I thought i would write up a little tutorial for those who are interested in installing a Intake temp sensor, and/or boost gauge bung for monitoring their engine vitals. If there are any suggestions or different ways of doing someing/diffrent steps. Please chime in, the more info that can be packed in, the better.
Drilling the y pipe isnt a complicated process, but as with anything that you havent seen visualy, one could be a bit cautious about attempting this mod. Pics make it easy.

Before we start with the pics. I personaly perfered the ideal of installing these sensors into the y pipe, vs installing them into the "factory" intake plenums for a fiew reasons, first being that the y pipe is an easier pieice to tig weld up if you want to fill the holes back in, and grind down the inner and outer surface back to stock, vs the plenums. Kinda hard to get a grinder in there to smooth the inside surfaces.
If you have the needwings plenums, then your allready off to the races, they have a pre welded bung if im not mistaken.

Also if for any chance you screw up the y-pipe, its a bit easer on the wallet to track one down. The down side is, if any, installing a bung/sensor could potenialy ever so slightly reduce the volumetric flow through the pipe, but if done with optimal flow path in mind, you shouldnt have a problem.

Ok, first is to get the y pipe off, your going to have to take the plenums off, unless there is a way to do this without taking them off, please chime in, i spent about 30 min the other day just trying to slide the rubber gaskets up the plenum pipe so i could slide the y-pipe out the back. but to no luck. So off they came, this is also a good opportunity to check for plenum to head leakage, and redo the threadlocker on the bolts. Luckly for me i was able to spot a place on the inner diriver side plenum that looked to be slightly leaking. Also theres a crevice between the plenum and SC where dust and stuff can settle, its good practice to use a dust buster or vac to suck away any crud that could fall into the head intake holes before going any further. I wish i would of gotten some pics of the whole process but i was on a roll takin parts off then it dawned to me that i should probably do a little modding thread on the forum

Ok with the hose clamps loose, pull the electircal pulg off the intake temp sensor, then pull the y pipe off, and wiggle off the intake sensor from the y-pipe, its just pushed and has o-rings to seal it. Now begins the fun!

At my disposal i had my mill, but this mod can be equaly achieved with a good drill press, vise, and center drill. You dont actually clamp the pipe in the vice, you dont want to bend it or crush it, its just to hold it snugly in place as you work.


Y pipe



First i began with drilling for the IAT sensor, installing it directly behind the factory sensor i thought would be a great spot, placing it behind the sensor helps reduce the flow restriction then putting it some where else because the flow is already diverted by the sensor right infront of it. Plus it looks cooler.




Use a center drill first, this will help pervent the bit from wandering around when trying to drill for the tap.




I used a Q size drill (.332) but you can also go with a 11/32 bit if you dont have a full tapping drill set.



Now comes the hard part, tapping. Because a 1/8-27 NPT thread is so fine, any wobbling or skewed threading as you begin, can screw up the thread. In the drill chuck i actualy have a spring loaded punch, on most taps they will have a dimple in the square head, thats what its for. Using a centering spring pin to hold the tap straight as you begin the thread.




The 1/8-27 NPT, is a tapered tap, so dont go through the hole with it, go about 1/2 way then back out and test your sensor, you want a snug, not loose fit. Also dont cross-thread the sensor. 27tpi is fine, and will cross-thread with ease.

 

Next i started with drilling for the boost bung. you can see the fitting on the vise.




Ta da!




You will probably notice that the bung will stick far into the plenum, just use a die grinder and smooth it out till its flush, and lookin good! Use some teflon tape if perfered when installing the bung/sensor.


Clean the pipe with some detergent or brake cleaner to remove any dust or particles out of the y pipe, then install into car, run pipe, wire, install gauges, and have fun!

 

wondering why you need another iat sensor. the ecu iat sensor read extremely fast and my temps are consistently 100* lower than the engine temp with my cooling mods.

 

Holycrap ..... I mean SIK! I'm not going to drill into my teflon coated Y pipe though. Dang, lucky stiff, you have access to a drill press and other good stuff. This is bookmarked for when I get my boost sensor ...... oh wait, for when I get my Needswings manifolds with the bung pre installed. Why o why can't I be a millionaire! I want it all! Back to earth, thanks for taking the time for a how to. More and more of us are going to be following your example.

Les

 

I dont have a really solid reason for not using the ecu iat, just wanted a totaly seperate system, well kinda. When i saw the plx gauges, i was kinda hooked on doing a seperate 3 gauge lcd system. And didnt really want to tap wires into any of the factory stuff. Any mods im doing on this car, i pickup an original of the part so i can put it back to exact factory stock if i ever want to in the future.


Anything to help the community.

As for the drill press, yea... i have 2 of those, one I basically built from scrach; good story behind that one,.. the machine i used in the pics was my bridgeport mill. I love to use it. 1 1/2 tonnes of 40 year old machine is alot of fun to play with, even for small projects like this I suppse thats one of the perks of not having to spend $$$ on a girl friend yet lol, full machine shop to build what your immagination can think up. There are actualy a fiew other crossfire related building/machining mods ive done, but writing a tutorial for them would take ages. LOL but ill post some pics here and there as time go by and they have proven themselves, nothin out of this world though.

 

I started out wanting to be able to go back to stock easily without leaving tracks. But, it's too much work now. I'm like tunagrove ...... ***** deep or something like that. I plan to drill one of the upper manifolds when the time comes, or if my business improves.....slower every day that goes by......dreaming of a better future and screaming at the idiots responsible, Needswings heads and manifolds. That way I don't need a drill press.

Les

 

Nice work! I also have a PLX setup going. 32Krazy, the ECU IATs and other OBD stuff updates to the PLX stuff very slow compared to the designated PLX add on boxes, and the Zietronix for that matter.

Sik, have you monitored you IATs yet? I read those boxes where a bit buggy a while ago.

 

I'm curious to see your IAT's. I know what mine are and wonder if it's time for a Johnson to go with the supercooler. I see 20º over ambient on the street. At the end of the 1/4 mile I see 160º to 165º. On the race track they range from 135º at the end of the braking zone to 175º at the end of the longest straights. I'm using mostly distilled water with the stock I/C pump. Ambient temperature here is always near 90º and on the track usually over 100º.

Les

 

nice job and nice tutorial, jim

 

Would be interesting to see if your temps went down with a faster pump, Les.

 

Workin on it if i get some time tonight ill pass the wires through the firewall. I see there is a un-used plug on the driver side firewall, ill pull it out and see if its possible to pass the wires without drilling anything, and fit a grommet in there. Supposed to be a rainy weekend. Ill give me the chance to finish up my gauge pod, and fit the gauges.

On a side note, does anyone know if theres any firewall plugs on the passenger side? possibly below the computer box. I need to pass perferably 2 - 4ga wires from the battery into the passenger side footwell

 

There is a nice big pass-through right under the battery tray. You have to remove the tray. 2 bolts.

 

AWESOME!!!! thanks!

 

I installed a needswings teflon coated 'Y' without removing the plenums, as usually removing the plenums means new gaskets. After removing the hose clamps you just need to 'unstick' the rubber from the aluminim by sliding something like a feeler gauge around the circumference of the pipe. A little WD40 made it easier to re-install

 

nice right up....just happened to have a spare Y too....but, soon I will be doing a zeitronics install...if I ever save enough $$$$$ and pay Rob a visit...