Yet another ZAGE. Installation notes

[TOLMACH]

My project is far from complete but i still wanted to share my experience so far. In fact upon completing the mechanical part I realized that tuning the FIC by myself would be too much for a task, and I would need help from some dyno-tuning company. I am kinda bankrupt now (just paid for my car insurance) and my car is my daily driver - had to remove the kit bringing car back to stock. I am also considering buying the PnP harness (though wiring seems kinda just a little more difficult than Blitz)

The kit:
Overall I was very surprised by the kit built quality. Cast parts look superb (as compared to blitz whose casing looks kinda low quality in this respect). I did not have any fittment issues - all pipes matched each other. Silicone couplers were of sufficient length and seem appropriate for the task. My only problem was that two bolts intended for the oil pan turned out to be too long - had to use spacers. Zage changed the oil pan supplier recently - hence I first received the kit and than had to wait another two months for the oil pan. The kit came superbly packed, each part having its own smaller box and lots of protective stuff inside. One of the L-shaped silicone couplers that connects the air intake to the turbo intake was to long, had to cut a portion of it. No clearance issues with drive shaft or shifter cables whatsoever.

Installation:
I was following the instructions kindly provided by F.Shift and other guys here the only difference being that I found it easier to mount the exhaust manifold first, followed by the turbo and downpipe, whereas F.Shift recommends mounting the whole assembly. Worked in my case the way i did it. I would also recommend, in case you plan using the boost controller, mount the solenoid before you mount the turbo, otherwise pretty problematic to reach when everything is assembled. I was able to use the tools that I had, did not have to buy anything specifically for this project. It was also pretty difficult to remove the stock oil pan- had to use some sort of chisel (just do it carefully)

The "notorious" oil pan:
This guy has been the subject of numerous debates as to whether to use it or not. In my opinion the supplied oil pan is totally awesome - the kit now comes with nice and thick 5/8 hose, no kinks is installed correctly. I ran hose mine along the turbo outlet pipe -just nice and smooth oil return. Highly recommend.

Fucking crash bar
It was pretty difficult to drill the holes in the crash bar under the bumper shell. I wasted pretty much all my small and med sized drill bits. Holes are needed to mount the inter-cooler. I think the crash bar is made out of crazily strong material developed by some alien nation far superb to humans.

Once everything was installed, I primed the turbo and started the car. Surprisingly - no oil or air leaks. No engine stalls. No CELs. Nice. Drove the car around the parkade - did not go over 4000 rmp out of fear to kill the engine. The car felt different starting like 2500 rmp (no boost controller used). Could feel boost but did not attempt to go full throttle without FIC installed. Also, there was some smoke right after the start which came from the heat tape on the downpipe - thought it was an oil leak first. No waiting to become rich again to install the kit again and do the FIC and tuning.

Some pics below