Category Archives: How-to

installations, help & how-to’s

Adding Modular Lighting under a ground effect, such as lip or splitter

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UntitledSeveral people have inquired about adding lights to add-on items, such as front lips, wind splitters, and other bumper or fascia modifications.  There is not a lot of room under there, especially if you are lowered, so here are a few tips to help install, as well as making it easy to install and remove the parts, as needed.

The lights will need 12v+, and will use basic two conductor cable/wire – I recommend using a waterproof connector, so the part can be easily removed.  Here is a connector cut from a headlight assembly:UntitledI added silicone to further waterproof the connector, just in case.  Then I cut a small hole, 3.5″ back from the second fascia bolt from the outside, in order to run the wires:UntitledFrom there, just cut enough wire for the splitter connection, as well as the end that goes in the car and through the fascia.  I already had 12v+ there, so I only needed a few feet to reach my lines:Untitled

At this point, it is time to add your led strips. There is not enough room for anything else.  In addition, if these are damaged, a new set can easily be installed, and they are quite cheap to replace. ($10-20 from ebay)  I cut two strips, one for each side of the hole I drilled:Untitled

The hole lines up with this hole in the under carriage, right in the center of this picture:

Now, you can add the lights using the 3M adhesive, and run the wires up through the hole you created:UntitledUntitled

Now, solder the wires together with your prepared waterproof connector on the top side of the splitter:Untitled

Added silicone to the solder joints:Untitled

With enough slack on the added wire and connectors, the splitter 12V lines can be attached through the hole in the under carriage, then the entire thing can be mounted / unmounted any time you need to do so.Untitled

 

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Methanol / Water Injection, Boost Leak Fixes, & Solenoid Installation

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First of all, if you are confused about methanol injection, then you should read these articles:

http://speed.academy/methanol-injection-explained-power-gains/
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/how-to-boost-engine-power-with-water-methanol-injection/
http://www.stangtv.com/tech-stories/engine/get-schooled-water-methanol-injection-101/

Meth injection provides knock protection, cools the engine intake manifold, and allows for more aggressive timing in a tune.  It can also add horsepower by allowing more boost pressure, prevent heat soak, steam clean your pistons, and keeps the turbo running at peak performance.

This installation was done with the kit from Eurocompulsion / HPSI, but is packaged with parts from DevilsOwn – it is a really nice kit.  Mine may be slightly different, as I bought it used and made a few changes.

Here is the kit.
water meth kit

The first thing I did was mapped everything out –  I chose to mount the tank and relay in the trunk, and put the rest under the hood.  I already had constant power in the trunk for my sound amplifier, and there was also a ignition switched line to the trunk, used for remote power to switch the amp on with the ignition.  (These installations can be found here.)

Before I installed anything, I had to prep the tank.  The black part is a tank empty sensor – the plastic part floats, and when the levels drops, it completes the circuit.  This can be drilled near the bottom of the tank, and the wires are run to a small red LED in my dash.  The red and black thing is the check valve – this is installed as close as possible to the nozzle on the IC pipe.

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This picture shows the spray nozzle that I tapped into the cold side IC pipe.  I suggest removing the part, drilling it, and then clean out all of the shavings 100%.  The instructions specify the hole size, as well as the size to tap the threads.

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These lines easily run along the drivers door liner, underneath the plastic tray inside – there is plenty of room, and then into the truck.  I used a distributor block for the constant power, mounted to the trunk.  Here is the wiring diagram for the meth kit – I had to later change a couple of things to implement the solenoid valve for the factory boost leak.

Boost retainer valve
The relay shows it needs constant and switched power, however, when I added the powered solenoid, it caused the pump to run constantly.  It took me a minute to figure it out – The added solenoid closes the circuit, so I had to later modify the diagram above.  BOTH PIN 30 AND PIN 86 OF THE RELAY MUST BE CONNECTED TO CONSTANT POWER.

It works fine if you just install the meth, but the boost leak needs this change, if you want the solenoid powered from the pressure sensor.

