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Started my MR2 IC Install+ Hood Scoop done now!


DrKrazy
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Well even after all my careful planning and pre-mockups it didn't fit at all the way I wanted. So my spare intake plenum that I had cut and had a pipe welded on to went to parts pile. I changed the whole setup once I actually started bolting things on to keep it farther away from the turbo. It became a headache and took me all day yesterday and I technically didn't finish. I like the way it sits now even though it makes some hoses longer than I had originally had it sitting, but it's in and functional (minus the hood scoop, still looking for that). But am going to redo the piping from the intercooler to the intake (IT TOTALLY SUCKS RIGHT NOW) but had to just throw it together real quick since my old plan didn't work out. Going to cut it at the IC and run it straight to the intake in one quick swoop. Will work on it today if I get time. Still have to plumb in the porsche recirc valve, install the electric fan underneath the IC, add another bracket for the IC, and of course find and install a hood scoop...shew it's all worth it!

Small test drive=Actual noticeable difference, turbo did take longer to spool but it actually did feel like it had more power when it kicked in. Maybe that's just me, I don't even have a hood scoop yet. Although it was not happy shifting gears with no bov or recirc valve installed. Here is a pic of how it stands now..will look much different soon I hope.

 

icinstall1.jpg

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Any thoughts about chopping off the piping coming out of the IC and forming your own. The thing I found with excess hose is that it stretches under boost and heat so you don't get full boost potential. Nice size IC, those takeoffs cut short would leave you with a lot more mounting options, you didn't throw away the modded intake piece did you?

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Any thoughts about chopping off the piping coming out of the IC and forming your own. The thing I found with excess hose is that it stretches under boost and heat so you don't get full boost potential. Nice size IC, those takeoffs cut short would leave you with a lot more mounting options, you didn't throw away the modded intake piece did you?

 

Have thought about it, but I'm not a welder so fabbing most of this without one. After I'm done today there should be 3 feet less hose so not worried about too much about it. No didn't throw away the modded intake plenum but I did chop off the tube I had welded on in a stupid attempt make a hose seal on a square surface, was too big for a hose to fit around anyways.

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Did some changing up today and now it's looks much better, got distracted a bit by a pair of fog lights that needed to go on to replace the missing stock ones. But it got all repiped from the IC to the intake. Here's what it looks like now:

 

icinstall2.jpg

 

Just waiting till the porshce bypass valve gets here, and locate a hood scoop now. Plus replace any hoses with silicone hose once I gather some more cash. Overall I'm now satisfied at least, for never had installing one before I think it worked out okay. Thanks guys for all the info I got from all your posts on your intercoolers and installs it really helped.

 

Sneaking in a pic of the new lights too:

 

lights.jpg

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Looks good, nice and straight too.

Just a thought, What if you chopped the takeoff on the right, clocked it towards the turbo and routed the hose under the one going to the TB, it'd be really direct. I did away with welding, i own one and can do air tight welds, but compared to a bit of sanding and JB weld I chose the JB. If you do the inside and out with a bit of prep it'll never pose any probs. On my TMIC the joints have held up over many rough 4x4 trips where the motor/trannie flex has put serious strains on the pipe and cooler which is connected to the body/frame. I run high boost and flog my car like it's stolen. The more direct you go the faster the turbo response and the less work your BOV or recirc has to do, and you will notice 1 foot of hose being dropped.

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Yep your exact idea is what I'm going to do, it's actually alot tighter under the pipe going to the TB then it looks but it will fit. Was going to redo that part yesterday to but got distracted by the fog lights. I still need to plumb in the porsche recirc valve when it gets here so there will be a tad more changing but it's working really good for now. Just got home from a 50 mile test run and even without a hood scoop there is a definite difference. I imagine it is getting some airflow at highway speeds though just not much.

 

Question for you guys: Does the recirc valve matter where it's put? In other words can I put it in a pipe between the turbo and IC since I'm going to need to repipe that anyways? Or does it need to be between the IC and tb? And then of course other side of it piped back to the air intake. My brain says it doesn't it matter just anywhere so it can relieve pressure in the system, am I right? (if that made any sense)

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Ok third time is the charm right? Well had a few hours today between christmas shopping and family things so went at it. Also swapped out my moisture soaked headlights and the one with a huge pit in it for nice sparkly ones. Now it's looking good and down to minimal hose, took a sec or two off the turbo spool time. I did have to cut a small piece of hood bracing out that was hitting the intake hose sometimes and making a very annoying noise, but no big deal. Hopefully it's final now, except to bend a bracket to make it level again. Then I get the porsche recric valve plumbed in (piece of cake) and get my hood scoop on.

What do you think now? Thanks, Vanislru your last idea worked out perfect as you can see below.

 

icinstall3.jpg

 

Hood brace cut

 

hoodcut.jpg

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Good to here, what kind of scoop are you thinking of? I couldn't view your last pic, but the computer is haywire right now i'll try later.

ATB

OK... nice pik! I'l bet that reduced spool time, nice size IC with minimal plumbing , that cars going to scream when you turn up the boost.

