Author Topic: How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi  (Read 2604 times)

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Offline Haplo90

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How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi
« on: March 11, 2012, 04:44:23 pm »
First off, my apologies for not inviting people for this gongshow. I had to do it over the course of the week (thanks to work), so it was in hour long spans. However, I did take a lot of pictures as I went along, and here's how I've done it. The only thing I haven't done yet is tap the jet into the intercooler, but that's because I'm still driving around and making sure it functions properly. I'll add the intercooler tapping this week/weekend, once I get to it. Alright, onwards!

First thing I did was lay out the entire setup and get a good look at everything. Using the diagram included in the manual, plug everything in and lay it out roughly how you're going to have it in your car. I used my bed, so the tank/pump was at the foot of the bed (trunk), gauge up at the top left, flow control module (goes in engine bay) somewhere in the front/center, and the controller at the top right (goes in glove box). This helped me get an idea of what wires and hose I was running and where, which was a great help for a visual person like me. So, here are some of the pictures I took of the parts for labelling purposes, so you know what I'm talking about:

Pump and Tank: These came assembled for me, so I can't really explain how I set it up. But it's extremely straight forward. Mounted pump to side of the tank enclosure, and plugged in the matching connectors. I mounted the 40A relay to the tank as well, keeping everything together. The large red wire you see in the first picture will run to the battery (12V power), and you can see the ground wire in the bottom right.







So, from the tank, we work our way up to the Flow Control Module (will be refered to as FCM from here on out). The larger diameter hose is what goes to the FCM:



Once that hose is connected to the pump, run it up to the "In" connection of the FCM.



The "Out" connection is for the water jet. So just connect the smaller diameter hose to the "Out", and insert the water jet you're using (I was recommended the middle sized jet, 0.9mm, by Sunny) into the other end of it. You'll see, the jet has the threaded end that goes into the intercooler, and a nipple for the hose to connect to. I have pictures of the water jet connected to the hose further down, and will add more when I install it into the intercooler.

The next step is connecting everything to the controller box, which will be located in your glove box most likely. You can put it anywhere, but it's recommended to have it easily accessible and somewhere where it won't be abused. Glove box is easy, since it's along the way from the trunk to the engine bay. Getting ahead of myself, I'll cover that process in a bit. So, here is the controller box:



The blue plug is connected to your pump/tank assembly. So grab that, and insert it into the matching colour input (yes, blue with blue, and so on. They make it hard to screw it up.) The red plug is attached to the FCM, so grab that and, once again using a high level of intellectual reasoning, insert it into the red input. The yellow plug and the smaller one with multiple coloured wires are included with the kit and aren't currently connected to any part of the system. The yellow one ends in multiple wires that will splice into your ECU, and the smaller cable is the main power, which I'll cover later on as well. Just gives you an idea of what they're there for and where they'll be going. The large cable on the far left of the controller box runs to your gauge, like so:



Now stand back and look at what you'll simply be transferring over to your car. I liked doing it this way, because it kept things organized. I literally just started at the trunk with the tank/pump assembly, and moved my way towards the front, transferring piece by piece from my in house layout to the car. So, on to the actual install.

Tank/pump:

As I said, I started at the back and worked my way forward. So here's what I started:



I decided to go along the passenger side, since that's where I'll be running the wiring/hose. I placed it close enough to the back that I could easily fill the tank, but far enough that it was past the I/C tank for when I drilled it in.



Tada! I used brackets to install it into the floor and side:



I can't stress this enough: WATCH WHAT YOU'RE DRILLING INTO! There is a spare tire underneath there, and tons of stuff (including the I/C spray tank) running along the side. Or use another approach to mounting it, but I liked this one and it's secure.

Next thing is to ground the tank. What I did was pull back the carpet lining the side wall by removing the plastic screw located there and gently pulling the carpet back to expose the side wall. I ran the wire through that screw hole, and sanded a small patch to allow for a good metal connection. Using a small self-taping screw, I drilled the ground wire into the metal just about the I/C tank:



Replace the lining, and that's it for the ground. Now comes the fun part of running the blue plug (attached to the pump assembly and that runs to the glove box), the red wire (12V running to the battery), and the actual hose (going to the FCM located in the engine bay). You'll notice more wires in the picture, but those are amp/sub wires. So just focus on these three. My approach was to run it through the wall seperating the trunk and rear seats, run everything under the trim, and up into the glove box. Done like so:

Remove the covers and 2 12mm bolt located in the foot wells of the rear seat to be able to remove the seat and give you room to work:



Once that's removed, take out the 12mm bolts holding the backs of the seat (there are three total: 1 passenger side, one in the center, and 1 driver side. I only removed the passenger and center ones so that I could pull back enough to run the wires, no need to remove the whole back). You may even find surprise dog treats like I did:



Now that you have access to the trunk via the back seat, feed the red power cable, the hose, and the black cable with the blue plug through:



Next, remove the plastic trim piece so that you can run the wiring beneath it (there are 2 plastic rivets to be removed: 1 is at the end where the seat is, and the other is running up the door frame. After this, just gently pull it up and it comes off). Pic without seat:



Pic without trim piece:











Offline Hikaru

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Re: How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2012, 04:50:05 pm »
And what purpose does the bag of almonds serve in all this?

