Hahaha....me and my buddy actually changed the NEW finish date to september. He blew his motor in his camaro so we haggled a new deal. But if I don't finish by september, I REALLY owe some dinner.

Be sure to put up a build thread on yours and I'll check it out. My brother may be going with a 6.0 in his....great motor! And if you do ever get back to CT, I'm always down for some cruising....granted the car is done by then LOL.

 

I am trying to become an airforce recruiter and get stationed somewhere in CT im from Milford so either New Haven, Bridgport, or New London I definately will not be tearing the car down as much as you have and will be fabricating alot as one offs for future sales

 

I've been tempted to opt for a rack and pinion, also your car is clean by my standards, mine is filthy as hell, some day I will get it decently clean....bigger priorities though..

 

I got some more progress done today on the hotside. Started playing with the pass side manifold and almost finished the drivers side merge pipe. I'm trying to use as much of the old piping as I can to cut cost even though pipe is not very expensive. This first setup will only be to get me into the turbo game and then once the car runs and is tuned, I'm planning on doing a nice stainless setup. Heres a few pics...don't mind my welds. They aren't the best but they are strong and I'm using flux core gasless wire so they won't be pretty anyways!

Got the driver side merge pipe done up to the flange area. I think I may have to extend it to bring it closer to the pass framerail though since I was doing a few quick measurments and with the turbo here, it will slightly hit the upper radiator hose. Not a big deal to lengthen it though.




Before, the pass manifold sat WAY too close to these heater hoses for comfort so I made a little S bend and theres about an inch or a little more of clearance now. Should be fine since all the hot side piping will be wrapped.




Thats all for now. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the merge pipe connected and get the turbo flange on. Then I'll have to think up a way to brace the turbo since the pipe can't support it. I'm thinking of taking some heavy duty steel and welding it to the turbo flange and then bolting it to the pass side head. May not look the prettiest, but I'll see what I can come up with. I'd MUCH rather support the turbo to the motor than to the framerail since I want the turbo to flex with the motor for minimal stress on the piping.

 

Welds don't look half bad to me, not as clean as they could be, but if you're new to it, and not using gas, and that's a good idea fabbing it up out of old pipe, give you some practice and can figure out exactly how to route it so you can make the final piece more streamlined and clean. If you really want it to be nice I would get it all ceramic coated, if I recall I think you mentioned you wanted some heat retention in the pipes, and to mitigate underhood temps, ceramic coating will make it last and help retain heat, and it looks great too.

 

use a pool noodle or some kind of foam in the pipe to hold it in place for a tack weld it will butt the two pipes up and hold them square it make things alittle easier and you can make multiple pieces to get ahead of where you currently are at

This is just me but flux is easy to weld but most places you can rent a gas bottle I can rent a bottle for 40 a year and its 36 bucks to get it filled and I like to weld with .23 wire and get some Bad *** welds and I havent been welding that long I have the millermatic 211

 

How are you going to fit fans in there. Im not sure of the "turbo lingo" for the pipe that goes from the ps and ds manifold to the turbo flange, but that looks just inches away from the radiator. Doesn't look like much room for fans???

 

Pretty sure he said hes going with a pusher instead of a puller.(ie. fan on the other side of rad pushing air through, rather than engine side pulling it through)

 

Id imagine he is going with pusher fans mounted in front of the radiator

 

That noodle thing isn't a bad idea actually! I had a freind helping me yesterday so he would hold the pipe perfectly in place and I would tack it a few times. Worked out nice, but I can see your idea being pretty helpful if I was working by myself. And I wanted a millermatic 140, but the lincoln was too good to pass up!

The others are correct...I'll be using a pusher fan mounted in front of the radiator. These cars were graced with miles of room in front of the radiator due to the bumper design so I'll have plenty of room for my intercooler and a pusher fan. And the crossover pipe looks real close to the radiator in the pics, but it has the piece of flex pipe on it so in it's final position, it will be pulled a little farther out and the turbo's bracket will keep it in place. It won't be AS close to the radiator when done.

 

Little more progress today...slowly but surely the hot side is coming together. I finished up the pass side manifold today and made the merge pipe. T4 flange isn't welded to it yet but it's almost done. Heres a few pics...

Pass manifold completed. Lots of welds on this one because I had to change so much and I'm working with spare piping I had laying around. Looks ugly but it works!


