The Turbo Ta Build Thread
03-02-2014, 05:26 PM
#461
Another weekend has come and gone, and looking back I feel like it seems we didn't get much done! I think we need to step it up for next weekend! Anyway, that is for next weekend and we are here to talk about THIS weekend! So this weekend Troy came out and finished up the last couple of welds, and also added the last pieces to the car for the travel limiters. I am going to wait until I machine the last pieces, and we actually finish making them before I post pics. It really isn't because I forgot to take any, I swear.... OK, maybe I didn't get any pics of anything he did this weekend, but I DID get some shots of underneath the car once we got it up in the air.
Moving on Chris as I got started on doing the mini tubs. While Troy was welding away we got busy putting the car in the air and pulling out everything that would be in our way. After that Chris and I assembled the Wolfe mini tubs. If anyone has ever done this then you know how much fun that project is
Having done a set for my car though, it really wasn't bad at all just tedious. It is also not very pic worthy so noting to see here! After they were assembled Chris crawled through the cage and started cutting away!
Here is the start of the cutting
Busting out the ole angle grinder
And even pulling out the big guns!
Further along
Chris did most of the cutting with a sawzall, but it did not agree with us. He had bought a second battery for it during the week in preparation for this weekends festivities. Well after hitting it hard the saw started smoking, but that did not stop us! Then the new battery decided it had enough of the constant use (I was swapping batteries while Chris was cutting) and the saw just stopped. When we pulled the battery out I got burned by the melted plastic. So now we were forced to wait for the one remaining battery to cool down and the charge. That took a long time, and by then the snow was pretty bad. So we called it a day so we could both get home. We got the passenger side almost fully cut, I just didnt take a pic before we left.
Chris has ordered up a corded saw for next weekend so we don't have this same problem on the driver side. The plan is to finish trimming the passenger side so I can start welding in the reinforcement plate while Chris start chopping up the driver side. We hope to have both tubs in (or mostly in) next weekend. Thanks again for following along!
Sean
Moving on Chris as I got started on doing the mini tubs. While Troy was welding away we got busy putting the car in the air and pulling out everything that would be in our way. After that Chris and I assembled the Wolfe mini tubs. If anyone has ever done this then you know how much fun that project is
Having done a set for my car though, it really wasn't bad at all just tedious. It is also not very pic worthy so noting to see here! After they were assembled Chris crawled through the cage and started cutting away!Here is the start of the cutting
Busting out the ole angle grinder
And even pulling out the big guns!
Further along
Chris did most of the cutting with a sawzall, but it did not agree with us. He had bought a second battery for it during the week in preparation for this weekends festivities. Well after hitting it hard the saw started smoking, but that did not stop us! Then the new battery decided it had enough of the constant use (I was swapping batteries while Chris was cutting) and the saw just stopped. When we pulled the battery out I got burned by the melted plastic. So now we were forced to wait for the one remaining battery to cool down and the charge. That took a long time, and by then the snow was pretty bad. So we called it a day so we could both get home. We got the passenger side almost fully cut, I just didnt take a pic before we left.
Chris has ordered up a corded saw for next weekend so we don't have this same problem on the driver side. The plan is to finish trimming the passenger side so I can start welding in the reinforcement plate while Chris start chopping up the driver side. We hope to have both tubs in (or mostly in) next weekend. Thanks again for following along!
Sean
03-16-2014, 07:51 PM
#465
It's update time! I skipped updating last weekend because it looked pretty much the same as it did on the last update. I feel like it was more of the same this weekend, but we did get one tub done so here I am! Ill just dive into some pics from last weekend to get us all up to speed.
We finished cutting the passenger side almost the whole way. I say almost because we did end up trimming it more this weekend, but just a very little.
Then I spent some time fitting in the reinforcement panel before welding it in. Its been a while since I have welded, but its in there.
You may have also notice that the lower part of the rail had some red still showing. That is because, at some point in time the car was in some kind of accident that knocked around the rear end. Without boring everyone with details, I don't think the body was damaged (or if it was they repaired it VERY well) but the floor around the tunnel has some wrinkles that we saw years ago. What we never saw before was that the entire panhard bar mount had been replaced. Before I go to far, the car is 100% straight, and always has been as long as Chris has owned it. The welds on the panhard bar mount left something to be desired though, so I fixed that up while I was in there. While I was grinding and welding, Chris started cutting out the driver side tub. That is about where we left it for the weekend.
