Ok please bear with me..this will be long.. but lots of pictures!
I know some of this should be in the intake section as well..so i'll repost some of this there as well.. but again please bear with..
Day One/Rallitek Intake install review.
Day one's objectives were to clean up the vacume lines and install the Rallitek Turbo Intake. Before i start beating this system up over it's many faults, Sean has been exteamly helpfull even though i griped way to much. Also this Kit is a custom job, it's NOT a featured product that they sell..they have more of an idea to do a full COMPLETE intake..but untill then this is what they have..And it works.. with some fanagleing..
We started by removing the stock air box,
and moving down the intake assemblie when we ran across our first leak of the day.
Who ever owned this car first...either did this himself as a quick fix..or brought it to a BAD mechanic.. the pipe at the base of the resonator box broke off, and they epoxied/or something the rubber hose to the box..inside the hose was a nylon pipe to complete the circut..needless to say that probably lasted a week before it broke again..
The next leak we found was the BOV pipe was split past the clasp..
I don't have a picture of the other leaks but the stock elbow is split really bad.. i have it JB welded for now but come monday i'll be ordering another one..also the bov connection on the elbow cracked off..so again i have it rigged till i can get a new elbow peice.. Again it'd be nice if the kit removed this and completely replaced it..but for now you'll have to keep this restrictive peice.
Now once we had the intake completely off we took the time to completely replace the vacume line system, most of which was dryrotted, heat expanded..or cracked. I know this picture dosen't show it but we zip tied most of these so it dosen't look like so much speggetti..
As a side note i RECOMEND this to EVERYONE..replace your vacume line system.. i normally run 6-7 Psi at peak.. after the vacume lines we're replace i've noticed a very strong 9-10PSI at peak..with no flutter or hesitation.. and the fuel smell went away.
This is of course how the instructions want the intake installed. Also the instructions want you to save the stock bolt that hold the maf to the box, so that you can use them to attach the plate adaptor to the maf.. unfortunately.. the bolt part of the screws is pop rivited/welded together to the box.. what i recomend is useing the 4 bolts that close the box and thier matching bolts, that you have to pry out with a flat head screw driver. other wise head to home depot and get new bolts and screws.
UNFORTUNATELY the way they have it in the instructions will not fit the space available:
So with some creative cutting with a saw-zall you reomve like an 1, 1/2 from the elbow
and move the sheath they provide down the elbow a bit more.. or you can cut the nice pipe they give you.. i chose the crappy rubber bit..
Now after the intake is intalled and all the vacume lines are attached.. your still left with the large oil re-circulation pipe that used to go to the resonator pipe..
Ralliteks directions are to use keep puting pipe within pipe untill it reduses enought to get it into the secondary hole they provide..i chose to go Back to auto zone and clean them out of connectors.. it finished up like this:
It was a pain at points but with a bit of elbow grease and fabrication, it all goes together
Special tools...hmm.. I found that my Dremel, and SAWZALL were invaluable tools.. i used them ALOT this weekend.. i had alot of tools
The kit Fit, still with all my trimming..is very tight.. there is no play..which i wil have to adjust later. Weight..is about 3-5 pounds.. the old system is easily 13+ lbs..
this is everything the kit replaced.. Cost.. i probobly spent close to $40.00 getting this to fit/install.. Time..we started at 11:00am and were up to 7:00pm finishing up minor details. not counting clean up..
Was it worth the $169.00 Honestly for that money they need a specificly designed system, so untill then NO.. Does it work.. YES!.. It has made the car increaseingly more enjoyable. The install has rasied my psi from 6-7 to 9-10 and i haven't even installed the MBC.. i think i've lost a bit of lower-end but i haven't gotten to drive the car like i would like to because i've been working on it all weekend.. other than around the block and up and down the street i haven't gotten to really lay into it.. The Stock BOV sounds like an elephant, blowing his nose..not too attractive.. but it scares people on the side walk.. they jump everytime it goes off.. The turbo is extreamly noticeable..it is extreamly intimidateing..
Down sides.. I now have a really really really low idle.. just above off.. and she wants to stall at every light.. I increased the idle at the throttle body and the problem was gone..
Day Two/ Intercooler Install
The intercooler install has been covered alot, And i have some problems, which i think are directly related to my BOV..hopefully i can get some clarification..smack upside the head..etc..
The only thing i need to buy was a 45 degree pipe.. there are alot of pipes at AUTO-Zone that were 45 but had ribs from the bending process, so i ended up buying a chrome exhaust tip. and then cutting off the knif edge with the Saw-zall
Then i proceeded to de-burr the pipe and clean it up
We got out the torch and with the help of some of my welding buddies we started to slag a hole for the bov
We didn't think to check what we were wlding and 3 min into the welding job we notice that the BOV base is made of aluminum and melting/burning away..
So we stopped with the torch, and broke out the Arc welder and got the 2 to be 1.. This was the only peice we had to fab. everything else was obtainable at Home Depot.
The next thing we did was re-locate the ignitor (i think thats what it's called) so it wouldn't interfere with where the intercooler would sit. We flattened out the ignitors mounting bracket and then re-assembled it and mounted it..this is the best pic i have.
After that it was just some straight forward plumbing.. we reattached the vacume line that was on the stock BOV to the new bov and started the car up.
This was purely coincidence but the BOV points right out the Hood Scoop
Which i think is an Added bonus
Now my problems.. Other than everything being an extreamly tight fit..
the car is running awfull.. It idles perfectly..after a chore of getting it started. i think the reason it idles well is because i tightened up the throtle during the intake install.. and as long as i drive it at idle speeds (i.e don't touch the gas let the car run under idle power) i'm fine.. i touch the gas and she instantly stalls. IF i floor it i can hear the BOV tripping and the car bucks real hard till after 3500RPMs when the boost is at 5psi it seals up and PULLS REALL HARD at 9-10PSI as soon as i let off the gas The BOV Screams and the car dies imediately with a Low oil pressure light/ Check engine light, As soon as i re-start both indicators are off. also when i'm starting the car after it been sitting for a while i get an low oil pressure light that fades away within 20-30 seconds of the car runnning..
Now i'm thinking the whole reason it's doing this is because i'm venting to atmos..which i will be correcting tommorow.. That or my 3 peice BOV is leaking somewhere..???
If anybody can give me some heads up,, it would be much apreceated.
I hope you've enjoyed my tale of folly, and can send some info my way.
I apologise for my rancid spelling. and hope it wasen't to hard to bear.
David Carter
