kimchee

first off let me start by stating that i didnt know much about other options before purchasing this kit. In fact it was the purchase of this kit that prompted me to search online for others that have it and thats how I found this forum.

Would I have purchased gadgets kit instead? not sure but I really dont want to think about it anymore so I can avoid possible buyers remorse. I followed gadgets site when i first purchased my SC three years ago and give it a thumbs up. didnt know it was updated recently.

the only mods on my car prior to this kit was the supercharger and amsoil filter. no FMU mod or any sort of fuel system upgrade.

anyhow back to the point.
I installed my kit today. I read somewhere it would take about two hours to install.

I guess if you had prior experience installing these two hours is reasonable but for me it took well over 4 hours.

I consider myself a decent wrencher and I had all the tools needed to get this job done. I read the instructions thoroughly and made sure I wouldnt encounter any hiccups.

The instructions are pretty straight forward. Pictures are fair. Here are the areas I think need more detail.

1. getting the new banjo fitting onto the fuel rail is a pain in the ass. The instructions state to loosen the wiring harness behind the rail but no amount of loosening is going to get it out of the way. The new bolt for the rail is much longer than stock and getting it in place while pulling the wiring harness is pretty much a two man job. theres not too much space in there for big hands and making sure your last crush washer is in place is stressfull.
Instructions call for not tightening everything up until everything is in place. When the 7th injector is bolted on and fuel lines all plumbed theres no more room to get a wrench in there to tighten the fuel lines. Want to get a torque wrench in there? forget it.

how would I do it over again? same way i ended up doing it. removed the throttle body and unbolted the wiring harness in a lot more places. figure out which direction the lines are supposed to go and torque them as you go and not wait till everythings plumbed.

2. positioning the added ecu parts. dont know how they got that crap to fit in the pictures but I just couldnt get it done the way they instructed. I wrestled the wires and bulky harness for over an hour before giving up and just mounting it my way. the junction box I put in the location suggested but I positioned it differently so there wasnt so much stress on the wires. the trd ecu is above my heater vent and not next to the airbag.

3. getting the wires through the firewall. pretty easy but getting it through the rubber sleeves is a pain in the ass. you have to untape everything and even then it has to come out of the rubber somewhere. why go through all that trouble just to cut a hole in the rubber thats protecting all the other wires?? I chose to just pull it out before the rubber sleeve. then i had to tape all that crap back up. again lots of wasted time.

everything else is easy. not sure why they have you change the hose from the fuel regulator to the airbox since theres one already on there.

reading the posts on the forum i decided not to change my thermostat or my spark plugs. Ill read the plugs later and see if I need to. that would probably have added another hour for the install.

overall the installation itself is easy. its just a bit frustrating. thats it!

as for performance...i dont know yet. I took it for a test drive to make sure there werent any leaks. the ecu was still adjusting and drove like crap.

Ill take it out tomorrow when its warmer and see how it feels.

PS what should the bolt on the fuel rail be torqued to?
I dont have any leaks but am not fully satisfied that I was able to torque it to spec. hope it doesnt somehow come loose.

Andrey

Was TRD ECU included with 7th injector kit or did you have to buy it separately?

Thanks,
-- Andrey