question to those with Alpine SC

[WormGod]

Hey hey, look, it's Dragon Bob! Good to see ya lurking around. Hope all is well.

Found I had to order a new throttle body gasket last night. The existing one was so unusable, it was hardly even visible. Something got the better of it. So, a new one on order from isuzuparts.com (they love me now.... I think I keep them in business). In the meantime, while I wait for it, I guess I will just clean and polish up everything from the throttle body to the EGR. The EGR isnt in the best of shape either, but, if it aint broke, dont fix it. I think my VX is clearly allergic to winter salts here.

Slow progress is still progress. About 2 hours a night in the garage. I dont recall my previous S/C installs having so much damned hosing, heh. Of course, those were not fuel injected vehicles though.

Question about polishing: The fuel rails and the EGR mount.... those who polished these, any advice?

[Ldub]

Question about polishing: The fuel rails and the EGR mount.... those who polished these, any advice?

I used some Flitz metal polish, a cotton rag, & lots of elbow grease...a buffing wheel on a bench grinder would have eliminated the elbow grease thing.
Also, plug all orfices in the fuel rails with scraps of rag to prevent any metal polish residue from entering the rail.

Another tip to make your install easier...cut some "U" shaped shims out of sheet aluminium (available @ most hardware/hobby stores) about an inch square, with a 1/4" slot in the middle to aid in alignment of the fuel rails.
On mine, the rails were slightly mis-aligned when tightened onto the existing (on the Alpine manifold) mounts causing some binding issues with the injectors. When the rails are tightened to the mounting lugs, you should still be able to rotate the injectors back & forth with moderate hand pressure.

Use emery cloth to slightly enlarge the beveled edge where the injectors go into the fuel rail & ample silicone grease on the upper & lower injector O-rings to keep from tearing O rings, as clearances are VERY tight.

Good Luck !

[WormGod]

I actually had no issues installing the injectors into the rails. Very mild lubing of the plenum ports and very minor lubing of the fuel rail ports. Then some slow but constant twisting of the injectors as you apply pressure to put them in the plenum. Getting them in the fuel rails was alittle trickier but not so bad really. I laid the rail over the injectors and lined up the ports to them. Applying a little pressure to the rail while slowly twisting the injectors a little at a time and they worked their way into the rail. The rail mounted up right to the plenum with a perfect fit.

I assumed I was gonna have trouble getting them in since i played hell getting them out of the OEM fuel rail, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was the opposite. In all, the o-rings were still in great shape (only a couple years old) so I didnt have to use any of my new ones. Good to have regardless.

My only issue this weekend was getting the nut off of the crank pulley. I hunted all over for a crank holder. No shops nor any of my tech friends had access to one (found one that fit various Fords, but no luck on my pulley). So, I ended up using the serpentine belt. I did the old wrap and fold of the belt around the pully and cranked the nut in the opposite direction. Worked like a charm (with some shop gloves that is.... hard on the hands). It's a risky tactic if you want to re-use your belt, so I suggest only doing this if you are replacing it. In my case, I was replacing all belts and gaskets so I had nothing to lose.

Looking over some stuff at quitting time last night, I was checking out the wiring. Does anyone recall what harnesses, if any, they had to splice and lengthen? Looks like there is gonna have to be some extension for the wiring to reach the new throttle body location.

[Ldub]

MAF & IAT