ZPD
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- #1
Hey guys- I just installed my Gen5 Stage 2 Whipple on my ‘17. Mantis did his ‘15 several weeks ago. We both found the instructions from Whipple to be lacking in specifics even if their intentions were good. I reached out to Mantis and he gave me several tips and I came up with some additional tips. They are posted below. I should note that this is based off of the Whipple MY15-MY17 Gen 5 manual last updated on March 1, 2021.
It is highly recommended to get a pinch clamp tool like the one shown in step 29, a 10mm wobble that is ¼” drive like the one shown in step 100 along with an lbs-in torque wrench and lbs-ft torque wrench that can go down to 14 lbs-ft
Do steps 6 and 7 first then go to step 1
Step 5: really no need to lift the fuse box, found no purpose for this later.
step 10: completely remove the inner fender liners, then you don't need to use a weird extension to get to the hex nut behind the headlight.
step 13: if you have a strut tower bar, do not put the strut nuts back on and torque, you end up taking them back off again for the K brace
step 18: I never reused the 90 degree connector they are saying to keep
step 20: This hose was not on my MY17 (ZPD)
step 21: remove the maf sensor from the airbox carefully and put it in a safe space.
step 26: remove the evap solenoid from the intake manifold and set aside, you will re-use the solenoid later but it is not clear in the instructions. I ended up searching all the bags for a while before realizing it was an existing part.
step 34: Getting at this 10mm nut is a PITA. If you are doing a OPG swap then do this later when the valve cover is removed- you will have more room to work
step 41: if you are replacing the factory thermostat then I would not use the one that comes with the kit, I used the reisch.
step 43: there are only 6 manifold head bolts
step45: This part sucked. The connectors in the back are tough to do with what little space is back there. you will need to lift and angle the intake manifold in a variety of positions to get access to each of the plugs. do you try to pull the push tabs out blind as you risk marring up the cable assemblies.
I fought with this for about 45 minutes. It would be helpful to have a friend hold the manifold so you can use both hands. Worst case scenario you can just cut the wires. You don’t use these connectors. In fact if you keep the connectors then tape them to protect them from the elements after you get the manifold off. Keep in mind that there is an air intake temp back there someplace. Don’t cut that one,
step 46: tape the intake ports FIRST, then use a small vacuum to get all the dirt and dust out, then pull that first tape off and use carb cleaner to clean up the gunk. then put tape back on.
Step 49: turn the tensions counter-clockwise; not clockwise as the instructions state
Step 51: Optional: remove your windshield wipers if you have a 2- jaw puller. Then you can completely remove the plastic cowling which makes it easier to get the K-brace off. Also there is another brace that the K-brace bolts to that if it is removed it makes the installation of the intercooler easier.
step 52: I used a hacksaw blade in my hand with a glove. 4 mins tops with a good burn. I left like 1/8" from the press fit clip
If you are doing an OPG/CS swap this is the point in which you do that project. Do step 54 before you put the valve covers on. There are a lot of videos on youtube about OPG/CS swap (I liked VMP’s)
step 54: make sure you get this in TIGHT. I used this port for my mechanical boost gauge by putting a hole through the plug but it must have pulled out as I had water dripping into the cabin behind the pedals after washing the car....fail. it is IMPOSSIBLE to get to that port after the SC is installed.
55: this is where you would put in the replacement thermostat if you have one.
57: Don’t overthink this; you are basically slightly lengthening the hose so it fits around the SC. Use the printed letters on the hose as a guide to keep the end fitting oriented the correct way so once connected you don’t have a kink in the hose. Also nowhere does it say to connect the hose back up to the fitting in the front of the engine. Do this before you drop the SC in. I didn’t and I had a tough time getting the coupling to connect after the SC was installed.
61: as silly as this step looks, it is IMPORTANT. I did not move mine enough the first time and doing it later is a PITA.
