question to those with Alpine SC

[WormGod]

Actually, that is GREAT. On the bright side, that is exactly how I figured the fuel reg was supposed to go, but it's a good reassurance. Odd that there is no S/C "plan" for an alternative for the sensor on the protection bracket, but, like you said, that's Alpine for ya. Thank you very much. Just need to aquire my vacuum hose now. Hopefully this weekend.

I hope you won't mind if I use that pic in the ref guide I am compiling? It will be a good help for anyone in the future.

[Ldub]

I hope you won't mind if I use that pic in the ref guide I am compiling? It will be a good help for anyone in the future.

Be glad to help, I got it from Tone & assume that he got it from Alpine.

[WormGod]

I just realised last night that my fuel hose from the passenger side fuel rail banjo was resting against the EGR piping (below the EGR and mounting block). Granted, I havent had the VX out since the install except to drive around the block and run in the driveway for some tweaking, so no damage done.

My question.... this pipe generates some healthy heat, so is it safe to say I should re-route the hose further away from the EGR piping? I am not so sure how hot the EGR pipe gets and if it is going to be damaging to the hose. I don;t know why I didnt think of this when installing.

Afterall, fuel and heat.... really good friends when trying to create chaos.

[WormGod]

I found a fairly safe place to re-route the hose. Behind the EGR is a bracket for some other lines. It took removal of the fuel rail but I was able to undo the banjo and push the fuel line back behind the S/C again and run it back through BEHIND that line bracket and reconnect again. It's pretty much flush with the firewall now and out of EGR harm. Hopefully, this is the last minor issue I come across. She is going out for a good run tomorrow. It's the moment of truth, heh.

[johnnyapollo]

I'm glad your going through all this, and documenting everything. I'm in the same boat as you - bought the Alpine SC from Tone in that very first group buy, and it's been sitting in the basement, still crated, since. I'm lining up a friend to help with the install, but the problems you've been having will probably crop up in my same install. I've yet to get the longer cruise cable and bracket and CARB sticker - I'm also going ahead with a 5 LB pulley and polished nose. Did you ever call John directly? Can you post his number?

-- John

[WormGod]

No, I had some email swaps with Ldub and Tone and just randonm posts on the forums for issues. Tone and Ldub were very valuable assets to the install.

All work completed, I took her out today for her maided voyage. Felt good with that mild trademark S/C whine getting up to speeds. I ran into an issue about 10 miles down the road though. My temp gauge went through the roof. Totally overheated and I had to pull over into a school parking lot. I didnt see any fluid leaks and no smells but the temp gauge told me otherwise. Popping the hood, you could have cooked an egg in there. I let it cool and got it back home by driving with the cabin heat on full blast. Some issues on the way home, but not as bad. It seemed to rise fast when I gave the accelerator a little more than a feather touch or if I was sitting at a dead stop. Driving at speed, it would descend to normal.

Fluid levels all looked good later when I checked. I am suspecting a failed thermostat or waterpump at this point. Both of which I did not touch during the S/C install, which is odd, but they both also did sit for about 3 weeks fluidless, so deposits could have settled or there is some sticking. I put an email into Tone to see if he may have some idea. I am fully prepared to replace either or both the thermostat and waterpump, even if I am tired of getting my hands dirty now, heh.

[johnnyapollo]

I bought an extra thermostat - there was a thread about an install with some advice to go ahead and replace it while the plenum was off...

-- John

[Ldub]

No, I had some email swaps with Ldub and Tone and just randonm posts on the forums for issues. Tone and Ldub were very valuable assets to the install.

All work completed, I took her out today for her maided voyage. Felt good with that mild trademark S/C whine getting up to speeds. I ran into an issue about 10 miles down the road though. My temp gauge went through the roof. Totally overheated and I had to pull over into a school parking lot. I didnt see any fluid leaks and no smells but the temp gauge told me otherwise. Popping the hood, you could have cooked an egg in there. I let it cool and got it back home by driving with the cabin heat on full blast. Some issues on the way home, but not as bad. It seemed to rise fast when I gave the accelerator a little more than a feather touch or if I was sitting at a dead stop. Driving at speed, it would descend to normal.

