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HOW TO INSTALL an HKS Type 1 Turbo Timer in a ?02 WRX

By: Mike (aka: twistedsymphony)

Notice: I claim no responsibility for any thing that results from you following these instructions. It simply outlines how I accomplished something. Proceed at your own risk and responsibility.

Step 1: make sure you have everything you need

You should have the Turbo Timer and all the parts that it comes with (3 wire splicers, 3 hook up wires, 2 zip ties, and 1 double sided sticky tape), the WRX Wiring Harness (type FT-3, if you don?t have one of these I recommend you get one before you begin), You?ll also need a good Philips screw driver, a good flat screw driver for prying and a 10mm socket with an extension, some scissors, and a pair of pliers (optional).

Step 2: decide where you want to put it

The way the HKS timer is wired you?re limited to placing the timer within a certain range from the steering column harness. You can pretty much stick it anywhere in the dash to the immediate left or right of the driver. Some example places I?ve seen include: the fuse ?tray? to the left of the driver, to the left of the cup holder (or in place of the cup holder), in any of the ?DIN? sized areas, or in the ash tray area where I?m installing mine. Or you could probably just stick it on top of the dash somewhere. If you want to put it further out somewhere you?d have to do your own splicing into the harness? if you?re up for it you?re probably able to do this with out these instructions.

The ashtray where we?ll install the timer Disconnect the negative battery terminal

Step 3: Safety

Before you start splicing wires and pulling parts be sure to disconnect the battery?s negative terminal to prevent electrocution. If you?re careful you?re chances are slim but its good common sense; like switching off a breaker before working with the electric in your house. I should note that this will reset your Car Audio System As well as the ECU.

Step 4: Installing the Harness

Take apart the under dash panel by removing the 3 screws. There?s one on the bottom right near the center console, another just above the hood release and the third is made of plastic and is on the left side of the dash near the top by the door. Make sure you completely remove the plastic screw, if you just loosen it the under dash wont come off. Once the screw are out pull on the bottom a little to loosen it up then pull the top straight out. I found it easier to get the right side out first. There are just plastic clips holding it in place so feel free to just gank on it.

Once you have the under dash off look for the little blue harness. It?s below and to the right of the steering column behind the metal parts. There are 3 harnesses in this area. 2 black ones and the blue one you?re interested in. If you bought the wiring harness (like I recommended) this part will be a pain in the ass. If you didn?t buy one? it will be an even bigger pain in the ass. HAHA? ok it seriously took me 15 minutes to get the sucker unplugged because of how tight the conditions are down there. The harness clips together so you have to push down on the tab before pulling it apart. Mine was really tight and I couldn?t get a grip so I used some pliers to hold down the clip on one end while I pulled it apart, yours might be easier. Once that?s done just plug in the harness? they?re only one way it fits on so you can?t screw it up. Once you?ve done this connect the black ground wire. I used a bolt holding up a small black box directly centered under the console. You?ll need a good socket to get it off, and you?ll need to widen the end of the ground wire a little bit. You could ground it to any metal part though.

The HKS harness installed

Step 5: Placing the Timer

This step will be different depending on where you?re putting the timer. Because I?m installing my timer in the ashtray slot I?ll describe how to insert the timer there. Use what ever information is pertinent to your install.

I started by removing the plastic console parts between the seats. I removed it completely because it?s just a few more screws and it makes it a whole lot easier to move around wires. To remove the center console parts start by open in the compartment door. The seam in the front needs to be pried up. Once you have the back up just pull up on the whole thing and it should pop right out (look at the pic below). Disconnect the Mirror harness (and what ever harnesses might be there if you have heated seats or mirrors) and set that part aside. Next pull up on the front part; again it should pop right out. Unscrew your shift knob and set this piece aside.

Next unscrew the remaining lower portion of the console. There are two screws at the bottom of the compartment, two in the front and one in the center. Now would be a good time to install a short shift or even perform the ?center console weight reduction? mod.

Once this piece is out of the way remove the ashtray and feed the wires from the timer through the back of the ash tray spot. I pulled mine out the bottom towards the passenger?s side then from the front feed it left then back to meet up with the wiring harness. Take note of the bolt hole from where the under console was removed. Be sure to feed the wires out ABOVE this location so that they aren?t hanging down by your feet after the install. Plug in the harness and then make sure all your wire?s have slack and aren?t being pinched anywhere. DO NOT tape mount the timer yet. You?ll want to save that for very last incase something goes wrong and you need to go back a step.

Pry here to remove part The Timer in it's final location

Step 5: Parking Brake Wire

This step is optional. As a safety feature the time has the option of killing the ignition if the parking brake goes down while it?s counting down. Seems like a good feature to me so I?ll install it. If you do not install this feature be sure to leave the grey wire on the harness connected to itself.

If you ARE installing this feature; start by disconnecting this loop. Once disconnected connect the appropriate end to the grey wire coming from the timer. After that take the grey wire that was included with the timer and plug that into the other end of the disconnected loop. So now you should have the wire coming from the timer going to the harness then from the harness to the grey wire.

If you didn?t take apart the center console in the last step you should do so now (just go to the last step for how to). Now you?re feeding the grey wire down to the parking break lever. Start by feeding the wire up along with wires from the timer, then down along the area where the center console was. Try and keep the wire under the carpet and along side other wires.