Heres the merge pipe coming together. I havn't finished completely welding where the 2 sides join yet but will tomorrow. Also found out that because I had to lengthen the pipe running across the front of the motor, that now the pipe that will connect to the pass manifold is pointing right at the lower radiator hose. I'll have to cut it and add a little bend but thats really all I have left to do.


And heres our recent addition to the family. She kind of "addopted us" since she just wandered into the driveway one day and was purring and being very freindly. It's a very good cat...after it hung around for a week or so we put out a food and water dish for it so she's been here for about 3 weeks now. Comes into the garage every night before we close the door and picked the most expensive bed in the house!! I don't mind too much though because she doesn't move off that blanket.

 

lol..nice build is coming along dude! new garage buddy? hahah

 

Well, got the last of the merge pipe welded up today with the exception of the turbo flange. Still not sure if I really like how it came out using the flux core wire. I might have to splurge a little and get gas and some brand new U-bends and make it nice. At least I have a good template now that I can make a new set up off of! With this done too I can start locating things in the engine bay to keep them away from the hot parts. Anyways, heres some pics!

This bracket was temporary just to hold these 2 pieces while I made the piping to connect them but it clears the turbo so in the final design, I may actually put a reinforcement bracket here permanantly


This shows clearence with the radiator. It's a little close but I doubt it'll be an issue.


And another shot of my welded mess! I'm an amatuer in case you couldn't tell but all my freinds tell me gas is night and day in the welds so I'll probably get some soon.

 

Oh man... Once you get some gas, you'll wonder why you didnt just start off with it. When I taught myself to weld, I started with flux core. And I got really discouraged because I couldnt make any "pretty" and strong welds. It was a mess. So I picked up a bottle out of frustration, changed the wire to .023 and looked like a superstar. I generally use .023 for everything. Unless Im welding axle parts or things like cross members. Then I jump up to .035...my little welder does the best it can with that haha.

Doesnt look too bad man! Besides, its just for mock up and testing. Ide rather mess up some old steel tubing than nicer tubing. If I were you...when it came time to build the final system, I would get stainless bends from magnaflow or something. Then tack them together, with 309L wire if you wish. Might be able to get the tacks to hold with regular wire. Then find a welding shop, and slip a guy a few green backs to have it TIG welded. Then you'll be in like flint. I tried to fully weld with my MIG and 309L and it didnt turn out too good. Im sure you'll get it and have it looking good!

J.

J.

 

get some painters tape and tape that amazing paint job off during fab you dont want spatter or that one slip to put a scratch in it 3 rolls of tape cover the whole engine bay till your done lol


And its not about how good you can weld just how good you can grind

 

Thanks for the words of advice! Honestly, I think I'm going to get some gas today....then we'll REALLY see what my little welder can do. I also seriously thought about a SS set up in the final stage, but that wouldn't be for a while. Thats the kind of setup you build an engine around lol. I at least want to make a way nicer mild steel crossover pipe for now. Then down the road maybe I'll get real fancy and go with some SS tubular turbo headers and like you said, try to tack piping and have a shop weld the stainless. Just so happens I'm very good freinds with a kid thats been working in a metal shop his whole life. He's already going to be welding the aluminum intercooler pipe for me, so I'm sure he can do stainless as well.

I did VERY minimal tacking in the engine bay, but after welding a bit I noticed that those sparks shoot far sometimes! If I start making a new setup I will def be covering areas of the engine bay.

 

Finally was able to get some gas for the welder and hot damn! What a difference it made! I laid a couple beads on a scrap piece of metal and it was unbelievable the difference it made in the weld. Unfortunately, trying to weld half rusty pipe made the welds still a little messy, but way better than before. Heres a few pics after grinding down the old crap welds and doing new welds with gas. This took forever on the grinder too!!!

Honestly, I think I am going to get the car running with this set up for now and then just make a new turbo hot side set up using my own welded manifolds and all. I'm just picky with looks, and whether these are wrapped or not, I'll still know they look like crap underneath!

 

hit the edges with a grinder before you weld and it will take far better you never want to weld on rust

Looks good what size wire were you using

 

Also Im sure you did if you had to but I know on my welder I have to swap polarity to go from flux to solid core

 

I tried to get the metal cleaned off with the grinder before welding, but some of the bends and tight spots are almost impossible to get at! I need to get a wire brush attachment for my angle grinder...those seem to work very well for cleaning the metal before welding.