Offline Haplo90

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Re: How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2012, 04:59:26 pm »
And yes, I like almonds. Now, run the lines around the bar and follow the trim up to the front (make sure you go on the outside of the seatbelt when passing the lines to the front. Sounds obvious, but I did it repeatedly.) You can see the lines run in the picture above, showing no trim and the lines running where you want them.

Once you've passed the lines to the front, replace the trim and seat and tuck away all the lines, like so:




Now, same process as we did with the rear. Remove the trim piece (two plastic rivets, one located running up along the door frame and the other is in the actual foot well), run the wiring + hose, and replace the trim piece:





Next, place the controller box in the glove box. Doesn't have to be mounted for now, just in there. Run the black cable with blue plug up into the glove box, and plug it into the controller box. Next, grab the red plug that is connected to the FCM, because that will be following the power cable and hose into the engine bay.

These three things (red power wire, hose and now black cable with red plug), need to go through the firewall and up into the engine bay. I did it through here, which is located up high in the passenger foot well, and exits just above the turbo in the engine bay:



I did this by using a metal coat hanger. I straightened it out, and poke it through the firewall from the engine side, went inside the car into the foot well, made a hook and hooked the wire/hose. Then go back to the engine bay, and pull the hanger back through, your wire will be pulled through as well. Just how I did it, anyways.)

Now that all 3 are through, run the red wire (12V power) over to the battery. I followed the firewall, and went to the front on the driver side, and connected it to the (+) post of the battery. You're now done with this one. (I didn't take any pictures of the wire).

Next, mount the FCM somewhere relatively out of the way and away from heat sources:



You'll notice it has a ground wire as well, and that I repeated the process I used in the trunk. Sanded a small area, and used a self tapping screw. Take the hose you've run through the car, and connect it to the "In" connection on the FCM. Now you're done with the hose! Next, you need to install the restrictor you're using (mine is the 0.7mm one, once again as told to by Sunny). The tool used is a small cylinder with threads on the inside. You simply screw the restrictor into it, and insert the tool into the "Out" connection. Make sure you push it in firmly, then simply twist the tool to unscrew the restrictor and leave it inside (yes, I am fully aware of how bad that description sounds, I tried to keep it civil.) Here are some pics:

Tool inserted:



Unscrew the tool gently, and voila!:



You can see the restrictor left in there. Next, connect that smaller diameter hose with the water jet and run it up to your windshield for now. It will go to the intercooler later, but for testing purposes, run it up to your windshield, like so:





Offline Haplo90

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Re: How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2012, 05:39:07 pm »
Tired yet? Too bad, there's more work to be done. Now, in your glove box, you should have the controller box with the blue and red plugs plugged in. Next is the wiring portion of this process.

Take the yellow plug cable, and remove the rubber wrap from the other end of it. You'll end up with these wires showing:



As you can see in the background, these are going to the ecu. This part is interestingly difficult. You need to get the wiring diagram for your particular ECU, and it'll show you which wires you need to splice into. You'll see in the picture how I seperated 4 colours. These are the only ones you need. The red is your power wire, and goes to the ignition switch #2 (you'll see this on your ECU/pin out wiring diagram. I would suggest contacting Richard at Aquamist via email, and he'll send you the diagram showing you what needs to connect to what.) The green one goes to the fuel injector pin, the blue goes to the MAP sensor, and the white goes to F/S switch #1. For those of you who are wondering what the hell I'm talking about, here's an example:



Make a bit more sense now? This shows the overall setup, which is nice, and what wire connects to what wire on the ECU. Oh, here's how to get to the ECU:

Pull back the passenger side carpet:



Remove that plate, it's just 3 10mm bolts, and say hi to your ECU:



Take out the two bolts holding it in place, and pull it out for easier access. With this picture, see how the diagram makes more sense?:



Now, splice those 4 wires in, replace your ECU and carpet and voila. You can now plug your yellow plug into the controller box, and you've now got the ECU, FCM, and pump assembly connected. Almost there!

Next is the main power source. That's the small cable that plugs into the controller box and splits into 4 different coloured wires. You can see it in the diagram above as well. The red wire goes to a switched 12V source, meaning a source that only has power when your key is turned. The black and white are grounds, and the purple runs to the head lamp switch (so when your headlamps come on, it dims the gauge. I didn't do this part, so the purple wire isn't connected to anything, meaning my gauge won't dim at night. Big deal, I was sick of running wiring at that point haha.)

Here's where I connected for switched 12V and a ground:

Power:


Ground:


That's the back of the cigarette lighter, and a bolt right behind it. This is accessible by removing the trim piece around the shifter, and an easy place to splice into. The red wire on the back of the cigarette lighter is a 12V source, so splice into it for the switched 12V, and I just used a bolt lcoated by the shifter to ground it. Done and done for your power source.

