looking good dude.....going to be nice

 

Got the downpipe fabbed up today! SO happy I went with a 3.5". It fits great and should help the turbo quite a bit!



Clearance past the framerail is great! I thought it was going to be much tighter than this. Just need to go pick up another 3.5" V band clamp assembly so I can remove the downpipe from the rest of the exhaust and I'll be all set.


And here it is with the upper BOV pipe in place. Probably going to have to remove it again when I make the wastegate pipe to go back into the downpipe but I wanted to see the fit. The wastegate pipe is going to be a PITA due to tight clearance but thats the least of my worries at this point!

 

that's cool! you can still change the plugs too!

 

I know haha. It's funny because I'm still going to make a flange setup so the downpipe can be removed quickly if I need to take it out, but in all honesty, plug clearance looks pretty easy even with it in place!

 

That's pretty enough to be in a super stock pulling tractor!!! Really - those guys spend boo-koo bucks on custom stuff. That's really nice!

 

More work done! Finished up the rest of the downpipe and then started making my exhaust. Had to go pick up another 3.5" V band clamp so that the downpipe could be removed from the rest of the exhaust. I'll need to order another U-J bend piece of pipe as well to finish the exhaust but it's coming along! I set my deadline for the middle of April. At this point, it seems very doable, so I guess we'll see. I'm going to be full throttle on this thing for the next month and a half so I should have steady updates.

Good clearence past the starter and framerail, and the V band clamp for easy removal of just the downpipe.




I'll have to cut about 5" off of where the pipe is straight and then weld on a 90* to run it like the factory exhaust, but I left it longer so I can start it and have the exhaust blow out of the side for now.


This won't be sticking quite so far into the wheel well after it's made permanantly!

 

any plans to wrap the battery cable where it passed by the exhaust pipe? you could also wrap the exhasut pipe in header wrap in that location- i've done that on my cars. nice work!

 

I'll definately be wrapping the exhaust pipe with the heat wrap. The battery cable I think will be ok. I asked a few places and they say that heavy gauge cable is pretty resistant to heat, and they said as long as it's an inch or so away from the exhaust, I shouldn't have a problem. IF it becomes a problem down the road though, I'll put some heat sleeving on it.

 

i'm probably overly cautious.....but if the pos cable melts against the exhasut pipe it's gonna be ugly!

 

amazing!!! cant wait for the maiden voyage video

 

LOL, hey it's good to be cautious sometimes! I'm not too worried about it honestly. I think the pics make it look worse than it really is. I have it all bracketed and zip tied up so even if it started to melt slightly, it's not moving anywhere close to the exhaust!

Thanks man, me either! It'll probably be coming very soon. Gonne be waiting for you to start working on your again as well!

 

Some more good news. Fired the car up today with the new turbo and wanted to test out the fans now that they're wired up. Car got to about 185 degrees and fan #1 kicked on and it never got above that temp! Fan #2 never even came on which is a good thing I guess, since 1 is enough to keep the car cool at an idle! Car ran beautifully, and the tach works as well now, since I had it set on the wrong setting before. Also got my T top weatherstripping in the mail which is now installed. Heres a few crappy pics since I forgot to snap them right after I installed it.

 

Still using the old drip rails?

 

No. They will be replaced along with the actual T-top weatherstrips. Just wanted to latch them back on for now so that it kept dust out of the interior! That'll probably be one of the last things I do.

 

What brand weatherstrip did you use, and how did they fit?

 

It was metro seal, and honestly, it fit excellent. The sizing was perfect and it fit nice and tightly into the channels. No complaints here so far! Windows DO need some adjustment though lol.

EDITED FOR MISTAKE ON SEAL BRAND

 

So the weatherstrip on your t top (not the drip rails on the edge) is that new or old? I am wondering because you have a gap between the two weatherstrips where they meet at the rear part of the window. I am not being critical, but I was going to buy the Soffseal for my car, and I want to know how they fit.

 

The weatherstrip on the actual T top itself is still old and crappy. I havn't touched that yet. When you buy the small strips that go on the actual T tops, you position them to "butt" up to the seals on the body of the car. I still havn't even started to line anything up so the T tops and windows still need some adjustment. That could also be the reason for the gap.