I'm using .025 wire since it's what the welder came with....and I did in fact reverse the polarity lol. Read through the instructions and it said to do that. I would have never known otherwise though since I am a welding noob.

 

BIG update! Heres a little teaser for you guys since I've been waiting a long time for this and I'm sure you all have too!







Gotta make a brace for the turbo now and get some gaskets but it's about there. After I make a downpipe and get my engine harness, it'll be time to fire her up!

 

are you running exhaust on the car or is the turbo getting it all? and are you gonna polish the tubes up or anything like that?

 

The way I have mine set up (and the way all turbos work for that matter) I have both exhaust manifolds running into a merge pipe which goes to the turbo to spool it. Then the exhaust will exit the turbo through the wheel on the side of it in my last pic through a downpipe. The downpipe is what will connect to the rest of the cars exhaust system, but I don't have that part on yet. As for the pipes, I'll take them off and spray them with some high heat paint, then they are getting wrapped up with heat wrap.

 

thank you for the explaination, im still learning the whole mechanics behind turbo setups

 

Finished up my downpipe today and I'm really happy with it! It allows plenty of clearence and is not close to the framerail at all, so it shouldn't touch it even when the engine is torqueing. Now I basically just need my wastegate and engine harness and some praying and I can start it! Heres a few pics...

 

Looks good bud, now when can I stop by and have these tail pipes done for mine? lol




EDIT: HOLY CRAP this is my 1,500th post on TGO! I seriously need to get a life... LOL

 

Aha i agree with him! Come on man my normal pipes are killin the vibe

 

Hey if you find some I'll weld em on! And yea, you have more posts than me and I've been on since 05.....DAMN! LOL.

 

Make me feel even better HAHA

 

I got you guys beat on since 04 and not even over 100

 

How about '01 and not even 100

 

Lunati I just realized you're from Clovis. Ever come to Lubbock?

 

How much longer before start up and do you have any new vids of progress up yet?

 

I'm figuring I'm about a month away from start up. Need a few sensors, a wiring harness, and a computer and thats it. And I do have a new youtube vid, but it's a short one. Heres the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIyCURJvmmQ

 

looks good my welding practice was building a 8ft X 5ft X 5ft powdercoating oven cant say im good now but can put down a respectable weld might be moving to TIG soon too


Not stalking your thread im in Afganistan and will be for a few more months and living vicariously through you until I can touch my car again lol

 

Hey thats one way to learn to weld haha. I thought about building a welding cart for the welder, although to buy one new I think is cheaper than the materials to build one! And glad I can keep ya busy in afganistan....anything to help the troops over there!

 

Wow took me all day, but I finally finished reading this thread.

Awesome job man! Love your attention to detail.

Cant wait to hear her fire up!!

 

ok i have to pipe in here. first i am very new to the club but not new to cars. I type in duramat and this pops up.. I am thinking, you have got to be kidding me!!!!! i have a 82 pace car in my garage that i got just last week and i have the interior out of it. I want to make a street trip car out of it and i have a 454 that will be a stoker going in.. This is the kind of thing i was planing on doing and you cant find this stuff in books anywhere, you are doing a lot of people a great service.
I used to build custom Harleys and if i would have logged them like this it would have been great..
Now the real reason i responded at all.. you were worried about the orange on the pulleys.. no issues.. we used to paint and or powder coat the belt drive front pulley and clutch on the open belt primary on Harleys,, looks great and never ever had a issue with the paint.. the air cooled clutch runs much hotter than your pulleys so heat will not be an issue either..
Keep up the good work!!!!!

