ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

So after much discussion with my friend, it appears that he's convinced me and now I'm well on my way to my first wicked street car.

Picking up the motor in a couple days.
I spent my Sunday pulling my front clip off and pulling the old 350 out.

ryanleiker

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Needed some weight in my bed for the winter. But I think I'll just stick this in my car and get some sand bags instead.

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

Ok, so yesterday, I got my hydroboost unit installed and finally sold my old 350/th350 combo.

Here's what you need to know to do your own hydroboost conversion.

Here's a shot of the booster and the hydroboost mounting surfaces. Obviously there are some differences.

Here's the mounting surface on the firewall. Note: the spacing in the left is 1 1/4" and the spacing on the right is 1 7/16". Ask me how i figured out they were different.


I got my hydroboost from a 1992 Chevy Astro van. These are cheap and mount straight. I am modifying the plate to fit my firewall because its a non-wear item in the assembly.
Just knock the studs out.

Figure out where the middle holes will be so they are directly across from each other just like the original master cylinder is setup. Then measure down from there to get your other stud holes. A 7/16" step drill will be good for this.
I wanted the reservoir to be placed toward the drivers fender so I clocked my booster. To do this, just make sure you're drilling your holes as if you are looking at the firewall. The tab in the middle hole to keep the booster from rotating should be on the passenger side of the hole. Also the curves on the side of the plate to add rigidity need to face the engine and not the firewall. Ask me how I figured these helpful hints out.

This pushrods is the essential piece to make it all communicate properly. It's 4 1/4" long with rounded ends. This was a homemade piece from some 5/16" round stock from lowes.
It is significantly longer than the hydroboost pushrod and the power booster pushrod. It's actually probably 11/32" diameter, but I couldn't find any of that.


Just bolt hydroboost assembly to the firewall. Then bolt the master cylinder to it with the pushrod in the booster.
If you have power brakes you shouldn't need to modify the lines. I had manual brakes before and had to extend the rear line to reach.

Now on to the heavy decision stuff.
The hydroboost assembly is a wear item. They can be rebuilt or replaced. When you buy a new/rebuilt unit, the clevis end is attached. I decided that I needed to figure out a way to not have to remodify this end when the booster needs to be fixed. At the moment the clevis end is attached to the bottom hole in the pedal at a decently steep angle. I don't like it. If attached to the upper hole it reaches too far for the pedal to attach. The way I will solve this is to build a triangle that attaches to the two pedal holes and supplies a farther mounting hole for the clevis at a straight angle from the booster. I will take pictures and provide measurements for you to make this on your own when I do mine.

Other than that the hole thing just bolts in and you get tons more room and function. I'll post some info about the fittings I use to run all the lines.
I think so far I spent $40.



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ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

Well I've got the hydroboost in, but I'm still fitting the power steering lines. I'm using the steel fragola power steering hose ends. I'll get some pictures soon. But until then... Here's some shots of what I dealt with fitting the intercooler.



I'm running a 4th-gen F-body setup for the cooling fans/radiator/a/c condenser. The distance to the engine is about as close as I can tolerate.



Here's where I'm planning. This will end up changing... read on.




Here is the proposed "notching" of the hood latch/grill support. I really wanted to maintain the latch assembly.

And here's what I ran into when I failed to look at both sides of where I wanted to cut out. There's a latch on the other side of that metal.



I lowered it as much as I could. Which was just enough to maintain all the original mounting bolts. I will have to reenforce this support.



At the moment it sits flush against the core support and the main support rail at the bottom, which I could almost tolerate, except the filler panel and the grill couldn't mount without running into the cooler.
I did get it to clear the latch though.


Not much metal left though.


Then the plot thickened and I got carried away with the cut-off wheel.


Everything fits now though.




I'll have to reenforce the non-existent main rail though and build the end panels back in.

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

Also made a truck hose fit the radiator today.
Original hose.


New hose. Some of this may change.


I've got one of these on the way for the steam tube.

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

Here's the other piece I made to adapt the hydroboost to my brake pedal.
Notice I had to grind down the upper bolt and stack some washers to get the rod end to clear the pedal and bracket right. Because of this offset, I had to bend the bracket to the passenger side a bit also.
If you'd like the measurements, I can make a diagram. It's really basic.




EDIT: I don't want to delete stuff I've done, but don't use this strategy for your hydroboost conversion. Look further down in this build to see how I changed it to work better and more reliably.

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

Finished off mounting the intercooler. Quite the simpler approach than I had anticipated, thanks to my friend's second opinion.


Also a first attempt at homemade a/c compressor brackets.