65: The ground has a black shrink tube on the connector but the wire itself is a tan/grey color and not black
68: do step 69 first
70: This is a minor thing but it illustrates a common “flaw” in Whipple’s instructions. What they reference in the instructions isn’t always what is labeled on the bag. You are looking for the bag labeled throttle body extension here. It gets worse when you are doing the Intercooler hoses.
71: not sure why it says to route this wire to the driver’s side. The IAT sensor on the Whipple was on the passenger side.
73: it is a single cast unit. there are no spacers as shown in the picture, don't bother looking for them.
74: same as step 73
75: the spacers all look very similar to the naked eye. use a micrometer to measure back to shoulder to be sure you have the right ones.
ALL PULLEYS must be installed facing a certain way. It is not clear in all steps which direction but you will know they are correct when the gap from the block is the largest based on the two orientations.
Look at the Tee nut and you will notice that the hole is not centered. In the picture it shows the tee nut positioned so that the hole is can be as close as possible to the top of the slot. I would recommend doing it the other way. Later on when you are installing the belt you put this pulley in the lowest possible setting to get the belt on. I had my tee fitting installed as shown and had a real hard time getting the belt on. Flipping the tee around would have made the job a lot easier.
78: was not needed for my car. it was plenty far away
81: already installed. I took it apart to double check.
83: single ports for my car, was confused looking for one with two ports, does not exist.
85: use the picture in step 87 to get all the stuff installed correctly. For the U shaped pieces the nut does pivot freely.
86: the straight fitting uses a ⅝” wrench
88: do not miss the spacers...do not drop them you only get what you need.
89: stg2 74lb injectors do not need to be clocked and do not need the extra clocking braces
Once the lid is off the SC keep a clean shop towel covering it at all times.
93: rubber hose will seem VERY long. if you compress it slightly as you put it in the channel the extra is minimized. do not over compress. make sure no gaps at the ENDS.
94: DO NOT slide finger to push in this seal. I used plenty of grease but you want to press straight down or you will end up with a massive bubble and pull it all out.
If you are installing a mechanical boost gauge (recommended) then the port below the temp sensor on the back of the unit is what you use. A ⅛” NPT brass fitting is perfect. Even if you do not put a gauge on now I would put the port in, run a flexible rubber hose over to the driver side and cap it off. Impossible to do later once the system is installed, however there is another ⅛” npt port in the front by the by-pass actuator but space is tight there.
Before you put the head unit on, you DO NOT re-use all the connectors that were the PITA to remove. Any connector not used from step 71 needs to be taped. The 2018 manual says to tape it and I only saw that after I had it all installed.
96: Use grease to hold them in.
98: Mantis- I made a bridge out of scrap wood to walk the head unit over the intake with two crowbars across the motor. one along the front and one close to the firewall. This allowed me to eyeball all the hoses and fittings before lowering it down by removing the rear crowbar and tilting it down and under the lip of the firewall. Before you drop the head unit on you will want to reinstall the modified heater hoses to the factory connections. I did mine after the fact and it was a royal PITA.
ZPD- I bolted 2 short nylon straps using positions 11 &10 and 9&12 (see step 106) and then slid a 2x4 under those straps. Then a friend and I picked up each end of the 2x4 and lifted the SC under the hood and set it down in place.
103: see comment on step 75
106: GENEROUS grease. It is a TIGHT fitting and it took some effort. This is where removing the bracket that the K-brace makes life a little easier; not required though. Route the Evap wire extension behind the SC before you put the lid on.
107: if you have never removed a fuel line before then google it. Whipple does include a tool to remove it. It is in a small white bag and easy to miss (I found it after I went and bought a tool)
109: This is where you need the factory evap; connect it to the wire that you hopefully routed before installing the lid.
114: this is when you would install the catch can if you have one instead of the hose they supply.
.
127: if you have the high capacity HE, do not even attempt to slide it up without modifying the shroud. The 2018 manual describes how to cut it, the 2015-17 does not. Basically measure up 12” from the bottom of the shroud and draw a 45 degree line down until you are about ½” away from the other wall of the shroud and then draw a line straight down to the bottom of the shroud. Cut this off. If you are not careful you will dent and bend fins on the HE; be patient and careful.
