The bolt holes on the intercooler lined up perfectly to the bumper supports.  However the intercooler does sit a bit close to the 5 mph bumper supports.  If I get into the slightest fender bender the intercooler is going to be trashed.  There were also some modifications that had to be made to make it fit, but I was expecting that because that is true of all intercooler installs.  First, my friend Mike had to clearance the plastic bumper support in two places as you can see in the photos where it was rubbing.  Also two of the screws that hold this bumper support into place had to be either shortened or left out all together.  You can also see that in the pictures.  We also had to cut some of the GT front fasica out in order to make it fit correctly.  I also left out the large fog light bracket.  The thing weighs a ton and it was only getting in the way.  Besides, I don't even have foglights so I don't care.  I think that leaving this bracket out actually offset the extra weight of the intercooler, I was happy about that since my car is a fat pig anyway.

Plenty of clearance here.	Plastic will need to be trimmed...	on both ends
Very close to the 5mph crumple area.	this bolt will not go through, the hose is in the way.
Scott, hard at work.

      
         

5-10-02:  My friend Kyle was able to get his boss's shop for the weekend so we could use the lift to swap oil pumps on my car.  I bought my current 306 from a friend and it already had a melling high volume pump on it.  However this pump is putting out way too much pressure for a turbo.  In fact I have blown the seal on two oil filters!!  Since then I have put in a $10 K&N oil filter and it hasn't popped.  However I am afraid it will tear up the turbo seals.  When it is cold the oil pressure bottoms out my 100 psi gauge, so I have no idea how high it is actually getting.  When it is warm I see 60 psi.  I am installing a Melling standard oil pump.  Also at this time I am going to punch and tap the oil pan for the oil return line.

    The oil pump install went ok and punching and tapping the oil pan was no big deal.  We used about a .420 tap and it worked fine with the supplied fitting by Cartech.  Swapping oil pumps took a few hours and we did it with the engine in the car and without removing the steering rack.  It definitely wasn't fun.
We also installed a T-rex fuel pump from Vortech.  The parts list and instructions were AWESOME for this pump.  It is really unbelievable how well it went in.  They even supply a handy little template for drilling holes in your trunk area for the mounting brackets!  Big thanks to Kyle for all his help, Kyle is the man!

Shot of the trimming we did a week before.	Oil pan hole	Kyle at 2am.	Got JB Weld??  We do!
T-rex installed.	Putting in new oil pump.

5-11-02:  After the fuel pump install I drove the car home and started tearing it apart.  I took the longtubes and x-pipe off.  Good riddance to those things!  I bolted on the passenger side header from Cartech which is a JBA shorty.  It went on really easy.  Then I worked on the passenger side intake piping.  This is where I realized that the supplied connecting hose for the piping to the 70mm throttle body would not work.  Lastly, I did some other small stuff then I went to bed.

5-12-02:  My friend Jim showed up today to help with the install.  He has a T-72 cartech kit of his own so he has a lot of knowledge on this stuff.  First we re-located the powersteering pump with the supplied bracket and fittings.  It was really easy and only took about 20 minutes.  Next we started on the turbo header.  Now is where it gets bad.  First we tried bolting it on but we soon realized that some of the bolts just will not go into the holes.  I probably should have checked this weeks ago, but I didn't.  So we had to take the header off and try to clearance the tubes so the bolts would fit.  All we had was a hammer and a bolt, no torch.  So we spent about 30 minutes hammering on the tubes.  That gave us just barely enough room to procede.  From there we put the header on by barely starting two of the bolts.  Then you have to gradually tighten 3 of the bolts a little at a time, or else they will go in sideways.  Jim worked on tightening that thing for at least 2 hours.  What a MAJOR pain in the butt!! 

    Next we trial fitted the turbo to mark the hole for the inlet pipe that we would be cutting with a hole saw.  The turbo cleared the frame and the sway bar mount by a long shot so the only cutting we will need to do is for the inlet pipe.  My friend Mike showed up with a brand new drill for me!  Unfortunately the power packs come uncharged so we never had time to charge them up enough to cut the hole all the way. 

