The last thing necessary to make room for the turbo is to relocate the
radiator filler. From the photo to the right, you can see the OEM location of the filler,
just to the right of the cold air pipe and in front of the battery. Damn, do I miss
that intake, but it was sold in lieu of the turbo and at least it resides in another '97 PGT-S.
Anyway, since there's not enough room to fit the turbo with the filler in it's original location, I had to move it. On an ATS kit for this car, the relocation would put it behind the driver's side headlamp. Since the ATS kits have the turbo at an angle facing slightly backwards, there is room for it there. Since my setup has the turbo perfectly straight, I had to move mine in the opposite direction. Just about the only place for it to go was on the fan shroud directly in front of the distributor.
The first thing to do is to make sure the car is cool. Do NOT take off any radiator hoses and/or caps while the system is warm or hot. The cooling system is under pressure while warm, and you do not want any of that hot water on your body.
After the car is cool, the first thing to do is obviously is to remove the filler from its original location. There is a 7/8" top radiator hose that goes to it and another 5/8" hose from it that connects into a TEE in the lower radiator hose. Also, a 5/16" overflow line connects the top of the filler to the overflow resevoir. All connections are held by spring clamps, except the overflow line which is simply pushed on, so a pair of pliars are all that is necessary to remove them. Once the hoses have been removed, remove the (2) 10mm bolts that hold the filler to the fan shroud.
After test fitting and finding the ideal location--someplace it wouldn't hit
the motor while it torqued, wouldn't hit the hood when closed, and wouldn't hit the fans
when on--I fashioned two brackets out of some metal strips that I bought at the local home
improvement/custom install depot. Both brackets are basically right angles and are
about 1-1/4" wide. As you can see in the photo, the 90° bend slides under the
fan shroud and it then secured with a 3/8" long screw which threads through a clip
(ala car stereo door speakers) that is slid over the bracket. Just to make it extra
secure, I also dabbed some RTV on the top to glue the bracket to the shroud. I was
very careful to make certain the bracket, with the bolt for the filler in it, cleared the
fan blades.
The
bracket for the other side is similar; a 90° angle and is mounted to the underside of the
fan shroud. This one was a little easier to work with since the bracket wasn't so
deep into the shroud. After I fashioned the bracket and located its mounting spot, I
then traced it against the filler cap and cut off the edges to match so no portion of the
bracket protruded from around the filler's bracket. A little black paint and it was
done. Since bracket was easier to work with, I simply used (2) 3/8" long bolts
with nuts to fasten it to the shroud.
At first, I tried 3/4" heater hose to run from the top of the radiator
to the filler (see above left). It was a very tight fit and difficult to get on
(even with a little oil on the barbs). The 5/8" heater hose was a perfect fit
to connect the filler to the lower radiator hose. I also added a length of hose to
the overflow line and connected to the existing one with a barbed hose connector.
This is only a temporary solution as I do plan on replacing the entire line with a single
hose after the turbo is installed.
Subsequently,
I did locate 7/8" nylon reinforced line to replace the 3/4" top radiator hose
with (see right). I couldn't find anything over 3/4" in heater hose or less
than 1-1/2" in radiator hose at the auto part stores. Believe it or not, I
found the 7/8" at Builder's Square. Cost was $3/ft. One thing to note is
that I did replace the spring clamps for band clamps. The OEM clamps were just a
little small for the OD of this hose. Otherwise, everything is running perfectly and
there are no leaks.