Yes, though I want to say that it was 62" from rotor to rotor, so 58" is from rotor to rotor. I'll check on that and make sure.

One thing that I found, even with the control arm brackets on the racecraft rearend located in 1" on each side was that a 7.5" BS wheel would hit the brackets. I had to use a 5/8" spacer on each side.

 

Got a little more done.

Engine out


Engine coming out


Two very nice items - precision billet 7675 turbochargers


Compared to my billet 114.

 

Got the midplate from the mustang just about trimmed to fit, the motorplate still needs some work.

Right now I've got about -2 degrees from the crankshaft centerline to the pinion.... maybe I can get that to zero, we will see.

I'm going to have to trim and refiberglass the evaporator box to keep the AC and get the valvecovers on.

Hopefully tonight or the next night the engine motorplate/midplate and transmission will be in!

 

I looked when I did the minitub job in the car, nothing in the interior and nothing in the hatch area.

 

subscribed D: amazing work

 

A little closer.



I had to lose the stock steering to fit the motorplate.

Honestly the shape of the framerails is a lot different from the mustang and it's taken a decent amount of work to get this thing to go.

I'm moving the engine back what looks like about 2" from stock... I'm hoping my carbon fiber driveshaft from the mustang will work, it would be a real shame to have to sell it.

 

OK, I'll say it once and drop it. As a brand purist, I don't like the ford-into-GM thing that's going on here. However, I can certainly appreciate the reason why.

So, I'm pretty impressed by your build here, its pretty cool And it looks like a lot of fun to build and probably more fun to drive. I was wondering what your plans for the exhaust were (if you already told us I didn't see), because I was wondering what kind of street exhaust you were going to run to support 2K hp.

Definitely subscribing.

Also, IIRC, your wife had a baby on the way, I hope all is well with that.

 

Eh, someone had to do it eventually... Chevys have been dropped into fox mustangs forever (thought that generally makes more sense, lighter body, easy to work on, chevy's are dead common and make good power, especially the LSx stuff)

What's the plan for the steering?

 

Steel Armadillo, thanks for the props. I agree on the brand purist argument... what I wanted was a Dart head Dart block 540-555 BBC, what my wallet could afford was to fix what I had.

Right now my plans for the exhaust are to cut out the upper spring perch in the framerail and run exhaust between the frame and shock and dump it behind the front tires. I will probably cut holes in the fenders and have it exit there... the fenders have a little rust and need to be replaced anyway so if I hate it I can change it later when I get new fenders.

The exhaust will be at least dual 3.5", I'm hoping to fit dual 4". I'd REALLY like to fabricate the exhaust out of aluminum to save some weight!

About the kid, he's 16 months old now, and maybe there's another one on the way . Motivation to try to finish while I still have a little time to work on this thing!

83 Crossfire TA, I'm planning on a custom rack from unisteer assuming it's not cost prohibitive (they claim ~$500 which I can do, if it's $1k I'll look into the thunderbird setup and live with the bumpsteer I get) mounted on the lower k member tube, run over to the racecraft drop spindles and using a bumpsteer kit. I'm thinking manual steering right now, but if I can source an electric power steering pump cheaply enough I may try power instead.

 

Got some more done, engine is in the car - my measurements indicate it's set back 2.5-3" or so compared to the 305, and it's lower in the car as well. Sometimes it's nice to not have that distributor in the rear of the engine.

I even think I can maybe get by with the stock hood like I wanted. Here's a pic of the engine with the intake on it. The elbow has a 1.25" thick flange on the bottom so there's another 1" of clearance if I want to mill it down. With the formula power bulge I have a little more clearance, but I need to put the hood back on to make sure. If what I have won't work, I'll source a throttle body and carb flange and build a custom low profile side exit elbow.

 

Nice looking good

 

Engine came back out to finish welding the frontside of motorplate/midplate tabs. Transmission is in though I need to fab a crossmember.

Here is where I want the turbos to go:



I need to cut out the battery trays on each side, and rework how the lights are mounted to the car... if I can get rid of the bottom flange where the two bolts come up vertically to hold the light in I can have an extra inch or so, room is tight!

I also need to cut the passenger side bumper support for turbo discharge clearance and plate it in. I'm thinking of doing it with a piece of 4" tubing.

 

I'm not quite sure of the amount of space behind the radiator, but with turbo's I'd guesstimate the benefit of the short route to the turbo to be less then the benefit of shorter exhaust tubing.

Placing the turbos in that exact location requires a lot of extra tubing from the exhaust manifold to the turbo. Extra exhaust tubing in this case causes more loss of temperature and longer spool times, especially if you have most of that tubing hanging in the drive wind.

I personally would prefer to place those turbos as close to the exhaust manifold as possible, and use 12" of 4" tubing to serve as CAI from the front fascia to the turbos intake. If you'd be able to relocate the battery and charcoal canister (if you want to keep that) you'd be left with some space to work with, closer to the manifolds.

Just a thought, but one that might be viable after I read through Orr89Roc's thread of turbo woes.

 

I'm really set at putting the turbos where they are... it may hurt spoolup a bit, but getting ram air from the front bumper will allow the turbo to run at a lower pressure ratio and be more efficient to make power more easily.

