The Turbo Ta Build Thread
02-12-2012, 04:34 PM
#302
Well guys, its update time!!! Man, where to start, it's been too long. I guess I can start with the end of last year. The car ran a best of a 9.44 @ 148 with a pretty horrible 1.5 60'. We were slowly creeping up on the launch, and obviously were still decently far away from really pushing it. Sometime in June (too lazy to check) we had trans problems and had to load it up early. The following weekend we pulled the trans and found that the filter had fallen which starved the trans from fluid somewhat. We decided to try and rebuild it ourselves, and also change the rear gear since we were topped out on that 148mph pass.
We eventually built the trans, and changed the rear gear to better suit our needs. We had some trouble with parts while building the trans, which really delayed getting the car back together. Also once it was back together the trans brake was touchy, but more on that later. Unfortunately because of the delays on parts, the trans not working 100%, and other things going on with life (mainly me getting married) we just were not able to get the car back out last year.
At that point we started planning for the new build up. We knew where we needed to make improvements, things we wanted to see done to the car etc. The basic plan at that point consisted of rebuilding the turbo kit, changing the fuel system, changing to a true stand alone, rewiring the car, and a few other smaller things. So now we can move on to the work!
12-2-11
We started work in December before the holidays. Chris had already started ordering parts and material by then. First things first, he decided early on that he wanted to stay with an air to air intercooler, but it was time for an upgrade. He also wanted to make sure that it would be future proof somewhat. After looking at the options, we decided to get a core and make the end tanks ourselves. He went just a little bigger....
I had also bought him a lightweight steering column and quick release from Mid West Chassis, and also a rear firewall from Wolfe racecraft. For some reason I dont have any pics of the rear firewall, but here is the column
Compared to the stock one with a quick release
And installed, dont worry we have a good amount of work left to do in there
We pulled the trans so we could send it out for a proper rebuild.
We also pulled the motor so we could do some work on the engine bay, and make it easier to go through the motor.
12-16-11
All we really did this weekend was strip the engine bay. I decided to make a time lapse video of this, and here it is!
http://youtu.be/lLcR5pQKseQ?hd=1
Chris also pulled the dash and stripped all of the interior wiring as well. No pics of that though.
We had a bit of a break in there during the holidays. I kept doing things at my work though. This next batch is all cell phone pics, so excuse the quality.
I started by drawing up a design for the intercooler end tanks.
Then we made a set up out of some cold rolled sheet metal to make sure the program worked, and practice the bends.
Blank. No hole for the piping since there is no need.
Fits like a glove
This is starting to get BIG
Now that we knew the program was good, it was time to load up the aluminum and make the real parts. Here is the sheet of 1/8" 5052 aluminum loaded up into our PEGA turret punch press.
Here are the two 4" holes for the intercooler piping
And the final two pieces
Next up came forming
And all done!
Next up came cutting the stock 3 bolt flanges off of the truck manifolds, so I could weld on the new stainless steel V-Bands.
All set up in the band saw
And both cut
Here is how the flanges fit before welding
All prepped for welding, had to get that ceramic coating out of the way
AND welded.
1-7-12
That brings us into the new year. During that "between time" that I was doing the above at work, Chris was going through the motor and fixing little things. We pulled the oil pan, re-tapped the holes for the oil feed above the oil filter since one was stripped, cleaned it all up and gave it coat of paint, and also plugged the hole for the oil level sensor. He also replaced the rear cover and rear main seal since we suspected a small leak back there.
Once we were back to work, I got started on welding the intercooler. I was not able to weld the end tanks to the core though since Chris's welder just didn't have the power. I should be doing that at work this week. Here are a couple of pics of my bald head welding though.
First step was to weld the ends of the intercooler as per the instructions that came with the core.
Then I tacked the end tanks to the core, and welded the seams on the end tanks.
Here is the resulting weld, not bad for self taught and my third time welding aluminum
Then we set the intercooler in place to see if it would actually fit
And bumper on, the cooler is what is holding the IC
Just for the heck of it, here are a couple comparison shots with the old IC now that the end tanks are on the new one.