Once you have it run down to the brake lever find the pink wire. It?s located under the carpet between the lever and the passenger?s seat (see pic below). Use one of the included splicers and splice the grey wire into the pink. If you don?t know how to use the splicer just stare at it for a while and you?ll figure it out. If you still can?t figure it out you probably shouldn?t be installing this thing yourself.

The Pink E-Brake Wire

Step 6: Splicing into the ECU

I?m fairly sure this is only necessary for the HKS Type 1 Timer, NOT the Type 0 or any other timer for that matter. I?m fairly sure it?s even optional for the Type 1, though you?ll loose some of the nicer features of the timer.

For this Step you?ll first need to FIND the ECU. The ECU is located in the front of the floor board on the passenger?s side (see pic below). To get to it you?ll need to first pull up the carpet. Remove you?re floor matt, and unscrew the three carpet screws holding down the top of the carpet. There is one on the top left and two right next to each other on the top right near the door. They should unscrew but if you?re having problems feel free to just pull it off. Once the screws are out pull down the carpet making sure it doesn?t snag on any of the plastic molding. Pull it down far enough that you can easily get to the metal plate covering the ECU. Use your socket to get off the 4 bolts holding the plat down (you?ll need the extension for the top bolt). Once the cover is off you can unbolt the ECU itself. I found it was easier to splice things in while it unbolted (and the black plastic clip was undone).

The two wires you?ll need to splice into are the RPM line and the Speed line. Your timer should have come with a harness diagram but if not I?ve included the diagram below. The ECU wire labeled ?I? needs to be spliced into the brown wire included with the timer and the ECU wire labeled ?S? needs to be spliced into the blue wires from the timer. At first this task seems impossible but it?s fairly easy. Just use the scissors to trim into the black wire housing just slightly being careful not to damage any of the wires. Then pull slightly on the wire you need. And it should give you just enough room to get the splicer in there. I only needed to trim about 5mm of the housing from the ?S? location and I didn?t need to trim the ?I? location at all. If you?re having trouble find the wires just look at the pic below and note that the ?I? wire is solid green and the ?S? wire is green with a yellow stripe.

Once the wires are securely spliced in. reattach the ECU and run the brown and blue wires across the center console back to the harness. Again keep the wires under the carpet until under the console? and run them along side the brown wire when it gets to that point.

Where it?s At The ECU Splices

Step 6: Testing it out

Technically you are now done installing the turbo timer. There are however a few things you should consider doing before putting your car back together. For now we should just test that the timer you just installed is in fact installed and working properly. Reconnect the negative terminal of the battery and clip up the under column on the drivers side. Start your car up and test out the timer! You should see the face light up blue? play around with some of the features and notice you can view your current RPM, speed, voltage, etc. Try shutting the engine off and make sure the timer does what it should. Start it up again then shut it off and make sure the safety works when you release the parking brake.

If everything is working how it should move on to the next set of steps. Otherwise go back and re-trace your steps to ensure everything is in order.

If you have a Keyless Entry system:

The remote will not lock the doors while the car is running. This causes an obvious problem when you have a turbo timer because now you cannot use the key fob to lock the doors until the timer has stopped. To disable this simply find the keyless entry module and clip the dark green wire with a black stripe. The keyless entry module is located in the driver?s side dash just above the fuse box. It is a black box with a single bolt holding it in place. There are two wires that are green with a black strip. Clip the darker of the two and tape off both ends.

If you have a Subaru Alarm:

Similar to the Keyless entry system the Subaru alarm will not arm while the car is running, to disable this simply find the security module and clip the grey wire. The Security module is located next to the e-brake (under the plastic cover and center console storage of course). There is only one grey wire entering this device. Simply clip it and tape off both ends. If you have both Keyless entry and a subaru Alarm you will need to do both of these steps.

I should note that a few people have sited problems with arming the alarm while the car is still running. The problems typicaly entail vibrations from the idling car tripping the center pressure sensor. Many others with alarms have sited no problems.

Putting it Back Together

If everything is working as it should. Proceed to put everything back together. Starting with putting the bolts back in on the drivers side, then the floor on the passengers side, then the center console.

Once everything is back together use the double sided sticky tape to secure the timer in position.

Done and Done!

NOW IT?S TIME TO HAVE SOME FUN!

The Reason the HKS Type 1 is better than the rest of the timers is because it allows you to set RPM and Speed Warnings, as well as calculate 0-60 times (or 0-120, or 0-100-0, and a few more), it also does quarter mile time, has a stop watch, and keeps track if your highest RPM ever and Highest Speed ever (yeah it?s really cool). You can also do rolling starts and calculate 5-65 times and such. When it comes right down to it the Timer functions are the least entertaining/useful. The Type 1 is a really nifty addition and lets you have some fun with your WRX. Being able to sit your friend down and point to the timer and say: ?look how fast I got her going? or PROVE that your 0-60 is fewer than 6.4 and just have fun.

AFTERWARD

I wrote this how to because there was no good info on the internet on how to install one of these things. Every how to was for the Blitz dual timer located next to the cup holder if you had an alarm which doesn?t really work for this because aside from the location of the harness everything is different.