Thanks guys!

I have a new appreciation for welding.....

7 welds around 3.5" pipe is ~77 inches.... and I'm probably only doing 1-3 inches per minute, not including repositioning the pipe or duty cycle for my hand when the torch is too hot to touch!.

 

Got a little more done. I boxed the frame in front of the wheel with the frame that I cut out, and the frame behind the wheel near the rearmost k member attachment point with 1/8" steel. I also welded the wheel well to spring bucket seam that I cut to make room for the downpipe. I did all that first so that I could make sure the downpipe still fit so I could construct the box for the driver's footwell properly.

I put some racecraft stainless trim rings on too. Here's a pic:



Hole left to patch:

 

whew, that left foot is going to be on FIRE when that thing heats up

 

Tell me about it. I'm hoping there's enough room to get 2 layers of metal in there with an air gap. Perhaps I'll try to find some insulation to stick in there too.

 

Here are some pics of weekend's progress, it took longer than I wanted to fit the footwell patch panel. I made it out of a piece of 3.5" tubing slit in half, the rest is fabricated from some 18 gauge mild steel that I had used to do rust repair. After I was done I went over the weld bead inside with seam sealer.

I'm not pleased with my out of position MIG welding, and leaning over the cage and between the seat and steering wheel is NO fun. My ribs are still sore from leaning on the cage. It's super hard to see what the weld puddle is doing when the cage, steering wheel, and brake pedal are in the way.

 

Started on the other side:



Intercooler cores showed up. 3 of these. Core will be 30"x12.5"x3.5"

 

Looks good. You still going over the rad?

 

mmhmm downpipes look good, i wonder how hot your feet will get

 

I'm going to have to... and I think maybe my eyes were bigger than my stomach when I ordered these cores. OAH will be 12.5" plus intercooler tank heights... probably another 7". Either I'll have to lower the bottom of the radiator core support or a shorter radiator and have the intercooler hang down. Not sure which is a better plan.

The OTHER way I could possibly do it, which would result in a much less efficient intercooler is to have a side exit top tank which went through the sheetmetal between the radiator and headlight and back around to the intake, but it would be close to the hot side then.

I have a little time while I practice not ruining aluminum before I attempt it... oh, and I have to finish the passenger downpipe too.

noboostnogo, thanks! I wonder too. I think I might have to add another layer of sheetmetal with some insulation, but we will see.

 

Yeah those cores look pretty big. 30" long with a 12.5" tall core plus tank heights, its going to be big.

Keep as big of a rad as you can and play around with lowering the support to gain clearance or look into an ovaled out pipe of some sort. Can possibly lean the rad back a good bit like LS1 fbodies do. that can give some clearance too.

 

I wish I could lean the radiator. In order to keep the stock swaybar and AC I had to run the header to turbine pipes up, between the radiator and AC compressor, and over the framerail down to the turbines. There's not much room to lean the top of the radiator towards the engine.

 

Just curious about your turbo selection. Aren't the 7675s a little big for a twin setup? I know it's "2khp capable" but are you really gonna come close to that power level? Also what options and specs did you go with on your turbo's?

 

With the 114mm turbo and this engine, I saw injector duty cycle high enough to use ~2200-2250 hp. 160 lb/hr injectors (rated at 45 psi) that I ran at 60 psi static, 1:1 boost referenced, and saw ~90% duty cycle. That assumes around .6 BSFC. It took 30 psi to do it.

I actually downsized the turbos from what I wanted to originally use to make it more streetable.

My original thought was a pair of GT47/88 turbos but for packaging and spooling issues I went with the smaller turbos.

I called precision and they advised me to go with a pair of 7675 turbos with the billet wheel and ported compressor housing. They also advised me to run the .96 A/R turbine housing if I wanted to purchase the ball bearing centersection, or use the .81 A/R if I wanted to run the journal bearing centersection. I couldn't justify the cost of the ball bearing setup so i went with the smaller A/R which may limit the power I can make. I am going to datalog backpressure and if it is a problem I'll go with a .96 A/R and deal with the spool loss, or maybe just convert the turbine side over to a GT42 style turbine.

 

You sir are a BAMF

 

no lie this build is sick

since you in houston, when this bad boy is done do you plan on having it out an any meets/shows/races where it could bee seen in person? or Tx2k12....?hehehehe

 

Thanks, but it's nothing compared to the guys I was racing against in outlaw 10.5.