1-7-12
The following weekend we did some work to the motor. Now that the bottom end was all 100%, Chris got to work on the top side. He changed both head gaskets which were in rough shape after that year of abuse I again decided to make a time lapse of us doing the passenger side head gasket.
http://youtu.be/ckny-AfYUgI?hd=1
After the motor was back to 100% we put it back in the car and called it a weekend.
We eventually built the trans, and changed the rear gear to better suit our needs. We had some trouble with parts while building the trans, which really delayed getting the car back together. Also once it was back together the trans brake was touchy, but more on that later. Unfortunately because of the delays on parts, the trans not working 100%, and other things going on with life (mainly me getting married) we just were not able to get the car back out last year.
At that point we started planning for the new build up. We knew where we needed to make improvements, things we wanted to see done to the car etc. The basic plan at that point consisted of rebuilding the turbo kit, changing the fuel system, changing to a true stand alone, rewiring the car, and a few other smaller things. So now we can move on to the work!
12-2-11
We started work in December before the holidays. Chris had already started ordering parts and material by then. First things first, he decided early on that he wanted to stay with an air to air intercooler, but it was time for an upgrade. He also wanted to make sure that it would be future proof somewhat. After looking at the options, we decided to get a core and make the end tanks ourselves. He went just a little bigger....
I had also bought him a lightweight steering column and quick release from Mid West Chassis, and also a rear firewall from Wolfe racecraft. For some reason I dont have any pics of the rear firewall, but here is the column
Compared to the stock one with a quick release
And installed, dont worry we have a good amount of work left to do in there
We pulled the trans so we could send it out for a proper rebuild.
We also pulled the motor so we could do some work on the engine bay, and make it easier to go through the motor.
12-16-11
All we really did this weekend was strip the engine bay. I decided to make a time lapse video of this, and here it is!
http://youtu.be/lLcR5pQKseQ?hd=1
Chris also pulled the dash and stripped all of the interior wiring as well. No pics of that though.
We had a bit of a break in there during the holidays. I kept doing things at my work though. This next batch is all cell phone pics, so excuse the quality.
I started by drawing up a design for the intercooler end tanks.
Then we made a set up out of some cold rolled sheet metal to make sure the program worked, and practice the bends.
Blank. No hole for the piping since there is no need.
Fits like a glove
This is starting to get BIG
Now that we knew the program was good, it was time to load up the aluminum and make the real parts. Here is the sheet of 1/8" 5052 aluminum loaded up into our PEGA turret punch press.
Here are the two 4" holes for the intercooler piping
And the final two pieces
Next up came forming
And all done!
Next up came cutting the stock 3 bolt flanges off of the truck manifolds, so I could weld on the new stainless steel V-Bands.
All set up in the band saw
And both cut
Here is how the flanges fit before welding
All prepped for welding, had to get that ceramic coating out of the way
AND welded.
1-7-12
That brings us into the new year. During that "between time" that I was doing the above at work, Chris was going through the motor and fixing little things. We pulled the oil pan, re-tapped the holes for the oil feed above the oil filter since one was stripped, cleaned it all up and gave it coat of paint, and also plugged the hole for the oil level sensor. He also replaced the rear cover and rear main seal since we suspected a small leak back there.
Once we were back to work, I got started on welding the intercooler. I was not able to weld the end tanks to the core though since Chris's welder just didn't have the power. I should be doing that at work this week. Here are a couple of pics of my bald head welding though.
First step was to weld the ends of the intercooler as per the instructions that came with the core.
Then I tacked the end tanks to the core, and welded the seams on the end tanks.
Here is the resulting weld, not bad for self taught and my third time welding aluminum
Then we set the intercooler in place to see if it would actually fit
And bumper on, the cooler is what is holding the IC
Just for the heck of it, here are a couple comparison shots with the old IC now that the end tanks are on the new one.
1-7-12
The following weekend we did some work to the motor. Now that the bottom end was all 100%, Chris got to work on the top side. He changed both head gaskets which were in rough shape after that year of abuse
I again decided to make a time lapse of us doing the passenger side head gasket.http://youtu.be/ckny-AfYUgI?hd=1
After the motor was back to 100% we put it back in the car and called it a weekend.
