaks were detected, the vaccuum lines were hooked up and routed to their corresponding items... map sensor, boost guage sensor, and bypass valve.
Here is a closeup of the map sensor next to my corvette catch can (an awesome DIY on this forum).
After that the work was split up and I ended up hooking up the rest of the piping while my brother and another buddy hooked up the ECU. No snags to report of. Here is the final product... well, I haven't done any cleaning yet and I still have to trim the engine cover to fit over the supercharger pulleys and then put the strut bar back.
My Z fired up right away, I let it warm up and revved it a little. My bedroom sits right over the garage, and my fiance was on the phone at the time of the revving. She says her girlfriend at the other end of the line asked her if she was ok and what the hell that loud noise was!!
I got in crap right away since it was very close to 11pm and she claimed our neighbors' kids would get woken up and they would call the police on us. 
LOL, you can't blame a guy for his love of car toys.
The HKS GT supercharger has always been a kit that I have liked, however it has been quite pricey, but thanks to its recent drop in price, I took the plunge earlier than expected. I was actually gearing up to go built engine, TT, the whole bit; but this road seemed a bit more sensible, me being a new home owner and all, and getting into less trouble with the lady friend
. Once I am done with my home projects and other stuff, I am sure I will be back to the drawing board and shoot for even more power!! Damn, power is addictive. Everything fell into place. I ordered the full kit from MVP Motorsports in early January, got it shipped across the border, drove down to pick it up, and the install began the very next day. Luckily I was on my week off from work and was able to get it finished in roughly 2.5 days. I had my brother's help throughout which made for a quicker install. We didn't rush anything, but what took the longest was actually sorting out the required parts, nuts, bolts, and washers. The install was exactly as per the instructions, just not in the right order. I left the fueling for last, just didn't want lingering fumes while still working. We came across a few hurdles along the way, and I will do my best to point them out throughout this thread. And now on to the pictures.
The first thing I did was to get a pre-supercharger dyno. I hadn't done one since last installing my Berks HFCs with my wideband. Nice gains from the HFCs alone. Other mods at the time included Nismo CAI, 5/16" plenum spacer, and HKS Ti TD catback.
Then the install began. My fiance was pretty cool and supportive throughout the whole thing. She even offered to park outside for the next few nights so I could use the whole garage.
Off came the bumper, the crash bar, the strut brace, the engine cover.
The Nismo CAI was the very first mod to my Z. Hate to see it go bye, but it is replaced by something that sucks even more!!
Here is my engine bay ready.
... and everything set aside and out of the way.
Oh the memories and frustrations of sorting small things...
Relocating horns and installing supplied brackets for PS cooler, and airbag sensor.
The supercharger bracket and the blower itself. A little bit of lubricant and the supplied collars can be pressed/hammered in more easily. I have to say this kit was very well thought thru. No fitment issues. Everything is pretty much like stock in the end.
Ah looking so much better already.
Next came the idler pulley. Boy there is very little clearance between the fan shroud and the pulley. Especially where the bolt sits. We ended up having to diconnect the fan and dropping it in order to mount the pulley. No problem there. Putting the fan shroud back in place was the tricky part. There was not enough clearance to make it pass over the pulley bolt and as a result we cracked the fan shroud a little right at where the yellow sticker sits. No big deal. It was just a little bit of plastic that broke, but I would recommend taking a dremmel at it and trimming it more precisely instead of risking a big break in the shroud.
You can't see the idler pulley from this shot, but you get the idea how tightly everything fits together.
The intercooler and piping was pretty straight forward but again a very tight fit. Didn't want to scuff or scratch them all that much. The pipes that go in and out of the intercooler get secured to a bracket with rubber strips and clamps that are included. Getting to these was a pain since you can only access them from the wheel well. Also routing a wiring harness around this braket was a pain. It took a couple of tries in different ways to get it right. Trouble shooting is always fun, if not things would be boring.
Then came the oiling system. Pretty straight forward also. Here is a pic of me hard at work.
Boy it was a cold day that day, good thing I got the tuque for free in a box of 28 Canadian Lagers earlier. YEAH!!Here is what we relied on to keep warm and have our brains working full throttle the whole time. Good old Tim Horton's eh?
The crash bar back in place and everything secured. Things are starting to wrap up nicely.
Next we put the belts back on and tightened them. I still have to re-tighten the new powersteering belt, it stretched from new i guess and squeals on cold startups. The biggest problem we had with the install was actually changing a big a$$ bolt that holds the powersteering pump bracket in place. The direction of the belt changes when a new idler pulley gets installed, so a new bolt is supplied that has a much smaller head compared to the OEM one so that the belt will not catch it. We probably spent an hour and a half trying to figure out what the heck the problem was when this new bolt would not thread into the rear part of the bracket.
We figured the thickness of the bolt after the threads was a hair thicker. No joke here. We used a dremmel and lightly sanded it so the threads could get through and catch the bracket in the back. Also the OEM bolt is tappered at the end, so it centers itself. Not the case with the supplied one. We then tackled the fuel system. Here shows the two additional injectors facing the wrong way. They are installed facing the opening of the plenum. The fuel lines were very hard to push into the fittings. Make sure to do this in a warm environment so the rubber is more flexible.
These lines come measured to the millimeter, so very little slack is provided making it a bit tough to route and fit. But patience goes a long way. I also had to worry about saving the plenum gasket and reinstalling the plenum spacer. All went well though.Once the fuel system was installed and no leaks were detected, the vaccuum lines were hooked up and routed to their corresponding items... map sensor, boost guage sensor, and bypass valve.
Here is a closeup of the map sensor next to my corvette catch can (an awesome DIY on this forum).
After that the work was split up and I ended up hooking up the rest of the piping while my brother and another buddy hooked up the ECU. No snags to report of. Here is the final product... well, I haven't done any cleaning yet and I still have to trim the engine cover to fit over the supercharger pulleys and then put the strut bar back.
My Z fired up right away, I let it warm up and revved it a little. My bedroom sits right over the garage, and my fiance was on the phone at the time of the revving. She says her girlfriend at the other end of the line asked her if she was ok and what the hell that loud noise was!!
I got in crap right away since it was very close to 11pm and she claimed our neighbors' kids would get woken up and they would call the police on us. LOL, you can't blame a guy for his love of car toys.
... continued
I took the car for a spin the next morning and absolutely enjoyed it. The car overall pulls faster in all gears. It's pretty much like stock, just with more power. Very predictable power band. I am very pleased with the kit so far. I will be getting it tuned maybe in the spring/summer and squeeze more power out of it. Here is my dyno before and after and a video of my interior during the dyno:
Thanks for reading. Questions and comments are always welcome.
Thanks for reading. Questions and comments are always welcome.
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You know years ago I would have prolly laughed at the gains.
Right now I'll say congrats and good job on the install. Those power numbers will make for a FUN cars for years to come. Well done...
Right now I'll say congrats and good job on the install. Those power numbers will make for a FUN cars for years to come. Well done...