In the trunk, the relay connects to ground, and there are easy grounding screws behind the carpet – I mounted mine on the left side, and cut out the floor liner.  This way, I can still access the spare tire, and under the carpet without moving the tank.  I also had to cut a small slit behind the tank to allow the wires to pass through behind the tank unnoticed.

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Cleaned up:Untitled

All of the connections were soldered and waterproofed, using liquid electrical tape.  Two pins went to power through the distribution block, and one line directly to the pump (very short line) and then only one line needs to run under the car, all the way up to the engine bay.  This line connects pin 85 and the pressure switch.  You’ll want to connect this to the “NO” pin, or “normally open.”  This line will also connect to one of the pins on the solenoid, also in the engine bay.  It doesn’t matter which pin – it is easiest to crimp both wires together to the connector on the pressure sensor, and then waterproof it.

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You do not need to use the NC (normally closed) tab on the pressure sensor for this application.  You can see the brass T I’ve added, to give boost pressure to the boost gauge and the pressure sensor above.

Boost retainer valve

This is the T that came with the kit – perhaps it works in the Abarth, but it wasn’t the correct size(s) for my installation: Untitled

Use some heavy wire when you run the line underneath the car.  There is plenty to tie wrap it up to, to keep everything secure.  The line is also fused, to be safe. Ground the remaining pin from the pressure switch under the hood – there is an easy one next to the fuse box.

The pressure switch is connected to your throttlebody spacer (if you have one) or teed into the line for your boost gauge, if different.  This has a thumb dial to adjust – set it to about 12-14 psi.  I am spraying with nozzle #2, or 350 ml/minute, which is equal to 5.55 US gallons per hour.  This can be adjusted to your taste and climate.

The second line in the pressure switch goes to ground, and can be purchased on ebay – I found it relatively cheap here.  The second line of the solenoid goes directly to the battery, or constant power.

Use this search term in ebay if the listing goes away: “1/4 inch NORMALLY OPEN 12V DC VDC Brass Solenoid Valve NPT”  Then I purchased two 1/4″ NPT to barb connectors from home depot, and inserted this solenoid between the cold side IC Pipe and the intake.
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The evap system also tees into this line, so you’ll want to make sure you insert it before the T, or on the driver’s side.  The direction of the valve is going out of the IC pipe, towards the intake.

boost leak routing

I suggest you review this post by Greg from EC for more info.

The second factory boost leak was discovered by my good friend, Josh Cook ( @Jmcook321 on the .org ) tinkering with his engine.  When he ran a boost leak test, he heard air rushing out of the separator.  For $6.00 on Amazon, you can get a one way check valve that blocks this flow, in the line where my oil catch can is located, between the PCV and the intake manifold.  (Search 10mm 3/8″ check valve.) I don’t have the numbers, but it is likely small gains on the low end RPM, and it is a very easy fix.

check valve 3check valve 1

The arrow below shows the direction of the valve – all you have to do is cut the line, and insert this check valve – super easy!check valve 2

The methanol mixture I use is from Walmart – the winter washer fluid.  Most winter washer fluid is about 33% methanol – If you want 50/50 blend, you have to purchase “Boost Juice.”  The stuff at Walmart is posted as $2.00 per bottle, but when I checked out, it rang as $0.50 per bottle – this may have been an error, but still a ton cheaper than the boost juice.

boost juice

This is what EC recommends:Untitled

Meth party:Untitled
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Completed Installation:Untitled

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WOT BOX INSTALLATION HOW-TO: Turbo Dart

Date:       14 Comments  

What is a wot box? What does it do? Why?

WOT Box – N2MB Racing
Launch Control
Launch Control – what is it?
Anti-lag System

Answer: Why not?

Enough with the reading, here we go:

First of all, I used to run a Unichip Q4, which used a harness that connects to the PCM, basically inserting itself between the PCM and the car. This made my install quite easy, as I could tap into all of the needed wires from within my harness, without any cutting, splicing, or modifying of the factory wires, except for one. Below is the cryptic instructions I received from their customer service, upon asking if it would work. There were mixed reviews on what would work, what wouldn’t work, and how to do it, as I reached out to several people who had done it before on other social media sites, and I now know the full details of this box.