Last edited by Broke EF; 02-12-2012 at 07:36 PM.
02-12-2012, 04:35 PM
#303
1-21-12
Here is where the real fun begins, the building of the turbo kit! Now, this needs a little explanation first. We are changing a lot of things on the car this year, BUT the same 76mm turbo is staying. This is for two reasons, one of which is of course money. Instead of spending money on a nice new big turbo, it was decided to spend the money on the material for the kit (and other things) instead. The other reason was so that we could really see what this turbo could do!
So now that we knew it was going to stay, we knew it wont be on the car forever. This turbo uses a T4 flange, and really any turbo we would put on the car next would be a T5 or T6. Any other turbo would likely be larger as well. These two things dictated a handful of decisions that you will see as we go along. The most obvious is the location of the turbo, which gave us a LOT of room all around it. The next thing that will see is how we made the T4 flange removable.
We will start with pics showing how we mocked up the turbo location. This is more or less where it ended up, we did change things slightly from these pics though. Also notice that all of the hot side tubing and flanges are stainless steel this time around. The intercooler piping, and the downpipe/exhaust will be in aluminum.
Now that the ground work was laid out, we got to work! This pic is showing my weld of the tubing to the T4 flange.
I got warmed up making that while Chris was working on my daily beater. If I had to guess, he was working on my brakes...
Once he finally decided that it was not going to get fixed that weekend, he came to give me a hand on the TA. We were then able to get started on the tubing. We started on the passenger side figuring it was the easier place to start.
First tube done!
Moving right along
1-28-12
This weekend I (with Chris's help of course) kept plugging away at the turbo kit. Ill just move on with the pictures
While I was working on that, Chris was cutting and forming the pieces that are the base of the intercooler support. He started with some 10ga cold rolled metal that he cut to fit in the ends of the frame rails (since we had cut the horns off long ago). Then he drilled three holes in each plate, and I welded a stainless steel nut to the back side of each hole.
After that I welded the pates to the ends of the frame rails, and Chris ground the welds nice and smooth.
(notice the start of the IC piping sitting on the motor too)
I think he had to touch up my weld at some point, so here he is doing that.
Here is the driver side all finished
Time to move onto the passenger side, and do.... MORE GRINDING!!!!
You can also see the plate that bolts to this on the driver side in this pic
2-11-12
That FINALLY brings us to this weekend! Since we ended with the plates in the frame rail, I will start with the pic showing what they are for.
This is the start of the intercooler support. Its 1/2" molly tubing that Chris bent up, that's welded to the plates on either frame rail.
After that one was done, he kept working on some other tubes for the front end. You will see more pics later, but here is a pic of him welding one of those tubes.
While Chris kept bending tubing, and cutting the car up I started making the merge piece. Because of all of the strange angles this was pretty difficult, but I eventually got it You can now see the separate piece that transitions from 3" round tube (with a V-Band flange) to the T4 flange. This one piece will easily be changed later when we go to a different turbo.
In the next couple of pics you can see that Chris had cut out the upper and lower radiator support. You can also see the start to the upper support which will hold multiple things like the center hood pin, center dzus tab for the bumper, and also the top of the radiator.
All of the uglyness of my welds on the merge will be smoothed down before being coated, so ignore all that mess!
That's all for now! We were not really able to work at our normal pace for the last 3-4 weekends which is why there is not much progress. I had a nightmare of a problem with the brakes on my Civic, and each week the problem moved meaning I had to order parts and work on it the following weekend. Now that the ENTIRE braking system is new (some parts replaced twice even) we wont have to spend half the weekend or more working on that POS first
As always we hope you guys enjoy following along, and I will keep this more up to date now that things should be moving quicker.
Thanks for reading,
Sean
Here is where the real fun begins, the building of the turbo kit! Now, this needs a little explanation first. We are changing a lot of things on the car this year, BUT the same 76mm turbo is staying. This is for two reasons, one of which is of course money. Instead of spending money on a nice new big turbo, it was decided to spend the money on the material for the kit (and other things) instead. The other reason was so that we could really see what this turbo could do!
