86 Monte SS. 5.3, Single turbo, Megasquirt II. Lots of pics
07-31-2013, 06:20 PM
#101
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Materials required:
2- 3/8" inverted flare nuts
2- 3/8" brass unions
2- 3/8" male inverted flare to -6 AN adapters
1. Take the sending unit out and drill out the restrictor in the vent line, it will be obvious what needs to be removed.
2. Using a tubing cutter zap off the ends of the two 3/8" lines on the sending unit, leave as much tube as possible when you do this.
3. Put the flare nuts on the tubes and flare both of them.
4. Screw all your fittings together and attach a feed and return line.
It was quite simple and works great. There is a bit of inherent danger doing it this way in a boosted application. I am using the original tank that was for a carb'd engine which means the tank isn't baffled. So when the fuel level gets really low it is quite possible to draw air into the fuel line. For a NA installation I wouldn't be overly concerned, it might cause a stumble but shouldn't cause any damage. For any type of boosted application it could cause a serious problem though. I will be switching to a baffled tank along with a new sending unit that isn't so ugly!
2- 3/8" inverted flare nuts
2- 3/8" brass unions
2- 3/8" male inverted flare to -6 AN adapters
1. Take the sending unit out and drill out the restrictor in the vent line, it will be obvious what needs to be removed.
2. Using a tubing cutter zap off the ends of the two 3/8" lines on the sending unit, leave as much tube as possible when you do this.
3. Put the flare nuts on the tubes and flare both of them.
4. Screw all your fittings together and attach a feed and return line.
It was quite simple and works great. There is a bit of inherent danger doing it this way in a boosted application. I am using the original tank that was for a carb'd engine which means the tank isn't baffled. So when the fuel level gets really low it is quite possible to draw air into the fuel line. For a NA installation I wouldn't be overly concerned, it might cause a stumble but shouldn't cause any damage. For any type of boosted application it could cause a serious problem though. I will be switching to a baffled tank along with a new sending unit that isn't so ugly!
08-31-2013, 12:08 PM
#105
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I'm not the type to shy away when I am wrong so with that being said I ended up changing over to the Dirty Dingo idler relocator kit.
Everything was working fine but I kept getting an occasional belt squeak. It was driving me nuts and I finally determined it was coming from the power steering pump pulley. I decided to see if the relocator kit could fix it so I bought it and a new belt. Low and behold no more squeak.
By no means would I say my original belt routing failed, it has worked great for quite a while now. Plenty of battery charge, good water circulation, and excellent power steering assist. But the occasional belt chirp was more than I could stand.
Here is the relocated pulley at the tip of the yellow arrrow. I also redid the intercooler to throttle body piping so that it fit a bit better.
I ditched the factory plug wires. I had wrapped them in heat shields but they were resting on the flipped manifolds and had started to burn through. So for a few bucks I bought some Summit brand plug wires and fit them. No more worries about plug wires burning off now!
I have left the 5 lbs. spring in the wastegate for the time being as I am still running the stock injectors. The data logs show I see about 4.4 lbs of boost when I hammer it and that is all that these factory injectors are comfortable with. It is just barely able to hold high 11's AFR at 100% duty cycle.
The 2004R transmission has stopped shifting into OD and is acting very weird so I think it is about to die. The rear end is the same story. It had been giving me a posi burn if I romped it from a standstill or while rolling, although it would not posi from a brake stand. Now it will only do a one wheel peel. So I think the car is coming off the road so I can fit the 4L80E, Ford 8.8" rear end, and some bigger injectors, probably 80 lbers. After that it will be time to turn the boost up past 10 lbs and hang on. Believe it or not at just 4.4 lbs. the car is an animal.
More to come in the future, stay tuned.
Everything was working fine but I kept getting an occasional belt squeak. It was driving me nuts and I finally determined it was coming from the power steering pump pulley. I decided to see if the relocator kit could fix it so I bought it and a new belt. Low and behold no more squeak.
By no means would I say my original belt routing failed, it has worked great for quite a while now. Plenty of battery charge, good water circulation, and excellent power steering assist. But the occasional belt chirp was more than I could stand.
Here is the relocated pulley at the tip of the yellow arrrow. I also redid the intercooler to throttle body piping so that it fit a bit better.
I ditched the factory plug wires. I had wrapped them in heat shields but they were resting on the flipped manifolds and had started to burn through. So for a few bucks I bought some Summit brand plug wires and fit them. No more worries about plug wires burning off now!
