My build - Lots of pics
07-18-2012, 07:30 AM
#542
Thanks! Documenting it isn't always the easiest thing to do while also doing a lot of the work, but its nice to be able to look back at it all. Actually it has come in handy a few times where we needed to see something on the car, but were no where near it, we can almost always find a picture showing what we need!
Sean
09-19-2012, 09:57 PM
#545
We missed updating this thread. Sorry.. I copied this from another thread. I will try to add the pictures later.
Well there has been much turmoil the last few weeks with the TA. Since the last update we were ready to hit the track, then a minor set back, then no chance of running this year.
Back in the end of July (after the last update) we got the car buttoned up 100%. All of the wiring is done, rear firewall is in, fire system is all done, everything back together and so on. We brought the car to the Dyno July 29th, and had some minor issues. There was some problems with being able to write files to the ECU, but I cant really get into that. We ended up spending quite a while working on that before we got it figured out. By the time that was done, all we got accomplished was start up and idle.
Throughout that week small issues came up, and we resolved, again nothing that I can really get into detail about. More or less things were going smooth though. That Tuesday (31st) Chris stopped by the Dyno to see how everything was going. By then all of the little bugs seemed to be worked out, and all of the start up and driveablity parts of the tune were pretty much spot on. It was time to make the first boost pass! Nothing really eventful about it, the car made 5psi and 525WHP of course it was still pretty fat, and the timing was pretty safe being the first pull. Things were looking good! They made some adjustments, turned up the boost and went again, but it still only made 5psi. They had thought that maybe they didn't turn the CO2 pressure up high enough, so up it went and another pull.... Still only 5psi. After looking around they found that the line from the solenoids to the wastegate had melted. Not a big deal, but by then it was getting kind of late so they called it.
The rest of the week, not much was done to the car. The tuner finished all of the part throttle, driveablity, and things like that. We still were fighting a cooling problem, so he was waiting for the new fan we had ordered on Monday. That came in on Friday, and he threw it in the car for us. Sunday we headed back over to the shop to hopefully get the tune finished up! Got there nice and early, everyone was ready to go, got the car warmed up and went for it. I was standing in front of the car, and knew it was a partial pass right away. Chris yelled something at me, but I couldn't hear right away because the car was still revving down. I think I knew what he said, but I ignored it until I was sure. He said "We're done."
On that very first pull, as soon as the car came into boost, the dump tube from the wastegate into the down pipe exploded. Because of the location of it we had to stop until it was fixed. I have pictures of it that I will post up later. On top of that, the new fan didn't fix the cooling issue! So now we were stuck so to speak. The car was broken, and we just had everything drained from us when it let go. All of those months of work, all of that time, all of that money, and it never even made a full pull on the dyno. To top it off, we had given the trailer and the truck some TLC that Friday. The problem there is we had to replace the studs on one of the trailer hubs, and there were none local (we checked every place within an hour drive). So now the car is broke, and we need to get it home, and we have no way to do so. To top that off, Chris and I were busy the next few weekends in a row, so we didn't know when we would be able to do anything anyway.
After going back and forth about what to do for a while, we decided to just drive it the few miles back to the house. That's when things went from bad to worse. When Chris pulled the car out of the shop, I looked down at the turbo and saw some scuffs on the housing by the fins. Nothing really major, but its never a good sign. He shut the car off, and sure enough we had a bunch of shaft play. So for anyone not keeping track, that's, a broken dump tube, a wastegate that is too close to the turbo, a CO2 line that needs to be re-routed, an over heating problem, a turbo that needs a rebuild, a battery that is too small, and an alternator that cant keep up. Some of that wasn't mentioned in the story to try and make this shorter. We got the car back home, and just left.
So first thing first, we tackled the cooling issue. We decided that a new radiator would be helpful, and look a lot better. We decided to make the fan(s) pull through, and full y shroud it. That weekend I was unable to go work on the car, so it was up to Chris to discover that we were kind of screwed on all of those ideas. Of course that was AFTER parts had been ordered. The brand new 16" fan was going to be replaced by two new 10" fans. Even those were going to be a VERY tight fit, but we had little choice. He took all of the measurements he could get, then dissembled the car to send the turbo out.