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Thanks, As far as the hood scoop thinking I'll just pick up a cheapo ebay legacy/impreza replica one. I already have some shrouding that came with the IC that I can cut to fit for the inside of the hood to make sure all the air goes through the IC. Plus an electric fan that came with IC to pull air through it. There is room under the IC for the fan still so I think I will go ahead and install it for the heck of it. Extra air flow can't hurt. ;)

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It was easy.

 

I couldn't get to my angle grinder/cutoff wheel thing.. it was in a box somewhere, so I went to home depot and bought a metal cutting blade for my skil-saw.. $3.99

 

I had a hood to experiment on and I did a pretty rough job of it..lol

 

After the experiment, doing my hood only took about 10-15 minutes.. I still need to go back and enlarge the hole about 1 inch in each direction.. When I did my measurements and cutting, I was a little on the conservative side.. just in case.

 

In the pic you can see the outline for the scoop..

http://usmb.net/albums/albuo11/things_008.jpg

 

The scoop itself has some double sided tape on it. I was a little wary of that, but so far it has been ok. It hasn't come off on the freeway even with the ungodly winds we get here.

 

Only thing I have noticed that I am not real fond of has been vibration. When it comes out of the box, there is a wire mesh over the inlet. One good gnarly hail storm took care of that though. After that, the top of the scoop rattles a bit at high speeds. the wagon has been off the road for a while now, and in the process, I painted the scoop.. 3 coats of white and 2 coats of clear.. Its is a lot stiffer now and I am thinking that should take care of some of the flutter

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Sweet thanks for the info Caleb, doesn't sound too bad and I was going to enlist the help of my brother-in-law the body guy to help if a six pack will coax him into it because I SUCK whens it come to any kind of body work. Have proven that in the past, but I think I can handle cutting the hole, was just worried about modification having to be done to the scoop or bending etc on the hood. Hope you don't mind but a couple more quick questions for ya..

Did you do anything to your hood where you cut it to prevent rust? Maybe just a quick primer coat?

The one I bought is of course black, I was just going to leave it that way till the car gets repainted (but who knows when that will actually be). But I like your idea of painting with several coats to help make it stiffer, and maybe get it to match my white RX. Did you rattle can it or paint it with a spray gun?

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When I cut my hole, I put masking tape doen on the hood first. That helped minimize the chipping. I didn't treat it at the time with any primer or anything because I knew that the hole would be enlarged just a little before it was a finished product.

 

As far as the painting goes, I have a friend that was working at a body shop at the time, so it was painted with a gun.. It came out well, but I didn't stress on it too much, as the whole car will be painted soon enough.

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Well got some use of some christmas presents today (new saw, drill bit set) and went to work on the hood scoop. I didn't trust the double sided tape at all so I went ahead and set it up for a 4 screw down thing also. Also heeding your advice Caleb I glued the metal screen in a thousand times better than what it was out of the box. it won't be coming out of mine. I went ahead and painted it white (not the white of my car, but whatever will get repainted when the car does or I can pull it back off). I remade a new bracket for the IC to make it sit level and then ended up using some door jam rubber I bought at the local auto parts store to make it seal up against the IC, and it actually worked well to my surpise. I got the electric fan mounted underneath it but not wired up, not sure if I want to keep this particular fan. Since I have the rest of the week off..much more projects to go..but here is some more pics for you guys (more in my gallery):

 

scoop.jpg

icgasket.jpg

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Ok I lied I wasn't done yet, I had to plumb in the Porsche recirc valve and wire up the fan to a relay and install a switch for it. Did that all today, with another quick oil change (almost 500 miles since I put the motor in), and had time for a nice test drive. Big difference, no more stumbling when it shifts, seems to keep the turbo spooling better, so much happier now..didn't notice any problems at all. Since I love to post pics here are a few more (even more in my gallery again):

 

recirc3.jpg

 

recirc1.jpg

 

icfanswitch.jpg

 

Think I can now say I'm done with the intercooler/hood scoop/recirc valve till I come up with the cash to replace all the hoses with silicone, and get the car repainted. :headbang::banana:

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do you get any cool sounds from the recirc valve?

 

If you listen closely, you do get a whoooosh, well more like a psssssht during shifts etc..but since it's all plumbed it's pretty quiet, and the turbo seems to keep spooling a tad which drowns it out also..If you have the IC Fan on you can't hear it, but I doubt I will run the IC Fan except while sitting in traffic and on hot days.

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Thanks guys, couldn't of done it with out all the information I got from you all. Much easier to look and see what someone has already done and worked for them...then copy it :grin:

 

On a funny side note, I went into work today (yeah supposed to be on christmas/new years vacation this week, but hey my company is moving on the 7th and of course everything is behind and that means double time pay $$)...anyways back on track..they were testing the fire alarm system in the new building with those cans of smoke. So I buddied up to one of the guys, while he was testing the one in my new server room and asked if I could borrow him and that can for a minute. Took him out to my car and turned the IC fan on and told him to blow the smoke in the area of the scoop. The fan sucked ALL of the smoke right down through the scoop/IC and out the bottom of engine bay...wish I would've had a video camera. The fire system guy thought I was a little strange after I got all excited and did a little woot dance. Was a good way to actually see the flow of air into the scoop then into the IC.

So can of smoke+hood scoop+IC fan=Good Entertainment I highly suggest it.

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