Fluid levels all looked good later when I checked. I am suspecting a failed thermostat or waterpump at this point. Both of which I did not touch during the S/C install, which is odd, but they both also did sit for about 3 weeks fluidless, so deposits could have settled or there is some sticking. I put an email into Tone to see if he may have some idea. I am fully prepared to replace either or both the thermostat and waterpump, even if I am tired of getting my hands dirty now, heh.

Arrrrrgh!...that's no good. Sorry to see she's giving you problems so soon.

With no visible leaks & fluid levels topped off, all indications point toward something restricting flow.
I know it's a long shot, but you didn't plug a heater hose or other hose with a rag or something (to keep things clean)?
Another possibility might be a kink in one of the coolant hoses.
Also, grab a flashlight & look under the intake manifold with the engine running, in the general vicinity of the t-stat. I guess without any antifreeze smell, it's prolly not a leak though.

In any event, good luck finding the prob.

[WormGod]

Heres an odd one for ya....

I drained her down again today. Topped her back off with the same fluid through a straining funnel and then squeezed the lines by hand to get the fluids through them. Another cup of "water" to fill up the radiator and then gave it a start. I let it sit for about 20 minutes running at idle in the driveway. I kept my eye on the engine and the gauge the whole time. Never did the temp gauge exceed over 1/2 way. The coolant resevoir bottle never filled back up again either. No smells, no leaks, nothing. The overheating just did not happen. I even tried turning on the A/C to see if that gave it a boost but nope. I didnt take it out for a drive to see whathappened since I was pressed for time though. Hopefully I can get around to that soon.

So.... I am even more baffled than I was before. The only change was putting in an extra "cup of water". *shakes head*

[etlsport]

maybe you had an air bubble in your radiator lines? my buddy had his radiator flushed in his A4, about halfway home his temp gauge went way up, all the way to the H, he called the shop they said that happens from time to time and they towed it back to their shop, re-flushed it and all was good and has been for about 40k

[WormGod]

Ya, looks like that (air bubble) may have been the case. I gave a few taps on the waterpump as well just to jolt the thermostat while filling it. I had a sticking thermostat on my old Rodeo before and that seemed to do the trick. Regardless, I may still go ahead and replace the thermostat and possibly the waterpump within the next few thousand miles. The radiator is brand new so I may as well get the entire cooling line up to par.

Here's to the next few thousand miles going well so I can go ahead and look into replacing all the lines with braided hoses and throwing in a CAI. Speaking of the CAI, any proven bolt in CAIs that work well with the S/C? I have seen some gallery shots of the C/F one that looks pretty swank.

[Ldub]

It was one like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/TOP-FUEL-CARBON-...QQcmdZViewItem

that the original person who did this started with. (xdfarrx or jolly roger VX?...can't remembr any more) & this one doesn't look exactly the same.
You have to mod it by cutting it to length(slight angle on TB end), drilling it for pass. side valve cover breather (unless you use a breather vent), & another hole for IAT sensor.

[WormGod]

Hmm, doesnt sound like too much work for a hacksaw and a drill. Maybe I will look into something like this some more this comming summer. Thanks Dub.

[ScottinMA]

To resurrect this thread and ask another question….Has anyone retrofitted back to OEM from the SC? Two years ago I posted about my noisy SC and decided to bare with the noise. Well this past run from MA to VT changed that. Too damn noisy for me. So I seem to have the choice of taking the SC off and sending to FL for a rebuild (if the guy Dragon Bob mentioned earlier is still in business) and not have a vehicle during the down time or have engine returned to OEM and live with out it. So I’m opening this up to the list. What would you do? Also, if anyone is aware of a company that rebuilds Alpine SC please let me know. Thanks

[johnnyapollo]

I'm currently not running the SC - took if off this previous spring due to the horrible drive bearing noise. In my case I previously purchased a complete intake manifold from an Isuzu Trooper - that way I could leave the fuel rails on most of the parts intact on the SC Alpine manifold. It's sitting in a box ready for shipping, unfortunately I got laid off 5 months ago so the SC is still sitting in a box. I put all my old gear back on my original manifold, using the fuel rails from the extra Trooper one - the intake port is actually a different size so it's not a direct swap. I left the tensioning plate on the front of the motor behind the pulley as I intend to eventually get the SC back on there.

I found someone locally who could do the job but never got a response when I called and left several messages. I'm not sure who I'll use at this point.

-- John