Intercooled, part 1

-
I've bought an intercooler kit from Universal Intercoolers, and spent an enjoyable few hours in the garage fitting it yesterday. Except the outlet from my turbo is 51mm, and all the hoses were 57mm... and I was short of at least 12" of metal tube. I've emailed the guy and he said he'll get the appropriate parts in the post, so hopefully it'll be complete in a few days. As it's snowing right now, I don't expect to be using the car anytime soon anyway.

The kit didn't come with any instructions, and you have to cut the metal tube yourself. There are photos on the website though, and it's a fairly straightforward job. Some points to note:

  • My car once had air conditioning, which means it has 2 cooling fans - this is a problem, as the primary fan (passenger side) has to come out to make room for the IC tubing, and it's the only way you'll be able to remove the air trunking too (unless you partially drain the coolant and remove the top hose). I plan to refit it in the place of the AC fan, because it's bigger and appears to use the same mounting holes. I will have to extend the cabling to do this, which is a nuisance.
  • I've left the air guide in place, but chopped chunks out of the sides for the IC hoses. I've been running without the undertray for more than a year, but I don't think it would fit any longer as the IC hoses on the passenger side route under the bottom radiator hose.
  • To fit the intercooler, I re-used one of the existing holes on the bonnet slam panel (drilled out to 8.5mm), then drilled a new hole at the other end. There was 35cm between them on mine, but the intercooler looks handmade so measure first. I put a length of threaded bar through each of these, with a nut and large washer on each side, very loose, then put another nut an inch up from the bottom on each (see below). I lubricated everything with WD40, then fed the intercooler up from the bottom and screwed in the bars. Once it was level I tightened everything up, and it's pretty rigid.

It also looks REALLY GOOD. I may have to fit FLOODLIGHTS so everybody can witness the additional boosty threat it represents.

I also had a new set of tyres fitted last week, Toyo Proxes T1R in 195/55R14 V (the widest you can fit on the standard daisy alloys). I bought them online from Black Circles and apart from causing some confusion at the tyre fitting centre, it was all good. They seem excellent so far, but the previous tyres were bald and shredded (hey, it wasn't me) so anything would seem better.

Popular posts from this blog

MINI tailgate hinge replacement

-
Image
I replaced the snapped tailgate hinge on t'old MINI today, and it wasn't too bad a job.  The design is a bit crap and they tend to seize, and then break and attempt to bonk you on the head with the tailgate.  Didn't like that. The hinge is held on by a single nut but you need to partially drop the headlining to reach it.  To do this you need to: remove the tailgate seal remove the rear seats remove the rear side panel trim on the affected side This is all covered by some helpful folks in this YouTube video.  After this, you need to remove the white C-pillar trim; it's held in by 4 plastic tabs (2 top, 2 bottom), which fit into metal clips in the body.  It needs a sharp tug but there is a fair risk of breaking the tabs, but I got away with it. Now you should be able to gently pull down the headlining, to release the clip in the centre: That should give just enough clearance to get a 13mm socket onto the nut securing the hinge.  There is quite a lot
Read more

BMW E39 diesel pump replacement

-
Image
I replaced the fuel pump in the tank of the 530D yesterday.  It was quite fiddly and I couldn't find any useful guide on the internet, so I thought I'd create a quick outline of the procedure: Symptoms of failure : poor starting/cutting out when the fuel level falls to around a quarter of a tank. Cost : £42 from GSF , plus 2x 9mm petrol hose clips (the originals are not reusable). Procedure :  remove the rear seat base by pulling up sharply on it's front edge (there are a pair of spring clips holding it in place).  Beneath are 2 access panels to the tank, the pump is under the right-hand side one (behind the driver on a UK right-hand drive car).  Remove the cover and disconnect the 2 hose connections and the electrical plug (removed by pushing the locking clip sideways).  Unscrew the locking ring by gently rotating it with a hammer and chisel. Now slowly remove the fuel sender unit, noting it's orientation and how it slots into the pump assembly below - it'
Read more

Adding bluetooth to a Mini with Harman Kardon audio

-
Image
My R53 Cooper S has the unexpected bonus of the Harman Kardon premium audio system.  While it has impressive power and sound quality (once you discover the hidden settings ), it's firmly stuck in the past with just CD and analogue radio.  You can't change the head unit as the speakers are all wired to the 10-channel amp that lives in the boot, so new cables would need to be run from the head unit to each speaker, which would be an almighty faff. I wanted to add bluetooth so I could play my cheesy '80s music from Spotify, so bought a Grom BT3  which is a small module that plugs into the CD-changer port on the rear of the standard-fit Boost head unit.  It allows you to stream music from your mobile, and make/receive calls via the supplied microphone.  You can also buy another module that plugs into the Grom to provide DAB radio, USB, or iPod wired connections, I didn't bother with any of those, I just wanted Bananarama, loud. There are 2 versions of the Grom for BMW
Read more