cij911

Well I ordered So a few goodies arrived in the mail this week and I want to share my experience with all of you ....I will be posting a ton of pictures, instructions (as they are lacking), and before and after data logs, so please be patient.

I chose this setup for a few reasons : (1) I did not want to lose my spare, (2) I wanted to maintain the cabin filter, and (3) I believed that Dad's Tanks made the tank (great company).

Ordered Kit : 7/16/12

Kit arrived : ~ 8/23/12

Initial inspection :

1. Tank : The IC tank looks very good and the welds look great to me. As I mentioned, I spoke to Don at Dad's about building me a tank a while ago and he directed me towards Steve as a vendor. Regardless of who made mine, I am happy with the build quality. Hopefully I never have any issues with leaks .
2. Fittings : A tad disappointed with the fittings as they are plastic and look like something you would find at Home Depot or Lowes. I am sure they will be fine, but the picture of the tank on Steve's website showed metal fittings.
3. Directions : Well there should not be much to the install, but the directions are lacking. Steve calls them a "guide". A few pictures would be nice. So hopefully this post will help others with their install.
4. Filter : The filter kit was a big disappointment. I had asked if the filter would be a true cabin filter / OEM quality, etc. and it is not. Basically, the filter element appears to be a felt like substance that one could get at a craft store or possibly better described as an aquarium filtration element (simple gauze). I had wanted a true OEM filter - carbon and all, to ensure odors and dust not enter the car. Although I was reassured the solution was solid, it is not IMHO. Steve has offered to refund my money (of the filter) when I return it...But this requires me to now go out and design what he should have done in the first place.

I will be running distilled water and Redline Water Wetter, instead of coolant, through the IC system.


Pictures and Data to Follow Shortly.

cij911

Ughhhh problems within the first 10 minutes... After removing the 10mm nut holding the cabin air box, removing the box and filter (gently pull up and out), and then removing the clip by removing the 4 10mm nuts holding the frame to the firewall, I was ready to do a test fit ....

Not so fast....wow this is tight....hmmmmm is this going to fit ???? I was able to get the IC tank in the new found space, but had Steve forgotten about the hood and the plastic rain gutter ??? After a few minutes of trial and error using molding clay, it was obvious this was not going to work - ughhhhhhhhhh.....Unless you want to remove the rain gutter tray (not sure what MB calls it) or cut the side off, this tank wont fit! No where in the "guide" is this mentioned, nor was it mentioned when we were ordering the kit.

So now what ???? Well I will just have to return the entire kit to Steve / FT-P ....

Caveat emptor....

cij911

Hold for more pictures part 3

cij911

Hold for more pictures & data part 4

jcjmw

oh *****....this is not sounding good.

pearlpower

Installing mine today. I don't have the filter or even drain yet-shipped-but also minus the hood rain guard as I removed to 'explore' further supercharger whines.

Just have to go get more hose as the one received was sliced up pretty good. I just dislike going to auto parts stores where knowitalls believe they invented cars and creation.

Need to mod the car a bit further, ordering a quaife soon, and a few other bits, as my neighbor with his new '12 SRT-8 Challenger 470hp got raped last night is online ordering parts as I'm typing this I'm sure. Funny result, he no longer gooses it when driving by.

cij911

Won't removing the rain guard allow water to fall directly ontop of the engine (when raining and/or washing car) ?

GT-ER

I removed mine ages ago to make the supercharger whine LOUD and have yet to have a problem. My engine even stays clean and it rains here almost every single day.

Helli217

I was going to pick this up in the spring, (after the wedding all my modding money is going towards right now) but I do not want to have to remove or modify the rain tray. Maybe this will be revised by the time I am ready to pull trigger, maybe not. Thanks for the reviews so far guys.

moosejaw

Thanks for the honest review
Sorry u had to modify your car to get this to work.

cij911

I won't be removing my rain gutter so I can install this tank. Once Steve contacts me I plan on sending the entire kit back.

GT-ER

I would, and did. It won't bring you any problems. I've been like this for over 1.5 years and trust me when I say it rains like hell where I live. Just last year it rained nearly 200 days out of the 365 days in the year in the area where I live.

E55Greasemonkey

I removed that piece you are referring to, along with the hood insulation as an experiment, as there was a lot of heat under my hood with my new headers. That piece also seals the hood tight against the engine compartment seal. Looking at the design, there is nowhere for the heat to escape up top, and you have to think about why the Germans designed it this way...Well, it seems the purpose is mostly for noise, and to let the engine warm up faster and stay hot for emissions and for colder climates like Germany. Here in Florida it is not needed...I know what you are thinking...the hood will get too hot. But it won't... I checked temperatures before and after doing this. My intake manifold temps dropped from 160 degrees to 135-140. And the hood...a few spots will get as hot as 145 degrees, but that is even less than a black car (Mercedes or otherwise) sitting in the Florida sun not running which hit 160 degrees. Now, my car is blue so the hood never gets that hot and I am not sure if a black car will go above 160 with the insulation removed... But as a bonus to removing this piece, there is a nice sound from the Supercharger which is closer to a Turbo whistling sound inside the cabin, but not too loud. Now the hot air escapes through the vents and my engine is much cooler, and here in the summer heat I am no longer feeling the car heat soak... We had a huge rainstorm yesterday and after opening the hood I only saw a few drops of water on the rubber y-boot that goes to the throttle body. So, you may want to remove that piece and enjoy the blower noise, cooler underhood temps and your tank...