130-133: Lay out all the hoses before you begin. It will make it easier to know what to do.
134: My kit came with 8x25mm bolts which is too long. I used the bolts that I removed from step 116 (PP brace) and it worked just fine. Also the 8mm AN washer was too small and slipped through the upper hole. I was able to put a standard (5/16” IIRC) washer in through the oval hole in the front and using a wire I fished it up to the hole where the bolt goes in. This was more secure than what Whipple had.
138: leave it dangling, do not cut excess off. it fits nice and perfect inside the lip of the bumper and keeps the bends smooth. you will be tempted over and over to shorten it up. DO NOT DO IT.
144: Airbox install was a pita; getting all the tubes cleaned up, zip tied flush and in the right general directions is key. I struggled for an hour with mine. The snorkel was not a great fit and I ended up using a heat gun to change the shape of it.
145: Mantis: I had to dremel the intake box to allow the maf housing to fit completely in the recessed hole. I marked it with a sharpie and carefully ground out what I needed.
ZPD: mine fit with no problems
148: This heat shield is really weird. The seal does not go on like it shows in the image. You either have to cut it or hold it in place with rubber bands until the hood and time beat it into submission. One tip- there is a slotted hole that you have to get lined up with the air box lid and the threaded insert in the airbox. I cut the end of the heat shield slotted hole changing it from an “O” to a “U”. Then I could get the airbox lid lined up and the screw started and slide in the heat shield.
166: At this point you want to load the new tune file. don't do what I did and attempt to load the tune without the key in the ON position. it will go through the whole process then fail with an obscure code right at the end. I thought it was a dead battery so I charged it only to have it happen again. tomahawk works without the button in ON position.
170: Have a battery tender on the car before you start this step. you end up running that motor over and over and over. turn headlights off, radio off, heater off. It takes a while to get all the air out and they stress it ALOT to make sure no air is in the system. I did NOT re-use the old coolant, bought factory concentrated and distilled and mixed my own. Put 2 bottles of water wetter in the coolant and one in the IC fluid.
It is highly recommended to get a pinch clamp tool like the one shown in step 29, a 10mm wobble that is ¼” drive like the one shown in step 100 along with an lbs-in torque wrench and lbs-ft torque wrench that can go down to 14 lbs-ft
Do steps 6 and 7 first then go to step 1
Step 5: really no need to lift the fuse box, found no purpose for this later.
step 10: completely remove the inner fender liners, then you don't need to use a weird extension to get to the hex nut behind the headlight.
step 13: if you have a strut tower bar, do not put the strut nuts back on and torque, you end up taking them back off again for the K brace
step 18: I never reused the 90 degree connector they are saying to keep
step 20: This hose was not on my MY17 (ZPD)
step 21: remove the maf sensor from the airbox carefully and put it in a safe space.
step 26: remove the evap solenoid from the intake manifold and set aside, you will re-use the solenoid later but it is not clear in the instructions. I ended up searching all the bags for a while before realizing it was an existing part.
step 34: Getting at this 10mm nut is a PITA. If you are doing a OPG swap then do this later when the valve cover is removed- you will have more room to work
step 41: if you are replacing the factory thermostat then I would not use the one that comes with the kit, I used the reisch.
step 43: there are only 6 manifold head bolts
step45: This part sucked. The connectors in the back are tough to do with what little space is back there. you will need to lift and angle the intake manifold in a variety of positions to get access to each of the plugs. do you try to pull the push tabs out blind as you risk marring up the cable assemblies.
I fought with this for about 45 minutes. It would be helpful to have a friend hold the manifold so you can use both hands. Worst case scenario you can just cut the wires. You don’t use these connectors. In fact if you keep the connectors then tape them to protect them from the elements after you get the manifold off. Keep in mind that there is an air intake temp back there someplace. Don’t cut that one,
step 46: tape the intake ports FIRST, then use a small vacuum to get all the dirt and dust out, then pull that first tape off and use carb cleaner to clean up the gunk. then put tape back on.