The colors in the chart refer to the colors on the wot box. The one thing that may be different is the coil output wire, which may be black or orange, depending on the revision harness you receive. This is the basic pinouts from their website:

Below are the pinouts for both PCM connectors – one is slightly larger than the other, so they are easy to tell apart.  You will need to access both:
Dart PCM pinouts C1 connector

Dart PCD pinouts C2 connector

All of the wires tap into the lines in question, except for the ignition coils, which I’ll get to in a minute.  You simply need to tap into the the above wires, with the exception of the coils, in which the wot box is inserted into the path.  Skip the next paragraph if you are comfortable tapping off of electrical wiring, or using

I used a technique where I scrape the top layer off of one side of a wire, using a razor blade. You run the blade carefully down the side of the wire, basically stripping one side of the wire. You can make several passes to give you 1/4″ or so of bare wire, such as this (the actual wire won’t break so easily, as the crappy wire in the pic did – doesn’t matter, though, as the solder will solidify it) I did this quickly for these pics, but it’s easy to get perfect with no broken wires, with a little practice. (Yes, you can just use wire taps, but I make every connection under my hood waterproof, and wire taps look like sh!t) Next, add a small amount of solder flux to the exposed wire. Then, add your solder to the bare wire. This is very easy using the flux ,as it forces the solder to melt away any hanging rubber and seal perfectly to the wire:

The connection is then covered with liquid electrical tape:

Be sure to tin the new wire as well, so when you make the connection they bond. If wires are soldered properly, the bond will be far stronger than the wire.

We need to tap into the wires below:
(PCM Wire Harnesses)
Green clutch large connector pin 84 (light green/orange)
Black ground pin 2 large connector (black)
Blue accelerator pedal pin 83 large connector (white/brown)
Yellow injectors pin 3 small connector (blue/black)

The ignition coil power splice (RED / ORANGE) is to all the coils. The  WOT Box needs to be able to cut power to all the coils.  You can find this on the back on the fuse block – Fuse #16 (15 AMP) – brown/yellow wire.  This is also a dark blue/red wire at Coil #1, pin #2.  I do not recommend running bare wire directly over the engine block to connect at this end, it is better to do it at the fuse block.  If you use my method, you can remove the Wot Box at any time in 60 seconds!

The last part of the N2MB pinout instructions above, in red, is very cryptic. This is what it means – you need to interrupt power to all 4 ignition coils at once, by inserting the wot box in this line – out to the box, from the box back to the line.  Some users spliced into the four wires at the engine block, but this seems like trouble, to me. Instead, there is a brown/yellow wire coming directly out of Fuse #16 in the engine bay. If you pull the fuse block up a bit, you can get to this wire and cut it. I went the extra step, and soldered a waterproof connector here: wot box coil connectors

In other words: “Cut the brown/yellow wire in half, the piece going into the fuse gets wired to the RED wire on the wot box so it supplies 12V to the WOT box, and the other part of the cut wire goes towards the coils, so the orange wire goes there, allowing the WOT box to turn ON/OFF power to the coils.”

This way, the whole thing can be quickly removed. When not in use, the male/female connectors complete the circuit as usual. When they are plugged into the lines to the wot box, it gives the wot box power, and completes the circuit. This was a bit of extra work, but makes for a clean installation, and can be removed to repair, go to the dealership, etc. The red line goes to the fuse, which gives the box 12V+ power, the orange (or 2nd black) goes out to the four coils. You can confirm this with a multi-meter.

These are the waterproof connectors, and I also added liquid electrical tape to every connection, for added safety.

