WhiteRT
03-23-2008, 05:02 AM
Well I would like to thank Mike Smith for putting his faith in me to become the first one to try out my new vortech kit....
I was somewhat nervous about bolting on a kit that I built & pieced together from the ground up.....but let me just say that other than some minor hiccups it went very well. It took about 8 hours to do the first one as we were mocking things up, getting an idea about where to put stuff and making sure everything was lining up right, etc...and then pulling apart and finally reassembling for good.
So I will list the hiccups (& fixes if they apply):
1.) The damn oil pressure sender was a PITA as the socket I bought wouldn't fit over it (yet it did on the sender that came off my truck, go figure). So with some mini vice grips Mike's son got the grip on it and loosened it, kudos to him for that move :biggthumpup:
2.) The plastic barbed fitting I got to put in the bottom of the discharge tube that is used to couple the blow off valve was sitting over the valve cover and wouldnt allow the blow off to be mounted. Luckily I had a 1" ID heater hose with a 90 degree bend to mount his. After some research tonight I found those hoses are like 15 bux - so I will get some 90 degree plastic barb fittings with straight hose instead for the same effect less $$$ added to the kit.
3.) I didnt get the right size bolt to mount the idler pulley.....so Mike and I marched to Lowe's with my T-Trim blower in hand and found the right size metric piece of shit bolt that vortech used to tap the blower case where the idler pulley mounts.
4.) Vacuum line was a pita to get on the M1 - once again Mike's kid weasled it on there. And with so many different setups I am going to leave the vacuum source for the blow off up to the truck owner's discresion....basically if you have a 2bbl M1 use an extra nipple or find a vacuum source you would like to use to make the install as clean as you would like it....
5.) Mike had a oil drain fitting put in his pan, the shop that did it though that sealant and an impact would be a good way to put a plug in the end of the drain fitting. So he pulled it out completely and got that all taken care of.
...............THE REST IS HISTORY - got his belt on (lucky guess on sizing on my part as he has no AC) ..... Fired the truck up and listened to her whistle away - we took it for a drive and everything was stellar - I called him 1 hour into his 2.5 hour trip home and everything was going well. So it looks like the kit is ready to go......I am VERY PLEASED with how it turned out, I think it looks and installs very professional.....
Here is a video (I was gonna let Mike post this but I figured it was on the FTP site already and its so small to keep size down maybe he could do some better ones).
http://www.rtmods.com/vortech%20kit%20idea/PrototypeInstall/MVI_0472.AVI
And some pics....
http://www.rtmods.com/vortech%20kit%20idea/PrototypeInstall/front_web.jpg
http://www.rtmods.com/vortech%20kit%20idea/PrototypeInstall/driverside_web.jpg
http://www.rtmods.com/vortech%20kit%20idea/PrototypeInstall/passside_web.jpg
I was somewhat nervous about bolting on a kit that I built & pieced together from the ground up.....but let me just say that other than some minor hiccups it went very well. It took about 8 hours to do the first one as we were mocking things up, getting an idea about where to put stuff and making sure everything was lining up right, etc...and then pulling apart and finally reassembling for good.
So I will list the hiccups (& fixes if they apply):
1.) The damn oil pressure sender was a PITA as the socket I bought wouldn't fit over it (yet it did on the sender that came off my truck, go figure). So with some mini vice grips Mike's son got the grip on it and loosened it, kudos to him for that move :biggthumpup:
2.) The plastic barbed fitting I got to put in the bottom of the discharge tube that is used to couple the blow off valve was sitting over the valve cover and wouldnt allow the blow off to be mounted. Luckily I had a 1" ID heater hose with a 90 degree bend to mount his. After some research tonight I found those hoses are like 15 bux - so I will get some 90 degree plastic barb fittings with straight hose instead for the same effect less $$$ added to the kit.
3.) I didnt get the right size bolt to mount the idler pulley.....so Mike and I marched to Lowe's with my T-Trim blower in hand and found the right size metric piece of shit bolt that vortech used to tap the blower case where the idler pulley mounts.
4.) Vacuum line was a pita to get on the M1 - once again Mike's kid weasled it on there. And with so many different setups I am going to leave the vacuum source for the blow off up to the truck owner's discresion....basically if you have a 2bbl M1 use an extra nipple or find a vacuum source you would like to use to make the install as clean as you would like it....
5.) Mike had a oil drain fitting put in his pan, the shop that did it though that sealant and an impact would be a good way to put a plug in the end of the drain fitting. So he pulled it out completely and got that all taken care of.
...............THE REST IS HISTORY - got his belt on (lucky guess on sizing on my part as he has no AC) ..... Fired the truck up and listened to her whistle away - we took it for a drive and everything was stellar - I called him 1 hour into his 2.5 hour trip home and everything was going well. So it looks like the kit is ready to go......I am VERY PLEASED with how it turned out, I think it looks and installs very professional.....
Here is a video (I was gonna let Mike post this but I figured it was on the FTP site already and its so small to keep size down maybe he could do some better ones).
http://www.rtmods.com/vortech%20kit%20idea/PrototypeInstall/MVI_0472.AVI
And some pics....
http://www.rtmods.com/vortech%20kit%20idea/PrototypeInstall/front_web.jpg
http://www.rtmods.com/vortech%20kit%20idea/PrototypeInstall/driverside_web.jpg
http://www.rtmods.com/vortech%20kit%20idea/PrototypeInstall/passside_web.jpg