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Ok so you bought yourself a Snow Performance to help cool your STR and you want to see how to install it. Well you brought yourself to the right place!
First thing you need to do is buy a Stage 2 MAF snow kit
Follow there instructions on how to assemble everything (mine was a used kit)
See the above post on taking off the bumper
Now for the STR (2003 anyways) specifics
When taping into your washer reservoir, I went right next to the pump pickup. Mine was half full, so I used a stepper bit to 9/16 to make the hole. Make sure to have a bucket handy to catch the washer fluid.
The hard part is getting the bulkhead fitting through. Stick the red hose through the the hole you made and feed it up through the top. I found using a wire hanger straightened out, helped me to direct the hose through the fill cap. Stick the hanger into the hose and push up at the same time to get it out through the top.
Now comes the fun part! Put the bulkhead fitting onto the hose. S L O W L Y pull it down and out the hole you drilled out earlier (you also remembered to put a nut on it right?). It should look like this
And if you drop the fitting in the tank like I did (3 times!!!) the easiest thing to do is pop off the pump to the left and fish it out that way. Plus it is a good time to clean the screen on the pump
Mounting the box
I decided to stick it between the ABS pump and fuse box, a bit of a tight squeeze but it fits. Plus you can run the power from right there.
Ground for the box (hard to tell with wire loom on it)
You will have to make a cut into the lid to close it though
I decided to place mine in the intake tube in case if I ever want to go back to stock. Use a stepper bit once again (and a vise if you have one)
I decided to mount it the way the PO owner did, behind the grill. It does mean you have to use a check valve to keep the fluid from draining back into the tank. Also, the ground for the pump I used the bolt that hold the horns on. Just make sure to clean the paint around the area so you get a good ground.
I checked for other areas, and the only other place I saw was on the driver side but I didn't buy long enough tubing. You would need about 6' of tubing to reach to that side.
That is it for today. I still have to tap into the MAF and put the bumper back on. Make sure to go slow, take your time, and solder/heat shrink all your connections and it will go together just fine! Make sure to try to the pump per the instructions before you bolt everything back up in case there is an issue.
I plan on making the wiring neater and using wire loom.
Look for another post tomorrow night!
Last edited by Michael Star; 04-15-2013 at 08:18 PM.
If you bought the MAF one you need to tap into the green/white wire. I'm not a huge fan of these connectors but I did it for now.
When you are putting the bumper back on, the side screws can be a bit of a pain. I suggest using a bit of electrical tape as so:
Now for the tuning bit. I need to add a LED so I can see when it comes on, but I started it to come on past the 2.9 mark, and full between the 4-6 mark. I did take it on the high way to do some back to back full throttles and no bogging, it just pulls hard. I plan on going to the track next week to try to dial it in some more. It did pull pretty hard and it was 81 degrees out today so that is a good sign.
Well....I actually got rid of the 3lb for a Eurotoys one. I know it is less boost, I just wasn't overly comfortable with machining down the snout. Hopefully I will finish it up as soon as I get off work and still be able to hit the track tonight.
Ok, so you have a 1.5lb pulley now? Is it installed or waiting to go on?
I have a alkycontrol kit sitting around I am going to install on the STR, and maybe do the 3# pulley while I'm at it...
I don't think grinding down the blower snout is a big deal... I'm just concerned getting in there , especially the bottom half radius, is going to be a pain in the *** with it still in the car...
Yup, I have the eurotoys 1.5#. Currently I am working on getting the old pulley off, which will hopefully occur tonight. Getting to the bottom was what I was worried about as well. There really isn't much room in their to do much of anything. I keep playing with when the akly kicks on. I need to install an LED to let me know when it comes on, right now I am guessing based on what I have the MAF voltage set at. I can feel that it runs stronger, but I would like to be able to fine tune it a bit more.
just to clarify, by get the old pulley off, you mean the stock pulley, right?
What did you trap (mph) on your last track outing?
So youre goin out there tonight on stock pulley and meth as only upgrade since? Should give you an idea of gains for sure, and def tune it up...
-Yes, pulling off the stock pulley.
-Last trap was 101mph, hard to gain traction with 20s (at the time I had, k&n filter, intake tube, test pipes, no mufflers)
-No tonight I hopefully will go out there with the 1.5# pulley and meth. Last time I ran was 2 weeks ago, and the weather has been about the same. I might try some runs without the meth to see how I do as well. I will probably be where I was when I was stock. 13.3s at 104-105....
Still working on getting the other one off! I bought a puller, but it was missing one piece. The seller shipped it to me this week so hopefully I will have it today. I was going to do some runs this weekend if I had it installed, but the weather looks a bit rainy.
Are you cutting it up into pieces too? Puller alone probably won't be enough to get it off,
I did start to cut it up, but I can't seem to fully cut it without removing the aluminum water pump right behind it. I don't want to take that off if I don't have to. The bad thing is even though I put a blanket over my engine, I still have cut off wheels deposits everywhere :/
i've used the meth/water injection on past turbo motors and it makes a massive difference...mine was running so well i could put my hand on the turbo and inlet manifold after a hard run and it was cool....made a huge difference in terms of throttle response and power....just better to drive....i made my own kit though for about £80 ($120)
I did start to cut it up, but I can't seem to fully cut it without removing the aluminum water pump right behind it. I don't want to take that off if I don't have to. The bad thing is even though I put a blanket over my engine, I still have cut off wheels deposits everywhere :/
Sorry for resurrecting this after 7 years but I would like to know how it ended up. Did you get better times with the system?
I'm thinking on installing one myself, it does seem quite easy with your brilliant instructions!
At the moment I only have mufflers delete from Zaustworks. Sounds incredible!
But I want to add the intake pipe "cadoffy", the 1.5 pulley and the water/meth injection. Living in Spain, on hot springs/summers the engine tries to ping a bit on hard loads. So is probably retarding ignition a lot and going rich. I hope that Water/meth will solve that issue.
But please, let me know first how it all went! thanks!
It will work as advertised on any FI engine BUT if you use windshield washer fluid be aware of the "Blue Tongue"!
The STR will go into heat soak very quickly and you will know it because the performance just falls flat on it's face. Remember that old M112 Eaton blower is called a Heaton for a reason!
I don't see it but I would not install a pulley without a tune but it's your choice. The added boost pushes the Eaton blower even faster which just compounds the heat soak problem.
Also porting the blower gives very little gain for a lot of money and usually more blower whine. So I would also avoid that mod. But again some guys are after the whine and want to increase it. You will get more intake noise with the intake kit your planning to use anyway.
Have you read the Meth injection instructions a F-Type guy did?
Pretty slick install but of course a completely different engine and car.
I would read it to see the more modern parts that are available as he also did not have a kit and rigged it up himself. He mixed and matched parts from several different vendors to make it fit how he wanted it.
It helps us a lot if you would put all your car details in your posts. Very hard to answer without them.
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Last edited by clubairth1; 01-25-2021 at 10:35 AM.