   Next was the crossover pipe.  Jim started on the passenger side pipe then tried attaching the longer piece that goes over to the turbo header.  To make a long story short, it appears that the smaller passenger side piece was welded together wrong and the big driver's side piece is hitting the steering shaft and it is hitting all over the lakewood bellhousing.  So I will be having the car towed to a custom exhaust shop to fix the crossover pipe.

   During this time I also trial fitted the intake piping from the turbo to the intercooler.  Everything seems to fit ok but the S-shaped pipe where the BOV mounts is at a funny angle to the turbo, but it looks like it will work just fine.  The radiator hose also fits nicely, I had to go and buy one with larger openings since I have a universal fit Ron Davis radiator, but that is to be expected.

   Lastly we put together the fittings for the oil system, there are a lot of fittings involved, but Jim put something together that would work and still clear the downpipe and everything else.  This is where we realized that the turbo drain plate that we have was drilled for a larger fitting that we do not have.  Cartech is sending me a larger fitting.

Little stuff:  When they made my MAF bracket they forgot to send some "turbo" hose to connect the pipe to the turbo and to the MAF.  Mike is also sending me some pieces of hose so I can complete the install.  Also keep in mind that the kit is designed for a stock mustang with a stock throttle body.  The supplied hose will not go onto a 70mm or larger throttle body.  Another thing is the little stud on the downpipe that is used to attach a bar to in order to keep the pipes together.  This little stud is hitting the motor mount and barely keeping the downpipe from lining up correctly with the turbo.

5-14-02:  I picked up my car from Pro Dyno today and they did an excellent job on my exhaust.  They fixed the crossver pipe and they made a custom 3" Y-pipe that goes from the downpipe to my mufflers.  Those guys rule.

Once I got the car home I put in the new turbo drain that Mike overnighted to me and it fit nicely.  Then I completed the hole in the fender for the inlet pipe.  We also extended my MAF wires and worked on re-wiring the jungle of wires on my fender where the turbo inlet goes.  Kyle also got my oil pressure gauge installed.  All that is left to do is get the downpipe to bolt up and button everything up!!

5-15-02:  When I put the turbo on for supposedly the last time I soon realized that the turbo drain was inside the frame rail and there was no way to get a hose on it.  So my friend when to Ace Hardware and they do not sell any 45 degree fitting in the style we need.  So I got a 90 degree.  With the 90 installed I still had clearance problems, so I had to notch the frame for the turbo drain.  After that was done I thought I was again putting the turbo on for the last time, wrong again.  The bottom bolt on the turbo on the driver's side is impossible to put in.  As it turns out my header is supposed to be studded here.  It was too late to go to the parts store again...  During this time I also got the oil dipstick tube in.  This was fairly difficult because the downpipe is right against the engine block.  I had to pry the pipe away from the block and slide the tube in.

5-16-02:  I made some studs today and I threaded them into the header and slid the turbo on.  Unfortunately the nuts are TOO BIG to clear the exhaust housing!  This is unbelievable.  I do not know what they expect you to use on this thing.  So I put the thing together with 3 bolts holding the turbo up.  Next we trial fitted the MAF elbow, which is a PITA to get into the fender and onto the mounted turbo.  We had to take it off and then take about 2.5" off of the elbow (but MIke told me that the elbow would have to be cut to fit, it is a custom item).  We got the BOV and wastegate installed next, it is pretty straighforward, however the nuts that mount the wastegate to the header fit very tight against the wastegate, but it works.  After some more crap we got the car started and I was about to test drive it but we noticed a huge puddle of oil.  We forgot to fully tighten the oil feed line, so we tightened it and finally I went on the maiden voyage with the car.  Unfortunately it is detonating like crazy even though I am only running 18 degrees of total timing with my tweecer.

				Powersteering re-location	Powersteering re-location
Little did we know this header wasn't going to seal		Drilling hole in fender	Marked hole	oil fittings	more oil fittings
Me.	Jim F and me
Beau's T76 vs my T64				My T64 assembly
Vacuum routing	Vacuum routing		Psycho Jason
	Here you see why it takes a stud and not a bolt	Semi-finished product.

