1969 GTO Judge Clone LQ4 turbo 4L60e
#421
TECH Apprentice
iTrader: (10)
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Peoria IL
Posts: 340
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I haven't been on here for a while and it looks like I've missed a lot! The car looks great. Congrats on the Car Craft article and Drag Week. Even though you built the car for yourself, its nice to get some recognition now and then!
#425
Ok soooo I guess some stuff has happen since my last update
I upgraded the fuel system to an aeromotive phantom in tank set up. Bigger fuel line feed and return and new fuel rails
Put it on the dyno to turn up the boost and it wouldn't increase boost (I used the poor mans Home Depot "boost controller" ). I left disappointed because we couldn't turn it up
I went straight to johns out and we re routed the vaccine lines on the controller and waste gate and got it to make more boost ---- of you have to do this, something isn't right, but I did it anyway
It made more boost 18 total and pulled HARDDDD
So off to Drag Week 2015 we go
Sunday, Tech and test day was fairly uneventful. I did have to do some cutting on the rear fenders because the Pro's were rubbing.
Made a few partial passes but something just wasn't right. I could hear it pinging but the A/F looked fine
We made a few changes and made another partial pass and then decided to worry about it on day one
Day one rolls around and we make a couple passes and aborted all of them because of the pinging. But it was making some good 1/8 times. Picked up quite a bit since the upgrades and more boost
Finally I needed to make a full pass to get a timeslip so we could get on the road and mess with it the next day
Well the full pass was the last pass
After the 1/8 it let the magic out via both head gaskets and heads
It was late in the day and since I don't have stock thickness head gaskets I decided to put it on the trailer and leave it at the track and just follow the rest of the week in my truck
We got back and I was deflated and let it sit for a few months
We thought it was just he drivers head so we pulled it and the cometic gasket was blown and the head was torched
We replaced the gasket and got another stock 317 head and slapped it back together
Went to start it up and water was being pushed out of the radiator...... ****!
So I pulled the turbo stuff off and pulled the passenger head off and low and behold it was toast too....
Luckily I bought a set of heads so I ordered another head gasket and put it all back together with the new head
Started it up and it smoked like a freight train but seems to be running fine so we went for a drive around the neighborhood and stopped at the gas station and it seemed to be easing up a little on the smoke so we jumped on the highway and went for a drive
It was running great. We had turned the boost down to about 10psi and it felt good By the time we got back to the house there was no smoke
We decided it had to be the back pressure from my home made log set up. It worked fine at 10psi but didn't like 18psi
So I jumped online and bought some twin turbo manifolds and decided I was upgrading yet again. I got the manifolds and they look awesome. But my car is running fine and I really want to drive it instead of tearing it apart and spending thousands of dollars to go twins just to cause a limited time problem. I can put it at 10 and enjoy the hell out of the car now. Or I can pull it apart. Spend a bunch of money and the couple times a year I want to race it will be faster.... But I drive the car a lot more than I race it It's a fun street car but it's not FAST The guys I run with have 8 second cars. My little 10.0 (hopefully) car isn't going to come close to hanging with them so I can leave it a 10.80 ish car and enjoy it NOW
Sooo I've decided I'm going to sell the twin turbo headers and just enjoy the car Maybe I'll change something later but honestly I probably won't. Down the road I may buy another car (lighter car) and build some thing but for now I'm just going to enjoy what I have
I upgraded the fuel system to an aeromotive phantom in tank set up. Bigger fuel line feed and return and new fuel rails
Put it on the dyno to turn up the boost and it wouldn't increase boost (I used the poor mans Home Depot "boost controller" ). I left disappointed because we couldn't turn it up
I went straight to johns out and we re routed the vaccine lines on the controller and waste gate and got it to make more boost ---- of you have to do this, something isn't right, but I did it anyway
It made more boost 18 total and pulled HARDDDD
So off to Drag Week 2015 we go
Sunday, Tech and test day was fairly uneventful. I did have to do some cutting on the rear fenders because the Pro's were rubbing.
Made a few partial passes but something just wasn't right. I could hear it pinging but the A/F looked fine
We made a few changes and made another partial pass and then decided to worry about it on day one
Day one rolls around and we make a couple passes and aborted all of them because of the pinging. But it was making some good 1/8 times. Picked up quite a bit since the upgrades and more boost
Finally I needed to make a full pass to get a timeslip so we could get on the road and mess with it the next day
Well the full pass was the last pass
After the 1/8 it let the magic out via both head gaskets and heads
It was late in the day and since I don't have stock thickness head gaskets I decided to put it on the trailer and leave it at the track and just follow the rest of the week in my truck
We got back and I was deflated and let it sit for a few months
We thought it was just he drivers head so we pulled it and the cometic gasket was blown and the head was torched
We replaced the gasket and got another stock 317 head and slapped it back together
Went to start it up and water was being pushed out of the radiator...... ****!
So I pulled the turbo stuff off and pulled the passenger head off and low and behold it was toast too....