Both the wot box and the Unichip fit nicely in the fuse box – at the bottom you can kind of see the waterproof connectors inserted to the coils:

Finished installation:

The voltages had to be adjusted to work with the Dart. Our throttle peaks @ 1.95V, so you have to drop the APP voltage from 3.0 down to 1.6, and the other settings should look like this:

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Rear Diffuser How-to

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Final segment of the custom ground effects kit – the rear diffuser fins. This works with the existing OEM part, and mine has the dual exhaust, but it really doesn’t matter. First thing I did was figure out a plan, and create a template out of cardboard. It took several tries to match the curve of the car. Any spaces and there is less for the adhesive to stick, plus it wouldn’t look right – it took me about 4 revisions before I was happy with it.

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Once I had it right, I found a very cheap source for inexpensive ABS plastic – I traced these out and was able to fit 4+ on a sheet, and I only needed / wanted 4

I sanded them down, used adhesive promoter, then plastic primer, then finally the black paint:

I painted these black, as well. They were used on the bottom to secure them in. On the top, holes were pre-drilled and then screwed into the plastic diffuser.[/url]

Finished product:

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DIY – Side Splitters – Alternative to Mopar Side Skirts – Side Diffuser How-to Install

Date:       4 Comments  

I bought a universal side lip a few months back – it doesn’t really fit the Dart, but I made it work. It had the side wing on it already, so it trumped my idea to match the front splitter wings, as shown in my DIY aggressive front splitter wiki article. I had a hard time getting a hold of it, as it was backordered, and I ended up waiting months for it. It came with some mounting hardware, but didn’t quite work, out of the box and a plug-and-play. First step was to mock it up to the car, and figure out a plan.

 

My first hurdle was fitting to the front Mopar mud flaps. The angle of the flaps made it difficult to match this up. I tried a few things, but ended up trading the mudflaps for the Rally Armor ones, made for the dart. It fit the aggressive style a bit better. I ended up somewhat selling the Mopar mudflaps.

Here are the (flatter) Rally Armor front mud flaps:

After I pulled off the EZ Lip, I found there were multiple plugged holes under the body. I found plastic inserts to catch a screw and attach to the holes. Found them on ebay, they clicked in, then pre-drilled the holes to line them up. This was easy b/c they were much wider, so it had some play.


I could click them in and rotate 90 degrees to lock them in:

I had to drill the holes, and then cut out a small square from the splitter, in order for it to sit flush with the side of the ride:
Then I applied adhesive promotor (after thoroughly cleaning the surface with acetone) and applied the double-sided adhesive:[

(I later figured out, it was quicker and easier to use self tapping screws, through the holes on the metal mounting bracket. This eliminates the need for extra holes in the product.)

Once I had the positioning perfect, I marked my cuts to angle the front of the lip. IMO, it was the only solid way to link the two together cosmetically. Any other way I tried, looked sloppy. This follows the lines of the car better, and solves the issue of matching the seams on a curved edge.

I did this project on a 90 degree day, and I realized these may sag a little bit. They wouldn’t come loose, but I wanted to make sure they were completely rigid. I took 2 long metal brackets, used for shelf supports, and fitted it underneath the lip. I used self-tapping screws to secure the metal support, as well as the fastened side splitters. I can say, the car has been well over 100 MPH several times since the installation, as well as several hundred highway miles without an issue.

Finally, I used this carbon fiber-looking trim for underneath the front diffuser. I tried it on the sides originally, but it looked so good on the front.

Here, you can see the front and side splitters, as well as how the Rally Armor mudflaps look. I’m lowered, and I may raise the rear mudflaps, just a bit.

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How to install 3rd Party Heated Cloth Seats 

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Here is a quick tutorial on how to install 3rd party heated seats to your Dart, if it didn’t come that way form the factory. I live in Chicago, and I called around to get estimates on heated seats installed – they ranged from $250.00 – $400.00 per seat. This was a bit more than I was ready to spend, as I thought I could do it easily myself – wrong! Actually, it’s not that difficult, but it certainly isn’t as simple as many of the other mods. If you are patient, and take your time, you can do it, as well.

