Installed my first turbo timer yesterday and it was all kinds of fun... Before starting this task I did my research as I normally do and found some very helpful how-to's online. Most all of these how-to's said to remove the steering column cover, unplug the ignition plug and then plug up the harness.

Taking the cover off= easy
Disconnecting the ignition plug= hard
Hooking turbo timer harness to disconnected plug=easy
Hooking the 1" timer plug back up to the steering wheel=DIFFICULT!!

I must've spent 2 hours scraping and cutting my hands trying to wedge the harness plug back into the steering wheel before I realized that those how-to's were written by people with tiny hands. Tiny hands like the burger king guys hands...

Here is what I found...

*** TAKE OFF THE DRIVERS SIDE KICK PANEL, AND THE PANEL UNDERNEATH THE STEERING WHEEL AND YOU CAN PUSH THE ORIGINAL PLUG + ADAPTER BACK SO THAT YOU CAN PLUG THE HARNESS PLUG BACK IN ***

After doing that the plug went right in... If only one of those posts had of mentioned that I could have saved myself a lot of time and pain.. =)

After I got the plug in I was able to fish the 2 wires through the air vent that runs behind the console, up behind the glovebox and behind the passenger side kick panel to the ECU. It was a little bit of a pain to get the 1st and 2nd plugs out of the ECU, but after a few minutes they finally came out and I was able to splice my wires perfectly. The e-brake safety wire was the easiest wire to hookup and so now I've got my first turbo timer. wo0t!

Anyway, figured I would share that experience with you all. Hopefully these words will help someone in the future.

My next project is the HKS downpipe that is currently sitting on my couch. I'm guessing it is going to be a blast seeing as how easy and fun the turbo timer install went

 

Just to let you know, RX-7s use water cooler turbos and thus a turbo timer isn't necessary.

 

really? so theres no need to let it cool down?

 

I thought it used oil which was the purpose of the oil cooler in the drivers side front air dam??? Just goes to show exactly how little I know about my car, but I'm learning new things everyday

 

The oil cooler is for the engine. About 30% of engine cooling in a rotary is done by the oil. It is the only way to cool the backsides of the rotors.