The following weekend Chris was out of town getting engaged, and I was working on making things fit. I patched the down pipe, moved the wastegate down and away from the turbo, and got most of the dump tube mocked up and tacked. That was all pretty easy, the radiator on the other hand... It simply was not going to fit without drastic measures. I removed everything that was in my way, and mocked up the layout after I had assembled the new fans and shroud that I made up during the week.
Chris came back from his vacation, gave everything a once over then we started talking about plans. We decided that since it is already so late in the season, and since everything we were doing was only temporary (in reference to the tubing) maybe we should just plan on making some changes for next year. That way we aren't rushed to get the car out this year, we can take out time make everything nice, change some things we didn't like, and be ready at the start of next year. So that is what we are doing.
I don't want to spoil the fun just yet, but I think you guys will agree with the decision when we start updating again Believe me, we are just as bummed as anyone that we never made it out with the car this year, it sucks. It will all be worth it next year though for sure. There will be nothing left on the car that we are not confident that it is a good as it could be. The turbo set up will be slightly improved, the cooling system will be vastly improved, all of the little things will be cleaned up and fixed (not very many of those), and the car will be the best it has ever been. We are sticking to only a couple changes to be sure that the car is ready before the race season next year. The plan is to have the car race ready in about February, and have it out A LOT next year.
Well there has been much turmoil the last few weeks with the TA. Since the last update we were ready to hit the track, then a minor set back, then no chance of running this year.
Back in the end of July (after the last update) we got the car buttoned up 100%. All of the wiring is done, rear firewall is in, fire system is all done, everything back together and so on. We brought the car to the Dyno July 29th, and had some minor issues. There was some problems with being able to write files to the ECU, but I cant really get into that. We ended up spending quite a while working on that before we got it figured out. By the time that was done, all we got accomplished was start up and idle.
Throughout that week small issues came up, and we resolved, again nothing that I can really get into detail about. More or less things were going smooth though. That Tuesday (31st) Chris stopped by the Dyno to see how everything was going. By then all of the little bugs seemed to be worked out, and all of the start up and driveablity parts of the tune were pretty much spot on. It was time to make the first boost pass! Nothing really eventful about it, the car made 5psi and 525WHP of course it was still pretty fat, and the timing was pretty safe being the first pull. Things were looking good! They made some adjustments, turned up the boost and went again, but it still only made 5psi. They had thought that maybe they didn't turn the CO2 pressure up high enough, so up it went and another pull.... Still only 5psi. After looking around they found that the line from the solenoids to the wastegate had melted. Not a big deal, but by then it was getting kind of late so they called it.
The rest of the week, not much was done to the car. The tuner finished all of the part throttle, driveablity, and things like that. We still were fighting a cooling problem, so he was waiting for the new fan we had ordered on Monday. That came in on Friday, and he threw it in the car for us. Sunday we headed back over to the shop to hopefully get the tune finished up! Got there nice and early, everyone was ready to go, got the car warmed up and went for it. I was standing in front of the car, and knew it was a partial pass right away. Chris yelled something at me, but I couldn't hear right away because the car was still revving down. I think I knew what he said, but I ignored it until I was sure. He said "We're done."
On that very first pull, as soon as the car came into boost, the dump tube from the wastegate into the down pipe exploded. Because of the location of it we had to stop until it was fixed. I have pictures of it that I will post up later. On top of that, the new fan didn't fix the cooling issue! So now we were stuck so to speak. The car was broken, and we just had everything drained from us when it let go. All of those months of work, all of that time, all of that money, and it never even made a full pull on the dyno. To top it off, we had given the trailer and the truck some TLC that Friday. The problem there is we had to replace the studs on one of the trailer hubs, and there were none local (we checked every place within an hour drive). So now the car is broke, and we need to get it home, and we have no way to do so. To top that off, Chris and I were busy the next few weekends in a row, so we didn't know when we would be able to do anything anyway.