I have left the 5 lbs. spring in the wastegate for the time being as I am still running the stock injectors. The data logs show I see about 4.4 lbs of boost when I hammer it and that is all that these factory injectors are comfortable with. It is just barely able to hold high 11's AFR at 100% duty cycle.
The 2004R transmission has stopped shifting into OD and is acting very weird so I think it is about to die. The rear end is the same story. It had been giving me a posi burn if I romped it from a standstill or while rolling, although it would not posi from a brake stand. Now it will only do a one wheel peel. So I think the car is coming off the road so I can fit the 4L80E, Ford 8.8" rear end, and some bigger injectors, probably 80 lbers. After that it will be time to turn the boost up past 10 lbs and hang on. Believe it or not at just 4.4 lbs. the car is an animal.
More to come in the future, stay tuned.
09-01-2013, 02:19 PM
#107
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Awesome...your build is looking great!! I have an '88 that I'm hoping to start on next year. You've given me a lot of great ideas...thanks!
If you don't mind...I'd like to give you some ideas to help the performance on your turbo. I just finished building my '06 Chevy Duramax. Placing a turbo blanket on your turbo will help with faster spool time while helping keep your under hood temperature down (and if your like me...it just plain looks better than having an ugly rusted turbo..lol!!!). Also, I see you wrapped part of your down pipe...why didn't you start your wrap at the turbo? Once again, this will help the under hood temp.
Please don't take offense...what you have done it not wrong...my suggestions will just help with performance/heat...at a very small cost.
Good luck with your trans and rear end swap! I'll be following along reading with envy!! Thanks for all the great pics!!
Thanks for severing our country...Go Army!! Lol...
If you don't mind...I'd like to give you some ideas to help the performance on your turbo. I just finished building my '06 Chevy Duramax. Placing a turbo blanket on your turbo will help with faster spool time while helping keep your under hood temperature down (and if your like me...it just plain looks better than having an ugly rusted turbo..lol!!!). Also, I see you wrapped part of your down pipe...why didn't you start your wrap at the turbo? Once again, this will help the under hood temp.
Please don't take offense...what you have done it not wrong...my suggestions will just help with performance/heat...at a very small cost.
Good luck with your trans and rear end swap! I'll be following along reading with envy!! Thanks for all the great pics!!
Thanks for severing our country...Go Army!! Lol...
09-01-2013, 03:10 PM
#108
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Thanks for the kind words! An no offense taken at all, I appreciate the input.
I do think I will have a turbo blanket in the future. The housing looked really nice in bare cast iron after I blasted it but as you know any kind of use at all and the ugly rust look comes right back! And while under hood temps are not excessive, getting them down lower is always a good thing. As far as spool goes the turbine housing is quite small at only .68 AR so spool is instant! The datalogs show 4.4 lbs of boost at 2800 RPM. I can't wait for bigger injectors so I can put the bigger wastegate spring in and see what this thing is capable of. It really should be a beast. The exhaust housing will end up being a restriction but right now I am only planning on 500 RWHP.
The one bit of downpipe that is wrapped is just to help protect the lower radiator hose and heater hoses. I wasn't overly concerned with holding heat in the downpipe.
Are you going to start a build thread on your Monte when you get going?
I do think I will have a turbo blanket in the future. The housing looked really nice in bare cast iron after I blasted it but as you know any kind of use at all and the ugly rust look comes right back! And while under hood temps are not excessive, getting them down lower is always a good thing. As far as spool goes the turbine housing is quite small at only .68 AR so spool is instant! The datalogs show 4.4 lbs of boost at 2800 RPM. I can't wait for bigger injectors so I can put the bigger wastegate spring in and see what this thing is capable of. It really should be a beast. The exhaust housing will end up being a restriction but right now I am only planning on 500 RWHP.
The one bit of downpipe that is wrapped is just to help protect the lower radiator hose and heater hoses. I wasn't overly concerned with holding heat in the downpipe.
Are you going to start a build thread on your Monte when you get going?
09-01-2013, 06:16 PM
#110
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The green arrow is pointing at a piece of flat bar I bent and welded onto the existing throttle cable bracket, the red arrow is pointing to original kickdown cable mount that I cut off and then tacked back on in what I figured was about the right place. And finally the purple arrow is pointing at the aftermarket TV cable.
The 200-4R is very sensitive to the TV cable adjustment. It is supposed follow a 78 degree arc and I am very close to that but apparently off a little bit. The trans shifts a bit early and doesn't always kick down when it should. This has probably eaten this transmission alive, the 5.3 is putting out some big time HP and it has just been murder on this poor thing.
I knew this was a limited engagement when I first cobbled it together so I would NOT advise following my lead on this if you want your trans to live!