E55Greasemonkey

We were typing at the same time, but I wholly agree with you....Remove it and there will be no problems and a cooler engine compartment.

jcjmw

GTER and E55greasemonkey, thx for sharing your experience and info!

E55amg/FD3S

After reading this I went straight to the garage, trimed the hood liner a bit, and removed the rain guard. So easy to do! You can clearly see how doing this will help dissipate heat from the engine compartment.

pearlpower

Well, I will post up pics, however my bracket is not drilled, and at this time not comfortable with how the tank sits in the rear as it rubs against one of the filter body screws and eventually will damage the threads. Lower right. There really should be a L-bracket back there attached to the tank. Plenty of room for a filter design and L-bracket.

Also the lower hose rubs on top of the plastic ridge of the fluid tank-will post a pic. I can only see this ridge cutting through the hose over time. Also plastic vs the pictured brass barbs and since the plastic barbs are perhaps longer this might explain the pressure of the hose on the plastic ridge. A brass barb is shorter and would allow for more flex in that area-I am working on a solution on this. FYI the size is 12AN to 3/4" hose.

The tank setup will work, but this is not a copy and paste installation, some work is involved to get it installed-at least how I want it. Perhaps future design changes will take these points into consideration. To be honest I am putting in a but more effort, time, and money than I should for a system like this. Cannot comment on the valve or filter as I am waiting on those to arrive. At least I found a 3/4 hose in my hose drawer to replace the one they sent which had about 13" of total slice on the side. Can't stand auto parts stores. One other note, where the hoses run over the weather stripping, that small piece just pops off allowing for the hoses to run through uninterrupted without pinching.

I bought an aluminum L-bracket from Home Depot and will cut to fit so that the rear is supported. Reviewing options on Jegs and Summit for better barbs vs plastic.


Notice the brass barb in their photo, the plastic barbs with the kit are longer causing hose fitment issues.

Celicasaur

Really helpful post

cij911

I don't believe removing the hood liner is a good thing...The hood liner serves two purposes : (1) protecting the hood from excessive heat and (2) noise insulation. Sure some of you may like the sound of more engine noise in the cabin, but removing the liner may result in damage to the hood / paint.

If you use a laser temperature gun, you will see just how hot the top of the engine bay gets or if you really are interested tape a thermocouple to the hood (engine side) and you will see temperatures far greater than 200 degrees.

War Tank

GT-ER, is right. I had mine removed almost a year now with no issue. Just complete your hood tank install, I'm pretty confident that it helps with the temperature under the hood as well. You wont regret it trust me.

Hulk

I have been Reading this thread like many others today and here's the thing, never once was it mentioned in his sales thread that the liner or rain gutter had to be removed to fit this tank, please go read the sales thread, and point out where that was mentioned, that is what I believe cij911 has an issue with and others will as well, when you buy something you want it as advertised in pics and sales info ...that goes with anything that goes for sale, on MBW, PSC or even the real world

moosejaw

Well it seems this situation can be resolved by the seller revising his description of how said unit is actually installed. Maybe people will understand?

cij911

Hulk & Moose are spot on....Had I known that I would need to remove or trim the rain gutter, remove the hood liner, not have a carbon air cabin filter, use plastic connectors, I would have chosen a different route. Honestly had I known in mid July that I would not get the tank for close to a month, I would have opted for a different solution.

Steve is a nice guy and I don't want to bash him, but honestly I think the kit could use quite a bit of refinement and is not in a state that I would install in my car.

FT-Performance

Thanks Everyone for the Reviews Both positive and constructive.

We understand, and display on our website when Modding any car outside of its OEM status you may run into some modifications needing to me made in order to ensure fittment. We are taking everyone's reviews and use them to make our products better and appreciate all the comments and concerns. Keep in mind this tank has been on our car for 4 months now and has been tested both with no cabin filter and our low profile cabin filter kit, Without issue, odors, Leeks, Rattles, ETC.

A few points we would like to touch on.

1) Our car was purchased without the Plastic under guard (Us not Knowing) (Which CJ911 mentioned needed removed or trimmed.) We apologize for that because when this kit was designed at our shop we did not realize this because it was not on the underside of the hood on the R&D car. Not knowing this we did not include in the Guide that it needed Trimmed. Most Members from reading remove this for the S/C Whine effect. And we can say the engine compartment has not seen any water etc pass through because of the way the vents are on the topside of the hood. This also helps with heat desspiation and Temps.

2)Cabin Filter- Our Cabin filter filters Dust/Pollen/Allergens/and Odors. It is the same filter grade used in home filters. So We can assure no issue with that filter.

3) We will modify the the description for the Part so It can be more clear for some buyers down the road. However we do have a disclaimer on our website stating some modification may be needed while installing Aftermarket parts.

4)Our Install guide is simply that. With the potential Legal responsibility we face if someone installs our product wrong and damages their car or them selves we must keep it as a basic guide, With a disclaimer stating we assume no responsibility for such things. All of our parts are recommended for install with a competent install shop/Certified Tech for best results.

Thank you everyone again and we Stand Behind all of our tanks with a lifetime warranty against workmanship defects so we know you will all be covered in that regards and look forward to seeing some pictures and logs.

Thanks again

-Steve

GT-ER

Negative my friend, I've touched hoods hotter from the sun then from the engine. E55greasemonkey also did the test.

regardless, I still have my hoodliner for some reason.