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Not to MUCH to update but I have done some small stuff to the car. It’s been stupid cold out here the last 3-4 weeks and I just got a new truck right before Xmas. So I had to remove all my mods and aftermarket stuff before trading it in.
Only 2 changes.
1.) swapped driver seat harness from the Simpson 5 pt with cam lock to a new style OE 4 pt Grant with the OE pushbutton lock. Much easier and cleaner to get in an out of the car vs putting all those tabs in etc. not to mention it’s a very comfortable harness. I installed one of my harnesses and then found that it was cracked and a piece of plastic inside was making a racket when it shook it. Summit is sending out a replacement so I had to remove it and ship it back. I installed the 2nd harness I had on the drive side and will do the pass side when the new harness comes in. Overall very happy with the new harness.
2.) removed the CME exhaust! I know, it looked good but it was not clean enough from the back of the car. It took away from the lines of the back of the car. Plus it was covered in black carbon from the exhaust already and I wanted to clean it up. So I went with New dynomax 2.5” mandrel stock style tail pipes. I tucked them up as high as I could to make them minimal from the back of the car. I think it looks good but won’t be able to tell till spring where I can really get around the car. On the ground with some distance. I haven’t started it up in like 4 weeks due to the less than 20* outside.
Good news also is that speed hut finnally ahipped my new transmission gauge! 4 weeks basically lol but UPS says it’s on its way. I got to remove the dash to get the wiring done and run the new wiring to the new sender. Then I have to replace the sender with the speedhut sender so hoping it clears everything and there are no issues. All my gauges should match now for the most part!
Got the car all done. Made some changes but not all that much. Both New grant 4pt harnesses are installed. I installed a slim 9” led bar under the bumper for my reverse lighting as it was very poor. I also installed a new led 3rd brake light that I got off eBay months ago, I thought I lined it up but it’s off alittle and the angle isn’t that great but it’s preset.
Good news is that we had a warm day last week and I took the day off and drove the car around for the first time with the turbo system and the new FItech ultimate LS EFI system and it worked great. That thing leans quickly and I even got into some boost to datalog and see what it’s doing. Logs show good timing and AFR and got up to 6psi. The car is super quiet and feels faster for sure. I even picked up a bunch of low end it feels like probably due to the smaller header primaries and the turbo backpressure. Car got cleaned and sealed, battery removed and put under a new car cover until spring. Very happy with the performance and driveability of the turbo system and the EFI at this point.
Thanks will do! Might be sooner than I think with this warmer weather we've been getting.
Side note... Got my homemade engine test stand working fully. We just put a 6.0 LQ9 cam in my dads 5.3 junk yard engine and did a cloyes LS2 chain, melling 295 oil pump and Fbody oil pan with LS6 blue springs. Under the covers and oil pan looked like crap (lots of sludge) so we werent even sure this thing would start or run. Engine up firing right up on the PCM i unlocked with HP tuners. ran it for 10 min with a oil sludge remover and then went to crank again and it locked up. found out the #7 injector was stuck open and flooded the cylinder. So a new set of used injectors and fuel rail and problem solved. Test stand works like a dream. Now I need to put my 5.3 on and test for engine vitals before I do a cam/pan swap. Love having this thing as it makes testing much easier. Its fully adjustable for any engine make/model and will just need slight wiring changes for SBC etc. Prob have $300 ish invested with gauges (tach and volt gauge are new but cheap) running a 91TPI stock fuel pump with return line into a gas tank for fuel system. Heres a video!
So got some seat time with the car the other day when it got warm out. Drove it like I stole it with the new Fitech system and its learning started with boost lol. Drove great. Logs showing max 6psi, boost starting at 3K with light throttle rolling into it and all in quick. Working on why only 6psi but I think its due to just running a single WG spring and referencing the WG to the compressor. I switched it to reference from the Manifold and I'll see what boost does. Car felt good tho and fast with only 6psi. I had to let out of it before 5k because I was going to fast with cars on the road.
Nice work. You’re gonna make me spend some money on some black coil covers. You’re gonna hurt some feelings with that car. Did not take this wrong, it’s got a definite sleeper Vibe to it. Can you post a link to the seat belts you used?
