February 2006
02272K6
About a month ago I ordered a PTE stock location intercooler for my brick on wheels. From my extensive research (which primarily consisted of me reading and loosely interpreting replies to my "hey whats up with all them intercoolers and shit for real" thread on a car forum) I gather that this is the best stock location intercooler my money can buy. There are a few cars running mid 9s with it, so it should be able to handle my goal of low 11s, which I could be reaching by the end of this year if I stop spending money on frivolous things like bills, gas and food.
My brown friend the UPS man finally brought me my intercooler last week, and I wasted no time in getting Heath to agree to blow his day on installing it for me while I idly stood by, taking pictures and making crude connections between greasy hands and racial handicaps. We did this yesterday, hoping the kid across the street with the stickercharged Altima would come over and ask us why my car has two radiators. He poked his head out briefly and went back inside, possibly after seeing the shadow cast by his park bench wing, which would indicate another six weeks of winter.
Here's the intercooler, and my very unorganized tool box:
The first part was simple. We (he) just had to remove the MAF pipe, MAF, air filter, electric radiator fan and a few bolts from the intercooler support brackets, and pull the old one out.
Here's the old and busted next to the new hotness:
I never realized what a small piece of shit the stock intercooler was until I saw it like this. The new one has almost twice as many rows, and also has larger necks with 3" openings instead of the stock 2" and 2.5". The shroud is also prettier.
If you've ever wondered what the engine bay of a turbo Regal looked like without an intercooler, you can finally stop searching. Here you go:
Installing the intercooler minus the shroud was pretty easy. It looked easy, anyway. A vertical support bracket had to be bolted to the water pump, which leaked coolant all over the pile of leaves on top of which my car is parked, but no loud cursing was required for the installation. Also the turbo-intercooler hose wasn't nearly as much of a pain-in-the-ass to put on this time around, as opposed to how it was when we put in the turbo. That's mainly because we used a 3"-2" silicone reducer instead of a straight 2" stiff rubber hose.
Heath was pretty enthusiastic about all this, since the job was going so smoothly.
"It's a great day for intercooling!"
Unfortunately both the smile and thumb were turned upside-down when we had to put the new up pipe on. It's longer than the one needed for the stock intercooler so there's less flexible connector hose to work with and more stubborn metal. The pipe the intercooler came with has lipped ends and very nice t-clamps (now with springs!) so it won't be blowing off under boost anytime soon.
Putting the nice and shiny aluminum shroud on wasn't a very difficult task, but it required getting under the car, which wasn't possible where the car was parked. It's not that we didn't think ahead; my grandmother was using the drive way to wash her cars so we had to wait for her to finish, which was right around the time it started getting dark.
I put the car up on ramps (yep - actually did something) so Heath could get underneath and slide the shroud up. It was now about 48 degrees out and the driveway was wet from my grandmother washing cars. From all the cursing and shivering I gather that the water was a little cold. He secured the shroud from the bottom and then had to do rest of the screws from off the top rope.
After another journey under the car to put in the last two bolts in the radiator fan, we were finished, and the temperature was just about perfect to test it out.
The mid range gains from this thing are very nice, and more than what I expected. Taking off hard out of a turn after letting it warm up a bit I spun the tires through second gear, which is something I haven't been able to do since I got my transmission rebuilt with a much more mild shift kit. Taking it to wide open throttle I had it pulling hard all the way to the limiter, which is a sad 124 mph. Flooring it at 100 pinned Heath's head back against the seat.
Hopefully my fuel pressure gauge will come in this week so I can get the adjustable fuel pressure regulator on with my chip and get it tuned correctly. If it does, and the weather permits, I'll have a time slip posted Friday night.
02132K6
I should probably go see a doctor about this.
02062K6
I think it was either Wednesday or Thursday last week when I woke up and noticed I couldn't hear anything out of my left ear. I still can't. It feels like sinus congestion but it's only in my ear. Ear drops and sinus/allergy medication have done nothing. It's pretty annoying.