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Anyone installed TPIS MAT relocation kit?

Joined
Oct 30, 2001
Messages
2,273
Location
Glen Burnie, MD, USA
Corvette
1986 Bright Red Coupe
Seemed like a cheap way to pick up a couple horsepower or so. $35 for a new longer harness and a new sensor and grommet. However, I cannot for the life of me get to the harness (not on the old sensor, but below the distributor). Any easy way of doing this without removing the distributor and plenum?
Thanks...
[RICHR]
 
You should be able to access it. Just keep trying.

If you do have to pull the distributor, just pre mark the base of the distributor to the intake, then pull the cap and observe where the rotor is facing and mark that spot. Yank it out, do your wiring, then drop it back in exactly the way you removed it by lining up on the marks.

Here is another tip. Get a long screw driver, and stick it down in the engine with the dist out to the oil pump. Turn the oil pump shaft counter clockwise about 1/8 of a turn. This will make the drop down of the distributor go smooth as silk, as you will have to turn the rotor slightly counter clockwise to mesh with the cam gear and then rotate to the orginal location as it drops into place.

The miniram kit came with this mod. I drilled and dremelled a small hole in the plastic housing just above the air cleaner. It seems to work fine.
 
You should be able to get to it from the driver side. The kit comes with a new sensor so it's just a matter of disconnecting the harness. I actually screwed up and removed the sensor itself;stupid and then had to get it back in:( talk about a fun afternoon:mad but I did manage it all without removing any equipment. Just take your time and think pleasant thoughts:w
 
You guys must have size-2 hands. Between the plug wires, some blobby thing mounted to the firewall, and the distributor, I can barely see down there, let alone get my fingers far enough in to unplug/replug the connector.

I wonder why TPIS didn't just use a female connector on the end of their sensor so we could hook directly to the socket that we disconnect from the existing sensor. I may just splice one in myself and do that instead.
[RICHR]
 
You're right about the small hands. I myself couldn't disconnect the plug so I asked a mechanic friend of mine to do it for me. He has small hands and did it without much trouble. I then routed to the air box where I had drilled the proper sized hole and whal-la, done. I don't believe you can feel any improvement with just this mod. However, if you do this and a few other of the usual mods you then can feel a difference. I recently drove my friends completely stock 90 and noticed that it did not have the same power my 89 has. I'm sure that the mods I did is the noticeable difference. Mods are: K&N filter, open lid, throttle body aif foil, good tune up, Hi-flow cat, no mufflers just tips.
 
Well, my relocation caused some problems yesterday. The 90 has no mass air flow, and the air intake tube is made different from the 85-89 models. I don't know about other guys, be we have had problems keeping the flexible hose attached to the air cleaner portion off and on over the years.

At the auto x yesterday, I had a huge power loss over 4,000 RPM on my third to last run. I stopped on my second to last run and added some fuel pressure not noticing the real problem. I went out and hammered the car with all it would give me under 4,000 for the last two runs. It was terrible. I thought I had dropped a cylinder or fried my ignition.

We were packing up to go home, and I had just told Nikki to keep an eye on me as it was not running right as a fellow racer working the track came running up to me with something in his hand. He said "this fell out of your car on the slolom, and I thought you might want it back" Yep, it was the huge hose clamp that holds the air cleaner flexible tube in place.

The engine was sucking air bypassing the air cleaner assembly where I have the air temp sensor. So, the air temp was stagnant and at sea level 90 degree weather. The engine was so confused it was shutting me down on fuel.

As soon as I got it put back, it ran home like the wind again.

That little sensor obviously can have a huge impact on performance.
 
I used some silicone sealant around the new sensor where it fits into the plastic shroud. I think it's important to get a good seal here so no dirt/dust gets sucked into the engine.
 

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