| It took a while to do all
the wiring. The Vi-PEC V88
wiring harness includes 70 wires, and in my application, about 25 wires
were left unused
at this point. On top of these, you need to wire the 12V supply to
various relays etc. Not an easy task, especially if you want to do it
neat and tidy. I polished the intake manifold and offered it to a plating shop, the only one in Finland who'd chrome aluminum. They refused to take the job because of the complexity of the part. I wanted to protect the surface from oxidation, so I coated it with Tech Line's LTC Clear (CilGen). You can spray it on a polished surface, and it cures by humidity. It's available clear and tinted. Very tough, very slick, and resists heat. Actually I discovered a microcrack in the seam of one of the plenum end caps. I heated the aluminum to 400ºC with a propane torch to re-weld the seam, and the coating didn't chip, peel or discolor! Very Cool. |
 Here are the headers and intake assembled, with all the wiring and plumbing completed. I got a set of "copper-clad" intake/exhaust gaskets from Bob's Automobilia. On top of that, I applied some blue Hylomar on the intake flanges to avoid vacuum leaks. You may notice that the fuel return line from the fuel rail to the regulator, goes around a New Port Engineering electric wiper motor. I purchased it already in 2005, but installing the wiper knob on top of the dash required removing the radio and more, so I postponed it until now. The vacuum motor just won't work under boost! I had to do a lot of wiring under the dash anyway, so I removed the front seat and got to work. Did I mention that the the old tach won't work with direct ignition? I happened to have a Sun Mini-Tach in my inventory that works with the low-level tach signal available from the ECU. The old tachs often work only on a high-level signal from the coil's negative post. |
 I found a long-enough throttle cable from a Subaru. Notice there's a TPS sensor (Throttle Position) mounted on the other end of the throttle shaft. The make and model of the TPS sensor doesn't matter. It's just a potentiometer, and will be calibrated when setting up the ECU. Fuel enters the fuel rail from the rear end, and exits at the middle. There's not enough space to exit from the other end, once the supercharger installs. All lines are stainless-braided teflon lines. The MAP sensor (Manifold Absolute Pressure) is a standard piece purchased together with the ECU, and is mounted on the firewall, slightly higher than the port on the plenum, so water condensation won't enter the sensor. The ECU will use the MAP reading to determine engine load. I suspect the 80 mm throttle body to be too big for my application, but time will tell. |
 Here's the intake upside down. An array of nipples are needed for manifold vacuum/pressure: - MAP sensor (MAP = Manifold Absolute Pressure) - Fuel pressure regulator - Boost gauge - Power brake booster - Vacuum wipers (N/A anymore) - Blow-off valve (charger) The pipe coming out of the end of plenum is for a Bosch idle speed solenoid, adopted from a 3.0 L Opel. On the bottom side of the throttle body, there's an IAT (Intake Air Temp) sensor. It's a standard Bosch sensor that comes with the Vi-PEC V88 ECU. |
| To be continued... |