turbohf

yeah. cant pinpoint it 100% the reason i just fell off. but i know lots of little BS reasons added up. one of the huge things though is that a non-running/driving car isnt a car. so i loose interest. and this car as been sitting for way to long.


also i did buy a new driver, and sold the Galant. (so i dont have to work on that, or spend more money)

2008 Pontiac G8 GT. all the bolt ons, cam, converter, 3.27 gears, even a 100shot of nitrous if you wanna party. suppose to have made 440whp w/o nitrous. its fun and legit daily.

not that it has really slowed progress on the Nova, as all i have done is a couple maintenance things and audio. but it has shown me that i need to get working on the Nova as tires for the G8 are more expensive than the size i have setup for the Nova...and i have 3 more pairs of have used tires for the Nova LOL.

turbohf

work...








worked on my downpipe and wastegate recerc. im not sure i have ever put the wastegate back into a downpipe before? pretty happy with how it turned out. i just need to figure out how the exhaust is going to go and exit the car. then i can weld in the other v-band, and header wrap it all up....also hide my built from scraps mess lol.







rear end coming together. axle tube welded back on.


welded the subfame connectors. what a bitch. not sure if the metal just didnt want to weld or bad ground.

i have been doing stuff with the wiring... had to dig out/find the stock engine/bag harness' and look them over, then find wiring diagram for them. going to cut them up and integrate them to the LS harness.
also was going around and buttoning up other 80% completed projects. and looks like i have added another project, but ill wait a bit before posting that

rkupon1

iTrader: (3)

Nice progress...fitting the dp on these cars sure is a mf'er!

turbohf

aint that the truth! my original plan got shot down. i wanted to go straight out the fender and down the firewall, but looked way too close to the tire. although i did come across a guy on steves that did it on a stock front end, not sure what size tire he is running though.
this setup has the right angle to sneak past the frame rail, missing the exhaust manifold, close to the starter and trans lines (seen worse with headers)... now my only worry is ground clearance and getting the exhaust to exit the side of the car (subframe connectors might be issue)... maybe ill see if i can get a hold of some oval pipe?
i think my car will be low. well i hope it is. i will be running a 25" or so tire front/rear.

rkupon1

iTrader: (3)

^^^defly much easier with skinnies and or a smaller diameter wheel. I have 2 strikes against me, larger front wheels-18x9 and a pro touring front clip which narrows the track width to accomadate such larger wheels. Good ol hindsight. My "if all else fails plan(fender exhaust)" is right out the window. We are splitting the DP into 2-2.5" and sneaking em down the firewall. Now gotta deal with trans housing, starter, and frame rail. It s tight, but should go. I still feel if i had gone with smaller set of twin turbos, it would have been alil easier. Im in to deep now with the big single to turn back!

turbohf

lol. i have a buddy doing a twin turbo on his Nova and he is saying he wishes he would have kept it simple with a single turbo.

wheels im looking at are 17x9.5... thinking 255-265 in front, 265-275 in rear... really only because i like the wheels, so i want them. and i plan on that with the aftermarket front i have, and stock tubs... maybe some hammering/rolling/cutting.
i have brand new wheels (only gone like 2 blocks) for my car, and 8 extra tires waiting to be mounted/burned in my spare room. i have been hording tires from the "junk pile"... all have 4-5/32nds on them. think they are all 235's. plus the 245s mounted.

turbohf

moments after that pic the rear end was hanging by the rear brake line :



sunny and 40*...perfect day for a drive. :'(

turbohf

ok so i did some work today....

hopefully final assy on:
bolted the turbo down
oil line out
was having issue with the hot side of the turbo, because someone put it at 2JZ/JDM angle but tossed old plan, cut/weld/**** works.
i redid the inner fender again a couple weeks ago, did undercoat on both sides. got passenger side installed... actually still needs bottom bolts.
cleaned some stuff up on drivers side in prep.
got drivers side chargepipe FOUND and sorted lol. was looking for something else and was like "well this looks important"... got it all clamped up, and the intercooler. painted those clamps.
OH.. and the oil dipstick that i bought, fought with slightly. then just abandon... i dont like the lokar style ones. wanted metal tube. so i dug this out (ok found it when looking for other crap, then remembered i never sorted it). i bent, bent, swore at it, bent some more. hammered. painted, made a bracket for it, and bracket to zip tie the #8 wire off downpipe.