So now that we knew it was going to stay, we knew it wont be on the car forever. This turbo uses a T4 flange, and really any turbo we would put on the car next would be a T5 or T6. Any other turbo would likely be larger as well. These two things dictated a handful of decisions that you will see as we go along. The most obvious is the location of the turbo, which gave us a LOT of room all around it. The next thing that will see is how we made the T4 flange removable.
We will start with pics showing how we mocked up the turbo location. This is more or less where it ended up, we did change things slightly from these pics though. Also notice that all of the hot side tubing and flanges are stainless steel this time around. The intercooler piping, and the downpipe/exhaust will be in aluminum.
Now that the ground work was laid out, we got to work! This pic is showing my weld of the tubing to the T4 flange.
I got warmed up making that while Chris was working on my daily beater. If I had to guess, he was working on my brakes...
Once he finally decided that it was not going to get fixed that weekend, he came to give me a hand on the TA. We were then able to get started on the tubing. We started on the passenger side figuring it was the easier place to start.
First tube done!
Moving right along
1-28-12
This weekend I (with Chris's help of course) kept plugging away at the turbo kit. Ill just move on with the pictures
While I was working on that, Chris was cutting and forming the pieces that are the base of the intercooler support. He started with some 10ga cold rolled metal that he cut to fit in the ends of the frame rails (since we had cut the horns off long ago). Then he drilled three holes in each plate, and I welded a stainless steel nut to the back side of each hole.
After that I welded the pates to the ends of the frame rails, and Chris ground the welds nice and smooth.
(notice the start of the IC piping sitting on the motor too)
I think he had to touch up my weld at some point, so here he is doing that.
Here is the driver side all finished
Time to move onto the passenger side, and do.... MORE GRINDING!!!!
You can also see the plate that bolts to this on the driver side in this pic
2-11-12
That FINALLY brings us to this weekend! Since we ended with the plates in the frame rail, I will start with the pic showing what they are for.
This is the start of the intercooler support. Its 1/2" molly tubing that Chris bent up, that's welded to the plates on either frame rail.
After that one was done, he kept working on some other tubes for the front end. You will see more pics later, but here is a pic of him welding one of those tubes.
While Chris kept bending tubing, and cutting the car up I started making the merge piece. Because of all of the strange angles this was pretty difficult, but I eventually got it
You can now see the separate piece that transitions from 3" round tube (with a V-Band flange) to the T4 flange. This one piece will easily be changed later when we go to a different turbo.In the next couple of pics you can see that Chris had cut out the upper and lower radiator support. You can also see the start to the upper support which will hold multiple things like the center hood pin, center dzus tab for the bumper, and also the top of the radiator.
All of the uglyness of my welds on the merge will be smoothed down before being coated, so ignore all that mess!
That's all for now! We were not really able to work at our normal pace for the last 3-4 weekends which is why there is not much progress. I had a nightmare of a problem with the brakes on my Civic, and each week the problem moved meaning I had to order parts and work on it the following weekend. Now that the ENTIRE braking system is new (some parts replaced twice even) we wont have to spend half the weekend or more working on that POS first
As always we hope you guys enjoy following along, and I will keep this more up to date now that things should be moving quicker.
Thanks for reading,
Sean
Last edited by Broke EF; 02-12-2012 at 07:34 PM.
02-12-2012, 05:59 PM
#306
LOL, you're telling me! Took me hours to put it all together. I couldn't find entire folders of pics even!! Should be a lot easier to update from now on though
Sean
Sean
Last edited by Broke EF; 02-12-2012 at 06:08 PM.
02-12-2012, 08:23 PM
#307
lol, well when I ever get around to it Im quite sure my build thread will be a display of unorganized pics...plus the fact that we started building around the same time and
I dont want to cause confusion since our cars are damn near identical twins.
I dont want to cause confusion since our cars are damn near identical twins.
02-13-2012, 11:29 AM
#308
Awesome! Looks like it's coming along nicely. Your car has come a long way since the last time I've been on here. Makes me want to pull mine out of storage and get back to work on it. I see you got married. Congrats but be careful, that's when my hobby came to a dead halt
I wish we could of got the cars together when I was back in Carol stream, now I'm all the way out in Marengo. Hopefully I'll run into you at the track someday. If you let me know when your going this summer I'll try and get out there to see your car run. Keep up the good work.