After going back and forth about what to do for a while, we decided to just drive it the few miles back to the house. That's when things went from bad to worse. When Chris pulled the car out of the shop, I looked down at the turbo and saw some scuffs on the housing by the fins. Nothing really major, but its never a good sign. He shut the car off, and sure enough we had a bunch of shaft play. So for anyone not keeping track, that's, a broken dump tube, a wastegate that is too close to the turbo, a CO2 line that needs to be re-routed, an over heating problem, a turbo that needs a rebuild, a battery that is too small, and an alternator that cant keep up. Some of that wasn't mentioned in the story to try and make this shorter. We got the car back home, and just left.
So first thing first, we tackled the cooling issue. We decided that a new radiator would be helpful, and look a lot better. We decided to make the fan(s) pull through, and full y shroud it. That weekend I was unable to go work on the car, so it was up to Chris to discover that we were kind of screwed on all of those ideas. Of course that was AFTER parts had been ordered. The brand new 16" fan was going to be replaced by two new 10" fans. Even those were going to be a VERY tight fit, but we had little choice. He took all of the measurements he could get, then dissembled the car to send the turbo out.
The following weekend Chris was out of town getting engaged, and I was working on making things fit. I patched the down pipe, moved the wastegate down and away from the turbo, and got most of the dump tube mocked up and tacked. That was all pretty easy, the radiator on the other hand... It simply was not going to fit without drastic measures. I removed everything that was in my way, and mocked up the layout after I had assembled the new fans and shroud that I made up during the week.
Chris came back from his vacation, gave everything a once over then we started talking about plans. We decided that since it is already so late in the season, and since everything we were doing was only temporary (in reference to the tubing) maybe we should just plan on making some changes for next year. That way we aren't rushed to get the car out this year, we can take out time make everything nice, change some things we didn't like, and be ready at the start of next year. So that is what we are doing.
I don't want to spoil the fun just yet, but I think you guys will agree with the decision when we start updating again Believe me, we are just as bummed as anyone that we never made it out with the car this year, it sucks. It will all be worth it next year though for sure. There will be nothing left on the car that we are not confident that it is a good as it could be. The turbo set up will be slightly improved, the cooling system will be vastly improved, all of the little things will be cleaned up and fixed (not very many of those), and the car will be the best it has ever been. We are sticking to only a couple changes to be sure that the car is ready before the race season next year. The plan is to have the car race ready in about February, and have it out A LOT next year.
09-19-2012, 09:58 PM
#546
Here is the car on the dyno the day it broke. You can see the new 16" fan, and a turbo blanket that we borrowed since the one Chris ordered wasn't in yet.
And here is the tube that exploded
Driving it back home
Here is the patched down pipe. This was going to be a temporary fix, and now is not going back on the car at all.
Here is the waste gate after I moved it. Again, this wont be on the car next year either
Start of the dump tube which, you guessed it, wont be on the car next year
Lastly, here is the new shroud on the radiator (before it was modded with new fittings).
With the new 10" fans mounted up.
That's all for now. I don't think we will have much to update for a while, but when we do it should be good.
And here is the tube that exploded
Driving it back home
Here is the patched down pipe. This was going to be a temporary fix, and now is not going back on the car at all.
Here is the waste gate after I moved it. Again, this wont be on the car next year either
Start of the dump tube which, you guessed it, wont be on the car next year
Lastly, here is the new shroud on the radiator (before it was modded with new fittings).
With the new 10" fans mounted up.
That's all for now. I don't think we will have much to update for a while, but when we do it should be good.