Luckily I bought a set of heads so I ordered another head gasket and put it all back together with the new head
Started it up and it smoked like a freight train but seems to be running fine so we went for a drive around the neighborhood and stopped at the gas station and it seemed to be easing up a little on the smoke so we jumped on the highway and went for a drive
It was running great. We had turned the boost down to about 10psi and it felt good By the time we got back to the house there was no smoke
We decided it had to be the back pressure from my home made log set up. It worked fine at 10psi but didn't like 18psi
So I jumped online and bought some twin turbo manifolds and decided I was upgrading yet again. I got the manifolds and they look awesome. But my car is running fine and I really want to drive it instead of tearing it apart and spending thousands of dollars to go twins just to cause a limited time problem. I can put it at 10 and enjoy the hell out of the car now. Or I can pull it apart. Spend a bunch of money and the couple times a year I want to race it will be faster.... But I drive the car a lot more than I race it It's a fun street car but it's not FAST The guys I run with have 8 second cars. My little 10.0 (hopefully) car isn't going to come close to hanging with them so I can leave it a 10.80 ish car and enjoy it NOW
Sooo I've decided I'm going to sell the twin turbo headers and just enjoy the car Maybe I'll change something later but honestly I probably won't. Down the road I may buy another car (lighter car) and build some thing but for now I'm just going to enjoy what I have
#430
2165 Turbo Rail,
Where did you get the boots on the Aeromotive "hat"? Are they Aeromotive? Do they supply them with the hat/pump?
thanks,
Jim
Where did you get the boots on the Aeromotive "hat"? Are they Aeromotive? Do they supply them with the hat/pump?
thanks,
Jim
Last edited by Jimbo1367; 04-30-2016 at 12:06 PM.
#431
Well guys, I have an update.....
I haven't driven the car much in the last 3 years (about 1100 miles) so I decided to sell it. I sold it on June 19th to a young guy in KS
*****but wait, there's more!****
on Sept 1st, he sent me the following pics. soooooo.... a lot of build threads don't ever END.... well this one does have a very unhappy ending....
I haven't driven the car much in the last 3 years (about 1100 miles) so I decided to sell it. I sold it on June 19th to a young guy in KS
*****but wait, there's more!****
on Sept 1st, he sent me the following pics. soooooo.... a lot of build threads don't ever END.... well this one does have a very unhappy ending....
#435
By the looks of the damage it looks like it was from the firewall back area. Most of the engine and hoses are intact up front, and from the first picture you can see the flames on the ground...... trans fluid???
#436
TECH Senior Member
That first pic looks like an explosion, unless the flames were that big. Bummer!
#439
What a shame! This was one of my favorite builds. One of the first musclecars I ever rode in was a GTO Judge that belonged to my older sister's boyfriend, probably around 1970. Always loved those cars, and I thought you did a great job bringing this one into the LS era.
#440
The explanation I received (and keep in mind this is a young guy (so y/o) that is a car guy, but not a mechanic type guy
he'd told me that it was tapping... then he said it was a knock after having his grandpa look at it they said it had a broken piston (but was still running and driving and he drove it home etc)... keep in mind this was the fully build short block with forged pistons/rods/crank and was tuned VERY conservatively the week before I sold it to him (tuned on 91, removed the meth system etc)
a few days after his grandpa diagnosed it with a broken piston he decided to drive it from his house to his shop about 1am (he works nights so this was normal for him to be active at night when he's off work)
he made is about a mile from his house and the car stopped running. He went to pop the hood and it was a 50 mph gust of wind that night going from the front of the car towards the back.
right when he popped the first latch he heard something hissing and then exploded of the pass side of the engine. The wind pushed the fire towards the back of the car.
The wind would explain the front of the car not being burnt like the rest of the car.
I wish I could see it in person so i can look it all over to see if maybe he threw a rod and that started the fire or if something on the fuel line was loose etc... we will never know I'm sure.... sucks
here is the link to the insurance auction that has some day time pics
https://www.iaai.com/vehicle?itemID=...oadRecent=True
he'd told me that it was tapping... then he said it was a knock after having his grandpa look at it they said it had a broken piston (but was still running and driving and he drove it home etc)... keep in mind this was the fully build short block with forged pistons/rods/crank and was tuned VERY conservatively the week before I sold it to him (tuned on 91, removed the meth system etc)
a few days after his grandpa diagnosed it with a broken piston he decided to drive it from his house to his shop about 1am (he works nights so this was normal for him to be active at night when he's off work)
he made is about a mile from his house and the car stopped running. He went to pop the hood and it was a 50 mph gust of wind that night going from the front of the car towards the back.
right when he popped the first latch he heard something hissing and then exploded of the pass side of the engine. The wind pushed the fire towards the back of the car.
The wind would explain the front of the car not being burnt like the rest of the car.
I wish I could see it in person so i can look it all over to see if maybe he threw a rod and that started the fire or if something on the fuel line was loose etc... we will never know I'm sure.... sucks
here is the link to the insurance auction that has some day time pics
https://www.iaai.com/vehicle?itemID=...oadRecent=True