This weekend, we were still being lazy so not a whole lot got done. We started out by finishing up some of the welds on the passenger side, while Chris hacked away on the driver side. We did more fitting on the passenger side tub so it just fell right into place. Then I put Chris to work with the welder for a change
And here is the finished product! Yes we cut back a little too far, I will fix that soon.
Here is a couple of quick pics of the cutting progress on the driver side before we move on.
Next up we decided to test fit the AEI-CNC motor plate and alternator mount. As expected it all went together without a hitch! The alternator bracket is going to be remade now that we have put it all together and Bob had a chance to see it on the motor. We were also using a larger alternator than last year which was of course an even tighter fit, and the oil pan is wider than the stock one, but after some fine finagling it all works
That is about all for now. Next weekend I am going to be in Memphis for a race, but the following weekend we will be back at it. Plan is to finish the driver side tub, and maybe get started on the new front end support. Next time we should also have some shiny new parts to show off as well. Until then, thanks for following along!
Sean
We finished cutting the passenger side almost the whole way. I say almost because we did end up trimming it more this weekend, but just a very little.
Then I spent some time fitting in the reinforcement panel before welding it in. Its been a while since I have welded, but its in there.
You may have also notice that the lower part of the rail had some red still showing. That is because, at some point in time the car was in some kind of accident that knocked around the rear end. Without boring everyone with details, I don't think the body was damaged (or if it was they repaired it VERY well) but the floor around the tunnel has some wrinkles that we saw years ago. What we never saw before was that the entire panhard bar mount had been replaced. Before I go to far, the car is 100% straight, and always has been as long as Chris has owned it. The welds on the panhard bar mount left something to be desired though, so I fixed that up while I was in there. While I was grinding and welding, Chris started cutting out the driver side tub. That is about where we left it for the weekend.
This weekend, we were still being lazy so not a whole lot got done. We started out by finishing up some of the welds on the passenger side, while Chris hacked away on the driver side. We did more fitting on the passenger side tub so it just fell right into place. Then I put Chris to work with the welder for a change
And here is the finished product! Yes we cut back a little too far, I will fix that soon.
Here is a couple of quick pics of the cutting progress on the driver side before we move on.
Next up we decided to test fit the AEI-CNC motor plate and alternator mount. As expected it all went together without a hitch! The alternator bracket is going to be remade now that we have put it all together and Bob had a chance to see it on the motor. We were also using a larger alternator than last year which was of course an even tighter fit, and the oil pan is wider than the stock one, but after some fine finagling it all works
That is about all for now. Next weekend I am going to be in Memphis for a race, but the following weekend we will be back at it. Plan is to finish the driver side tub, and maybe get started on the new front end support. Next time we should also have some shiny new parts to show off as well. Until then, thanks for following along!
Sean
03-17-2014, 02:07 PM
#467
I asked alot of people when i was debating between a 400 and glide. It seemed 400 was the way to go due to weight, turbo ect... The car is still on the heavy side for a glide i think. Some will say otherwise, but im happy with the 400. It is a possibility when i build a crazy trans i will go glide, just sucks i need a new converter then.
Chris
Chris
04-13-2014, 09:01 AM
#474
id love to put together a better valvetrain just wasnt in the budget at the time. Better rockers and lifters would give me more confidence spinning the motor higher, but ls7 lifters and the trunion upgraded rockers should be good for 7000-7200 rpm all day. Thanks
04-22-2014, 07:26 AM
#477
I know, I know, I fail! There is really not too much to update though. We have been lazy the last few weeks and not gotten much done. The one weekend we put the motor in, and then spent a good amount of time discussing the motor plate. The following weekend we tried to do the mid plate, and put the trans in. We discovered that we have a lot of stuff in the way for the mid plate, so that is probably going to wait for now. We also discovered that putting the trans in made the motor plate line up better, but not 100%. We took the necessary measurements for the motor plate then packed up some parts to begin moving it all.
This past weekend we got a early start on Friday and spent some time cutting the driver side for the mini tub. We got it probably 80% done, but that last 20% is very time consuming so we stopped for now. We then loaded up the car and a bunch of parts so we could move it to Chris's house which is about an hour closer to where I live. Saturday we did some running around and then went and got another load of tools and parts to bring by Chris.
Now that the car is by Chris, we should have more energy/motivation to get things moving. Once we finish that driver side tub (probably next weekend) then we should be moving MUCH quicker. Neither of us really wants to finish that tub, but we will get motivated eventually and just knock it out.
