the flyin' scotsman

Wish I was closer to help Ken.

Have a wee nip or two tonight and look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow.

Kevin Michael

sound advice.

Gretch

Rob, pay attention to the advice re the MAF boot. Mine came off on the initial start up and drive. The symptoms you mentioned were the same as what I experienced. That boot has to be clamped down very tight on the MAF, and the MAF has to be clamped down tight on the Intake boot. I made a piece to insure the clamp would not ride up off of the MAF. I believe Murph has something like this in his kit.



Does your kit have the intercooler?

Rob Roy

Gretch,

Thanks for the advice - I'll check that area. I was missing the bracket that attaches the boot clamp that you can see in your picture - that may be the issue - I'll see if I can get one sent out.

Also, my front wiring harness is very close to the s/c belt, I'll need to adjust that.

Ken

Bill Ball

Oh, that bracket is key! Murph developed it partway through the install we did on George's car. The one George got bolts to the block rather than the dampner. Regardless, you should have it. It locks the MAF and blower boot on. George's popped off too before that was installed. However, that would not account for the shudder at 1200-1500. I'm not sure what that is, but the plugs in the lower MAF boot would let in unmetered air if unseated. I would expect serious idle problems if they were not plugged. It's been over 2 years, so I don't recall what happens to the idle stabilizer and large manifold vacuum hoses that used to plug into this boot in this setup.

Jim R.

Ken,

If you are missing the bracket, the MAF will just push right out of the boot. I had the bracket and still blew mine out with one of the first WOT runs. Scared the hell out of me-wicked accelleration and wheelspin, nasty SC sounds, then BOOM! Thought of "WTF did I just do" ran wild until I saw the problem. Easy fix, call Tim and have him send you the bracket.

Jim

Gretch

Ken, I made mine, because the location where Tim has his attached to the block is "wet" and the fastener is a hex (cap) head. I did not want something that vibrates attached to this fastener, as if it were to loosen up, you would have a coolant leak. This is the reason I fabricated mine to attach to the damper bracket. The fastener is a bolt, which you can put predictable torque on, is easier to reach than the hex head bolt, and easier to position for alignment with the clamp, and if things loosen up, nothing "bad" happens. It is easy to make one. Piece of aluminum, measure it, twist it, drill it.

Let me look into the wire loom issue. I have some pictures. I believe I ran my wires over the top of the thermostat housing. Yep, that is what I did, see second picture down.

Also, you want to make sure you have clamped in place your main wiring harness behind the blower bracket. See first picture. Left hanging loose it can come in contact with the top of the engine damper.....not a good thing.

Rob Roy

Thanks everyone - I'll take a look tonight and post my findings!

Kevin Michael

Gretch and Jim, I never got any maf bracket? Are you sure?

Bill Ball

Perhaps Tim has re-engineered the boot and clamp so this bracket is not needed. I appreciate Gretch's alternative, although I will report that George's bracket bolted to that wet area has not come loose in 2 years, but Gretch's idea is a simple and worthwhile alternative. I was more concerned about the plugs in the lower boot getting blown out or sucked in, as they were simply a push-in friction fit. So, George and I modified them to more firmly lock them in the boot.

Jim R.

Kevin,

I most definitely have a bracket holding the MAF clamp to the block very similar to Gretch (sounds like the same one George has). I don't know if Tim has changed the hardware though, my kit has been in the car since 12/04.

Jim

DonT

Jim -

I also have the bracket (included with the kit from Tim).

Gretch

I too modified mine, by grinding them down on a bench grinder for a more complete seating, and to give them a rough surface. Then I installed a clamp around the outside of the boot "t", Per Tim's instructions . Given the shape of the plug it is very unlikely it could be blown out of the boot, as it is installed from the inside of the boot but it looked to me like it could be sucked in, and that would be a real PITA to service. The picture is the Y connector (sorry for the poor quality). To the top is the Lower MAF boot. The plug goes where the Y connector was installed in the boot. You also plug the lower hose. The smaller one to the right of it on the "y" is used as part of the oil vapor recovery system. I clamped everything that had to be plugged, again, per Murph's (Full color, easy to read) instruction manual.

BTW, I am pretty sure I have the original "elbow strap" Murph supplied in the kit. His installation manual has a nice picture of it in the installed position.

Bill Ball

Gretch, I don't recall any particular instructions with those plugs - maybe George and I missed that. We all agree they need to be secured rather than just pushed into the boot from the inside. And we all agree the MAF and boot should be strapped down. Ken should look around for that bracket in the kit, but it's easy enough to slip a metal strap over the boot's hose clamp bolt, secure it with a nut and anchor it as you did.

Imo000

I’m not sure if the S4 MAF to throttle body is anything like the early 32Vs but I have built a “claw” like MAF clamping fingers to keep the MAF from blowing off under boost. Here is a link to the page, it’s at the bottom. http://norcal928.org/DIYSC/diysc02.htm

I must have spent a couple days building different MAF restraining devices before coming up with this one. It only takes an hour to make the claws and there is no way in hell it will ever blow the MAF off again. Maybe it can be revised to work on the S4.

I hope this will help someone.