Starion kit installed!
 

Before I start, yes I know this is not the best designed kit ever, but it was all I can afford for now. It was either a proper around the radiator setup with bar and plate, or a used starion and a wideband o2. I chose to have a wideband and an intercooler.

That being said, I installed the kit tonight. The VERY first thing I did was throw away the radiator hose and get some silicon couplers. Then I painted all the pipes with chrome duplicolor. It was the only color I had on hand that would look ok. When I got it some of the pipes were black and some were bare.

Attachment 216720

Attachment 216721

Fitment was alright. Getting rid of the Greddy "?" pipe right off the turbo helped SO much. The only part that worries me are the radiator hoses that go under the radiator and the passenger side piping.
Attachment 216722
As you can see the passenger side hangs down LOW. Is this normal? The drivers side is tucked up nicely though. Also, I couldn't find a replacement for these radiator hoses in silicon. The problem is the 2" to 1.75" 90 degree. No one makes it. Would a 1.75" coupler stretch over the 2" pipe?

All in all, it was worth the money. I'm saving up to do the proper setup over winter 2008. I'm so glad my car is coming together! All that is left to install is the wideband and a heated o2 and I should be good to go!

Buy some tbolt clamps ASAP.

Oh yeah. Right now my intercooler is held in with these freakeshly large zipties. Has anyone figured out a good solid way to mount the intercooler to the car? I read the original brackets were crap, and I didn't get them in my kit, so I don't want to reproduce them on accident. I plan to run to home depot to get material for an AFM bracket (I want to relocate it) and I'm not sure what to get. Thanks for any help.

(Here are the zipties, that is a quarter for comparison)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...d/IMG_0694.jpg

I plan to. I wasn't sure how many to buy, so I wanted to get the car set up and get a total. Since it is 25 degrees here and still snowing, the car is staying parked for a while.

I have been useing rope for almost 2 years:vash:

I have been using the original brackets and ugly rubber hoses for almost 4 years. The brackets and ugly rubber hoses are holding so far. The only hoses I have replace have been the original Greddy kit hoses. I would luv to buy a new intercooler kit and replace all my hose clamps, but money doesn't grow on trees (house payment and other bills).

I went to the hardware store and got some of the, I believe they are aluminum, strips that were about 1 in wide and around 1mm thick with the holes in the centers and found some subframe? parts with bolts in them and attached the intercooler to them. Worked pretty damn well, and I wasn't worried about it coming loose. I used zip ties to hold the pipes, hard and soft, to whatever was near them so they didn't move around and touch any belts. I also zipped the soft pipes that goes under the radiator to something above them to keep them from loosening and dropping lower. My soft pipes hung down like yours does now, so I trimmed them to be more flush. Remember when you trim it to take a little off at a time cause you can't add it back.

I got 2 solid brackets holding off the Front V bar bolts, or you could hang them down off the Factory Horns bolts.

has jim just stopped painting his pipes? :rofl:

I sure wish you'd saved 200 bucks more and bought stripes kit, it's so much nicer man. I get nothing off it aside from the joy that comes when someone gets something well made.

hey, i had the EXACT same fitment problem you have on the passenger side lower intercooler hose. that rubber 90 degree hose fits decently, but the pipe from the throttle body was too long for me. so i pulled the hose off and took a hack saw to the pipe and pushed the rubber 90 bend up further and tightened it down.

be careful running it like that.. i had clearance issues for awhile and it rubbed on the bottom of my 90 degree bend.

As you have no A/c , hook it on the a/c mounting points (top ones) Youll only need a strip of aluminium. And drill some holes...

I know where your coming from, but to complete stripes kit it was $300 more. I bought this kit 2nd hand. After seeing Expensivehobby22's setup I have decided when I can afford it I'm going to clock the turbo down and run around the radiator and a good bar and plate.

The good news is when I go to run that setup I already have the couplers and a few mandrel bends I can use. So its not all a waste. I just don't have much extra money with college. But like I said, I'm saving up for winter 2008.

id cut the cold side pipes and make it shorter...that sticks down way too low.

I agree. I think if I cut a few inches from the top of the pipe, then cut the bottom hose it should move it up a few inches. Anyone think I can stretch a 1.75" silicon tube over a 2" pipe? If I can I'm going to replace those radiator hoses.