09-20-2012, 06:19 AM
#548
It wasn't just the battery but a combo of things. My car has a small alternator on it. Ac121 only made about 75 amps, and I had a small lightweight race battery. 58 amp hr reserve. I have a huge 2500hp fuel pump, water pump, 3 electric fans, and the Holley, coil packs, boost control, ect.. I have a new alternator that does 135 amps now, same size, and I am just going back to a standard size battery. It fit in the box just fine before and I went to the smaller battery to save the 12#s... For drag racing the setup was fine if I recharged after a pass. But if I drove the car about 5 miles the battery would probably be to low to start, because the small alternator couldn't keep up. Next year I don't want to deal with problems.
Thanks, Chris
Thanks, Chris
09-20-2012, 08:24 AM
#550
The wastegate tube that was dumping back into the downpipe did not not blow because it was to close. It blew probably because it was all aluminum. The downpipe was hot, and then the dump tube was cooler, so as I made a 10psi pull, they expanded at different.rates. I found out after that a lot of people put a piece of flex in for this reason. Or it was.a.crappy bend that I got, and it was real thin in the radius... Either way I'm going to redo the downpipe it stainless, so I don't have to worry about it again.
The wastegate was at an angle so the top was kind of close to the exhaust housing of the turbo.. it did not create any problems yet, just trying to be proactive, so we don't melt.anything in it.
The wastegate was at an angle so the top was kind of close to the exhaust housing of the turbo.. it did not create any problems yet, just trying to be proactive, so we don't melt.anything in it.
09-20-2012, 11:04 AM
#552
Hey, that's a nice build, don't be disappointed by some minor problems and the fact you did not have it out this year. That happens all the time when you have other things in life to do 
So keep up the good work!
P.S. I would fix it up and tune/run it this year so you have a chance to discover more serious problems should they arise, and also to see what's the car is capable of, in general. But if you've already decided on new turbo, then it's probably not going to happen
So keep up the good work!P.S. I would fix it up and tune/run it this year so you have a chance to discover more serious problems should they arise, and also to see what's the car is capable of, in general. But if you've already decided on new turbo, then it's probably not going to happen
09-29-2012, 10:28 AM
#553
? where do ur top and bottom lines go on ur wastegate.i thought i had mine right but i know mine are routed wrong.im running a mbc if that makes difference..thanks n srry to hijack just needing some help
09-29-2012, 11:00 AM
#554
If you need to see a picture look at this.
http://www.tialmedia.com/documents/w..._wginstall.pdf
Thanks, Chris
09-30-2012, 01:43 PM
#555
hey man i hope this can help you out since you gave me the hookup on that sweet *** alt bracket which i got and just wanted to lyk i had no issue fitting this beautiful 160amp alt in the space with unmodified truck manifolds......
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TFF-7935CBULL6G/
Same case as this 105 amp but returned it for the 160 unit, just can't find the pics but same deal. if you go with it, i'd give tuff stuff a call and see if they can put the power stud on the rear as it gets a tad tight by the block. i just put a thick vacuum cap on the stud for safety precaution.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TFF-7935CBULL6G/
Same case as this 105 amp but returned it for the 160 unit, just can't find the pics but same deal. if you go with it, i'd give tuff stuff a call and see if they can put the power stud on the rear as it gets a tad tight by the block. i just put a thick vacuum cap on the stud for safety precaution.
Last edited by PRAY HRD; 09-30-2012 at 01:51 PM.
10-28-2012, 11:39 AM
#557
It's that time of year again, time to work on the TA! Well technically we usually don't start so early, but we don't want to miss another race season so we got on it early. As you all know we made some pretty major changes to the car last year. That took us longer than expected, but we wanted everything to be perfect. Unfortunately when it came time to get it on the dyno we had some problems. Some minor, some major, but because of how late in the year it was already it ended our chances of racing at all. So we took a bit of a vacation from the car, and worked on a game plan. Chris ordered up parts, and I traveled around to a bunch of races "doing research"
Enough talking, lets get down to the work!! We start with the fun part, mounting the new turbo. The new turbo is just a bit larger than the old one. We planned on changing turbos when we built the new turbo kit last winter so we had tried to account for a larger unit. In reality, we did not give ourselves enough space so we had some work to do. We started by welding the new T6 flange to the transition after we had cut it as short as possible. While I was welding that up Chris cut the v-band off of the merge since we needed the turbo to go as low as possible, and we know that we wont be changing the T6 flange any time soon.
