Looking good Ryan!

Andrew

 

Looks like really neat work! If you need line separators, cushion/P/adel clamps bolted together work really well.

 

@Keith That's a great idea, I'll give that a try. I've been trying to come up with something that I can use that will keep them close together, but not those aluminum bolt together pieces.

 

There may be something from the OEM world that would work for you. I've used these little Subaru plastic clips that I've used for aligning 3/16" (-3AN) brake hard lines - too small for your 3/8" trans cooler lines, but you get the idea. You can see a couple on the lines in my Mustang here - white-ish for 2 lines, black for 3:


I just googled for "gm transmission cooler hard line clip" and it looks like there are some possible options there. If you have access to a u-pull-it type junkyard you could probably cruise around and find some clips - most "modern" full-size or even mid-size pick-ups and SUVs use trans coolers. Some random samples from the googles...
https://parts.gmparts.com/product/gm...-clip-11603472
https://parts.gmparts.com/product/gm...-clip-11602647
https://www.partsgeek.com/j4st9vy-ch...line-clip.html
https://www.ford.com/product/clip-p4000058969

Not all of those say what size pipe they're supposed to clip onto, but hopefully that gives you some ideas. I had bent new brake hard lines on my Fox Mustang and those little Subaru clips really helped clean up the look by helping to keep the lines running parallel to each other rather than everything being slightly misaligned.

 

Thanks for all the links, I think you nailed it, I need to hit up a pick and pull yard. I've been meaning to go to one so this will be a good excuse.

 

After some debate on my end, I chose to do add some manifold fittings onto the front of the intake manifold rather than try and get to them from the rear. It's very tight on the back side of the intake so this will also make servicing them much easier. One fitting is for the catch can, and the other is a manifold reference for the wastegate and BOV. I carefully covered everything inside and out so no debris got into the intake runners. Carefully measured for the center of the intake and then made some chips.







I still need to tidy up the wiring, but the dryer is installed and the lines are blocked off so no debris will get inside until I'm ready to install the AC lines. I love how nicely it tucks down low and out of the way.



I had a heck of a time getting the rear two intercooler bolts on the back side of the intake tightened. I ended up having to make a tool in order to get them tightened. I had a spare wrench, so it went under a little surgery to make what I needed. Worked great and I could use another wrench to get more leverage to fully tighten it down.



Since I needed to order a new tube sleeve for the transmission cooler lines anyway, I opted to order a new roll of Aluminum lines and re-make the one cooler line. I went back and forth on redoing it because the lines are a pain to install, but I decided to go for it. I accidently made the 90* bend the wrong way when and attempted to twist the line, but it started to kink. Once the new parts arrived, I got to work replicating the first line. It wasn't bad at all since I had a really nice template.





Since the aluminum is so soft, it can kink really easily. I found an easy way to bend it almost straight is to hold it on a flat surface and roll it out holding the one side straight. It gets the line 95% straight, and then you can make careful little tweaks to get it the rest of the way.





I didn't take more pictures since it was redundant, but the new line is completely finished and looks (and likely performs) way better than it did. Now that is done, I was able to reinstall the grill. Glad more pieces are going back on.



The heat exchanger hoses that I bought two weeks ago finally were delivered, so that I can start to finish plumbing for the air to water intercooler system. I started at this lower hose. It fits just like I wanted to and looks great. The transmission cooler lines are also there and am very happy with how symmetrical they look.



Here's the box of Dayco 80418 hoses. They are 3/4" with a tight 90* on one end and 60" of hose on the other. I know a lot of guys use these for the "LS Swap" heater hoses, but this also worked great for this application.



I had bought a cheap bead roller for charge pipes online, but it ended up being junk which is no surprise. The guy that welded my intake said he had a bead roller and I was able to trim up the pipe and take it over to him this weekend. Looks great and is now ready for a BOV flange!



Here's where the BOV is going to live. I'm going to trim up the coupler a little bit once the flange is welded in place, then it will get bolted down.



I'm really glad that I planned ahead for this turbo build several years ago when I was first putting the car together. Before I installed the oil pan for good, I drilled and tapped it for my turbo drain. I used a 1/2" NPT, so all I had to do was pull the plug and replace with my fitting. Love an easy job!





Built and installed the drain line as well. That was very straightforward as well.



The list is starting to get quite small now. It won't be long now until I can see if all this work paid off!



Last big things are reinstalling the radiator, building a mount for the catch can, mounting the HX, finish plumbing HX, and a few misc. hoses and wiring. I can't wait.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

That cooling stack looks great.

 

Now that the charge pipe is mocked up and I'm happy with where I can place the BOV, it was ready to be burned in. I left the pipe intact while welding and then used a hole saw to drill out the center. Worked really nicely to prevent me from burning through the pipe. I practiced a little on some scrap aluminum, then pulled the trigger on the real piece. It turned out pretty good considering it's one of the few aluminum pieces I've welded.







After that was all done it was time to get the pipe installed and bolted down for good.



I built a new bracket for the catch can and switched over to mild steel this time. I was going along pretty good, then I think I built up too much heat and it started to glob up at the end of the weld. Plenty strong though.





