iansw

iTrader: (7)

Yep - and of course I was revving it at idle, so I never really hit boost.

Under on-road accelleration I'm sure there's a bunch more air leaking through there.

I also looked more carefully at the gauge when driving home...it's like there is a "cap" on my boost because of it - I hit 6-7PSI quickly and then it just stays there until redline.....it happens quickly, but if you look, it is noticable....

This would also explain why I went form the 3.25" Pulley to the 3.12" and gained a little torque (which I suspect is more from putting in a straight pipe) and absolutely no hp.....

Man - I promised the fiance I wouldn't work on my car tomorrow - but now I just want to fix it tomorrow - I've been chasing after this for 1.5 years!

But NOOOOO - I gotta go help her shop for China and dinnerware....

LatinMax

iTrader: (1)

The car will still be there when you get back. I you made the choice to marry her. I am sure it is worth waiting to work on the car for her. (OK that's enough of my marrige advice)

iansw

iTrader: (7)

iansw -----><------LatinMax

LatinMax

iTrader: (1)

Correction: iansw Fiance -----><------iansw

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Ya got me there.

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

Nope, just metal to metal contact.

Back in my air-cooled VW building days, it was a common practice to place fishing line on the joint between the case halves. The case halves are machined perfectly flat at the factory for an oil tight joint, but they rarely stayed that way by the time the engine needed rebuilding. The fishing line makes a very nice seal. You have to use a thin gasket sealer like Gaska-cinch to keep the line in place while you're bolting it up. This ought to work very nicely for the blower housing.

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

This actually is like the behavior of a slipping belt. The belt can only transmit so much of a shear load at the pulley surface and then it slips. Since the static coefficient of friction is usually higher than the dynamic coefficient of friction, you might see boost pressure get up to 7-8 psi and then it falls to 6-7 psi when the belt starts slipping.

But I understand you've probably satisfied yourself that it is not a slipping belt.

LatinMax

iTrader: (1)

That's the first thing they said for him to check about a year ago. But the belt is good. I think he even said once that he was affraid that he might be going to tight at one point....but I don't remember.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Well, LatinMax, you were right - I shouldn't have messed with my car this morning....

I went downstairs to use a 3/16" allen wrench and just lightly tighten the bolts to see what happened. I then realized I didn't have a 3/16" allen wrench.

So off to Sears to buy one.

Get to Sears, buy the thing, decide to just play with it in the parking lot.

Then noticed the oil feed line is in front of one of the bolts. "No problem" I figured...I'll just get a wrench from my trunk and pop that off real quick, tighten the bolt, then reattach.

So I turned the feedline to the left and SNAP - it broke off at the SC....

So then I spent all day unmounting the SC belt and putting the stock back on (thank god I keep that in my trunk). Then I had to remove the oil feed T and oil feed line at the oil pan after a drain. (Had to buy a drain pan). lots of oil everywhere - big mess....

Anyway - to answer the belt question - I'm on my 2nd belt, and yes, I actually did have it too tight at one point - it also has never jumped to 8 or 9 then dropped - always been a steady rise.

I'm satisfied it's the blower.

For now my car is slow and quiet.....oh well, I would have had to do all that stuff anyway when I returned to stock to send it in for a rebuild - may as well go ahead and do it now.

Since I'm sending it in for the rebuild, I won't be trying the fishing line scenario - but it sounds logical....good idea.

IanS

Street Reeper

When going back to NA did you have to mess with the intake piping from the SC? Did you just leave it in and now that acts as the intake?

Thats awesome that you were able to do that in a parking lot with limited tools.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Seems to be fine with all the piping still hooked up.

Actually - I had maximase86 stop by my garage and grab a drill, easy-out, jack/jack stand, 3qts of oil, and some other things. And I had my socket set in my car.....and breaking down in front of Sears turned out to be good also - I lost my 14mm socket somewhere...so I had to buy one.

Thank god the broken part came out with the easy-out very easily. that would suck to have to take the blower off and then take it to a machine shop, etc, etc...