The 555 BBC and twin GT47/88 would have been sick for sure!

I'm just doing what I can with what I have.


sailtexas186548, I actually live near dallas, but a few of us might make the trip down.

 

Looks good so far, Can't wait to see what happens from here man, Keep up the work.

 

Finished tacking the passenger side downpipe:



Always be aware of your surroundings.... my forearm on the inside of my elbow touched the downpipe while I was welding it up. YES, it hurts!


Finished up!


Maybe not! lol. It seems that the metal moved a bit while I was welding it. I took it back out and added a 0.2" section in the long straight after the initial bends to move the exit back so it was relatively centered in the exhaust exit.


Since I've been welding the spring perch back to the fenderwell and boxing in the chunks I took out of the frame with 1/8" plate.

 

I just had to have spent 40 minutes in this thread...very intriguing and Congrats on the Build. I like it alot. Keep going hard.

 

Dude that oil pan hangs SO LOW!!!

 

Please forgive men because I have no clue but can you cut an oil pan and make a short wide one?

 

It is because of my desire to keep the ac and stock hood that I am forced to save my pennies for a dry sump oil system. That pan is 10" deep. I can buy a dry sump pan that is 4 7/8" deep. I also have to buy a shallow power glide pan and I'll probably have to fab some save your *** bars for it too!

 

ouch! that arm burn doesn't look like it feels too good I did something similar when welding some angle, and have a perfect triangular scar about 2" tall on my leg

 

I didn't post a pic of what happened to the tip of my finger.... cheap *** harbor freight MIG welding gloves developed a hole in the tip... trying to tack in some of the 1/8" I was boxing the frame with and a coal went right into the hole... ouch!

 

Got the downpipe done and back in the car, frame is boxed, etc.

Just have to fill the passenger footwell hole now, and then it's on to getting some aluminum welding practice!

 

Yea I know the feeling my arms looked like a needle using addict welding above my dead after my tig died and I had to go flux.

 

50k, like new, find a different one for the project and save that one!

 

[QUOTE=gsmarcano;5018291]50k, like new, find a different one for the project and save that one.
Belay my last, I see I'm way too late, killer build!

 

I've been thnking on your radiator issue.
Don't you have space to move the lower supports for the radiator something like 3" or maybe even 4" forward? That, in combination with leaning the radiator backwards 2" should get you some clearance, but also would reduce the intake area underneath the nose cone quite a bit. Building a more efficient airdam and mounting it in the new, more forward position, might compensate for the difference in intake size however.

With the added space behind the radiator bottom, you could try squeezing the intercooler in horizontally behind the radiator?

Just a silly thought, but it should/might actually work... if it fits that is.

 

That might work, it might present some problems, largely because of where the turbos are mounted. I'll take a pic showing the turbo discharge in relation to the radiator core support. Maybe I could move radiator, intercooler, etc. but not sure.

 

Pics of compressor exits - I mounted them there to keep the turbine away from the headlights a bit to give them a chance to live.

 

This may be more fab work than you want to do, but have you entertained the idea of a rear mounted radiator? Not sure how streetable it would end up for long drives though. I was looking around on yellowbullet and saw a thread about this the other day, thats where the idea came from. Something to toy around with if the front mount doesn't work out like you want. Nice build and good luck.

 

I'm working on the sheetmetal intake elbow now.

I bought some 3/8" 6061 aluminum for the carb and throttle body flanges, and some 1/8" 6061 aluminum for the sides and top.

Here's the throttle body flange:



Clearance to hood:





Flanges sitting in engine bay, some assembly still required.



I have a 3" to 4" silicone reducer left over from an ooooold pt88 setup on my mustang that I will use to run a 3" pipe over the distributor.

 

I saw that too!

That would be a LOT of work for sure... and in addition I'm not sure that there are any real results (in texas type weather) yet. I'm kind of hesitant to go with that sort of approach unless absolutely necessary.

 

The elbow looks like a nice project. All it needs is a radiused top and two sides cut to fit, and you´re good to go.

Good to see clearance worked out for you.´It looks as if you have about an inch to spare still.

 

I hear you on the Texas heat. A lot of work for sure. Plus you already have things set to work around it.