Step 49: turn the tensions counter-clockwise; not clockwise as the instructions state
Step 51: Optional: remove your windshield wipers if you have a 2- jaw puller. Then you can completely remove the plastic cowling which makes it easier to get the K-brace off. Also there is another brace that the K-brace bolts to that if it is removed it makes the installation of the intercooler easier.
step 52: I used a hacksaw blade in my hand with a glove. 4 mins tops with a good burn. I left like 1/8" from the press fit clip
If you are doing an OPG/CS swap this is the point in which you do that project. Do step 54 before you put the valve covers on. There are a lot of videos on youtube about OPG/CS swap (I liked VMP’s)
step 54: make sure you get this in TIGHT. I used this port for my mechanical boost gauge by putting a hole through the plug but it must have pulled out as I had water dripping into the cabin behind the pedals after washing the car....fail. it is IMPOSSIBLE to get to that port after the SC is installed.
55: this is where you would put in the replacement thermostat if you have one.
57: Don’t overthink this; you are basically slightly lengthening the hose so it fits around the SC. Use the printed letters on the hose as a guide to keep the end fitting oriented the correct way so once connected you don’t have a kink in the hose. Also nowhere does it say to connect the hose back up to the fitting in the front of the engine. Do this before you drop the SC in. I didn’t and I had a tough time getting the coupling to connect after the SC was installed.
61: as silly as this step looks, it is IMPORTANT. I did not move mine enough the first time and doing it later is a PITA.
65: The ground has a black shrink tube on the connector but the wire itself is a tan/grey color and not black
68: do step 69 first
70: This is a minor thing but it illustrates a common “flaw” in Whipple’s instructions. What they reference in the instructions isn’t always what is labeled on the bag. You are looking for the bag labeled throttle body extension here. It gets worse when you are doing the Intercooler hoses.
71: not sure why it says to route this wire to the driver’s side. The IAT sensor on the Whipple was on the passenger side.
73: it is a single cast unit. there are no spacers as shown in the picture, don't bother looking for them.
74: same as step 73
75: the spacers all look very similar to the naked eye. use a micrometer to measure back to shoulder to be sure you have the right ones.
ALL PULLEYS must be installed facing a certain way. It is not clear in all steps which direction but you will know they are correct when the gap from the block is the largest based on the two orientations.
Look at the Tee nut and you will notice that the hole is not centered. In the picture it shows the tee nut positioned so that the hole is can be as close as possible to the top of the slot. I would recommend doing it the other way. Later on when you are installing the belt you put this pulley in the lowest possible setting to get the belt on. I had my tee fitting installed as shown and had a real hard time getting the belt on. Flipping the tee around would have made the job a lot easier.
78: was not needed for my car. it was plenty far away
81: already installed. I took it apart to double check.
83: single ports for my car, was confused looking for one with two ports, does not exist.
85: use the picture in step 87 to get all the stuff installed correctly. For the U shaped pieces the nut does pivot freely.
86: the straight fitting uses a ⅝” wrench
88: do not miss the spacers...do not drop them you only get what you need.
89: stg2 74lb injectors do not need to be clocked and do not need the extra clocking braces
Once the lid is off the SC keep a clean shop towel covering it at all times.
93: rubber hose will seem VERY long. if you compress it slightly as you put it in the channel the extra is minimized. do not over compress. make sure no gaps at the ENDS.
94: DO NOT slide finger to push in this seal. I used plenty of grease but you want to press straight down or you will end up with a massive bubble and pull it all out.
If you are installing a mechanical boost gauge (recommended) then the port below the temp sensor on the back of the unit is what you use. A ⅛” NPT brass fitting is perfect. Even if you do not put a gauge on now I would put the port in, run a flexible rubber hose over to the driver side and cap it off. Impossible to do later once the system is installed, however there is another ⅛” npt port in the front by the by-pass actuator but space is tight there.