I wish we could of got the cars together when I was back in Carol stream, now I'm all the way out in Marengo. Hopefully I'll run into you at the track someday. If you let me know when your going this summer I'll try and get out there to see your car run. Keep up the good work.
02-13-2012, 12:16 PM
#309
Awesome! Looks like it's coming along nicely. Your car has come a long way since the last time I've been on here. Makes me want to pull mine out of storage and get back to work on it. I see you got married. Congrats but be careful, that's when my hobby came to a dead halt I wish we could of got the cars together when I was back in Carol stream, now I'm all the way out in Marengo. Hopefully I'll run into you at the track someday. If you let me know when your going this summer I'll try and get out there to see your car run. Keep up the good work.
I wish we could of got the cars together when I was back in Carol stream, now I'm all the way out in Marengo. Hopefully I'll run into you at the track someday. If you let me know when your going this summer I'll try and get out there to see your car run. Keep up the good work. Sean is my best friend, and is always helping me with the car. Plus his other big hobby is photography. He always takes pictures of the progress, just to try new things, and practice ect. He updates the threads because he has the pictures, and usually has more time. Marengo is not that far, i am in Byron btw When we are going to go to the track i will try to post it in this thread so you got a chance to come see it.
Thanks, Chris
Last edited by Sideways240sx; 02-13-2012 at 12:22 PM.
02-13-2012, 02:24 PM
#312
Sean got married. I did not, and i am the owner. Sean is my best friend, and is always helping me with the car. Plus his other big hobby is photography. He always takes pictures of the progress, just to try new things, and practice ect. He updates the threads because he has the pictures, and usually has more time. Marengo is not that far, i am in Byron btw
When we are going to go to the track i will try to post it in this thread so you got a chance to come see it.
Thanks, Chris
Sean is my best friend, and is always helping me with the car. Plus his other big hobby is photography. He always takes pictures of the progress, just to try new things, and practice ect. He updates the threads because he has the pictures, and usually has more time. Marengo is not that far, i am in Byron btw When we are going to go to the track i will try to post it in this thread so you got a chance to come see it.
Thanks, Chris
02-13-2012, 04:53 PM
#313
Thanks guys! I know its a little confusing, but I don't own the car. I just work on it, take pictures, update the thread, and drive it. Chris owns the car, works on it, and drives it. It's a collaborative effort, but I don't own it in any way shape or form. I have my own cars that are not interesting to read about
Sean
Sean
02-13-2012, 05:56 PM
#314
Thanks guys! I know its a little confusing, but I don't own the car. I just work on it, take pictures, update the thread, and drive it. Chris owns the car, works on it, and drives it. It's a collaborative effort, but I don't own it in any way shape or form. I have my own cars that are not interesting to read about
Sean
Sean
Ill start it in a couple years when i have some time 
02-19-2012, 04:48 PM
#316
Hey guys, update time!! Not much to report this weekend, at least it doesn't look like much. Friday we were a little distracted because we got a boat! It's a 1981 Glastron SSV-151 with a Johnson 140HP outboard. It is in pretty good shape, but we are just going to sell it. More money and time for the TA without a boat If anyone is interested PM me. Here is just one quick pic.
Back to the car! We got a lot of things finalized 100%. We started out by getting the trans back in the car so that we were sure the motor was sitting properly. Once we did that we decided to lower the turbo down about 1 inch from where it was last week. Everything was just tacked into place, so it was a simple change. We cut out the tack welds and took off just the merge piece. Chris then got to work smoothing out the inside and outside of the merge. He also cut it down one inch, and reshaped it so that the 3" v-band flange fit.
While he was working on the merge I was welding the 4" v-band flanges to the intercooler. I also welded a 3" - 3.5" transition to the outlet flange of the turbo. Once that was all done it was time to start putting it all back together. First think was putting the merge back on so that we could line up the v-band flange. We got that all tacked into place, and then put the turbo back so we could decide the rest of the piping.
We started with the down pipe, which is made out of 11ga aluminum. Here you can see the turbo temporarily installed, and the start of the down pipe tacked in.