Here is the merge all welded up with the new T6 flange
After that we had to make some room on the frame rail for the outlet of the turbo. Chris notched it, and we cut a piece of 4" 16ga stainless to weld back in.
Here is the finished product with the turbo mounted up!
How about some info on the turbo eh As you can tell, its a bit bigger than before. This new one is a Garrett GT5533R, 94mm, dual ball bearing, billet wheel. Should take care of us for quite a while I would think! Here are a few more shots of it.
This give you an idea of how high it sits now.
Next up came the down pipe. This time we decided to stick with the more traditional stainless steel. Not much to it, there is a 5" v-band to 4" transition at the turbo, then its all 4" from there out. Still using the aluminum muffler with the aluminum tip (I don't know what else to call it) coming out of the front bumper.
Here you can see we have a lot more clearance between the down pipe and the intercooler pipe.
Here is the finished product
Showing the alignment. The outlet of the new turbo was shifted to the back of the car because of the larger size.
While I was welding the down pipe Chris installed the new high amp alternator. This should solve our electrical problems!
That's about all for now. We also mocked up the new radiator (the start of most of this project) and came up with a loose game plan for mounting it. We are still waiting on the new larger wastegate so we can figure that out. Next weekend we should have a good start on the intercooler piping. We need to get the wastegate so we can figure that out, then it will all get pulled out of the car. All of the piping will get re-coated, along with the turbo. The motor is going to get freshened up, and some little things to help it live a little longer. We are planning on running strong next season, and want to be ready before the season even starts! We are only one weekend in, but we got further than I planned. We should have some good progress each weekend for a little while. Thanks for following along!
Sean
Enough talking, lets get down to the work!! We start with the fun part, mounting the new turbo. The new turbo is just a bit larger than the old one. We planned on changing turbos when we built the new turbo kit last winter so we had tried to account for a larger unit. In reality, we did not give ourselves enough space so we had some work to do. We started by welding the new T6 flange to the transition after we had cut it as short as possible. While I was welding that up Chris cut the v-band off of the merge since we needed the turbo to go as low as possible, and we know that we wont be changing the T6 flange any time soon.
Here is the merge all welded up with the new T6 flange
After that we had to make some room on the frame rail for the outlet of the turbo. Chris notched it, and we cut a piece of 4" 16ga stainless to weld back in.
Here is the finished product with the turbo mounted up!
How about some info on the turbo eh
As you can tell, its a bit bigger than before. This new one is a Garrett GT5533R, 94mm, dual ball bearing, billet wheel. Should take care of us for quite a while I would think! Here are a few more shots of it.This give you an idea of how high it sits now.
Next up came the down pipe. This time we decided to stick with the more traditional stainless steel. Not much to it, there is a 5" v-band to 4" transition at the turbo, then its all 4" from there out. Still using the aluminum muffler with the aluminum tip (I don't know what else to call it) coming out of the front bumper.
Here you can see we have a lot more clearance between the down pipe and the intercooler pipe.
Here is the finished product
Showing the alignment. The outlet of the new turbo was shifted to the back of the car because of the larger size.
While I was welding the down pipe Chris installed the new high amp alternator. This should solve our electrical problems!
That's about all for now. We also mocked up the new radiator (the start of most of this project) and came up with a loose game plan for mounting it. We are still waiting on the new larger wastegate so we can figure that out. Next weekend we should have a good start on the intercooler piping. We need to get the wastegate so we can figure that out, then it will all get pulled out of the car. All of the piping will get re-coated, along with the turbo. The motor is going to get freshened up, and some little things to help it live a little longer. We are planning on running strong next season, and want to be ready before the season even starts! We are only one weekend in, but we got further than I planned. We should have some good progress each weekend for a little while. Thanks for following along!
Sean