Before you put the head unit on, you DO NOT re-use all the connectors that were the PITA to remove. Any connector not used from step 71 needs to be taped. The 2018 manual says to tape it and I only saw that after I had it all installed.
96: Use grease to hold them in.
98: Mantis- I made a bridge out of scrap wood to walk the head unit over the intake with two crowbars across the motor. one along the front and one close to the firewall. This allowed me to eyeball all the hoses and fittings before lowering it down by removing the rear crowbar and tilting it down and under the lip of the firewall. Before you drop the head unit on you will want to reinstall the modified heater hoses to the factory connections. I did mine after the fact and it was a royal PITA.
ZPD- I bolted 2 short nylon straps using positions 11 &10 and 9&12 (see step 106) and then slid a 2x4 under those straps. Then a friend and I picked up each end of the 2x4 and lifted the SC under the hood and set it down in place.
103: see comment on step 75
106: GENEROUS grease. It is a TIGHT fitting and it took some effort. This is where removing the bracket that the K-brace makes life a little easier; not required though. Route the Evap wire extension behind the SC before you put the lid on.
107: if you have never removed a fuel line before then google it. Whipple does include a tool to remove it. It is in a small white bag and easy to miss (I found it after I went and bought a tool)
109: This is where you need the factory evap; connect it to the wire that you hopefully routed before installing the lid.
114: this is when you would install the catch can if you have one instead of the hose they supply.
.
127: if you have the high capacity HE, do not even attempt to slide it up without modifying the shroud. The 2018 manual describes how to cut it, the 2015-17 does not. Basically measure up 12” from the bottom of the shroud and draw a 45 degree line down until you are about ½” away from the other wall of the shroud and then draw a line straight down to the bottom of the shroud. Cut this off. If you are not careful you will dent and bend fins on the HE; be patient and careful.
130-133: Lay out all the hoses before you begin. It will make it easier to know what to do.
134: My kit came with 8x25mm bolts which is too long. I used the bolts that I removed from step 116 (PP brace) and it worked just fine. Also the 8mm AN washer was too small and slipped through the upper hole. I was able to put a standard (5/16” IIRC) washer in through the oval hole in the front and using a wire I fished it up to the hole where the bolt goes in. This was more secure than what Whipple had.
138: leave it dangling, do not cut excess off. it fits nice and perfect inside the lip of the bumper and keeps the bends smooth. you will be tempted over and over to shorten it up. DO NOT DO IT.
144: Airbox install was a pita; getting all the tubes cleaned up, zip tied flush and in the right general directions is key. I struggled for an hour with mine. The snorkel was not a great fit and I ended up using a heat gun to change the shape of it.
145: Mantis: I had to dremel the intake box to allow the maf housing to fit completely in the recessed hole. I marked it with a sharpie and carefully ground out what I needed.
ZPD: mine fit with no problems
148: This heat shield is really weird. The seal does not go on like it shows in the image. You either have to cut it or hold it in place with rubber bands until the hood and time beat it into submission. One tip- there is a slotted hole that you have to get lined up with the air box lid and the threaded insert in the airbox. I cut the end of the heat shield slotted hole changing it from an “O” to a “U”. Then I could get the airbox lid lined up and the screw started and slide in the heat shield.
166: At this point you want to load the new tune file. don't do what I did and attempt to load the tune without the key in the ON position. it will go through the whole process then fail with an obscure code right at the end. I thought it was a dead battery so I charged it only to have it happen again. tomahawk works without the button in ON position.
170: Have a battery tender on the car before you start this step. you end up running that motor over and over and over. turn headlights off, radio off, heater off. It takes a while to get all the air out and they stress it ALOT to make sure no air is in the system. I did NOT re-use the old coolant, bought factory concentrated and distilled and mixed my own. Put 2 bottles of water wetter in the coolant and one in the IC fluid.
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