Here is a side shot that shows how high up the turbo really sits.
Here you can see the 3" - 3.5" aluminum transition on the outlet of the turbo
You can get an idea of how the upper intercooler pipe clears the down pipe. Chances are we will build a heat shield on the down pipe in addition to some ceramic coating.
Some shots of the intercooler, which only needs the mounting bungs welded on to be 100% now.
Next weekend we will have a lot more time to dedicate to the TA. We should have the hot side welded up 100%, as well as the turbo support. The intercooler should be mounted finally, and I would guess that all of the intercooler piping will at least be tacked up. I would like to have that all welded 100%, but we will see how it goes.
That's all for now, thanks for following along!
Sean
If anyone is interested PM me. Here is just one quick pic.Back to the car! We got a lot of things finalized 100%. We started out by getting the trans back in the car so that we were sure the motor was sitting properly. Once we did that we decided to lower the turbo down about 1 inch from where it was last week. Everything was just tacked into place, so it was a simple change. We cut out the tack welds and took off just the merge piece. Chris then got to work smoothing out the inside and outside of the merge. He also cut it down one inch, and reshaped it so that the 3" v-band flange fit.
While he was working on the merge I was welding the 4" v-band flanges to the intercooler. I also welded a 3" - 3.5" transition to the outlet flange of the turbo. Once that was all done it was time to start putting it all back together. First think was putting the merge back on so that we could line up the v-band flange. We got that all tacked into place, and then put the turbo back so we could decide the rest of the piping.
We started with the down pipe, which is made out of 11ga aluminum. Here you can see the turbo temporarily installed, and the start of the down pipe tacked in.
Here is a side shot that shows how high up the turbo really sits.
Here you can see the 3" - 3.5" aluminum transition on the outlet of the turbo
You can get an idea of how the upper intercooler pipe clears the down pipe. Chances are we will build a heat shield on the down pipe in addition to some ceramic coating.
Some shots of the intercooler, which only needs the mounting bungs welded on to be 100% now.
Next weekend we will have a lot more time to dedicate to the TA. We should have the hot side welded up 100%, as well as the turbo support. The intercooler should be mounted finally, and I would guess that all of the intercooler piping will at least be tacked up. I would like to have that all welded 100%, but we will see how it goes.
That's all for now, thanks for following along!
Sean
02-26-2012, 08:22 PM
#317
What a long weekend! We were back at it again starting Friday and kept going till early Sunday morning! I have been a zombie all day just trying to recover, but enough of that lets get to the pics!!!
We will of course start out on Friday, where we started by hanging the intercooler. I had some aluminum bungs made up during the week for mounting. I also made up some tabs, and gussets for the tube side. After a long time of measuring and checking, and measuring again we marked it all up and went for it.
Here is a close up of the mounts
And the whole shebang
We threw the bumper on to check the clearances, as you can see it's BIG!!!
After that we stared making the main loop for the turbo support. This ended up being harder than we anticipated since we did not have a bender with the right radius. We ended up making a temporary tool to make the bend. Here it is tacked in, and ready to be pulled out for final welding
We pulled out the crossover, and called it a night. Saturday morning I woke up and welded the crossover and support 100% You can see I also added in a small piece to catch the back side of the tubing.
One of these days we really need to clean up the work bench area...
Next up came making the car side of the turbo support. Chris had made the bulk of it the night before, I just needed to weld the nuts to the back side. Then we got the idea to lighten it up some. That meant drilling holes in it which probably took years off our life.
While we on a drilling kick, we decided it was time to put a big hole in the bumper! Always have to start with a mark
Then a small pilot hole, and removal of the dzus fastener that is in the way
Then the long tedious process of hole sawing a 4-1/2" hole. The hole saw I borrowed apparently was as dull as could be.
I got bored it was taking so long, and I left to do something else. Here is the end result after hours of work
While he was laboring on that, I welded in the plate for the turbo support on the car. Once I welded it in, we bolted the crossover back in and Chris got to work making the diagonal supports for the turbo. Here you can see it all welded 100% and back in the car.
Just to show how strong it is, here is Chris standing on just the v-band flange!