Maybe it's a stupid idea but I'm going to try to make it happen for now.

I removed the battery tray on both sides, trimmed the driver headlight and support sheetmetal.

It appears as though I have 3 options for running the hot side.

1. Run the pipes up, over the framerail and then down to the turbine.

2. Run the pipes under the swaybar and up to the turbine.

3. Cut a hole in the frame and run the pipe through there.

#2 is out because that KILLS my ground clearance. If I was willing to toss the swaybar I'd say it's the easiest and best way to go but I'm not willing to do that at this point.

#1 seems most likely though #3 hasn't been discounted yet. The hard part with #3 is the clearance to the radiator.... and I'm going to need a bigger one than the stocker.

 

What is hurting me most for now is the reuse of the headers from my mustang. They are 1 7/8" with a 3" collector and are down and forward facing.

This saves me a month I'm guessing not having to fabricate headers but introduces some compromises for hot side routing.

In any case, using the stock AC compressor kills the idea of a high forward facing passenger side header, so maybe I'm stuck with what I have?

I fabricated a 3" to 2.5" reducer that I welded to a 3" vband clamp to adapt to the header.

Total height including vband clamp is less than an inch!



Yes, I TIG welded it. Be gentle!

 

keeping stock hood, a/c right?

 

That is correct!

I have verified that the elbow I have will fit under the stock hood pointed backwards, so I can fab up something which will fit under the power bulge and be useful.

The AC I can mount, I'm still undecided on how to drive it. I have a peterson spline drive setup for the oil pump, I need to get them to make me a 6 rib pulley for it.

The spline drive is a neat setup!

http://www.petersonfluidsys.com/drive_spline.html

 

Got some more work done.

Initial bend off of header - not quite enough.


Bumper support and headlight mount trimmed and turbo location


Turbine location, bracket will be welded to sheetmetal for "support"


Second tube tacked into place... if I didn't have the stupid swaybar I could go under the frame, but I still want to be able to turn. Under the frame would be a much cleaner install...


Had to trim swaybar bracket for clearance

 

Starting to form the 2.5" to T4 transition. It's made much harder because I'm doing it in a bend, and I'm at a weird angle to the T4 flange.


Tacked into place, you can see how much more forming needs to be done


Inside done. This was REAL WORK!


Outside welded.

 

Got a bit more done. I have to locate the wastegate tube and then the pre-turbine hot side on the driver side is done.

 

Very impressive it is so rare to see someone actually work on such a complicated build and not just talk about it keep up the good work

 

discrete location of the turbos how are you going to route the exhaust?

 

Thanks guys!

I'm planning on doing something similar to this:



I am going to run 3.5" so I can run it up a little higher. I'll cut out the upper spring perch and box it in. I will probably have to do something creative to maintain range of motion for the wheels.

 

Since I have to notch the passenger side frame to make the other header fit, I thought it might be smart to make the passenger side valvecover fit so I don't fill the springs with trash.

Here's a pic of the valvecover installed:



I had to run the valvecover on the bandsaw to make enough clearance for it to fit and keep the evaporator box on the firewall. Gotta have AC in a street car!

No, I won't show you the weld. Suffice it to say that welding material that has been soaked in oil and aluminum polish is beyond my ability to make nice welds on. What I have will work, but I'm not real proud of it.

I also turned the elbow and throttle body forward and trimmed the bracing under the hood... the throttle body and elbow will ALMOST clear... it's close enough that I'm considering milling the flange on the elbow to gain a little more clearance, but the problem at that point is the distributor clearance. Sometimes I wish I had a chevy engine.....

 

The header almost fits.....

it sure would be easier to do this without the engine and AC stuff in the way.

I think I'll pull the engine out to weld it all up. Of course I'll tack the plates in with the engine in to verify that the header still fits.

 

thats alot of header clearancing but i understand situation. On my car the driverside header needed alittle clearancing. I was going to mount the turbo
low like you but didnt like the idea of using a scavenging pump for the drain.

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/v...e/100_0708.jpg

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/v...gine/turbo.jpg

 

That's a nice looking build! I looked at your photobucket album, do you ever have issues with the compressor to intercooler pipe scraping on the ground?

I'm going to have to cut out the upper spring perch in the wheel well to get the downpipe clearance that I need, and when I do I'm thinking about putting a piece of chromoly tubing in the framerail to strengthen that area.... i.e. 1/8" plate in the cross section of the framerail with a piece of 1 5/8" or 1 1/2" moly between them. I'll obviously have to see how practical it is without cutting more of the car up to do it.

 

I got the other turbo mounted, I actually used the lip of the framerail that was left over after removing the battery tray to bolt my T4 flange to (race parts solutions extended T4 flange with mount bolt holes). I welded a bend to the vband for the passenger header and then convinced myself that I needed to mount the AC compressor to the engine before I went any further....

It looks like the stock AC bracket will work with some modification. Perhaps I'll mount the alternator where the stock smog pump went? I'm not sure it can work but I'm going to look into it. Really though I need the AC compressor mounted before I can construct the hot side so I know where the pipes need to run.