Nice work. You’re gonna make me spend some money on some black coil covers. You’re gonna hurt some feelings with that car. Did not take this wrong, it’s got a definite sleeper Vibe to it. Can you post a link to the seat belts you used?
The coil covers are sweet. Cheap ebay $110 that I wrapped and added custom decals too. I had to mod them to fit my Alt with the truck accessories but it was just the one side.
Thats the goal! Car looks stock minus the roll bar, seat harness and 18" wheels with BAER brakes and aftermarket gauges. THe stock exhaust tips I really like bc it cleaned up the rear and made it look more stock. Car is stupid quiet too lol.
Nice build, thank you for the interesting read! How are the under-hood temps with the turbo? I always wondered what they would be like in a 3rd gen TA with an LS turbo swap. I notice the later third gen TA's came with hood vents, don't know how much they lowered temps or how big of an issue it was since Formula cars still came with the bulged hood.
Nice build, thank you for the interesting read! How are the under-hood temps with the turbo? I always wondered what they would be like in a 3rd gen TA with an LS turbo swap. I notice the later third gen TA's came with hood vents, don't know how much they lowered temps or how big of an issue it was since Formula cars still came with the bulged hood.
thanks. I can’t say for sure but it’s warm under there. Can’t say it’s more or less with the turbo. It was supercharger before and before that it had a 521 BBF, before that a 383 HSR.
driving around recently on a high 70s day Engine temps stayed between 170-190* according to my logs and looking at the temp gauge. My FItech pcm puts the water temp sender at the front driver side head which is super close to the header primary so it reads a bit higher than my speedhut gauge sender located at the back pass side of the head which is a lot more open. I was seeing 10* difference between the 2.
IATs logged between 100-125*F with the Engine good and hot after beating on it for 30min. It would drop with meth activation.
The late TA hood vents were purely cosmetic, they didn’t open to the underside. People mod them to be open but usually it’s too much work. On my power bulge hood I actually removed the plate in the cowl and thus it’s functional. Air rushes over and pulls Engine bay heat out. I can also see heat pouring out of it when stopped.
The 521 was just an animal. Low end tq was insane and would just blow the tires off anytime decent throttle was given. It was just too much for a light *** end car and was horrible on gas. Much prefer the 5.3 turbo for a few different reasons but the tq of the 521 I do miss below 3500. The turbo makes up for it pretty well from about 3k on.
Regarding the air filter, i have seen others pipe a 90 down through the bat tray with a real filter hanging below. A bit of a danger for standing water hydro/lock but it doesnt look like this car is built for rain anyways
All in all this is an awesome project, sounds great too!
Yea I was looking at a cobra style elbow so it doesnt affect flow but allows a super tight turn. I really wouldnt be able to get a good sized filter on it though. I dont have alot of room to work with as I have intercooler piping below that, fender supports etc. I would love to run a large 4" cone filter but it would have to be a "short" one and that kills airflow. Car doesnt go out in the rain but I can't say that it hasn't seen rain while driving.
thanks, its very quiet!! Loving it, i wish there was more turbo spool tho. I might try to fab up a muffler system for the dump pipe as I feel like the open DP drowns out any turbo spool.
Still messing around with WG springs and boost. Might get a deal on some used 305/35r18 MT street radials to swap on for some traction! Still can’t get a good idea of boost bc the tires just spin and no real load on the turbo/Engine.
I did swap WG springs to a dual spring that should net me 25psi on the compressor or about 12psi on the engine if I’m lucky.
I also modified my TV/throttle cable bracket to get more angle on the TV cable to it’s more inline with the swing of the TB. Turned out pretty good and readjusted the TV cable again. Haven’t been able to drive it with all the rain NJ has been getting for a week or so... ugh.
Before TV angle smoothed out on the bottom. Look a trh angle of the bracket where he aluminum nut is and the angle of the wire going to the TB cam.
After. Hard to see but u can see the angle of the bottom TV cable st the bracket is sloped to match the angle of the TB cam angle. Keeps the arc more straight and puts less side loading on the cable.
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