And as far as the brand of the T top body weatherstripping I got, it's made by "metro seal", NOT soffseal. Sorry for the confusion!

 

Had the T top off today to check how the seals set. Heres a little better pic! This is the second time I've done seals on this car, and I hope it's the last....because they SUCK to do!! LOL, they came out good though.

 

I've got my t-top weatherstripping all pulled and cleaned off. I'm going to be painting the channels with por-15 first, so I need to wait another month or two when the weather is a bit warmer.

Any 'gotchas' you have run into when putting the new weatherstripping in? I've never done it before, and I'm afraid I'm going to mess it up somehow and have to buy new seals.

 

It's pretty straight forward along the top rails. Just be sure to use some good adhesive like 3M and put it both in the inner and outer "channel" where the weatherstrip fits into on the roof. The part that goes down the rear of the side glass is relatively easy as well. The lower portion tucks into the channel first and then you push the upper "lip" on the rubber into the channel. The area where the weatherstrip goes into the sloped front area of the glass is a pain in the butt. I had to use a flat head screwdriver to help seat the weatherstrip, but it's the same concept as the back of the window. You have to tuck the weatherstrip into the bottom of the channel first and then push the upper rubber ridge in. Getting the bottom in is a bit of a pain though which is why I used a screwdriver to push it in.

In all honesty, I probably won't be driving this car much if at all in the rain, but I still wanted them to seal as well as possible for when I was washing it, and for those times I'd possibly get caught out in the rain. Theres a couple "how to" articles on here as well which come in handy!

 

Got the dash back together tonight! I was waiting on my volt gauge to be swapped out since I got a deffective one (showed 12 volts while the car was running but the multimeter showed 13.6). Sent it back to jegs and they swapped it out without a question! Got it back today and now it's at 14 while the car is running so were good to go! Heres a few shots.







And the night shot!


Also got the A and B pillar trim on the pass side. Still need a gauge for the drivers side trim pod so I couldn't get that on just yet.

 

whens the carpet going in? sound system? how about a lil video of the car running with no exhaust on it.. im sure the turbo sounds amazing..



yea i cant wait to get back home to it and start turning some wrenches.. i might be taking a huge step with it.. since i bought the gto i wont be using the trans am as a daily driver.. sooo i think im ganna twin turbo it.. cheap ebay turbos.. mainly for the piping and experience so when the lt1 blows i can reuse most of it except the important parts like the cheap turbo and blow off valve which i will upgrade on the lsx motor i drop in afterward

 

looks good! did you use an electric oil pressure gauge, or does it have the tube?

 

Carpet cant go in until I get the ground effects back on (the nuts that hold the ground effects are under the carpet). Sound system is pretty much all done in the car, just need some front speakers. You just can't see it because the car is so full of crap inside right now! As far as a vid, I will have a new one very soon. Just have to get my turbo heat blanket on and then put the BOV pipe back in. Maybe I can even get some BOV action on vid lol.

And I would def go the ebay twin turbo route! They really aren't that bad and they've been proven to make good power a few times. Question is how long they'll last.

No tubes running inside the car! They are all electric. The mechanical ones just never sat right with me when being inside a car lol.

 

looking very nice...also cant wait to hear a video of it running

 

those gauges look sharp!

 

guages dont look sharp they look absolutely killer. now those al change color correct? even the radio?

 

Nice! I need to catch up

 

The gauges are blue only. The stereo changes color, but I've always been a sucker for blue anyways so thats probably what it'll stay as lol. And thanks guys!

 

Heres some cruising around the block footage with a little bit of turbo spool thrown in!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTyZz...ature=youtu.be

 

Sounds great

 

That sounds awesome. I'm hoping (if I'm extremely lucky) I'll be doing test runs like that no fenders, no bumpers nothing, by summer's end. I've got a nice long smooth fairly straight county route near me that I use for test runs. Can get up there fairly quick and cruise for about a mile or so then turn it back around. For hard core testing, I use a mountain road that is not much further. Has enough variation on it to show any errors in the car. Even with the junk caprice 305, I got up to 70+ on that county route in no time at all.....scary when its comfy at 70 where other cars 50+ gets scary. OOOPPPS LOL!