After that we bolted the turbo back into place, and got started on the IC piping. We knew working with such large tubing was going to be a challenge, but it was more difficult than we thought. The radius take up such a large amount of space. We ended up making a few changes to the planned routing, but here is the result.
Chris had to trim the bumper to clear the 4" tube coming out of the IC. Then while I was welding up the transition he got to work making up the lower IC support. He came up with a way to make it removable just like the rest of the front tubes. We are always trying to plan on every contingency for working on the car and so on. Opening up the front of the car, and making everything removable will make that much easier. Here is a pic of the lower support, which is all I have right now.
Next week after the other IC pipe is made up we will pull off the intercooler and get the lower support all welded up 100%.
Thats all we have for this week. I know Chris already ordered up the last of the material to finish the turbo kit 100%, and also the material for starting on the electrical panels. We will have another full weekend next weekend trying to catch up. As always thanks for following along!
Sean
We will of course start out on Friday, where we started by hanging the intercooler. I had some aluminum bungs made up during the week for mounting. I also made up some tabs, and gussets for the tube side. After a long time of measuring and checking, and measuring again we marked it all up and went for it.
Here is a close up of the mounts
And the whole shebang
We threw the bumper on to check the clearances, as you can see it's BIG!!!
After that we stared making the main loop for the turbo support. This ended up being harder than we anticipated since we did not have a bender with the right radius. We ended up making a temporary tool to make the bend. Here it is tacked in, and ready to be pulled out for final welding
We pulled out the crossover, and called it a night. Saturday morning I woke up and welded the crossover and support 100% You can see I also added in a small piece to catch the back side of the tubing.
One of these days we really need to clean up the work bench area...
Next up came making the car side of the turbo support. Chris had made the bulk of it the night before, I just needed to weld the nuts to the back side. Then we got the idea to lighten it up some. That meant drilling holes in it which probably took years off our life.
While we on a drilling kick, we decided it was time to put a big hole in the bumper! Always have to start with a mark
Then a small pilot hole, and removal of the dzus fastener that is in the way
Then the long tedious process of hole sawing a 4-1/2" hole. The hole saw I borrowed apparently was as dull as could be.
I got bored it was taking so long, and I left to do something else. Here is the end result after hours of work
While he was laboring on that, I welded in the plate for the turbo support on the car. Once I welded it in, we bolted the crossover back in and Chris got to work making the diagonal supports for the turbo. Here you can see it all welded 100% and back in the car.
Just to show how strong it is, here is Chris standing on just the v-band flange!
After that we bolted the turbo back into place, and got started on the IC piping. We knew working with such large tubing was going to be a challenge, but it was more difficult than we thought. The radius take up such a large amount of space. We ended up making a few changes to the planned routing, but here is the result.
Chris had to trim the bumper to clear the 4" tube coming out of the IC. Then while I was welding up the transition he got to work making up the lower IC support. He came up with a way to make it removable just like the rest of the front tubes. We are always trying to plan on every contingency for working on the car and so on. Opening up the front of the car, and making everything removable will make that much easier. Here is a pic of the lower support, which is all I have right now.
Next week after the other IC pipe is made up we will pull off the intercooler and get the lower support all welded up 100%.
Thats all we have for this week. I know Chris already ordered up the last of the material to finish the turbo kit 100%, and also the material for starting on the electrical panels. We will have another full weekend next weekend trying to catch up. As always thanks for following along!
Sean
03-04-2012, 01:58 PM
#320
Well time for a BIG update!!! This was a very busy weekend, and the welder was going almost non-stop! It was kind of a blur of activity, but I will try to lay it out in order.
Friday night we started right away on the upper intercooler pipe, which we knew was going to be difficult. Luckily it wasn't as bad as we expected it to be. We had to keep the radius out of the intercooler very tight to clear the turn signal. After that we had to curve it around the back side of the headlight, then point it toward the throttle body. Here is what we ended up with.
After the upper intercooler pipe was made up, we pulled the intercooler so that we could finish welding the intercooler support, and add the lower tabs. Of course we also added standoffs to the intercooler for the tabs to bolt to, but I didn't get any pictures of them. Here is the finished intercooler support back on the car.