This is when I stopped getting as many pictures because I was just trying to grind out the work. My dad also stopped by this weekend for a visit and he helped me with some small things and verify fitment. We mounted the coolant swirl pot for the intercooler and I was able to get all of the lines routed nice and neatly. You can also see the finished catch can routing.





One of the last things that I needed to do was cut a hole for the CAI. There are many ways that I could have routed this, but I liked the clean look of routing it through the inner fender and having the filter in front of the tire.





Now after a little test fitting it became clear that I need an additional pipe to route the filter a little differently, but overall very pleased with the fitment of everything. I ordered it and that should be here soon. This was after the first test fit. I was able to loosen the pipe and reclock it higher which gained me another inch, but still would contact the tire at around 3/4 of the wheel turned. Good enough for an initial test drive!!



At this point, I had waited long enough and just wanted to see if this thing would actually run/drive and build boost! The one last thing that I needed to do before I could shut the hood was to drill out the rivets for the hood baffle. With the center mounted radiator, that baffle was contacting the radiator. For now, I just drilled them out which allowed for the hood to shut. One thing that I didn't get a chance to do was wire up the heat exchanger coolant pump, so for now I was effectively running it without an intercooler, but I just had to hear it run and drive it down the road again.



I had my dad help to prime the oil system and make sure there was oil feeding the turbo before I fired it up for the first time in 2026. Cranked with no fire... Hmmm... checked everything and ended up leaving the TB unplugged. Plugged that back in and it immediately fired right up! I let it run for a minute or two to check for leaks. Not one leak!! At this point I left off the full exhaust because I wanted to confirm there were no leaks with the new transmission lines. I quickly installed the rest of the exhaust and then lowered it back down onto the ground and backed it out of the driveway again. That felt amazing.



I let it run up to temperature and I had also tripped the breaker for the cooling fans at some point. Once that was reset, the fans kicked on and the temps stabilized. Then my Dad, my youngest son and I drove it up and down the road maybe 3 miles round trip. Everything felt great, and best of all the car built some boost! The coolest part for me was when I let off the throttle and the BOV made that whoosh sound. Such a cool sound! We brought it back and then let it all cool off. I took out the car again yesterday this time with just my Dad and I was able to really get on it. We made a few WOT pulls and the car performed great. It definitely feels more powerful, but I'd still like more. I left the 8 psi springs in that came installed from Summit. When I reviewed the datalog, it looked like the most boost it saw was 135 kpa or ~5psi. I think what I'll do is swap out the springs for the 17psi combination of springs which will hopefully net more like 10-12psi where I'm targeting. I couldn't be happier with the car overall and it's also quieter at cruising speeds which is a nice fringe benefit. The older I get the quieter I'm liking the cars haha. One thing I also thought was really cool is that even without the intercooler hooked up the highest the IAT's saw was 140 and it was about 85* yesterday so it was a pretty good stress test.

Here are some nearly final engine bay pictures. Once everything burns off with the heat wrap, turbo and whatnot, I'll install the turbo blanket. I think that will help keep things much cooler in the engine compartment.





Cheers,
Ryan

 

Incredible work, your welds look fantastic to me at least.

For your intercooler hoses, consider trying out these clamps, they are cheap and look way neater than zip ties


And agreed, BOV noises are the most fun part of cruising around with a turbo setup.

 

Thanks man! Yes, the zip ties are temporary and those clamps look really nice. I'll order a set of those thanks for the link.

 

As with all new builds, there are a few bugs that need to be worked out. My biggest issue was the air filter that I was trying to re-use was dimensionally too large. It was not allowing me to rotate up high enough into the pocket in the fender. Once the car was at ride height, I only had about 3/4" clearance. It was enough for me to get a test drive in, but not a long term solution.



Since I had modified the air filter housing for a fitting to allow fresh filtered air for the PCV, I had to add a fitting to the new tube. Gave me another opportunity to do some AC TIG welding. I cut a little square piece of thick aluminum and bent a slight curve into it to match the curve of the 4" intake tube. Cleaned everything with a wire brush (only used for Aluminum) and acetone. Then I got to work welding it.







With that modified, I could now reinstall the intake tube and rotate the air filter up where I wanted it. It fits really well and now I have 3-4" of clearance with a jack under the a-arm and the wheel at full lock. No issues with it contacting now.





Now I can drive the car without needing to worry about the filter coming off. Next is trying to figure out why the 8.3 psi spring was only building 5.5 psi of boost. I figured that backpressure may be an issue, so I decided to try the 16.8psi combination of springs to hopefully net me around 11psi if the math was the same. 11psi is my target as I'd like to net around 500 rwhp.





I swapped out the springs and took the car for another test drive. The car was definitely making more power, but after checking the logs it maxed out around 156 kpa which is about 8psi boost. Closer, but I think there may be another issue that is causing the low boost. I was leaning towards backpressure being an issue, but after talking with some buddies, it may be something else. I'm going to make some changes and do more testing. I have the first car show of the year this weekend so I'll get the car out again to see if I can get the boost numbers closer to the wastegate numbers. I also ordered some fittings so that I can finish wiring up a dial and control the boost with Holley.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

I really love how utilitarian this thing has become and looks.

I'm just not much into the show car thing anymore.

Keep up the good work Ryan!