This is the seat kit I bought from Amazon, but it is also available on ebay, as well:
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Here is the link on Amazon that I purchased, and here is the equivalent ebay link. I spent $25.00 on the kit, which included two carbon fiber heating elements, a three way switch, (high, low, off) wire, inline fuse, and relay. You will also need an add-a-fuse if you pull power from the inner fuse block. I recommend giving it a fuse location that supports at least 20 amps, but 15 will work.

Here is everything that came in the kit, including (wait for it)… instructions! Voila!
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Here is a closeup of the relay and the switch:
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First thing, and most important, is grab yourself a 6 pack. It is very important you enjoy your time with your Dart. Vodka also works well.
Next step, is to disconnect the battery – failure to do so, will result in a trip to the dealer to reset your seat airbags, and if you love the dealerships like my friends know I do, you won’t be a happy camper.

Then, you have to disconnect the harness going to the seat, which is located underneath, and can easily be accessed from the floor in front of the seat. You simply pull a small plastic lever down, which releases the connection. Then you will need a T40 wrench with a bit of a handle on it, as the bolts may be a bit tight. There are three exposed T40 bolts, and one covered by a plastic trim piece in the rear, inside location (third pic below, on the right) which is removed by a single phillips screw.
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Anyone that comments about my dirty carpet can kiss my A$$. lol.

Now the seat can be removed. Recline the seat all the way back, and pull it out through the rear door. Get out your vacuum, as you will never have these exposed like this for cleanup. Once the seat is out, grab another beer, then pry outward on the lower plastic pieces at the rear of the seat where the back pivots.
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Underneath that piece you will find a single phillips screw – remove that, as well as the phillips along the side, on that same plastic piece left. I only removed the outside plastic, as the inside one was able to be lifted up enough to access the large 5/8″ bolts holding the top and bottom of the seat together.
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This is the part that can be bent outward to expose the bolts:

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This is what it looks like underneath that plastic cap:
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The two bolts have been removed in this picture: (5/8″)
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This is the inside piece, that comes completely off. This is what those magic bolts look like:
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Before you pull the halves apart, there is a single plastic connector holding them together for the airbags.
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Now you can get to the seat seams – They are held together by their own force with a plastic rail. Push the fabric in together to release tension, then they come apart pretty easily.
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Once you get the first plastic rail set apart, there is yet another plastic rail set inside, that also is removed the same way:
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If you want to change the seat covvers, or completely remove them, they are helkd together by two reverse zippers along each side. I did NOT remove this – there is plenty of room to stick your hands inside the fabric to access where the heaters go.
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The bottom front seat cover is held in the same way – a plastic rail set. Mine also had a small metal screw securing it, but it didn’t look factory, so I’m not sure. Pull the fabric forward to relieve the stress and slide them apart. Again, it doesn’t take much force to do so.
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The seat adjustment handle comes off by prying up the plastic cover and removing three phillips screws inside:
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Mine had hog rings down all of the seams, so those have to be pried apart. I didn’t have hog ring pliers, so I used some heavy needle nose. Once you free the first 3 or 4 rings, you can then slide the heat element under the fabric, and secure it with the adhesive provided. I did the same with the top half, too. The heating elements can be cut down in length, which is required. You can NOT, however, cut them width-wise. You can cut up to 2 holes for the hog rings, but I was able to slide the heater under the hog rings without any hassle. I didn’t even connect a couple of them back, but there is room to do so. Make sure the heaters are pushed down into the channels, so the hog rings and ties don’t stick up, and the seat still looks stock.

The center console has plenty of room for the cable, but I put the relay under the seat and secured it with ties – the two lines can go right underneath the center console trim with ease. You will need to drill a hole 13/16″ to accommodate the switch, but you can put it wherever you like. Here is mine:
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Finished install:
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It’s pretty easy to run the wire up the side of the center console, and over to the fuse box – there was plenty of wire to do so. I used the large metal bracket in the front, inside of the center console for a ground.

