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Hi everyone. I'm presenting my build here for a couple of reasons. First, 90% of the time I have an ls based question, google leads me to the answer on this site. Secondly, to pay it forward. I've been following projects and guys like Happel, Reiner, Hamm for a few years and really enjoy seeing the budget builds making huge numbers. Now its my turn to build a turbo car on the shed floor and let everyone else learn from my mistakes.
So here she is. Not much to look at but she is solid as can be considering her Ohio roots. I bought the caprice from an older guy that couldn't afford the projects anymore on 2/17/17. I'm hoping I can slam this thing together shockingly quick so I can catch him for an unexpecting test ride when I return his historical plates.
Battling out the old 305 with the cherry picker burying itself the whole way. Cheap picker was too short to get over top of engine so I had to pull bumper.
Removed most of old harness and unnecessary wiring. Retaining factory heat/lighting and will be triggering relays off stock ignition switch
Parts are starting to poor in the mail now. The mail lady thinks its cool to hang out and bs now. I guess after so many packages she feels like part of the family.
I grabbed these heads off of Craigslist the other day too. I know they are going to lower compression and make my 5.3 a dog low. The 5.3 is my 300 complete with ecu practice motor. Ultimately the goal is a 6.0 build on the stand while I drive the 5.3 so I have room to grow into the heads. They are 317 casting decked .025 Stock valves but TEA in Akron, OH did a comp valve job on them. pac 1218 springs
Today(2/25) started out rough. Couldn't get the crank bolt out to do my cam swap... Had my 1/2 braker on there with a 5 foot cheater bar, 1 foot on the block and my wife holding down the block with her hands cupped into cyl 7/8. Ended up loading up and taking to a friends to use the compressor, hoping that some impact might help. After many of impacts and f-bombs another attempt at the braker bar freed the beast.
Unfortunately while unloading my chain slid and made this huge oil mess...
So feeling accomplished...not...I decided I would stick to cleaning for a bit. Not perfect but good enough.
Couldn't stand looking at this cam any longer. It had to go in
Timing marks
And of course I dropped a bolt into the lifter valley.
Heart sinking. Only luck I had today was that it got caught on the lobe and I was able to retrieve it with a magnet.
Managed to get my 5.3 flex plate holes elongated today so that I could attach the th350 torque converter. I had to cut one of the mount locations for the a/c compressor from the block as well so that the clam shell mounts would sit flat against the adapter.
Learning from the removal process, I decided to place some plywood this time so I wouldn't fight the dirt so much. After a little coercing she has settled her way into her new home. Seeing the engine and trans back in the car today has me motivated. Hopefully I can get my microsquirt harness wired up this week, fuel pump in and the rest of my gaskets so I can finish assembly and here this thing run, even if for only a naturally aspirated minute. Turbo is still on back order but hopefully that changes this week too.
Finally!!! Head gaskets in the mail today. Ofc the first thing I did was put my heads on. I also managed to get my stock injectors decapped and sold the old 305 so I don't have to look at it anymore. Overall, a productive enough day. Really wanted to see rockers and covers go on but by the time I got dinner in me it was too cold out to be enjoyable.
Parts pile growing fast. They're coming in the wrong order!!!
Intake just resting because I wanted a little preview. I'm pretty happy with the engine placement. Seems pretty well down and back. The stock truck pan sticks a little far out of the bottom but we're going to ignore that detail until I knock a hole in it or I have a 6.0 bottom end on the stand ready to go.
Rain day. Makes the car look nice but who wants to be wet...
Snagged this toy up off of craigslist. Thanks Brad. I had an older lincoln flux only setup I used while dirt track racing to fix whatever broke at the track. Just pit by the pop machine so you can plug in. I figured I'd step up my welding a little on this project and go with gas.
Its been years since I welded anything so hopefully its like riding a bike. Here is the old mini stock
Well this week has been a long one. The weather has been absurd here. From sun to snow to rain and back. Seems everything I go to do gets held up by a part or a tool. I'm currently waiting on a drill with a big enough chuck to drill/tap my pan for the oil feed as the bit set I have won't fit my drill. Also need this so I can pass the wiring harness through the firewall so I can start adding connectors to it. Everything else is pretty much here other than the turbo which should be in tomorrow and whatever small gaskets and bolts I end up grabbing local as I need. Once I get the turbo, I'll get my down pipe done and figure out where I want to put my gate(huge 60mm). I put my walbro 450 in the tank. The tank still has to go into the car.
After some fireproof paint
Setup for leak testing the decapped injectors.
Be careful playing with Gas and electricity if you try this. Took me 2 takes to accomplish. I was recording because we had been talking about the expense of flow/leak testing decapped injectors in the GM decap group on facebook. Being on a tight budget I opted not to send them out for flow testing but for the sake of my engine I came up with this setup to make sure they weren't leaking.
Okay, not to make light of the fire, and glad no one was hurt. But I have to say I was rolling around laughing at that video. All I could think about was Talledega Nights - "I'm on fire, help me Tom Cruise"
And a public service announcement - Might want to get a fire extinguisher that is for fuel instead of just trying water.
Glad it worked out. And this is a cool project, keep at it.
Okay, not to make light of the fire, and glad no one was hurt. But I have to say I was rolling around laughing at that video. All I could think about was Talledega Nights - "I'm on fire, help me Tom Cruise"
And a public service announcement - Might want to get a fire extinguisher that is for fuel instead of just trying water.
Glad it worked out. And this is a cool project, keep at it.
Dan
Haha, ya don't do stupid **** without being semi-prepared for it to fail. I shared the vid because I thought it was humorous and someone might learn something from it. We died laughing for a while.
Completed the cold side. Maybe, eventually I can get them tig welded but for now both turbo to int, and int to throttle body are 2 piece. I don't plan to go too crazy on this gen 3 bottom end so I might not have any coupler issues.
Downpipe and dump tube are both done. Everything is going straight down towards ground through the opening in front of the wheel well.
Now that I have the turbo I was able to mock up the wastegate. I have to cut a hole in the exhaust manifold and weld the pipe leading to gate. I'm goin to pull the manifolds off again so that I can blow any debris out and get everything painted before assembly.
Turbo is a billet 78/75 from vsracing. Gate is a 60mm knock-off. Going to start off with 11lbs of spring and see where that takes me
I just made it into Napa's doors at 5:55 today on the way home from work. I managed to remember hose clamps, a piece of tube for the trans line I kinked right at the fitting, a u-joint for the rear of the shaft and fluid for the trans. I know I'll be back up there tomorrow for the finishing bits and oil. I still haven't come up with a solution to mounting my gauges. I killed my hole saw as it wasn't meant for sheet steel and in the process killed my piece of sheet. I'll get some fresh pics up by the end of the weekend. If all goes as planned, a fire-up video will be up too!
02-25-2017, 06:51 PM
1986 Caprice Classic 5.3 Turbo B-Body Budget Build 