 

Very sweet RJ. It sounded awesome!

 

I CANT WAIT to hear it in person

 

Now I want boost

 

Ndu, you will deffinately hear it this spring!

Car drives amazing. Even with a stock LS1 tune on the PCM, it drives like a factory car. I'm sure it will quiet down a bit once I get a full exhaust on it as well. My buddy that rode with me is doing a 6.0 swap into a fox body stang and the ride made him want to finish it ASAP! I have to admit, I was grinning like a school girl the whole time too lol....I had taken the car for a quick ride around the block once before, but the turbo piping was not hooked to the intake and I barely gave it any RPM's so as not to overspin the turbo. This was essentially the first ride that I was actually able to "drive" it, and I have the MAJOR itch now to get it on the road! I'm sticking to my mid April deadline!

 

Now that's a master piece ! Thumbs up man .

I usually log on here to check out the ls builds ever since I came across ur build I was tempted to do a power adder lol maybe someday

Uve been working on this for quiet a while and it was well worth it.

 

love the turbo spool. motor sounds strong. cant wait to see this thing done....maybe some sound clips of you really opening it up down a track etc...

 

This video makes me want to get an ls motor even more than I did before. Im thinking next winter??

You gotta take me for a spin someday!

 

Thanks for the good words man! Your car was deffinately one of my earlier "inspirations" to be honest with ya. I've always been a sucker for that blue, and the way you set your exhaust up had me drooling when I saw it!

There will be plenty of those once it's tuned...believe me!

Go for it Matt! Your car is such a clean ride with good brakes and tasteful suspension...all it's missing is a nice LSx powerplant. And I'll be giving out plenty of rides come springtime!

 

sounds like a freekin semi!

 

Sounded like my car with wide open exhaust and it was a junk 305 from a Caprice. Though the video might be distorting it somewhat. It sounded immediately familiar to me. Nothing like an American V8.

 

details on the intercooler please. thanks. great looking car!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks man. Intercooler is an ebay one (CX racing) and I believe the size is 31"x12"x4". I have heard the one with the 4 inch wide core is the one to get since it is much more efficient than the 3 inch version.

And lol at "sounds like a semi." There have been 3 people so far that have watched the vid that told me it sounded like a diesel truck since the turbo whistle lingers on for so long, even after you let off the gas! I like it!

 

I'd be willing to bet that your 3 inch thick intercooler works just as well as the 4...people forget- but the thicker it is, the harder it is for air to get through it...which cuts back on it's effieciency....In my car i went from a new 2 row factory radiator to a thick 4 row aluminum one...and what i noticed is that driving around town the car runs slightly WARMER.....it's only at higher speeds does it act the same as the thinner one... you will have so much friggin power, you'll be breaking the tires loose! how about a vid on an EMPTY street with no speed limit signs ? that would be cool!

 

Wow man your car is bad *** love the sound of turbo can wait to get to that stage of my build when it comes time to do a power adder but probley wont be as fun with an auto behind it. Great work keep goin

 

I actually have the one with the 4" core, haha. And I know how the philosophy works with radiators, but I honestly think on an intercooler that the bigger it is, the better it is. The reason that thick radiators can actually cool less than a thinner one is because with a thicker radiator, you need a much increased fan CFM to get the air through it. With an intercooler however, You do not need forced air through it for it to have an effect. This means that surface area is what cools the air charge. I would also think that the bigger volume on the inside of the intercooler would allow for more airflow through it, meaning more efficiency. But again, I am just saying that based on what I have heard from others!

 

yeah there's allot of guys with theories- been through this with my son and his 3000gt with two turbos and "side mount" intercoolers......most guys with that car think it's better to have one big intercooler in front of the radiator........i kinda like the two side mount ones...nuthin behind them...just tons of fresh air whippin through them...anyway you slice it, your car's gonna fly!

 

Going to be a hell of a monster when she's done, can't wait to see finished pics of that paint glistening in the sunset.