Go finish your beers and enjoy warmth! I have a Yukon with factory heated leather seats, and these heat up in half the time! I put mine on constant power, but I wouldn’t recommend that to others, as if it’s left in the high setting overnight, it will drop the battery voltage down to 10 volts -just below what it takes to start (I tested it) The reason I connected to constant is so if I am waiting in the car, and I don’t have the engine running, I can still have a fresh, toasty, Amish ass!!

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How to Build and Install a Custom Front Wind Splitter / Front Lip / Diffuser / Chin Spoiler

Date:       1 Comment  
Custom DIY Front Splitter / Chin Spoiler / Front Lip / Ground Effects
IMG_20160428_003030The Mopar lip kit is fine for most people, in fact, it looks quite nice. The problem I had is the cost, and the fact that everyone has that one option. I have done a ton of research on splitters, lips, spoilers, etc., but I am in no way a car, or racing expert. Use my instructions as a guide – then put your own flavor on it. Not everyone will like this style, but you can see what I struggled with, and why I made the decisions I did. I hope you like it, but if you don’t, you can build yours any way you want.Before you ask, a front splitter is designed to produce extra downforce at high speeds to the front wheels for better handling and traction. These are often used in conjunction with rear spoilers in race cars, and won’t have much of an impact on driving below 80 MPH. They usually fill the bottom portion of the car from just ahead of the front wheels to a few inches beyond the front of the car. Oh, and they also look freakin’ baddass!Typically, a front splitter should fill in the entire space in front of the wheels, and should not have any spaces or openings. My Dart has the Aero package, which means it is already covered under the entire bottom. It also means the aero panels protrude down past the fascia. If you put a flat piece of material under the whole thing, it can’t touch the sides b/c the oil drain area sticks down too far. A splitter should also be flat if possible, so I omitted the center area in the splitter, and left it as is. This also reduced the weight of my entire splitter to less than 3 lbs.Now the question everyone asks (go ahead): What’s it made out of? Alumalite. “Alumalite is a strong, aluminum composite panel made of with a high density corrugated polyallomer (CPA) core that will not swell, corrode, rot, wick water, or delaminate even under prolonged water exposure. Factory-baked polyester painted aluminum faces add high gloss brilliance and rigidity.”There are many ways to do this, and the cheapest would be plywood, and then covered in polyurethane resin to make it waterproof. The problem with this is weight. ABS plastic is also pretty expensive, and also heavy. I looked up what the professional racers use, and most of them are using some form of alumalite. It is incredibly strong and lightweight. It can also be bent, if needed, and is completely waterproof. The best way to describe it is two, thin aluminum sheets, separated by a corrugated material.
20160310_143825So then I researched, “Who else would use Alumalite,” and I found they use it to make signs! I reached out to some local sign companies and confirmed this. All you have to do is ask them for scraps. I needed something that was at least 72” x 26” – I ended up finding a piece for the price of a 12-Pack of Anti-Hero IPA (although he is my buddy, and did the graphics for Dartlene Orangina)
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20160310_194934The first thing I needed was a template, and a way to line things up. The easiest way to do this was to start with the Mopar Front lip. When tracing the lip, you have to be careful, and take into account the 7/8″ rise in the middle of the fascia. If you press the lip flat and trace it, along with the holes, once you hold your trace up to the car, you will find the outer edges and holes are too wide. Be careful to trace the piece while keeping it’s shape, holding the edges up.
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20160313_171527I followed the front angles of the car, but I wanted a little more aggressive appearance. I also knew that I wanted to wrap the thing in carbon fiber, and if you’ve done any wrapping, you’ll know how difficult it is to wrap around a curved edge. If you want to try this method, you’d have to cut along the top edge, and use a separate piece for the front / bottom. I used cardboard to create my original template, so I could mess with it, as well as hold it up to the car for rough placement. I was concerned the cardboard would bend, but the final material would not, so I also had to keep in mind the upward arch in the middle if it is attached flush to the fascia.
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20160417_134353Now that I had my template, I dry fitted it to the car to make sure. Then I traced it onto the alumalite, and cut the front shape and the inner circle, leaving a bit extra on the inside, which could be trimmed. As it was, I had to adjust the holes a little bit after the final cut, as I was using the same holes to secure the aero panel and the Mopar front lip, if you had one. The 4 screws in the rear connected perfectly to the cut splitter, but it had to bend up too much in the middle to work, so I needed spacers. I took some brass tubing I had lying around, and cut it into (4) 7/8” pieces. Then I sanded and painted them black. Washers were used above and below the splitter and spacers, and I found some wood screws that matched the thread of those metal clips in the aero panels. Lock washers were put on the very bottom to secure it.This is without the spacers:
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Spacers:
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Underneath the spacers:
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Then I wrapped the splitter, easily terminating the ends of the wrap on the bottom, as no one can see that, unless the car is on a lift. For extra credit, I guess you could wrap or paint the bottom, too.
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Rough mockup:
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After I had the flat shape, I added my side fins, using simple nut and bolt connections on either side. I lined up the outside to the shape of the car, and the back to the wheel well. I originally was going to bend the alumalite into the fins, but I wanted something that looked a little better and wasn’t as thick. The edge of alumalite looks a like cardboard, so it needs to be covered, wrapped, or filled in. I found some thin aluminum and could easily cut and bend it as needed. Then I simply drilled a couple of holes in the new “L” shaped wings, and bolted from underneath. Shazam!
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I mounted the splitter using the 8 holes in the bottom fascia that connects the aero panel. The rear 4 were factory screws, into the factory holes, and the front 8 were factory holes, with longer, wood screws that matched the thread size. I later painted the silver bolts black, as well.

