I've been wanting a power adder for my H/C/I 99' stock bottom ls1 Trans Am for quite a while now. It was gonna be nitrous but got nervous about blowing stuff up, and filling a bottle constantly didn't seem like fun so I sold what I had and decided on boost. Turbo seemed the way to go because I could sell several things that would help pay for the build like my CAI, stainless headers and exhaust, my maf etc. those are items I'd have to keep if I was supercharging the car. Also, it seems that per pound of boost, with a quality setup, more power is made. Like everyone else, I'm on a budget. Kids, mortgage, car payments, come first. With that in mind, I looked into the Chinese options but decided that wasn't the way to go. Poor quality, lack of longevity of parts and a bad fitting kit isn't the way to do this. I called Casey at Huron Speed because of the great results I've seen others have with their kit and products. We went over all options and goals and he got me set up with everything I needed for such a good price, it didn't even make sense to consider the Chinese options.
The kit is their V2 T4 single turbo a/c retaining kit with a 4" intercooler,a Turbonetics 78/75 ball bearing turbo, xs power wastegate and blow off valve, and all the smaller odds and ends to complete the build, most of which Casey threw in for free! Here's some pics of the parts.


Hot side.



They took their time on this stuff.



Everything is V banded.



Crazy amounts of welding! The parts are pretty heavy and very thick walled.



Bungs already welded in for sensors.
The welded pipes and manifolds are heavy but I feel good about that from a longevity stand point. I'd rather have that then something thin walled that would crack easy. As for adding weight to the car... Yeah it will but nothing another pound of boost won't take care of. Pics of the cold side now..


Nice lookin stuff.



Packaged really well.



Some of the extras in this photo too. Oil lines and filter from S&B.
Waste gate, BOV, and last but not least, the turbo!


This thing looks awesome! Too bad you won't see most of it.
The motor is a 115k stock bottom end ls1 with TSP Torquer V3 cam, PRC 5.3 liter heads that were milled .02 and a ported fast 92mm intake. The car made 460/424 on a dyno jet. About 11.1 compression. I had kooks 1 3/4 headers, flow master merge and magnaflow catback with a cutout. Since I'm still on the stock block, and not looking to make crazy power right now, i think the current cam and heads will suffice. If I can hit 575- 600rwhp on 8psi or less with a very safe tune, I'd be happy with that. So that's the goal. Later when I wanna turn it up and make crazy power on a forged motor, that's when I'll change the heads and get a custom boost cam spec'd for the build. For the fuel system, I bought racetronix's complete kit with rails, regulator, lines and a single 450 lph pump. The lines are Teflon and the and are -8 feed and -6 return. Capable of 1200rwhp so I'm set for turning this up down the road.
The build is underway right now. I'll have more pics and updates soon!

 

Some of he pics didn't load. Let's try again.

 

Very cool! My top end is almost identical to yours. I'll be really curious how this works out

 

Should be a fun, I would think she would spool pretty fast.
Is this a auto?

 

Awesome looking kit, you will love it. I did the same thing 5 years ago to my 444 rwhp stock bottom end ls1 with 11:1 compression. You will need meth injection with straight methanol and real low timing if you want it to live. On 8 psi with a 76/75 precision I made 630, 10 psi 690 and 11 made 720 all on 91 pump with 100 % meth injection.

 

I'm curious as to how this will turn out also. I know leaving it high compression is not the norm but I've seen a lot of guys make big power while running a turbo on a na setup that was pretty much max effort. it's gonna be a blast.

 

No the car is a 6 speed with a LS7 clutch and a 9" rear with 3.89's in it. The drivetrain will take the abuse. It'll be a true test of my tired clutch tho. Got 40k hard miles on it but hasn't let me down yet.

 

I'm sitting at 11:1 compression right now too, and I've been tossing around the idea of going turbo. I'll be following your thread to see how it all turns out for you.

 

Those are great numbers and I'm hoping for similar results. I wasn't gonna run methanol though. We've got 93 octane gas here so I was hoping between that and keeping the timing way down, I'd be fine without it.

 

I don't think 93 octane is going to cut it at that compression. You're going to need to run meth, like mentioned above, or convert over to e85. Is it available in your area, and will the fuel system you purchased support e85?

 

I've researched the hell out of it and it seems that high compression and boost go very well together if done right. People are making bigger power and spooling faster with high compression motors plus the car is less of a dog when out of boost because of the higher power it made na. Like nitroused383 said, real low timing and meth if you need it is key. So the tune is what really makes it all work. Keeping your rpms down helps to I've seen. Only spinning the motor to 6k instead of 7k helps a lot. This is all to preserve the stock block. Casey from Huron and I talked a lot about this
And we feel it's gonna do real well.

 

you are going to need meth like a dirty hooker on MLK to keep it alive at that comp/power levels...

 

I agree with everything you said. My point is that you WILL need Meth. 11:1 compression, 93 octane, and Meth injection will be a great setup and do everything you mentioned above and more.

 

I totally agree with these guys. Piston #7 will be the first to break a ring land. Don't ask me how I know, lol. Get a good meth system and you may be ok for a little while. If you can have your injectors flowed make sure to install the highest flowing one in the #7 cylinder. Good luck.

 

^^^ That's a great tip regarding the injectors. I learned something new today.

 

What's the deal with cylinder 7

 

Interesting, I have the almost the same H/C setup (10.6:1 compression) and didn't really think it was suitable for FI. Thought I would have to at least swap the cam. Keep us posted on how it runs for you, would be nice to keep everything I have like you did and sell my full Kooks exhaust.

 

It can be done, but most that do it run e85. If not, then straight meth. That cam is not optimal for a turbo setup, but it will work. If it were me, I'd take out the old cam, sell it, and then purchase a used or new cam spec'd for a turbo application.

 

Thanks for the awesome thread Aaron! I'm glad you are happy with the kit! I am also very pumped to see the results.
-Casey

 

My thought has been to keep the afr' fat enough to keep things cool. I figured with that down around 11.1, timing at a very conservative level and less than 8 psi of boost, all should be good. Meth is a must at this level?