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

Ian, I made a plug out of the right combination of fittings from Home Depot so that all I have to do is plug the end of the oil feed line instead of taking it completely off.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

I did that too - and then it started leaking where the silver fitting and line meet. No matter how tight it was, it would leak - so finally I gave in and just took the whole line off.

I htink I may need to buy new lines also.

LatinMax

iTrader: (1)

Now that you did all that. Did you check to see if the screws to the case of the SC are loose after all?

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Well, of course I didn't want to over-torque them and snap them off, causing more headaches, so I just gave the 3 top ones a slight tug. They moved very slightly, but they seem very very snug for the most part.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Speaking of which - does anyone know the type, length, and fitting type of our oil feed lines?

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

You probably did not use a male size 4 AN fitting to mate with the oil feed line.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Nope - its a size 4 AN Fitting. Didn't leak for 1.5 years until now.

Or do you mean the cap I put on? That's not where it leaked - it leaked further down at the stock fittings on the braided line itself. Probably because of all the pressure caused by the cap being on there.

I'll take pics later and show you what I mean.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Interesting - 2 techs at Vortech just told me that there is a rubber gasket there.

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

Whoah. That's interesting. I'll bet you that they didn't use gaskets for the V1, though. At least the older ones, maybe they do now because they found that they leak boost. Mine doesn't have one, and the guy I bought it from is not the type to just throw it away if it came with one.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Well - it's going in for a rebuild anyway - seeing as I have the removal half way done now anyway.

Just gotta unbolt it and lift it off now and then remove the bracket.

BlackCat

iTrader: (6)

Getting my package from Vortech today via UPS.
Total cost of pulley and recab kit: $105US and $58 for Brokerage fees.

BlackCat

iTrader: (6)

Sorry to hear of your troubles Ian. I hope Vortech does a faster turnaround time on the rebuild for you than how mine went!

iansw

iTrader: (7)

how long exactly did your whole process take?

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

Does your fiancee know?

BlackCat

iTrader: (6)

Total of 5 weeks.
I sent it by FedEx to have it arrive at Vortech in a couple of days. Then I went to Toronto for 3 weeks. Come back home and they hadn't even started working on it. Did public transit for almost 2 weeks until I got it back.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Wow. Good thing:

a) I take the bus to work anyway
b) My car will be running (NA, but still running)

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Well, the SC is off the car and off the bracket now and ready to ship to Vortech.

A friend from Oregon was up and I gave him my MEVI (I owed it to him).
So last night we swapped manifolds also.

So now my car is damned near stock again....heh.

Anyway, the guy who came up has a V2 blower - DAMN that's alot quieter!

So now I'm thinking about spending the $950 for the V2 Upgrade and keep the V1 bracket - best of both worlds....

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

??? Are you getting another MEVI?

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Yep - but if I have time I'm getting it bored out for the Pathfinder TB first.

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

I just got through match-porting mine to the TB adapter plate this weekend. I'm hoping to re-install it later this week, along with the Pathfinder TB.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Sweet - what year TB did you get? Does MT or AT really matter?

Also - how much did it cost you to get it bored out....and did they bore out everything or just the inlet?

Thanks!
IanS

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

I bought a TB for a 2002 Pathfinder. I got it from a junkyard up your way in WA. I forget the name, but I've used them before. They had a 5-speed ECU that matched the production date of my car exactly. I don't think it matters what kind of transmission. I did a trial fitment and found that you have to remove the IAC stuff from the bottom of the TB to make it fit, which means you have to make a plate to bolt onto the bottom of the TB. The TB has some large ports that you can use for drawing vacuum, but they're kind of big and I didn't like the look of them, so I drilled a .125" hole in the bottom of the TB that takes vacuum just in front of the throttle plate, like in the Maxima TB.

I did the porting myself. It cost me about four hours and a bag of sanding drums. I just bored out the inlet to match the diameter of the adapter plate, which is about 68 mm, I believe. That is what the TB necks down to after the throttle plate. I ported as far back as I could reach with the drill, about 4 inches or so.


I had a machinist where I work make me an adapter plate (two, actually) on a CNC mill we have. That cost me a lunch at Bone Daddy's.