Unfortunately due to the headers it looks like the kit won't be symmetrical, but oh well.
The driver side header aims right at the swaybar bracket while the passenger curves in and gives me nice clearance.... Maybe I'll redo it someday to make it look nicer? For now the priority is to go FAST!

 

the first coldside setup had good ground clearance . Im having coldside plumbing change a bit .

 

Got some more done.

Passenger side header to turbine pipe is finished. It's not exactly how I wanted to do it but I had to clear the AC compressor, AC lines on the frame, hood, and radiator... so it is what it is.

 

I put the car on the ground and I really don't have enough ground clearance.

I have 2 options.

1. Move engine up to gain clearance. This will take a LOT of moving because of the external wet sump pan, ~10" tall. I will lose the stock AC and have to buy a vintage air setup, I'll have to buy and paint a new hood, and I'll have to redo the turbo kit.

2. Buy dry sump oil system. I can get a pan that's 4.5-5" deep, which would be perfect. In addition, I'd have to buy a shallow powerglide pan and probably build a skidplate for it. It's expensive, but the advantage is that I would get a newer (better) oilpump than the old petersen that I have now that would have a hex drive attachment on the rear and I could put a mechanical pump on the car if I wanted to. I keep the engine where it is, use the stock AC, and don't have to redo the turbo kit, plus I can sell my billet fab oilpan and peterson oilpump to offset the damage....

For the dry sump setup I'm looking at $2500 at least, but I can sell my junk to offset it. I'm not sure a new hood, paint, and vintage air setup is that much cheaper.

thoughts?

 

I looked into a vintage air set up, and it was way more $$$ and work than I thought it was worth. It's not hard to make new a/c lines if the stock line locations are causing your problem

 

The issue is valve cover clearance to the stock evaporator box on the firewall. I've notched and boxed in the valvecover and can't really move it much more before my valve cover to rocker clearance is gone and the evaporator box needs to go.

 

Making room for the 3.5" downpipes. I've trimmed the pinchweld on the bottom of the frame and that's all I've really done so far.

 

this could be a stupid question, and if it is i apologize, but with your turbo location, how are you dealing with the oil return lines? wont they be too low to drain back properly, or is there a plan for this?

 

Not stupid.

On the outlaw car I used an electric pump to get the oil back to the pan. Since I have to go dry sump, I will have the turbos drain down into a reservoir which will give the oil a chance to deaerate, then I'll use a scavenge section of the pump to get the oil back to the oil tank.

I actually think this will work better because I don't have to worry about forgetting to turn the pump on or the pump failing and me not knowing.

 

Yep I was thinking thats how you would dothe oil return. Lingenfelter uses a belt driven pump on his old C5 TTvettes. Its a cool setup!

 

I talked with Gary at ARE (recommended by my machinist - drysump.com - they do most all of the LSX type dry sump systems) and he is of the opinion that an oil drain to the pan would be a better way to go. The engine is so low in the chassis that the turbo drain is actually ABOVE the oilpan. I'm not sure exactly how to get the drain lines back to the pan, but it appears to be an option to use gravity drain instead.

That said, Peterson recommended a 5 stage dry sump pump which ARE doesn't sell... it could just be ARE trying to upsell me their stuff.

 

Making room for fender exit exhaust:
I think I want to run them slightly higher so I will need a bit more trimming after the travel limiter and then in the wheel well.

I'm planning to box in the wheel well with some 4" or 5" steel tubing slit down the center and then trimmed to fit as opposed to building a traditional box. I think it will look a bit cleaner.



The patch that you see in this picture is from my rusty floor repair. You can see that the rust leeched up a bit so I'll hit that with wire brush and spray it to convert the leftover rust into "black primer" before I close the hole up.

 

Starting the downpipe: flange is 304ss, pipe is 16 ga aluminized steel. I used 309L SS rod to tack it.


Tire clearance at full turn


Fender exit exhaust

 

Not worried about the tire sidewall flexing and rubbing on the exhaust I take it?

Now that I think about it, it's probably alright since that's at full lock, so no high speeds & sidewall loads. Sure looks unique

 

That´s a tight fit indeed.
I guess the exhaust will, at that point, be no warmer then about 400°F however, right?

 

Those were my thoughts. If it ever hits I'll put some steering rack limiters or dimple the tube a bit.

Solitaire, I plan to ceramic coat the exhaust to try to keep temps down.

 

looking good! coat or maybe wrap that exhaust. Its gonna be hot!

 

Looks like it fits ok!

Time to yank it out for welding...

 

Looking good! Im guna b "that guy" 4 a min lol but are those rotors on the wrong side? If they are from a vet and are baer?

 

You're right. I have a friend locally that smacked me about that, but I haven't been motivated to change them yet. The discs are about worn out anyway, I need to get some new ones and they'll go on the Z06 and put the solid discs on the bird.

 

Well i know it isnt finished either, I sold Baer and have them on 3 of my cars soo its the 1st thing I look 4.. carry on! oh did ya find the battery tray parts?

 

Man, I looked. I think I must have tossed them. Sorry.

 

Nice Work!