Now, unless I'm mistaken, you have everything connected! Look at the controller box, you should have the power source wires plugged in, the red plug that runs to the FCM in the engine bay, the yellow plug that runs to your ECU, and the blue plug that runs to your trunk. Now, time to test to see if it works.

Plug your gauge into the controller box, and the remove the lid of the controller box (4 small screws). After you do so, you should be looking at this:



Cool, huh? Alright, now let's start testing according to the Aquamist manual.

1) Insert key into the ignition, do not turn it. Nothing should happen, no lights on the controller box board should light up, and the gauge shouldn't light up.

2)Turn key to the "On" position, DO NOT START the car. At this point, your dash should light up, your radio turn on, all that good stuff. Here's what should happen if you've done everything right:
-The gauge will light like this:


Then like this:


-Look at your controller box, the green LEDs next to the plugs should light up like so:


If this has happened, you're good to start your car! If not, some connection somewhere along the line is wrong. So, start the car. Now, on your controller box, the yellow LEd light next to the yelow plug should be flickering, like so (but flickering, as not shown in the picture):



If this happens, you've successfully wired up your system. Well done! Now, to test the pump. Fill the pump with something, I would suggest water or windshield washer fluid for testing purposes, not your actual water/meth mix. I used water with some windshield washer fluid to make sure it didn't freeze overnight.

You need to look at your controller box, and using needle nose pliers, remove the small covering on the PRK link and move it to the CAL link. Here's what I'm talking about:



See the area in the middle that has a mix of prongs and little black boxes? Each set of prongs is labelled, and those black "boxes" are like fuses, you can remove them and transfer them to another to complete the circuit. These are called "jumpers" (Thanks to GrantC for that) So, you'll remove the jumper from the prongs labelled PRK, and put it on CAL. When you do this, the bars on your gauge should light up like so:



Awesome, that works. Now, remove the jumper from CAL, and place it on TST. Your controller board will light up like christmas, and look at your windshield: Your water jet should be spraying at full strength:



You can kind of see that it sprayed my windshield. You'll notice, trust me. So, remove the jumper from TST and place it back on PRK, which it initially came off of. Next step is to grab your controller box, a small flathead screwdriver, and (refer to the picture above of the controller box board) turn the "THRES ADJ" screw completely counter clockwise. This sets the threshold for your system to its lowest, meaning it'll spray with very little throttle.






Offline Haplo90

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Re: How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2012, 05:39:33 pm »
This is the stage I am at, everything is in the glove box, and all that's left is to install the injector into the intercooler, which I'll post this week. Drive around and make sure your jet is spraying when you apply some throttle (also notice that the bars on your gauge will light up according to your throttle). Oh, the gauge. I mounted it in the driver side A/C vent using this how to thread: http://www.westernsubaruclub.com/smf/index.php?topic=3211.0

This is how it came out:




Once I'm ready to tap the jet into the intercooler, I'm going to disconnect everything from the controller board until it goes to Sunny for tuning at the end of the month. That way everything is ready to go, and when I roll in, all I have to do is connect the plugs to the controller box and it'll be fully functional. I'm also going to drain the tank, fill it with 50/50 water/meth (meth purchased at Home Depot, I'll post a picture of it).



$9.99 for the jug. So, that's all for today! Any questions, feel free to ask. And I'm more than happy to come help anyone with their setup, and bring my car so we can use it as a "go to". Hopefully this is helpful, and as I said before, more to come concerning tapping the jet into the intercooler!

Offline GrantC

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Re: How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2012, 05:53:51 pm »
Those little black things you're referring to that complete the circuit between the two pins are called jumpers

Just thought I'd make that a bit more readable, or easier for you to search if you need.

Offline Haplo90

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Re: How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2012, 05:59:42 pm »
Those little black things you're referring to that complete the circuit between the two pins are called jumpers

Just thought I'd make that a bit more readable, or easier for you to search if you need.

Thanks Grant, I'll edit that part now to make it easier to read.

Offline Zaider

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Re: How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2012, 06:26:41 pm »
Awesome writeup! Thanks!
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Offline Haplo90

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Re: How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2012, 07:23:17 pm »
Awesome writeup! Thanks!

If you give me a shout when you install yours, I'd be more than happy to swing by and give you a hand.

Offline Airboy

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Re: How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi
« Reply #9 on: March 11, 2012, 07:23:53 pm »
Should get some heat shielding for the water line coming through the firewall, next to the downpipe.

Gain 50 ft-lbs, ask me how! :-)

Offline Haplo90

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Re: How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi
« Reply #10 on: March 11, 2012, 07:26:08 pm »
Should get some heat shielding for the water line coming through the firewall, next to the downpipe.

I was thinking the same thing, good to know you think so as well, Sunny. I'll fabricate something tomorrow to keep them protected!

Offline b00st

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How-To: Aquamist HFS-6 on 2006 STi
« Reply #11 on: March 11, 2012, 10:23:14 pm »
pretty sweet setup man!