you read all that? sorry. lol

im working on this ****, hopefully i dont need to take any of it back off, and hopefully i can figure how to put it back together...








oh i have been working on wiring also. ill need to take some pics of my fuse box. spending way too much time on it.

turbohf

more progress...






couple shots of how i mounted the ECU in the engine bay. its on that S10 ecu bracket i pictured a while back. tucks in there mint.


it started raining so i started putting stuff away, forgot to take some pics for you guys.








body lines are kinda a bitch. even more so when you loose your damn shims. and of course if you remember one of my first pics of me just tossing bolts in a Tupperware, those are easy to track down too. but i got it damn good. probably better than it was before. might try to adjust it a little more once its on the ground.


i was looking at the car thinking that a coolant puke tank might be a good idea, but wasnt sure how to fit it, or what to buy... then i found this little guy. drill hole in cap, put hose from radiator cap to bottle, done. and it was free.


looks like im out of pics.... i might be picking some wheels up tomorrow, so that will be cool. did i say i sold my old ones? they didnt fit... these probably wont either...

turbohf

ok. this needs an update... but not getting a really good one i guess...

~~~

i have been putting in 20min-2hr here and there. dialed in most the wiring it looks like. fuse box is all set. engine harness is set, engine bay/chassis harness is thinned out and set. i swapped to stock MII spindles (over the drops). i put the solid calvert bushings in the leafs (rubber bushings held water causing rust scale to build up, what a bitch). most importantly i decapped my injectors (2 sets) and sent them out... so i have no injectors. if i busted ***, and would have ordered HPTuners (didnt cause no injectors) i would be very short on excuses...

~~~

i sent my injectors out.... USPS ****** lost them. 2 sets of decapped injectors. so, yeah, kinda fucked on that at the moment. not sure what to do. im not going to spend 300bucks on injectors... last seen may25th/seattle (on the way to bowling green, KY).

i made a decision, and ordered some parts. hurts cause they are parts i already ordered, and ***** not working...

i stared at the car for a bit, was hot as **** in the garage so even that caused a sweat. and i made a new list. couple things to order, things to do, etc.

then i ordered parts from that list too.

