Tallboy
04-15-2006, 03:42 PM
[Whew!]
Man, what a day! I wanted to share this with the community, as I feel the team effort by my fellow SSM members is worth hearing about, and sets quite an example.
As many of you know, we undertook what I believe is the world's first and only double-header supercharger install. I know what you're thinking-Claude and Chuck are at it again. Well, yes. And no. The day started much earlier than usual, as I arrived at Carfixer's house shortly after 8AM Friday morning. He was already turning wrenches, and I walked in, poured myself a fresh cup of coffee [Thanks, Paula!], and got to work alongside him. We were doing Bootlegger's car first, and it went quite well. Shortly after I arrived, King Fubar showed up, and jumped right in with us. This one was a little trickier than others, as Mel's car is equipped with Nitrous and the head cooling mod from Dennis Reinhart. This made for some tight quarters at the back of the blower, and we had to re-install the Nitrous into the new system, along with a K&N FIPK. We worked until it was done, and it went perfectly. Upon completion, we turned the key and the car started like we never touched it. Fired up immediately, and settled into a flawless idle. After a hew high-fives, we backed it out and enjoyed some take-out Chinese for lunch. A perfect start to a great day.
Ghost03 got there as were having lunch, and we pulled his car in, popped the hood and let it cool down as we dined. Then, after lunch, we put the first wrench to Rob's car.
This where the concept of "teamwork" manifests itself of it's level of importance in today's society. First, we discovered [due a lack of communication on my part] that the car was still equipped with underdrive pulleys, and a custom tune. I had forgotten to tell Rob we needed all the OEM parts, and would have to but the car back to bone-stock for this transformation to take place. He had all the parts necessary to do this. Problem? They were back at his house, on the other side of the state. Our first inclination was to put Rob in my car to make a bonzai run across the state and back, as Carfixer's wife ran to Scanlon to get the puller we would need. But, I knew Shakes_26 [tonight's MVP] was headed our way from Boca Raton. I called him, and after working out the logistics, he stopped at Rob's house to get the OEM parts and tuner we needed.
Disaster averted. Shakes_26 [the cavalry] was on the way, and Carfixer, King Fubar, and I continued wreching away. In the meantime, Our leader, Cobra25, MaLo03, Silver2004Marauder, and Bootlegger showed up. Quite a gathering on it's own. Shakes_26 arrived, and the install progressed with confidence, as we now had a full roster of installers and parts at our disposal. I took a breather and downed a cold one as the install was nearing completion.
Then, we found out we had problem with identifying exactly with tuner [Rob has 2 Excal1 tuners] held the stock tune. Then, we couldn't get the new tune to load properly, due to a touchy communications cable. All efforts to get the tuning situation correct failed, and we were left dead in the water. Phone calls to Jerry Barnes and Lidio Iacobelli were placed. As we were scratching our heads wondering what to do, Shakes_26 was nosing around the pcm and computer codes on Rob's car. Then, he said "no problem", I've got my stock Trilogy chip with me [he has a custom DiabloSport/Scott Beer tune now], and the only difference will be the gears, so the speedo may be a little off.
We installed Shakes_26's chip and turned the key. Crank-no-start. Problem? I had forgotten to re-set the fuel pump switch, which we always de-activate.
Press the little red button in the trunk, and try it again. Car fires right up, and settles into a perfect idle. Problem? The alternator light is on. *****. We trace that down to a poor connection in the harness. With that repaired, we hit the key again, she fires right back up, no more alternator light. Problem? King Fubar looks at me and says "I smell coolant". Sure enough, we're leaking coolant. We found the culprit, a cut o-ring on the driver's side crossover tube. We had more in stock, so we replaced it and re-tested. Done!!!
Rob and Claude went for the test drive, and were gone quite a while. Now, here's what I'm waiting for...The customary "all is well" sign, is for the customer to return to Claude's house, stop in front of the driveway, and drop the hammer. I was standing alone, downing an ice-cold Bud Light as they returned. All I could think was "come on, man, line that sumb!tch up, and roast those tires". I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Rob did exactly that!! A brief clean-up period, handshakes all-around, and the night was complete. The world's first double-header was in the books.