Finally, the last step was the rods. I already had replaced the grilles with mesh that had medium sized holes. I painted a couple washers black, and used them in front and behind the grille to secure it, and then bolted it to the splitter. I was able to do all of this without removing the fascia, but it was a bit tricky squeezing in and securing the nut on the backside. They are adjustable, so you can make them ultra-secure. I’m not saying you should stand on this thing, but it is very secure, and has lasted, so far!
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I later added a lip underneath the splitter, to give it a more “lowered” look – I think it makes it more aggressive, but certainly works without it:
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How to clean the Blower Motor / Cabin Air Filter

Date:       1 Comment  

Here is a quick how-to explaining how to remove and clean the interior blower motor. This is the fan that blows fresh air into the cabin of your car. There is a filter that should be replaced every 6 to 12 months, but if there is debris in the blower motor fan, then a new filter won’t help. My car had always sounded like a team of fighter jets were coming through my vents when I cranked up the fan ever since I bought her – I thought, “Man, this car is perfect if it only didn’t have such a loud-ass fan!”

If your fan is loud, I recommend doing this procedure. It doesn’t take that long, but you will have to perform some amazing feats of dexterity and nimbleness to get access to this fan. Acrobatic or advanced yoga skills are highly recommended.

First of all, remove the floor panel on the passenger side, sitting just to the left of their feet. It simply pulls off with moderate force, help in by 3 plastic clips.
dart interioir passenger floor

Next, you have to remove the fiber top to the footwells. It is held in place by two black plastic clips going into the trim above it, just below the glove box. Use a pair of needle nose pliers or flat screwdriver to remove the clips, so you don’t rip the fiber panels.

Now, it’s time to do some stretching – maybe run a few laps, some jumping jacks… You need to look up inside the center console, above the footwell area, and behind the cabin air filter (which is white in the pic, and says “Air Flow ->”

If you position yourself upside down, behind that area, you will find the blower motor, secured with 3 screws. Removing these screws is my favorite part. Once off, the cover will come right off, and the blower is directly inside. Note which direction the tabs are pointing, so it can be put back, as it only fits in one way.

All this is well worth it, especially if yours looks like mine did:

Remove the debris, and put the blower motor and cover back on, then replace the footwell cover and plastic cover. Now go take a shower, as you have blower dirt and floor debris in your hair!

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