09-01-2013, 07:01 PM
#112
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But it will probably be 9-10 months before I get my start. Hopefully I can start buying my less expensive parts now and will be already to go then!
09-03-2013, 06:06 AM
#113
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Your build is great!
When I turned 16 (1986) my dad took me down to the local chevy dealership and told me I could pick out anything I wanted except a Corvette. I picked out a teal/blue 1986 Monte Carlo SS w/Tops, almost got a Camaro but I like the Monte better. The deal was if I got good grades and took care of the car it was mine. A month later after getting it he found out I was flipping the air cleaner lid over to get that waah-whaah sound from the carb. He warned me about taking better care of the car, a week later I forgot to fasten the drivers side T-top down good. Took of and about at 60 mph the T-top blew off and hit another car. I blamed it on a bad latch and kinda got away with it. The very next day he gets a call from my high school about me doing donuts in the school parking lot.
I came home and he asked for the keys, didnt tell me why. He pulled it around back and put a cover on it. Next day it was gone..... Never saw it again.... From then on I always had to by my own cars. At 16 I wasnt mature enough for a car like that, but now..... well the jury is still out on that one~
When I turned 16 (1986) my dad took me down to the local chevy dealership and told me I could pick out anything I wanted except a Corvette. I picked out a teal/blue 1986 Monte Carlo SS w/Tops, almost got a Camaro but I like the Monte better. The deal was if I got good grades and took care of the car it was mine. A month later after getting it he found out I was flipping the air cleaner lid over to get that waah-whaah sound from the carb. He warned me about taking better care of the car, a week later I forgot to fasten the drivers side T-top down good. Took of and about at 60 mph the T-top blew off and hit another car. I blamed it on a bad latch and kinda got away with it. The very next day he gets a call from my high school about me doing donuts in the school parking lot.
I came home and he asked for the keys, didnt tell me why. He pulled it around back and put a cover on it. Next day it was gone..... Never saw it again.... From then on I always had to by my own cars. At 16 I wasnt mature enough for a car like that, but now..... well the jury is still out on that one~
Not to hate on you or anything but it sounds like you were one of those spoiled little rich kids and yes, you had to be quite well off for your dad to buy you an $18000 car at 16, which by the way is the equivalent of $37,000 in 2013 dollars and to be fore warned that it would be taken away if not respected and to **** it away like that is just stupid. Major respect to your dad for holding true to his word. We are the exact same age and I used to dream and lust after those cars through showroom windows full knowing I had no chance in hell of ever having one, which explains why I buy super low mile in the wrapper Corvettes, Mustangs and Camaros from the 80's. I must ask, what did your dad do for a living?
09-03-2013, 05:15 PM
#115
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09-05-2013, 05:48 AM
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Hey man you might wanna have a look at this for the full manual control on the 4L80E http://jakesperformance.com/4L80E_Components.html first one on the page I'm gonna be doing it in my 83 Monte
09-07-2013, 08:36 PM
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I had given some thought to the full manual control of the 4L80E but if I am going to have an auto then I really want it function as an auto.
So with that said I will be using an aftermarket trans controller to do shifting duties.
So with that said I will be using an aftermarket trans controller to do shifting duties.
10-01-2013, 07:29 PM
#118
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Last burnout of the year!
The 200-4R is done, the shifts are all whacky and she is obviously cooked. The 7.5" rear end has put up with more abuse than I thought it would ever take and amazingly still alive but the posi is long since dead.
Last night I lit her off once more and coerced Mrs. TurboMonte into running the camera for minute while I polluted a bit of rural Maine.
Enjoy the vid. Updates to come when the trans and rear end are swapped but it will be a while.
In closing on this project, boneyard LS motors are tough as nails and just LOVE boost. If you are on the fence about doing an LS swap in your ride just do it, you won't regret it!
See you in the Spring.
Here she is out making friends with the neighbors. This is right in front of my house, yes I am "That Guy"
The 200-4R is done, the shifts are all whacky and she is obviously cooked. The 7.5" rear end has put up with more abuse than I thought it would ever take and amazingly still alive but the posi is long since dead.
Last night I lit her off once more and coerced Mrs. TurboMonte into running the camera for minute while I polluted a bit of rural Maine.
Enjoy the vid. Updates to come when the trans and rear end are swapped but it will be a while.
In closing on this project, boneyard LS motors are tough as nails and just LOVE boost. If you are on the fence about doing an LS swap in your ride just do it, you won't regret it!
See you in the Spring.
Here she is out making friends with the neighbors. This is right in front of my house, yes I am "That Guy"