Just to make everyone happy, here is a pic of the car in its new home
Thank you guys for following along, and I am sorry we haven't been as good with the updates.
Sean
This past weekend we got a early start on Friday and spent some time cutting the driver side for the mini tub. We got it probably 80% done, but that last 20% is very time consuming so we stopped for now. We then loaded up the car and a bunch of parts so we could move it to Chris's house which is about an hour closer to where I live. Saturday we did some running around and then went and got another load of tools and parts to bring by Chris.
Now that the car is by Chris, we should have more energy/motivation to get things moving. Once we finish that driver side tub (probably next weekend) then we should be moving MUCH quicker. Neither of us really wants to finish that tub, but we will get motivated eventually and just knock it out.
Just to make everyone happy, here is a pic of the car in its new home
Thank you guys for following along, and I am sorry we haven't been as good with the updates.
Sean
04-24-2014, 12:50 AM
#478
Just had to ask for an update I'm living vicariously through this thread lol. I hope to have something to wrench on by winter but who knows? Being a responsible adult sucks sometimes lol.
Keep up the good work though. This is my favorite build thread on any site.
Keep up the good work though. This is my favorite build thread on any site.
04-24-2014, 07:37 AM
#479
Sean
05-12-2014, 08:36 PM
#480
Well it has been a while but progress has been made! Just a quick run down of some things that have happened since the last update.
We moved the car to Chris's house, so MUCH closer
Shiny parts arrived (I may not actually have pics of them)
The driver side tub is FINALLY installed
Other various small things are completed
Now that the tubs are finally done, we cant procrastinate anymore. We both had pretty much zero motivation to finish that last tub for some reason, but between last weekend and this weekend its now done! We started to look at the front end to get some idea of what we need to do up there. More than likely though we will start patching in everything inside the car first.
The plan is to start in the back of the car and close up any holes working our way forward, then seam seal and paint. Then Chris will start on wiring, and I will move on to the fab work on the front end. We should be able to have the inside all closed up this weekend coming up, then the fab work should hopefully only be one or two weekends. Then probably just one more weekend of putting everything back together and ready for the Dyno/Track!
On to the pics!
Here is the driver tub fitted and clamped in.
You can see we cut the reinforcement plate, since we don't use the panhard brace we figured it was a bit much. Plus is was a pain in the ***, so we will patch it in with 16ga later.
Fitted from the inside
And all welded in (well mostly)
HOLY ****, they are both in!!!
Chris got sick of looking at the rusty brake hats
So he painted them with some high temp flat black (different corner)
He also painted the new bay bars
And since I never took any pics of the shiny new parts, I'll just steal them from Chris
New wiring board from Leash electronics, should make things a bit neater and more compact
You can also see the transverse shock mounts for.....THE NEW MENCER MOTORSPORT COILOVERS!!!
Yep, they are the new black out series too
Well, that is more or less it for now. Thanks as always for following along!
Sean
We moved the car to Chris's house, so MUCH closer
Shiny parts arrived (I may not actually have pics of them)
The driver side tub is FINALLY installed
Other various small things are completed
Now that the tubs are finally done, we cant procrastinate anymore. We both had pretty much zero motivation to finish that last tub for some reason, but between last weekend and this weekend its now done! We started to look at the front end to get some idea of what we need to do up there. More than likely though we will start patching in everything inside the car first.
The plan is to start in the back of the car and close up any holes working our way forward, then seam seal and paint. Then Chris will start on wiring, and I will move on to the fab work on the front end. We should be able to have the inside all closed up this weekend coming up, then the fab work should hopefully only be one or two weekends. Then probably just one more weekend of putting everything back together and ready for the Dyno/Track!
On to the pics!
Here is the driver tub fitted and clamped in.
You can see we cut the reinforcement plate, since we don't use the panhard brace we figured it was a bit much. Plus is was a pain in the ***, so we will patch it in with 16ga later.
Fitted from the inside
And all welded in (well mostly)
HOLY ****, they are both in!!!
Chris got sick of looking at the rusty brake hats
So he painted them with some high temp flat black (different corner)
He also painted the new bay bars
And since I never took any pics of the shiny new parts, I'll just steal them from Chris
New wiring board from Leash electronics, should make things a bit neater and more compact
You can also see the transverse shock mounts for.....THE NEW MENCER MOTORSPORT COILOVERS!!!
Yep, they are the new black out series too
Well, that is more or less it for now. Thanks as always for following along!
Sean