Tech Article Title
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Author
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Date
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SPP
A-Pillar Pod and Omori 60mm Boost Gauge |
Taner Halicioglu
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2001
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Got Boost?
Well, after over a year with the GIAC chip, I finally decided to install a
boost gauge! :-) I opted for the 60mm Omori gauge from Omori Meter in Japan
(I bought the whole setup off a friend, tho). I went with 60mm because it had
the Peak/Hold/Warning feature. Also, this gauge has red lightning with a white
needle -- matches the S4 dials VERY WELL! This pod will live inside the Supreme Power Parts
(SPP) integrated A-pillar pod (60mm, of course).
Starting out...
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Well,
here's a shot of the stock A-pillar - before the operation... Please ignore the
messy garage! ;-) |
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The goods! Here we have all the goods: SPP
60mm a-pillar pod, 60mm Omori electrical boost gauge, inline blade-type fuse (w/
10amp fuse), pressure sensor (the cylindrical metal thing that looks like a
small RC-car motor), various wiring harnesses, boost line Tee and pressure
sensor mounting hardware. |
PARTS:
- SPP 60mm A-pillar pod
- Omori 60mm Peak/Hold/Warning electrica boost gauge (red face, white
needle)
- Inline fuse holder (from Frys, Radio Shack, etc) w/ 10A fuse
- ~3feet of 4mm ID vacuum line
- Zipties
TOOLS:
- Socket wrench, socket driver
- Flathead screwdriver
- T-25 torx bit
- Razor blade (or similar)
- Small drillbit, awl, or other really sharp object
- SMALL phillips screwdriver
- Soldering iron, shrinkwrap (or electrical tape) (optional)
- Patience
- A handfull of curse words ;-)
The Operation...
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Ok, After removing the
ECU cover, and the ECU, itself, I removed the little "nipple" of rubber that is
just above the accordianated rubber tube that comes out of the front of the ECU
box. I had to cut this off with a razor blade, and then I sort of cut into the
rubber around the hole, to make it a little bit bigger. I still left it small
enough so that the vacuum line would be snug when passing thru the rubber
grommet. Notice the pressure sensor on the upper left, I mounted it just
about where you see it, slightly above. I used a super-small drill bit to drill
pilot holes for the screws, but you could have just as easily used an awl or
something to poke holes. |
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Next, I went inside to
remove the A-pillar, itself. You must first pop off the 'AIRBAG' logo. Simply
pry it out w/ a flathead screwdriver, but notice how it is attached from the top
(well, kind of). Just be careful, but you may need to use a decent amount of
force to remove it (at least, I did). |
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Once that is removed, you'll need
a T-25 Torx to remove the single screw beneath the 'AIRBAG' logo. After removing
said screw, simply pull the A-piller cover off (slowly, carefully, tho!). You
may hear what sounds like tearing, but there appears to be velcro on the bottom
side, and the top side (near the glass) may be stuck to the gunk they use to
adhere the windsheld. Never fear, just continue to pull it off (first just
directly away from the A-pillar, and then up and out from the corner). |
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Once removed, this is
what you see... ugly, eh? ;-) |
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Here are 2
pics, trying
to capture the color difference of the pillar cloth. The SPP pillar is
noticeably darker (more black). |
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Silly me, I got so
caught up in what I was doing, that I forgot to take pictures of removing the
lower kick-panel from the driver's-side footwell. But I've gone back and taken
pictures, and I'll explain it as best as possible.
First, pop off the
fuse cover (use a flathead screwdriver). |
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Next, remove the
bolt that is visible at the BOTTOM of this picture. |
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Then, pop off the
rubber/plastic cover seen here, and remove the bolt that is just about where the
screwdriver head is. (yes, it's dirty as heck, my whole car is... needs a
bath, badly...:-() |
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Now the right
side - I've removed the plastic/rubber cover for show.
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The
last bolt is where the silver spot is, towards the bottom of this picture. Don't
forget to remove it, too! I almost did, and was wondering why it was so hard to
get the kickpanel off! ;-) |
OK, no pics now, I didn't feel like
disassembling my car again ;-) To remove the kickpanel, just pull it down
slightly, and then before pulling it out, disconnect the OBD-II connector
(squeeze the tabs) and the floorlight power (give it a pull, or
wiggle-back-and-forth-until-the-bugger-comes-out action ;-).
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flash, near
focus |
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no flash, far focus
Here are a couple pics looking into
the ECU container that shows how it goes right thru into the footwell area! :-)
Notice the tools (right-side pic) :) Anyway, feed the end of the harness that
runs from the boost pressure sensor to the gauge down thru this hole, and fish
it out from the other side.
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Next, I wanted to make
all the electrical wiring neat, so I opted to solder and use shrinkwrap over the
joints. The two black wires I soldered
together, and then to a connector. The red and white were soldered together and then to the
inline fuse holder, which was then soldered to another connector. The brown wire was folded back onto itself with a piece of
shrinkwrap sealing it off, and stuffed back into the harness sheath. |
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Here's the gauge w/ its
harness attached |
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A closeup -- when you
get your Omori gauge, the black harness sheath is much closer to the end
connector than mine is now (look at the 2nd pic, way up top). I simply pulled
the shrinkwrap back off it, and cut it back, and then worked the shrinkwarp back
on it :) This was done so that there will be more slack on the wires when I
cram it all into the pod :) |
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Another view. |
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Now, disconnect the
gauge -- it's much easier to install the pillar w/o extra weight of the gauge in
there ;-) This was a tough part for me -- getting the piller back on... lots
of grunting and pushing... but eventually is will go on :) Just try to align the
clips ahead of time, and look for the marks the old A-piller left, and try to
line those up, as well :) |
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Ok, now for the
wiring. Attach the power connector to the 75X terminal (far left). Attach the
other one to ground. I used the bolt identified with the blue arrow in the pic to the right (near fuse panel).
The green arrow denotes where I ended up
putting the inline fuse holder (held in place by a ziptie). Now, tidily coil
up the excess wiring harness and ziptie it somewhere (I used the
compression-absorbing aluminum honeycomb (you'll see what I'm saying once you
take off the kickpanel ;) to secure my wires to). |
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Connect the gauge and
stuff it into the pod, and you're done with that part! :-) |
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LAST, but by no means
least, you need to splice into the vacuum line that runs from the charge
pressure sender to the fuel regulator. This is a braided line as seen on the
left. Use copious spit on the T-connector and work it into the vacuum line
slowly. Oh, I poked a hole in the grommet, as you can see (just cut away slowly
with a razor, until I could SNUGLY pass the vacuum line thru) BTW, please
ignore the white spots in this pic - they are from a I
discovered (wonderful!) *sigh* |
Welp, that's about it... I
checked all my connections, etc, and then buttoned everything back up!
Testing it out...
Well, I took the car out for some sprints, and all seems to be operating
well! CLICK HERE FOR MORE
PICS!!
P.S., thanks for ryan@s4.org and LosGatosS4 for initial
help/pointers! :-)
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