Advice on Blitz S/C

[MGargano]

The Blitz S/C I bought from YarisDarkness should be here on Friday and I'm really hoping to tackle the install this weekend, but I want to make sure I have everything I need on-hand to make it go as smoothly as possible without having to borrow another car to make multiple trips to the auto parts store in the middle of the install.

From searching and reading other install threads, it looks like I'll need a longer vacuum line, NGK iridium plugs, higher octane gas, lots of patience, and eventually one of those sweet MI engine covers once all is said and done.

I was also wondering if there's anything else I should be doing mod-wise, while I'm already this far? I already have an NST lite pulley set, but would a 10% underdrive be better with the S/C setup? I have an AFE intake and Megan header & axle-back with a custom mid-pipe and I've already tried the 1ZZ TB twice with no success, but would this be a good time to give it another shot? I was also thinking 1ZZ injectors, but it seems some are running too rich already with the S/C, so I assume they're not needed?

If there's anyone out out there with any advice, tips, tricks, or something else to add to my shopping list, I'd really appreciate it.

[PETERPOOP]

You shouldn't use the 10% underdrive NST pulley with a S/C, thats for a turbo or N/A setup. You're better off with the NST crank lite pulley.

If you really want to unleash the most power out of the kit, you should try and get ahold of a AEM FiC engine managment system and have a tuner retune your car with that. Instead of using the provided piggyback unit that comes with the blitz kit. My tuner was able to get me 20+ more WHP in my mid range with the greddy emanage ultimate (a different engine management), but he said he would have preferred the AEM FiC and would have probably gotten similar gains if not better from it.

The blitz kit isn't at it's full potential with the supplied piggy back.

[cali yaris]

^ plus, we now have the Boomslang plug 'n play harness for the FI/C, might be a nice combination for tuning.

[CTScott]

Having just done mine, hopefully I can help, since it's still fresh:

Tools:
Sockets - 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 14mm (for the 10, 12, and 14 mm ones both shallow and deep are good to have on hand)

Ratchet with handle extension: I used a combination of 3/8" and 1/4" drive sockets, based on clearance. I also found it necessary to use a piece of pipe on the handle a couple of times to break things loose. I keep a couple of different length pieces of pipe on hand that fit over my ratchet handles.

Wrenches - 10mm, 12mm, 14mm (my Sears ratcheting combination wrenches came in very handy).

Allen Wrenches / Sockets - 6mm (A ratchet drive 6mm is a big help for the outer manifold bolts)

External Torx Sockets - Torx E6 to remove the throttle body studs.

Headlamp - If you are working solo, it's a lot handier than constantly moving a light around.


Materials:
Vacuum hose - 5/16" (8mm) About 18" of hose (even though the two nipples are only about 4" apart, you have to make it pretty long to route it so that it doesn't kink).

Cooler plugs - I ran for a couple of days with the OEM ones before swapping to the cooler ones. I haven't noticed any change in AFR since, but I installed them to be safe.

Gas - I forgot and filled up at our local no-name gas station with 87 octane. It almost immediately started pinging and knocking while under boost, so I turned off the SC until I added octane booster. That immediately helped, but in the long run filling up with 91 octane would have been cheaper than an $8 bottle of octane booster.

Wideband AFR Meter - Since people have had mixed results with running lean, an AFR meter is not a bad idea. With my YarGauge, I sniffed the comm between the TechStream tool and the ECM to figure out the CAN messages for reading the AFR from the stock O2 sensors (which just happen to be wideband). This saved me the expense and hassle of installing an aftermarket one.

Boost Gauge - If you plan on adding a boost gauge, do it while you are installing the SC. I installed one last night and it was a total pain to get the plug out of the manifold and get the compression fitting for the nylon tubing in, with the SC on the car. The plug was simple to put in, before the SC went on, so if I had pre-purchased my boost gauge it would have saved time.

Teflon tape - There are a couple of places in the instructions where you are told to use it.

Belts - Goodyear 4060660 with the last two ribs trimmed off or 4080660 split in half (two for the price of one!)

Wiring splice material - Either solder and electrical tape/shrink tubing or tap splices and electrical tape.


Tricks:
Depressurizing the Fuel System - Just pull the EFI fuse and crank the engine a couple of times before starting the disassembly, rather than disconnecting the fuel pump.