I had originally looked into a frame notch and mounting it lower. I modified the truck a/c bracket to take advantage of the extra bolt holes but the sway bar interference was too close for me.

ryanleiker

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A little teaser into the life-altering A/C brackets I made the other day.

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

Here's a the A/C brackets I've been diligently developing to mount an R4 compressor on an LS engine. I'm 95% finished with them. I just need to cut one more spacer for the rod end tensioner which travels under the throttle body to the idler pulley mount. I may move this to the Alternator bolt.







Here's the belt routing I'm going to end up using. It enables me maintain all the original bracketry and pulleys.


Here's the tubing I used for standoffs for the brackets. It's thick wall 3/4" tubing with 1/2" steel inserted inside. This steel fits a 10mm bolt perfectly as well as the inside diameter of the aluminum. It's almost a bulletproof combination. I felt like I needed to make the standoffs this heavy duty because of the mass of the compressor. The whole bracket system is very heavy duty without taking up much space.
I'm still working on a belt length, which I'll do as soon as I finish the tensioner.

hookemdevils22

iTrader: (12)

Nice! Couple questions:
1) what trans are you running?
2) what master cylinder are you using with the hydroboost setup? Looks like OEM disc/drum- what did you do for the MC pushrod?

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

1) I'm yet to get it put together, but it'll be a fully built 4l80e with converter.
2) it is the stock disc/drum master. I made a pushrod out of solid round stock steel. 4-1/4" long. Hopefully this'll work. I may redo the pushrod. I measured the combined depth of the booster and the master.

-TheBandit-

iTrader: (1)

I made mine clear by spacing the swaybar down 1/2" at the frame brackets and grinding a little off the bottom of the bracket where the tensioner attaches. See this post for photos: https://ls1tech.com/forums/17282163-post4.html

Do you plan to use the original AC suitcase or are you going to Vintage Air / other? I will be very impressed if you can package the turbo, inter cooler, condenser AND factory AC evaporator case.

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

Na, the factory a/c I tore out a few weeks ago. Just simply too many clearance issues with manifolds and valve covers and engine setback. I didn't really feel like fighting it the rest of the build. It's also all old technology. I'm going to attempt to fit a 2002 Silverado control box under the dash with the accumulator coming out the original blend door hole in the firewall just like on the truck. I plan on using the silverado controls and wiring as well mounted in the nova dash panel. I'll cross that bridge when I do the interior. Advice from my friend was to make sure to have everything in the engine bay set up before you run the hot side, so I figured if I was going to run A/C in the future, I might as well accomodate for it. I also ran an f-body radiator/condesor/fan assembly to plan for the future as well.
Same reason I did the hydroboost this early on.

hookemdevils22

iTrader: (12)

welcome to the family btw. I got you on the x-body swap guide. make sure the info below is correct:

1972 Nova Turbo LQ4/4L80e (ryanleiker)
Mounts carshopinc mounts
Oil Pan notched f-body
Headers flipped OEM truck manifolds
Accessories Modified truck; custom brackets for high-mount AC using an R4 compressor

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

Here's a drawing of the triangle I made for the hydroboost in case you want to try your own out.

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

I'm about to start the hot/cold side piping fabrication here in a week or two. I just ordered a couple builder kits.

I'm also going to put in some time on the fuel sender to accomodate my dual walbro setup. I'm trying to make it as streamline as possible from the pumps to the main -8 fuel line to the front of the car.

My sender is quite short, so I'm looking for the best way to make it all fit when tying the hoses together.
I really dont like the plastic y-fitting that comes with the dual pump kits, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to get a metal y-fitting, or modify the entire sender-output line.

Anyone know where I can get a 5/16"-5/16"-3/8" metal y-fitting? Or 5/16"-5/16"-1/2"?

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

So here's a little something we got done the other day. My welder got sick over Christmas so we're kind of on hold at the moment. In this one the bracket is unbolted because we had quite a bit more clearance thanwe thought so we lowered the turbo even more.

forcd ind

iTrader: (7)

to help with the intercooler fitment, you can cut the ends off and weld on a cast alumn. 90 deg or whatever you need, sometimes it makes it more compact
when I had my 68 Procharged s/b nova, I had a custom made intercooler, and lowered it to uncover as much rad. as I could-custom ints. are pricy though, lol
cool project, I like the turbo builds, lots of good ideas, keep pics coming

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

I'm just running some 90* couplers off the intercooler back through the core support towards the motor. My main concern is what type of bends and turns I need to get the charge side to the intercooler. Not a huge deal just yet though.

RonSSNova

iTrader: (3)

I think you will need to find a better place for the PCM.
A lot of on the fly engineering isn't it?

Keep up the good work!

Ron