changed mind again on wheels for various reasons, selling wheels i have, hopefully have them pending sale. if they sell (or my nitrous kit, or both) ill order wheels soon.


~~~

update?

ordered this stuff.

left to right: grant 3bolt hub, 3-6 bolt adapter, turbo oil feed line, 3bar map sensor, oil sender adapter to 1/4NPT (not running a factory sensor), x2 4AN fittings (one of which doesnt fit the turbo? nor 1/8), magnetic phone mount i got from work cause this guy keeps harassing us to sell them (too expensive) but sent us a freebie anyway. its magnetic on both sides, dash on Nova is metal

did i post this?

my fuse box setup. ECU tucked under brake master on left. relay/fuse box i added for fuel pump/fans/aux/etc. and junctions for power/grounds


i also have different control arms (5/8th narrowed). hopefully those will work with the wheels i still havent ordered.

injectors are still MIA. i sent the missing package request online. got an auto response. been a week or two. went to post office they had different tracking results, but still lost. gave me a number to call, and she said it probably got damaged and sent to ATL along with confirming the other tracking info. said to file an insurance claim and wait. good luck.... right.

i took the rear lower seat out. ran fuel pump power/ground all nice. took the shocks out, pretty much no rebound. so ill order some of those. took the steering wheel back off, decided i dont like it. going a with a different setup.


OH, OPINIONS? im thinking of swapping the interior to GRAY over the aqua/turquoise color. i will try to look for a color sample, but its a light gray. more modern. just not sure how i feel about the blue paint on the dash/tops of doors, etc. im NOT going to paint that stuff. just not sure how it would look with gray interior?!? guy at work said to just vinyl wrap it if it doesnt look right.

turbohf

MORE PARTS!... that pic is upside down...? anyway.
when i was setting up the battery tray/plan/whatever i wanted a smaller battery. i chose a group 51R. its pretty standard for Honda's, and i have done many of those. well, i didnt realize the battery tie down top was $25. didnt want to go to junkyard or nasty old one, so billet bracket off amazon. $13. think its the only billet piece in the engine bay? one of 2 on the car?... and couple of J hooks from my work.
new vband clamp for crossover thats broken already. going to add that flex while im at it.
"welding cable" off amazon, and some lugs. to make starter cable, alternator lead, couple of ground cables.
couple of new shocks. monroe blue somethings. idk. 20bucks or so each off amazon.


battery in her spot. interstate blem bought through work, cause im a cheapass.



I HAVE INJECTORS NOW!!! i posted up on the FB marketplace locally and a couple groups for stock truck injectors to replace the ones USPS lost. and dude just hooked me up. made me take the whole damn truck intake with hacked harness too lol. so i have a couple extra random spares now too. bonus. anyway decapped the injectors super quick and dirty like, and sent them USPS priority again. its cheap, quick, easy (automated machine after hours).
Eric Durr is an awesome guy, USPS loosing **** obviously not his fault (they lost them on the way to him the first time). took about 2 weeks or so as its not his full time job, and his name gets tossed around the sloppy group a lot, so he has a lot of work stacked up. but he called me to let me know whats up, texted me the tracking, etc. then sent them USPS priority back to me LOL.
think it was like 65-70bucks to have them flowed/cleaned/new orings/shipped.... and now i have a set of 78lbs injectors


what a cramped mess...


HPTuners!!! they updated there hardware, all new ****. no longer comes with credits. the discontinued all the old stuff, half implemented the new stuff. all seems kinda up in the air. good times... oh so no credits with it, credits cost the same.
$300 for this piece. $50 for each credit (need at least 2 for each car)


out of pics. but i did other stuff. i pulled the rack and replaced the steering bushings with energy suspension ones. i made starter, alternator, and 2 ground cables. bolted the battery in and trimmed the J bolts. i installed my new injectors.... probably some other stuff, its too damn hot out in the garage, outside, in my place...

Bowtie316

iTrader: (1)

Nice progress. I put my battery in the same spot.

Good luck with that MPVI2, the issues I have been seeing on Sloppy and HP tuners troubleshooting and tricks pages have been numerous.

turbohf

wait.... what!?!?!?

well, in my quest to take apart everything after its put together because its already broken/fubar...



tail housing. TH400 yoke off amazon...

oh yeah so think back 2-3years now, when dude i bought the trans from said something about this trans coming out of some old *** truck (its not, as it has a slip yoke) or "maybe a 64 chevelle"... turns out, its a early *** th400. even after looking at yokes and what not, and noticing measurements, and 65+ noted on them, and a little voice in the back of my head.... but 'they are all the same' right? lol (im a parts guy, people say that **** all the time)

after much searching for a small yoke that doesnt exist, looking at used/'reman' rear tail housings. i find a new one for less than what the small/wrong ones and **** 'remans' cost.


wait for it...


success! we have penetration...



part number, etc.


that took way longer than it should have. or course a bolt that just came out wont go back in... i set the yoke in about half way, about 3/4" from bottomed out.
and btw, tech tip, left bottom bolt is shorter on that housing.



also when i was getting out from under the car, i was noticing that i have pretty good ground clearance of all the drive train.


anyway. i worked on buttoning up some more engine bay stuff. putting upper charge pipe to throttle body. tightening intake manifold down, torquing things down (like most of the fuel like fittings that where just a bit snug at best).