Pulley alignment and spacers - I had a belt handy, and before mounting the alternator, I held it against the bracket and set the belt over its pulley, the crank pulley, and the AC pulley. That let me check where it needed to be and saved me from mounting and dismounting it a couple times (or shredding belts). The pictures below show what I used for spacers. What I found to work was way different than the install doc showed and a bit different from what Cammell used (who sold me the SC):

Note: I used no spacers between the "B" bracket and the "A" bracket on the top alternator mount:
Blitz - Alternator Bracket.jpg

Note: 7mm Spacer "A" between the engine and the "A" bracket.
Blitz - Alternator Bracket - Engine.jpg

Note: I didn't get a picture, but I used one 4mm Spacer "B" between the "A" bracket and the bottom of the alternator.

AC Lines - When you move the alternator, its pulley will touch the AC lines. While the alternator is off, loosen the bracket that holds the AC lines to the passenger side of the engine compartment, slide the lines as far forward as they will go, and re-tighten the bracket.


Fuel Rail - Getting the middle nut on the the Blitz's intake is tricky - I pulled the fuel rail most of the way off of the injectors, but removing the right most injector requires removing the valve cover or cutting the tab off of it that keeps the rail pipe from being able to be removed. I later read this in another install thread:

From Kurokoma-kun: "If you don't want to completely remove the fuel rail, here's a trick for getting the nut on that center stud in the cylinder head. Use a ratcheting swiveling box end wrench. Wrap a narrow strip of duct tape around the outer edge of nut, in the opposite direction of tightening, leaving a long tail of tape... you will stick this to the wrench handle. Wedge the taped nut into the flat end of wrench, insert into the space between fuel rail and manifold, place the nut over the stud and try to turn. After it catches even one thread, you can lift the tool straight up and off the nut. Then use it to press the flat surface of the nut while you pull off the tape strip--the action of pulling the tape off tightens the nut a couple more turns. Then you can get in there with the ratcheting end to finish tightening"

Wiring - The wiring is really not that bad. If you unmount the ECM then you don't have to remove the wiper cowling while working on the wiring.

The instructions say to route the blue "activation" wire through the firewall, but you actually have to route the blue, black yellow, and red so do them all at the same time. The directions say to keep the red under the dash, but I brought it through with the other 3 and connected it to the same ignition switched power wire on the ECM connector (A1-28) as you have to connect the fuel controller's wire to.

There are two grounds and two ignition switched power connections (and they are out of order in the chart). so look for those and do them first in order to prevent having to go back and connect a second wire, where you already connected one.

[MGargano]

Originally Posted by PETERPOOP

You shouldn't use the 10% underdrive NST pulley with a S/C, thats for a turbo or N/A setup. You're better off with the NST crank lite pulley.

If you really want to unleash the most power out of the kit, you should try and get ahold of a AEM FiC engine managment system and have a tuner retune your car with that. Instead of using the provided piggyback unit that comes with the blitz kit. My tuner was able to get me 20+ more WHP in my mid range with the greddy emanage ultimate (a different engine management), but he said he would have preferred the AEM FiC and would have probably gotten similar gains if not better from it.

The blitz kit isn't at it's full potential with the supplied piggy back.

So you would recommend a combination of the AEM F/IC and the Boomslang harness in order to get the most out of the Blitz? Is that too much for the stock internals to handle in a daily driver?

[MGargano]

Wow! Thanks for the info, Scott!

[PETERPOOP]

Originally Posted by MGargano

So you would recommend a combination of the AEM F/IC and the Boomslang harness in order to get the most out of the Blitz? Is that too much for the stock internals to handle in a daily driver?

That will definitely not be too much for the stock internals to handle. Most you will get is 140(ish) whp; atleast I did. However, I did have a 2.25" headerback exhaust setup with aem meth injection (50/50 water meth). I had 1zz fuel injectors too.

Also, depends what dyno you go on to see what numbers it will show, but it will be around 140whp. I dyno'd on two different dynos and i'm confident that it is near that number when retuning with a different management.

[MGargano]

Originally Posted by PETERPOOP

That will definitely not be too much for the stock internals to handle. Most you will get is 140(ish) whp; atleast I did. However, I did have a 2.25" headerback exhaust setup with aem meth injection (50/50 water meth). I had 1zz fuel injectors too.

Also, depends what dyno you go on to see what numbers it will show, but it will be around 140whp. I dyno'd on two different dynos and i'm confident that it is near that number when retuning with a different management.

I have an AFE intake, Megan header, 2.25" mid-pipe, and Megan axle-back.

I figured the Blitz (without management) to add another ~30 HP (unless I'm mistaken?), which would/should bring me up somewhere around 140-ish. If so, I can't really see the benefit of spending another $800 or so on the AEM and Boomslang.

Do you recommend adding 1ZZ injectors with the Blitz?

[cali yaris]

^ Some people ran lean and needed them, and some didn't.

[MGargano]

Originally Posted by cali yaris

^ Some people ran lean and needed them, and some didn't.

