Yeah, another I swapped the SMIC thread...

[Knox Joe]

So as the title said I swapped it out for a TurboHoses unit, bought from forum member Levison.

I have little mechanic skills (ie, gas tank swap, power steering pump, starter, oil changes, and ICE), and this install took me just over 2 hours.

Getting the stocker out is a pain!!!!
We ended up ripping the bands around the cold pipe, and found that there was no band on the hot pipe. I am guessing when Mazda swapped my turbo they didn't replace it (@$$holes!). So I got some RTV sealant, but went driving too soon and blew the hot pipe off.

From what I can tell, before the hot pipe blew off, the car pulls much stronger all the time now. I drove a while to let the motor get hot, and there was no loss of power after we were up to temperature.

So today I am off to Wally World to get a bicycle tube to replace the stock bands. Then too Discount Auto Parts for some new hose clamps, and a K&N drop in filter I ordered yesterday.

Will update as soon as I get it on there right.

Next mods;

Boost Guage
Turbo Timer
UniChip
Cat-less mid pipe
Hard Pipes

in that order

 

[Velocifero]

So as the title said I swapped it out for a TurboHoses unit, bought from forum member Levison.

I have little mechanic skills (ie, gas tank swap, power steering pump, starter, oil changes, and ICE), and this install took me just over 2 hours.

Getting the stocker out is a pain!!!!
We ended up ripping the bands around the cold pipe, and found that there was no band on the hot pipe. I am guessing when Mazda swapped my turbo they didn't replace it (@$$holes!). So I got some RTV sealant, but went driving too soon and blew the hot pipe off.

From what I can tell, before the hot pipe blew off, the car pulls much stronger all the time now. I drove a while to let the motor get hot, and there was no loss of power after we were up to temperature.

So today I am off to Wally World to get a bicycle tube to replace the stock bands. Then too Discount Auto Parts for some new hose clamps, and a K&N drop in filter I ordered yesterday.

Will update as soon as I get it on there right.

Next mods;

Boost Guage
Turbo Timer
UniChip
Cat-less mid pipe
Hard Pipes

in that order.

congrats on the mod. I have one and love it, my install was a hell of alot easier though, took me about 40 minutes start to finnish. Do this, pop the hood and have someone rev your engine up to high rpms, as they do that watch your hot pipe. That might influence you to do the hard pipes, or at least just the hot pipe after the boost gauge, and just to save yourself some money and a little hassle, you should get the unichip last, that way you can get it tuned for the mods that you have. Otherwise the chip won't be helping you completely with the general tune. Just my two cents and I have spent a bit of time researching everything I have done to my car.

 

[Knox Joe]

Cool, thanks for the advice.

So I guess;

Boost Guage
Turbo Timer
Hard Pipes
Cat-less mid pipe
UniChip

I want modest power (ie. no forged internals), stealthiness (ie. no huge exhuast and can), and reliabilty out of it. I am not even going to touch the suspension, as I love the way this thing hustles through these Tennessee mountain roads how it is. It's crazy being able to school cars costing 10x as much throught turns.

 

[Velocifero]

Cool, thanks for the advice.

So I guess;

Boost Guage
Turbo Timer
Hard Pipes
Cat-less mid pipe
UniChip

I want modest power (ie. no forged internals), stealthiness (ie. no huge exhuast and can), and reliabilty out of it. I am not even going to touch the suspension, as I love the way this thing hustles through these Tennessee mountain roads how it is. It's crazy being able to school cars costing 10x as much throught turns.

Yeah, you can get good enough power out of the stock block, especially running with fuel management to keep it safe. I know what you are talking about with taking on more expensive cars, a group of us went up to the mountains this past Saturday and stretched our legs out. It is fun watching other cars try to keep up through the twisties. Another thing you might want to look into installing is a Wide Band Air / Fuel gauge. It will help you to get the best tune out of your unichip, I know they are costly, but worth it if you want to get all out of your modifications. What timer are you considering? I have the APEXi TT and love it, it's very easy to use/ install and has some neat little options with it. I don't have them but I recommend the turbohoses hard pipes, they are uber easy to install and not a single fitment issue. The ones I have are a pain in the ass to install, they are a tiny bit on the unmatched side for the hot pipe so you really have to push it on there, and originally the cold pipe was too short, but I chopped it up and relocated my MAF so I was able to lengthen the pipe. You won't have either of those problems if you go with turbohoses.

 

[Knox Joe]

Yeah I was planning on the TurboHoses hard pipes.

I haven't really gave much thought to the timer though, as long as it lets the turbo cool down, and keeps the engine running for a minute I'm happy. I want to be able to have the alarm relayed to come on after the timer shuts off the motor though, so I don't really know what my options are.

I didn't even think about the wide band. Should I go ahead and get one before the hard pipes?

Well, I'm off to fix the hot pipe.

 

[got_titan]

pics.......................please!! lol

 

[Knox Joe]

pics.......................please!! lol

Allright, I'm going to change it now for real this time...


I'll get the pics as soon as I'm done.

 

[Velocifero]

Yeah I was planning on the TurboHoses hard pipes.

I haven't really gave much thought to the timer though, as long as it lets the turbo cool down, and keeps the engine running for a minute I'm happy. I want to be able to have the alarm relayed to come on after the timer shuts off the motor though, so I don't really know what my options are.

I didn't even think about the wide band. Should I go ahead and get one before the hard pipes?

Well, I'm off to fix the hot pipe.

nah, you can do the hard pipes before the WBO2, but I suggest it before the unichip, that way you can get a good tune where ever you get that done.

 

[Knox Joe]

Here are some pics

Intercooler and my ride

 

[Knox Joe]

My work van...

 

[Knox Joe]

A couple of me riding at my old work place, Deal's Gap.

 

[Knox Joe]

LoL

You never said pics of what.

 

[cmahlig]

do exhaust first. just deleting the 2 cats on my car with 3 inch pipe made a world of difference. i would definately get a boost guage too. make it a combo buy. i got the apexr1 3inch catless and i love it. its up to you what boost guage you get. i have stewart warner but i wish i would have gotten something different. peace

 

[Knox Joe]

I think I'm going to go to a local muffler shop, and let them fab me up a mid-pipe. Will I have any issues going to catless with the ECU?

 

[Velocifero]

I think I'm going to go to a local muffler shop, and let them fab me up a mid-pipe. Will I have any issues going to catless with the ECU?

It varies, some people throw a CEL and nothing happens, some people have thrown CELs and the car ran into "limp mode", I didn't even throw a CEL. I have Vibrant Performance 3" s-pipe back and I removed the high flow cat and put in a 3" electronic cutout. I was totally expecting a CEL but it has been several thousand miles with out one. If you do throw one do a search for a MIL eliminator. It is a resistor that sends a signal to the ecu telling it the O2 is fine. You can purchase them cheap or make them yourself even cheaper. I believe there is a how to somewhere on that.

 

[BOOSTR]

I went over 10,000 miles without throwing a cel. Only when the piece of crap flex hose section broke on my downpipe, did a cel come on. Using the HELP anti-fouler trick got rid of it. I regret spending $299 on a downpipe and wish that I would of went my local exhaust shop.