i might have few excuses as to why this shouldnt run this weekend...



oh. COOLANT? throw some water in there. green coolant, or some dexcool... its all empty, not running heater core.... or maybe im getting ahead of myself lol.

350SS

iTrader: (38)

good to see someone continually making progress on their build

turbohf

maybe yesterday... but today i picked up an 80e for my truck... lol

oh actually this trip to the junkyard started with parts for the Nova. but i think ill post that up later. as im not ready to do non-mechanical stuff yet, she needs to run!

same goes for the 80e/truck. it runs ok'ish on the 60e. so that project will be for later. along with turboing it, and putting in the cam/springs/etc that are sitting in the front seat of the Nova....****. i think i have a problem...

turbohf

SHE RUNS!!!

how the **** do you embed a video here??

**** *****

not without issues though! lol.

so i fill her with ATF... just about a gallon or so, the trans pan fills up, then over flows. i guess the pan was just on there for show, not a single bolt torques. nice.

filled with oil. its an LS, so no leaks.

filled with water. seems ok. still adding.

filled with about 4gallons of gas. a challenge with stupid eco fuel cans. but got it all. no leaks..... until of course the fuel system pressurized and it was pissing under the car. looks like i got that handled.

had one or two wiring issues. one is im a dumbass, but no fire or blown fuses, so moving on... the other was, preventable? the way i had it wired would have worked, but i didnt wire that fuse block yet. probably should be going to my main relay. ECU wasnt turning on.

HP Tuners.... well. my trusty old tuning laptop...well is old as hell. and HPT declined that ****. so i went to store and bought the cheapest laptop they had. seems to meet there requirements. plus its pretty light and compact. and battery holds charge (old one didnt, ordered new battery on amazon, cancelled before shipping)
took some tinkering as i have no idea what the hell im doing. i have tuned cars before, kinda, but never HPT. had the no connectivity issue as stated above (tested with known good setup, aka the truck). grabbed tune off the sloppy wiki, compared files, realized i didnt know what i was doing. went back to stock file, licensed my vin/ecu/whatever, compared again, selected all, saved, wrote it.... queue the video above.


as im sure you can hear from the video, she is basically open header. so i need to fix/redo the crossover with that flex. then i will temp install the downpipe (to finish exhaust later) that should be fun, as it will be high 80s low 90s im sure for the next week+.
i ordered wheels. they should be here friday. i have plenty of rear tires i have been hording. but i need 2 fronts. i spent a bunch of money on HPT credits/laptop etc. so hopefully i have enough for tires and some wheel spacers, for next weekend.
also need to assemble the rear end and put it in. proabably need that to bolt on the wheels? should be fun.

it was 85* in the garage for all that... i hate the heat...the sun... im in PNW, not down for this weather...

turbohf

ok. work...



doesnt look like i posted this. but i think i did it before i started it. anyway. rear end all assembled. new shocks in, they came with hardware, which is good cause i only removed them a couple weeks ago, cant find the hardware at all. Caltrac's are in, need to be adjusted of course.

measured the driveshaft after i did that.


got it back this morning. cost too much, but looks good, and should be solid. new th400 yoke on one end, spicer joints, looks like 3" DOM steel. ford 8.8 flange on the other end.


picture of the stack of new wheels from the other pic. US MAG U111 Rambler's. 17x7 17x8... might pickup a set of 15x8 later for some fun
fronts are 215-50-17 achillies ats something summer tires. rears are 235-45 burners from junk pile... and 6 more in spare bedroom


OH ****! we have contact with the ground!!! its been like 2.5years of hover mode... looks like rear is a little lower that the front. was going to raise it, but buddy made a good point, it looks good low, have a front suspension issue still. so ill take a little off the front coils to even it. but i wanna roll it outside to balance it and check it some more.


looking good, aside from pissing some rust water from who the hell knows where? i dont see any leak.


i have about 5.25" from crossmemeber to ground. so plenty of clearance. and in the rear i have about 2" from caltracs.



tomorrow im hoping to get her outside. i need to put steering wheel on, pull the front bench, put some buckets in, mount shifter... then probably swap all the front suspension again.
i need to fix the exhaust crossover, and maybe do some stuff with the downpipe/exhaust, but i dont have much material (or mufflers/resonator).

350SS

iTrader: (38)

nice progress... those wheels look great ... are the adapters/spacers for the ford bolt pattern or for spacing or both?
get her rolled out dusted off and post some pics

turbohf

thanks! pretty excited about the wheels. i have gone to a couple car shows and have noticed cars on these wheels, but all have been chrome. im not a chrome fan. but wheels do look good either way. they also make them in black that i have yet to see on a car.

wasnt planning on dusting her off lol

oh yeah, i just skipped right over that huh? im using the Ford Explorer 8.8 narrowed to run 2 short axles. and its like 1.5" shorter than the stock Nova axle. so i was all back and forth on what i wanted to do (like always) and i need little spacers anyway with these wheels (zero offset), so i bought some 15mm (5/8?) spacers that changed the lug pattern from 114 to 120. seems to square the tire up on the wheel well. should have fender/spring clearance for some 255 radials in future.

350SS

iTrader: (38)

any concern with launching the car with the adapters? i've looked around and seem to find more negative than positive but doesn't seem like people have first hand experience, just repeating what they've read