More info:  Ok I am going crazy trying to keep track of dates and stuff so I will just be going off on the past weeks event in free form.  I figured out that the car was detonating at part throttle because my base timing was at 10 and I did not change any of the base spark tables in the tweecer.  So I set the base to 4 and everything was super.  However I am stil only seeing about 2 lbs of boost.  However, my boost gauge reads 2 inches of vacuum when the car is off, it should be reading 0.  It looks like my gauge is wrong.  Later in the week I tried my friends boost gauge and it showed 4 psi but I have a huge exhaust leak.  Also during the second test drive my clutch cable bit the dust and while trying to limp the car home one of my fuel lines blew off the fuel filter.  This is because you have to use a hose clamp because that is what the T-rex install calls for. I need to figure out something better than a hose clamp.  We are having fun now!!

So I tried putting the clutch cable onto the rear hook of the steeda quadrant and adjusting the firewall adjuster all the way out. That lasted about 10 feet before the cable came off again...So I get a new ford cable and everything is great.  The clutch pedal is a lot easier now, moral of the story: do not use cheap checker auto parts clutch cables.  There is a reason the ford motorsport one costs $80 and the checker one is $40.  :)  Also after this test drive with the new cable I get a flat tire somehow.  When I get home I notice I have about 6 psi in the driver's rear tire.  So I throw in 2 cans of fix a flat so I can drive it to a shop...

5-22-02:  Ok, so the exhaust leak has only gotten worse and I have given up.  For the first time ever I am going to take my car to a shop (one that I trust a lot BTW).  So I drove the car to Keith at Street Flight and told him to fix my exhaust leak and to beat the heck out of the turbo header so the bolts would go in easier.  He also checks the header flange to make sure it is true.  So I get there after work and help him put it back together.  We start it up and it is leaking worse than before and we notice that the bottom of the header is not sitting against the head flushly.  Needless to say I am uber-pissed at this point.
5-23-02:  I get on the phone with Mike and let him know that I am going crazy.  He calls Keith at street flight and they come up witha plan off attack.  Keith is going to mill the flange and cut the flange so it will give us a little pull with the flange.  I get back on the www.theturboforums.com board and I get a lot of feedback.  Most guys say to mill the flange anyway.  Then two people tell me they had the same problem with their AFR heads and the cartech header.  I call Chad in St. Louis and he explains the exact same problem to me, the solution is to hack a good amount of the flange off below each port.  This way it won't hit the dumbass head.  I email Mike and tell him to call me.  In about 30 minutes I am in a conference call with Mike and Preston from Cartech.  I let them know my findings and they are apologetic and they have never heard of this problem until now.  I remind them to tell this to all the people who call in so that in case they have AFR's they do not run into this problem.  Also at this time I tell mike that my turbo drain hose was about 2" too short and the heater hose I am using now will not work for long as it will turn to a gooey mess.  He agrees and says that he has plenty of hose and how much do I need.  So he is shipping me another package.  :-)
5-23-02:  I get to Street Flight after work and we finally get the car put back together at 8:30.  We cross our fingers and start the car....we hear a huge exhaust leak again.  But it turns out to be the passenger side flange that we forgot to tighten.  We tighten it up and try again.  The car is dead silent, except for a small leak above the #7 port.  Keith says we should be able to fix it later.  Keith also lets me know that my tire went flat today....so I am already broke from this and I am dreading the bill from Keith but he is very fair with me.  I highly recommend him, he is the only person I have ever let work on my car, until now it was just me and my friends.  I drive home and I am seeing about 5 psi.

I add in a few degrees of timing @ WOT with the tweecer and go for a test drive...I am getting a little bit of detonation.
Also when I depress the clutch to coast up to a light the car goes into limp mode and the idle goes from 500-1200 and the check engine light comes on.  When I let the clutch out or come to a stop the light goes off and the idle returns to normal??  Another thing is at cruising speeds on the freeway the car is running really rough, as if it is missing.  Then on the way home from the test drive I hear a horrible grinding noise from the back of the car.  I hurry it home and it the sounds appears to go away when I hit the brakes, so something is wrong with the brakes. 

That is where it stands today, Friday, 5-24-02.  This morning I went out to check on the car and the tire was flat again, life is certaintly sucking right about now.