It was a long, tired, but satisfying drive home. I would like to thank my fellow SSM brethren for thier support and cooperation. We couldn't have done it without you. Times like this make me proud to be associated with all of you...:up:
Man, what a day! I wanted to share this with the community, as I feel the team effort by my fellow SSM members is worth hearing about, and sets quite an example.
As many of you know, we undertook what I believe is the world's first and only double-header supercharger install. I know what you're thinking-Claude and Chuck are at it again. Well, yes. And no. The day started much earlier than usual, as I arrived at Carfixer's house shortly after 8AM Friday morning. He was already turning wrenches, and I walked in, poured myself a fresh cup of coffee [Thanks, Paula!], and got to work alongside him. We were doing Bootlegger's car first, and it went quite well. Shortly after I arrived, King Fubar showed up, and jumped right in with us. This one was a little trickier than others, as Mel's car is equipped with Nitrous and the head cooling mod from Dennis Reinhart. This made for some tight quarters at the back of the blower, and we had to re-install the Nitrous into the new system, along with a K&N FIPK. We worked until it was done, and it went perfectly. Upon completion, we turned the key and the car started like we never touched it. Fired up immediately, and settled into a flawless idle. After a hew high-fives, we backed it out and enjoyed some take-out Chinese for lunch. A perfect start to a great day.
Ghost03 got there as were having lunch, and we pulled his car in, popped the hood and let it cool down as we dined. Then, after lunch, we put the first wrench to Rob's car.
This where the concept of "teamwork" manifests itself of it's level of importance in today's society. First, we discovered [due a lack of communication on my part] that the car was still equipped with underdrive pulleys, and a custom tune. I had forgotten to tell Rob we needed all the OEM parts, and would have to but the car back to bone-stock for this transformation to take place. He had all the parts necessary to do this. Problem? They were back at his house, on the other side of the state. Our first inclination was to put Rob in my car to make a bonzai run across the state and back, as Carfixer's wife ran to Scanlon to get the puller we would need. But, I knew Shakes_26 [tonight's MVP] was headed our way from Boca Raton. I called him, and after working out the logistics, he stopped at Rob's house to get the OEM parts and tuner we needed.
Disaster averted. Shakes_26 [the cavalry] was on the way, and Carfixer, King Fubar, and I continued wreching away. In the meantime, Our leader, Cobra25, MaLo03, Silver2004Marauder, and Bootlegger showed up. Quite a gathering on it's own. Shakes_26 arrived, and the install progressed with confidence, as we now had a full roster of installers and parts at our disposal. I took a breather and downed a cold one as the install was nearing completion.
Then, we found out we had problem with identifying exactly with tuner [Rob has 2 Excal1 tuners] held the stock tune. Then, we couldn't get the new tune to load properly, due to a touchy communications cable. All efforts to get the tuning situation correct failed, and we were left dead in the water. Phone calls to Jerry Barnes and Lidio Iacobelli were placed. As we were scratching our heads wondering what to do, Shakes_26 was nosing around the pcm and computer codes on Rob's car. Then, he said "no problem", I've got my stock Trilogy chip with me [he has a custom DiabloSport/Scott Beer tune now], and the only difference will be the gears, so the speedo may be a little off.
We installed Shakes_26's chip and turned the key. Crank-no-start. Problem? I had forgotten to re-set the fuel pump switch, which we always de-activate.
Press the little red button in the trunk, and try it again. Car fires right up, and settles into a perfect idle. Problem? The alternator light is on. *****. We trace that down to a poor connection in the harness. With that repaired, we hit the key again, she fires right back up, no more alternator light. Problem? King Fubar looks at me and says "I smell coolant". Sure enough, we're leaking coolant. We found the culprit, a cut o-ring on the driver's side crossover tube. We had more in stock, so we replaced it and re-tested. Done!!!
Rob and Claude went for the test drive, and were gone quite a while. Now, here's what I'm waiting for...The customary "all is well" sign, is for the customer to return to Claude's house, stop in front of the driveway, and drop the hammer. I was standing alone, downing an ice-cold Bud Light as they returned. All I could think was "come on, man, line that sumb!tch up, and roast those tires". I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Rob did exactly that!! A brief clean-up period, handshakes all-around, and the night was complete. The world's first double-header was in the books.
It was a long, tired, but satisfying drive home. I would like to thank my fellow SSM brethren for thier support and cooperation. We couldn't have done it without you. Times like this make me proud to be associated with all of you...:up: