Installation performed by ImagineAuto.
Cat and O2 sensors on:
This bit is interesting:
EIP retains this portion of the stock exhaust. Their turbo kit comes with a 3" cat and a reducer so it can mate up with the stock 2.5" exhaust. Meanwhile, their 3" exhaust reduces down to 2.5" on the backside of this, so it can bolt up to your stock cat in an N/A application. Rather than making a turbo-specific piece to go here that maintains the 3" diameter, they just have you chop this bit out of the stock exhaust to mate the two ends together. From a production and inventory management standpoint, this makes sense, as it allows you to have two separate upgrades that allow you to retain the stock system on the other end of each. From a performance standpoint, I'm curious if this minor restriction has any impact.
Out with the old (that thing is heavy!):
Bolting up the new stuff:
Complete exhaust system (and yes, EIP's logo is on each piece):
Remember, folks: Crack kills!
Remember that squished bit-o-pipe that used to live here?
Exhaust tips:
Cutting up the front bumper cover to make room for intercooler and piping:
The alignment of the 'D' pipe was off far enough that it was really interfering with the driver side bumper grille, so Stephen fixed it:
The grille is bowed out a bit from the pipe still,
but appears to be able to pretty much stay in place. I think I can shave a bit off
the backside of the grille to help it fit better.
Bumper cover mounted:
Side grilles in place:
Showing relative position of the intercooler pipes and the skid plate mounting brackets:
No interference between the turbo and the skid plate--yay!
Re-programmed ECU! Who sent it to us?
Front wheels back on!
You can't really tell from the picture, but it's running!
After the maiden voyage around the block...a couple times:
After restoring all the fluids, Stephen pulled the fuse for the fuel pump and cranked it for a few seconds to prime the turbo with oil. There must have been enough fuel leftover in the lines, because it actually started right up and ran for a bit. Put the fuse back in and started it up and let it idle for a bit. While it was running, he lifted the car back up and we inspected everything for leaks. None found. :)
There was some smoke coming from the area of the turbo, and a bit coming from the exhaust. Didn't smell like oil or coolant. It looked like it was coming from the housing of the turbo itself, so we believe it's just some coating or something burning off. Ben also suggested that some of the heat wrap applied to the hoses and lines back there kinda acts like heat shrink and smokes a bit until it's all cured. Car seemed to be running fine, so we assumed all was well enough. We shut the hood and backed it out of the bay for a quick test spin (with me behind the wheel).
We went around the block 4 or 5 times. Took it
really easy at first to make sure all was running well, then got into it a little more to
make sure the turbo was providing boost and actually making the car faster. The test
drive was only 4.8 miles, so my impressions so far are very preliminary. My
thoughts:
1) Yup, it's faster alright. 8^D
2) Power delivery is shockingly smooth for a turbo, much to my delight. Torque
comes on nice and strong in the midrange, but is progressive, rather than exponential.
The concerns I had about off-boost performance have pretty much been put to rest.
It feels pretty much stock below 3kRPM--maybe even a bit stronger--and you are
pushed back in the seat as you roll on the throttle.
3) Exhaust note is certainly different from stock. Volume lies somewhere
between stock with the flapper in quiet mode and the flapper in loud mode when in motion.
At idle, it sounds a bit louder than stock (with the flapper in quiet mode).
The tone is a bit deeper than stock, and not quite as "blatty" when on the
gas. There is a bit of cabin drone under some conditions, which I didn't take the
time to really explore. That bit of drone is the only real downside to the exhaust
sound, in my opinion. If I can find a way to greatly reduce or eliminate it, that
would make me much happier. Something to research and play with, I guess.
4) I was concerned about how loud the blow-off valve would be, considering its
location and the fact that it was venting right into the engine bay. It's audible,
but nowhere near loud--perfect. VrrroooooOOOOMMMMMpsshhh!
5) Driveability seemed quite good (it'll take me a few miles to learn the new power
curve). There were two oddities. The first was a weird surge then drop in
power while under hard acceleration in 2nd gear. I was able to repeat it once, but
could not get it to happen again after that. May have just been the ECU
learning/adapting to a new situation. More driving will help prove that out.
The second was that the car stalled while cruising to the back of the shop. I was
accelerating briskly in 2nd when Stephen warned me to slow down, because of a blind corner
where delivery trucks like to jump out--I let off the throttle, pushed in the clutch pedal
and tapped the brakes to slow down. Just as I was about to give it some gas again to
go into 1st, it just stalled. I dunno if that's a bug in the software, or if it was
another learning experience for the ECU. Again, more driving will help prove that
out.
The gauges have not yet been installed, and it still needs and alignment, and there are
still a couple minor "detail" things to be done. Not to mention the
"after" dyno pulls. So, I left Dieter at ImagineAuto for the weekend so
they could dig in first thing Monday morning. I definitely want to spend more
quality time behind the wheel just driving it around locally before embarking on any road
trips. I want to give myself some time to learn how it will behave under various
circumstances and give the ECU a chance to learn, too. I have asked them to give me
advanced notice before they begin the dyno pulls so I can witness them. Beyond that,
I'll stay out of their hair for the gauge install and stuff like that. (I left my
camera with Stephen so he can take progress pics for me, just like he has when I was away
at various times throughout the week.)