I guess this AFR meter would be useful for determining that? Or will the ScanGauge measure AFR too?

[PETERPOOP]

Originally Posted by MGargano

I have an AFE intake, Megan header, 2.25" mid-pipe, and Megan axle-back.

I figured the Blitz (without management) to add another ~30 HP (unless I'm mistaken?), which would/should bring me up somewhere around 140-ish. If so, I can't really see the benefit of spending another $800 or so on the AEM and Boomslang.

Do you recommend adding 1ZZ injectors with the Blitz?

You don't NEED a wideband for the AFR. You could have them measure it if you dyno your car.

Your exhaust setup still isn't as free flowing as 2.25" headerback, but it IS better than stock. Are you implying you dyno'd 110whp with your current setup? Also, don't trust that supposed "30 whp" gain from the blitz kit." It's probably more like "20 whp."

Again, i don't know what dyno you went on; all are calibrated differently. But I don't think you will hit 140whp with your setup if you just use the blitz piggyback. Maybe you will though on the dyno you have been going on. However, if i went on your same dyno with my setup, it'd probably show "160whp."

If 140whp is the magic # you want to reach, then that's fine. But don't think that if you hit 140 on the dyno you go on, that it is the same as the 140 i hit after retuning with different management.

Trust me, retuning with a different management unleashes a lot more power/potential from the compressor. Up to you if you want to do that or not.

I'd suggest just wire up the piggyback yourself and drive it around like that for awhile. If you are content with the power, great! If not, you have another option with your setup to get more ponies. And that is always a great thing.

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by PETERPOOP

I'd suggest just wire up the piggyback yourself and drive it around like that for awhile. If you are content with the power, great! If not, you have another option with your setup to get more ponies. And that is always a great thing.

+1 on that. I am happier than a pig in poop with mine as-is.

[MGargano]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to install it as-is for now, see how I like it, and go from there before I jump straight to the management system. Having the option available is always a plus, definitely.

Other than a butt dyno, I haven't taken it anywhere professional yet, I was just doing some raw HP math in my head and coming up with ~140.

Is there a way to get the Scangauge II to display AFR, so I can tell for sure if I'm running lean/rich without taking it to a shop and/or buying a separate AFR gauge?

[cali yaris]

The OBDII gauges I've used have been to slow with respect to AFR readings. Makes it hard to tell if you're running lean or rich at a particular moment in time.

Here's the AEM Analog air/fuel gauge, it's quite a bit less expensive:
http://shop.microimageonline.com/AEM...ge-30-5130.htm

[MGargano]

Thanks, Garm. Would it be easier/quicker to just step it up to the 1ZZ injectors now, while I have the fuel rail out, and avoid any potential lean issues altogether? Wouldn't that be the fix if it turned out I was running lean later on- bigger injectors?

It's kind of a catch-22, since I'd hate to spend the $200 on a gauge just to find out I'm running lean, then drop more money on the bigger injectors. On the flip side, I'd hate to spend $200 on a gauge and find out the AFR is where it should be.

Plus, if I spring for the AFR gauge, I'd need a pod to put it in, which means I'd probably also spring for a boost gauge and maybe one other, so now I'm totally conflicted.

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by cali yaris

The OBDII gauges I've used have been to slow with respect to AFR readings. Makes it hard to tell if you're running lean or rich at a particular moment in time.

Here's the AEM Analog air/fuel gauge, it's quite a bit less expensive:
http://shop.microimageonline.com/AEM...ge-30-5130.htm

The AEM gauges look good for the price. OBDII ones are way too slow. With the YarGauge I use the Toyota enhanced diagnostics mode for reading the AFR, so I can sample the AFR faster than I can update my display.

Mike, I really should just loan you my secondary YarGauge test cluster for a week or so after you install yours.

[MGargano]

Looks like I'll be hitting up Garm for that analog AEM gauge. Does having the Blitz installed make installing the AFR gauge any harder/easier, like it did with the boost gauge? And, since I'll probably end up doing both the AFR and Boost gauges, what do you recommend as a third gauge, so I can round out the set and fill a pod?

And Scott, which plugs did you end up using, and what is the correct gap? I keep reading different numbers on all these threads and I'm heading to the auto parts store with my list tomorrow to hopefully begin the install!

[MGargano]

Originally Posted by CTScott

Mike, I really should just loan you my secondary YarGauge test cluster for a week or so after you install yours.

I'd appreciate that, especially since it's such a coveted piece here on YW, but I'm guessing it'd be more beneficial for me have a permanent gauge of my own to keep an eye on? Is there any way to install the A-pillar pod in cars with airbags? My A-pillar says SRS on it, so I'm not sure.