On the other hand. The rear trunk area could be cut out behind the gas tank and the radiator could be mounted some what verticle. An air dam would have to be made or possibly modified from the original. The only major problem would be how to get the heat out. Solve that issue and you might have something. Again I'm just thinking out loud here. Your build is really nice and maybe one day I'll see it in person.

 

Finished up the elbow. Much thanks to Primetime91 for welding tips!

Flanges welded together, throttle body hole done (3.5" holesaw worked GREAT), carb hole a work in progress.


I built a posterboard side for the elbow and used a 5" tube to trace the radius for the rear of the elbow


One side tacked into place


The other side tacked into place

 

I fabricated the top, but it was REALLY hard to bend so I decided to weld the sides first, then tack the top and bend, weld, bend until it was done.


I ended up having to use two 8" c clamps to progressively bend the top over the sides, it was a real PITA. Also there wasn't a perfect fitup again, due to the difficulty in bending the top before it was welded on.






It's no Marcella quality work, but I think it's ok for a hack like me.

 

Definately looks the way this will get the job done, and if it´s aesthetics you´re worried about, you can always grind the edges untill they´re smooth. Looks like you have plenty of weld left after grinding to ensure structural integrity on the part.

 

Used the cardboard boxes the intercooler cores came in to mock up core placement before I welded on them... I think this is going to work but it is going to be TIGHT and the top tank design will have to be rethought to make lower profile to fit under the hood.

I also think I'm going to have to lose the hood latch, or at least reengineer it. Maybe I'm wrong?

 

You might have to break down and go hood pins

 

Or key lock style ones.

 

That elbow is a very sharp 90 deg turn. Airflow wont like that too much but i guess your limited on what you can with that hood. I went 4" cowl and had a larger radius elbow made that takes advantage of the space under hood.


cant tell from the pics but how much room behind the cardboard boxes/rad? You planning on coming out the top of the intercooler and over the rad support or under it? Or out the side of the intercooler somewhere?

You can come out the top right or left side and go through the battery trays areas on either side of the nose. Maybe even a split system, 2 pipes in, 2 pipes out because 2 smaller pipes are easier to route than 1 large one. Join them at the TB with atleast a foot of straight section merge to straighten air flow.

 

My plan is to trim the reinforcement under the hood to get the discharge from the intercooler as high as I can. I'll have to cut the top radiator support and run the pipe through there.


there is some room there, because the front of the radiator support structure is angled. I am going to need it to be straighter up and down, and will probably have to lower the radiator support as well. Really I need to get a new radiator to know exactly where it should go.

I thought about cutting a hole between the radiator and headlight on each side and running the charge through there, but it would get pretty close to the exhaust:



It's almost time to see if I have made some poor choices in my design.

On second thought, one thing to consider would be laying the intercooler down so it's closer to horizontal rather than vertical, and figuring out an alternative way to get the air back to the throttle body. This may be doable.......

 

Got the intercooler cores welded, endtanks for turbo side of the intercooler cut and welded on.

first I welded all 3 cores together and welded the endplates to the cores.

Then I cut and fit the endtanks



I welded baffles into the endtanks to try to force the air to go into the cores and not from one turbo to another in case of a slight pressure differential


One side welded


The other side welded



My Diversion 165 was able to do this job, but barely... I wish I had another 35A!

It would take a few seconds to get a puddle going but as long as I kept the heat in the FMIC, I could keep a nice puddle going.

My big TIG weakness at this point I think is my left hand, I have a hard time feeding the filler and on aluminum it uses a lot of it... I kept having to kill the arc and pull more filler through my hand so I could feed it into the puddle.

OR

maybe I'll just buy a TIG pen.

 

You are the man. If you even leave Texas and come to the sissy state known as NY let me buy you some beers.

 

Nah man, I'm just a hack trying to figure it out. Thanks though! I'll take you up on the beer if I make it up to NY for sure.

 

is this the point of no return?



I had some 4" aluminum laying around, for grins I decided to see if it would clear the distributor and let the hood shut. Almost!

Would a 4" discharge pipe look lame if it were cut and notched for hood clearance? The other issue is radiator/condensor clearance.

 

Cut the hood for the pipe. Or make it kinda like a shaker and paint it the same color as the hood.

 

Make the pipe oval and keep the stock hood uncut.