Shot of one of the lower tabs on the support
And just a quick shot of the turbo support since everything was out of the way
Once that was all done, I got to work on making the exhaust. The exhaust is all aluminum, and the first two pieces are 11ga to help handle the heat. Here you can see pretty much the whole exhaust. In this picture it still needs the extension to get past the bumper, and also the hangers. And yes, that is an aluminum 4" muffler!
After I spent hours and hours welding around all of that 4" tubing, we put it all back on the car. Then we just stood back and stared at it all for a while Ill get to the overall pics in a minute, but first Ill get to the radiator. Originally we were going to make the radiator support come off of the lower portion of the intercooler support. Once we had everything on the car though, it made a lot more sense to use the upper bumper/hood support for it, so that is what we did. Just added two molly tubes going down, 4 tabs, and matching standoffs on the radiator, and wah-lah! The radiator was mounted.
Here you can see the poor griffen radiator that has been heavily modded many times over the years getting worked on again. We were almost out of gas in the TIG, so I was only able to tack on the stand offs.
Close up of the stand offs. I machined these at work, as well as the ones we used on the intercooler.
And here is the whole shebang in the car.
And now we are at my favorite part, the overall shots of everything installed! It isnt 100% yet, the wastegate and blow off valve are obviously missing, along with a few bungs and miscellaneous thing, but you get the idea. On with the pics!!!
And just a few more gratuitous detail shots
So many tubes!!!
Lots of room between the upper intercooler pipe and the muffler
Exhaust trimmed
Bumper back on
Tucked up nicely
The flame thrower!
Well that is all for now. The turbo kit is 99.99% complete now. Next weekend we should have it finished up since the only hold up was that the welder was out of gas this week. We should be starting on the wiring, and fuel system next weekend as well. As always thanks for following along!
Sean
Friday night we started right away on the upper intercooler pipe, which we knew was going to be difficult. Luckily it wasn't as bad as we expected it to be. We had to keep the radius out of the intercooler very tight to clear the turn signal. After that we had to curve it around the back side of the headlight, then point it toward the throttle body. Here is what we ended up with.
After the upper intercooler pipe was made up, we pulled the intercooler so that we could finish welding the intercooler support, and add the lower tabs. Of course we also added standoffs to the intercooler for the tabs to bolt to, but I didn't get any pictures of them. Here is the finished intercooler support back on the car.
Shot of one of the lower tabs on the support
And just a quick shot of the turbo support since everything was out of the way
Once that was all done, I got to work on making the exhaust. The exhaust is all aluminum, and the first two pieces are 11ga to help handle the heat. Here you can see pretty much the whole exhaust. In this picture it still needs the extension to get past the bumper, and also the hangers. And yes, that is an aluminum 4" muffler!
After I spent hours and hours welding around all of that 4" tubing, we put it all back on the car. Then we just stood back and stared at it all for a while
Ill get to the overall pics in a minute, but first Ill get to the radiator. Originally we were going to make the radiator support come off of the lower portion of the intercooler support. Once we had everything on the car though, it made a lot more sense to use the upper bumper/hood support for it, so that is what we did. Just added two molly tubes going down, 4 tabs, and matching standoffs on the radiator, and wah-lah! The radiator was mounted.Here you can see the poor griffen radiator that has been heavily modded many times over the years getting worked on again. We were almost out of gas in the TIG, so I was only able to tack on the stand offs.
Close up of the stand offs. I machined these at work, as well as the ones we used on the intercooler.
And here is the whole shebang in the car.
And now we are at my favorite part, the overall shots of everything installed! It isnt 100% yet, the wastegate and blow off valve are obviously missing, along with a few bungs and miscellaneous thing, but you get the idea. On with the pics!!!
And just a few more gratuitous detail shots
So many tubes!!!
Lots of room between the upper intercooler pipe and the muffler
Exhaust trimmed
Bumper back on
Tucked up nicely
The flame thrower!
Well that is all for now. The turbo kit is 99.99% complete now. Next weekend we should have it finished up since the only hold up was that the welder was out of gas this week. We should be starting on the wiring, and fuel system next weekend as well. As always thanks for following along!
Sean