6-17-02:  I havent been very good about keeping up with this log lately because I am trying not to think about my car.  I am burned out on it right now and I can't afford to spend anymore money.  I got the tire fixed, blew through another clutch cable or two and I figured out the grinding noise in the rear end was the parking brake cable hitting the driveshaft.  The car is still on the road and it runs and drives fine.  It just isn't making any horsepower.  With the help of Byron Reynolds at www.racesystems.com I was able to figure out the coasting stalling problem.  There is a value in the eec that can be modified with the tweecer.  It is the minimum MAF voltage.  Stock it is set for .2 or something.  So if the MAF voltage gets lower than that the car goes into limp mode and floods the engine.  The MAF can see less than .2 voltage on a power adder car because sometimes there is 0 air passing through it or air passing through the wrong way!  Once I changed this value to 0 my problems went away.  I am also controlling all of the timing functions with the tweecer.  I have modified the WOT timing tables a great deal and I have also changed all the base timing values.  Although I can still get a little detonation in agressive part throttle situations.  But if I keep it at WOT there is ZERO detonation.  This is very strange since my TOTAL timing is not greater than 20 and I am only running 5 psi of boost.

The car feels very torquey but it is not making much horsepower.  I was having a problem making over 5 psi of steady boost so I hooked up a manual boost controller.  Now it will see 7 psi at lower rpm, but by 5k it is less than 4 psi, so I have a boost leak or something somewhere.  I have pressure tested the system and I found and corrected several boost leaks between the turbo and the intake.  But there is still a problem somewhere.

I am very frustrated with the car right now and chances are I have probably partially blown a head gasket at some point with all the problems I have had with detonation.  I pressure tested the radiator to check for a blown head gasket and it lost 1 psi after a 15 minute period, so I might have a partially blown head gasket.
The car will make full boost by 2200 rpm which is pretty cool.  And the sound of the turbo and the BOV is really cool, I just wish I had some horsepower.

Well it is obvious that the turbo kit is fully installed and sort of tuned.  So from this point forward I think it would be appropriate to keep track of my daily log of headaches on another page.  To keep up to date with my car please go here: Living with a Turbo Mustang by me.

Here you see the first part of the custom 3" exhaust.	3" pipe which Y's to the mufflers.	Same pipe.	THis is what needs to be done to get the cartech header to fit with AFR heads!!!
	This is the frame rail so the turbo drain hose would fit.		The non-slip fit crossover pipe.	Needs to be cut and welded when I remove it.

Tips for installation:

First, clearance the turbo header so that the header bolts go through each hole EASILY.  This will save you a lot of time and headaches when you try to install it.  Also make sure you have studs for the lower holes where the turbo bolts to this header.  Also make sure you have the proper nuts that thread onto the wastegate studs on the header (they are a fine thread)  If you have AFR heads you need to trim the bottom of the flange at each port on the turbo header!!!!

If you have a bypass valve you will need to make sure that Cartech send you the proper MAF elbow, also make sure you get the hose couplings for this elbow.  It will be up to you to go to the parts store and buy some hose that goes from the BOV to this new MAF elbow.  I used some flexible 1-1/8" radiator hose.  The elbow that Cartech sends will need to be cut to fit your Mustang, they make it longer that it needs to be so you can make it whatever length you need.  I had to take about 3" off each side of it so the MAF and filter would fit in the fender.

When everything is installed make sure the oil fittings are all tight and everything is away from the turbo and header (clutch cable, plug wires, O2 sensor wire, etc)

Now you have to route the vaccuum lines.  You will need a vacuum line that goes from the side of the wastegate, there should be a threaded hose barb that will thread right in.  The hose from here will go to the side of the turbo (it will transmit the boost signal to the wastegate).  If you have a bypass valve you will need to route a vaccuum line from the manifold to the top of the bypass valve.  This will allow the bypass valve to sense vaccuum.

You will probably have to trim your frame rail so the turbo drain rail with fit directly onto the bottom of the turbo.  Of course this all depends on what size turbo you buy.

Thanks to all these people who stopped by and helped in some way:  Kyle, Jason, Jim, Croke, Shawn, Brian, Mike and Keith at Street Flight.

If you wish to give me some feedback or anything at all just email me:  trelken@gmail.com