 

hey man lots of progress this is looking real nice! is the interior done? what about the rest of the body panels have you gotten them painted yet? like the bumpers fenders headlight bezels and spoiler? reason i ask that is i noticed that the headlights are still white. sorry if i seemed to have a lot of questions. but im just anxious to see it running and hear it running. also what did you have to do with the wiring harness? did that come with new connectors or did you just cut the old connectors from your stock harness and then just crimped them? im looking into the chassis harness you got and i was just curious if they send the connectors with it or if i have to use my olds ones. and your fuel line what size connector did you use from the ls1 tank? i seen the braided steel line im also doing that to mine. im dropping in a single walbro 255 pump and wanted to go with all new lines what size an fitting/connector with i need if im using my stock third gen tank? thanks in advance for helping me out. and again sorry about the questions this thread is the most useful one on here and its just full of info so thats why id like to find out from here because you have done just about everything with this car and it is definitely nice.

to be honest its probably the best third gen i have ever seen aside from those pretty nice pace car turbo TAs

 

Glad I could help out! And thanks for the compliments. A 454 is an awesome engine and they look great in the engine bay of a 3rd gen. Can't beat the torque they make either! As for the pulleys, I decided to just leave them how they are for now and down the road I may see about making them prettier.


^^ Now THAT makes me feel pretty good...Thanks for the compliment! As for your questions, interior is not done yet. I have to run the engine harness and then the interior is all going back in. Body panels are also not painted yet either. I really want the engine to run before I go putting the body back together, but that should be very soon! The wiring harness didn't come with all the stock style connectors. I actually had to cut and splice the factory ones onto it, but it did have the whole new fuse box all pre-wired already, and some of the steering column plugs. For my fuel system, I have all -8 feed line and then -6 return line, with an LS1 tank and twin walbro 255's. I honestly don't know what size fitting you would need to adapt the AN line to the 3rd gen tank since I used the 4th gen tank which is totally different. I'm sure if you searched around on here you would find what type of fittings are needed on the 3rd gen tank. Good luck!

 

Got a little more work done on the car. Turbo feed and drain lines are now in place as well as one of the manifolds is on permanatly. Heres a few pics.

This is how all the turbo piping is going to look when finished. It's wrapped in DEI heat wrap and then coated with black silicone dye to give it the black look. Hides the welds and looks sleek while keeping heat out of the engine bay which is always a good thing!


Here you can see the reflective heat sleeve around my PS return line. I'm trying to do everything possible to keep heat away from lines where it's close. Unfortunately when you put a turbo on an engine and car not originally designed for it, it creates some setbacks, but I'm sure it'll be fine with the protective wraps.


This is where I ran my -4 AN oil feed line from that feeds the turbo. It's a small cap above the filter that is ussually plugged. I drilled and tapped it for 1/8 NPT and it worked out very nice.


Here is the -10 AN drain fitting which comes off the oil pan for the turbo to drain the oil back into. As you can see, having a tubular K-member was REALLY worth it when needing extra room for turbo setups!


Hoping to have the pass side manifold all wrapped and dyed tomorrow, and then all thats left is the crossover and down pipe which are easy.

 

Got the pass side manifold wrapped, painted, and installed today. Heres a few pics...

 

Looks professional with the headers wrapped in there like that.

 

this is looking GREAT.. awesome job..

 

Thanks guys! And as a small update, I got the starter wired up today, and she cranked! Looks like my wiring paid off again haha. I turned the key a few times and nothing happened. I was wondering what the heck I could have screwed up....then I realized it's wired to the clutch switch!

Sat in the car with my foot on the clutch and she cranked right over. Only did it quick since theres no oil in the pan but I picked up some oil today. Going to fill it up and then crank it for a few seconds to check for oil pressure. Then when that harness comes, it's firing time!!

 

More good news....filled her up with oil and after some cranking I had a nice steady powerful stream shooting out of the oil feed line for the turbo!! Systems check out.....once that engine harness is on, we are firing up!

Soon guys....very soon now.

 

been reading this post and keeping up with up it. excited yo see and hear it run. great job on the progress. looks awesome keep up the great work

 

what oil are you running in your engine and your trany? I would think royal purple would be about the only choice for a street car with a turbo or supercharger,IMO.

 

Thanks man!

For the moment, I have valvoline synthetic in there for startup since it was on sale at the parts store. I plan on only putting a few miles on it before I change it again. The engines been sitting a while so once this oil cycles a few times, I'll flush it and probably either go with mobil 1 or royal purple permanantly.

As for the tranny, just plain old valvoline dextron fluid. These T56's don't like synthetic and I have read about too many people that lost a gear or two after switching to synthetic. It eats the blocker rings in the tranny from what I've heard and then it becomes almost impossible to shift. Figured I'd play it safe and go with the basic stuff.

 

Where did you take your upolstry to get done?