I haven't been active on this board for a few years. I'm in the process of rebuilding my '89 IROC which had a twin turbo TPI system on it. I sold the complete turbo system, TPI, and SBC stuff and I started an LQ4 swap recently.

-'89 IROC (was originally a 5.7/AT car swapped to 5 speed)
-'04 LQ4 6.0 with ZR1 (LS9) cam and mild refresh (the donor engine had 227k miles on it and had some minor wear on the cam bearings but was in great condition otherwise- aparently GMs 400,000 mile target for these motors is legit!)
-Tremec 5 speed with a McLeod RST street twin clutch
-stock disc 9-bolt rear with 3.27 gears
-Planning on a single Blouch Performance turbo, I need to discuss sizing with them yet- turbo system will use modified stock truck manifolds
-stock cross-member will be modified to lower engine and for A/C compressor clearance, I am fabbing my own engine mounts
-Will be controlled by MegaSquirt II (waste spark/batch) or MegaSquirt II (full sequential)

Anyway, here are some pics to show the progress thus far:

 

Here are some motor pics. The next step is to modify the crossmember and get this thing into the engine bay! I was hoping to drive this thing by early summer but its really off schedule right now!

 

Truck manifolds won't fit so how you planning on using them?

 

This is not a bolt in deal. They will fit

Some fabrication will be involved.

 

looks like a cool build, i am just starting a LS swap/turbo build also. im running the L33 5.3 block. i was thinking about using the same intake because they are the same price as a used LS6, can you tell me if it will clear the hood and cowl?

 

Yeah, I was looking at your build too. I'll be keeping an eye on it!

I think I can get it to fit without modifying the hood, or at least with minor mods to it. My engine is going to be lowered in the crossmember a little more than a standard swap, so I will gain some clearance there. This intake is slightly lower than the truck manifold, but its high right at the throttle body, so its questionable (thats front further than the highest spot on the truck manifold). I had test fit the truck manifold with the engine oil pan sitting on the cross member and I was almost able to shut the hood (I probably could have if I would have ground off some of the mounting bosses etc. on the top of it). I didn't actually test fit this manifold with the engine in, but "it will fit".

 

are you running the truck oil pan? every think i have read says i have to use the LS1 pan of a 4th gen. i haven't actually tried it yet, ill be ordering mu UMI motor mounts monday.

 

The truck pan would have to have about 4" of sump cut off to be level with the bottom of the crossmember. I think it will also give you some clearance issues with the crossmember and steering linkage becuase it is lower in front of the sump too (this may depend on your mounts). I am using a f-body pan- you can get a whole kit with pan, windage tray, pick-up tube, dipstick, bolts, gasket, etc for around $300- I ordered mine from pace performance.

 

ya im just being cheap that is almost as much as i gave for my motor, shoot i only gave $400 for my whole car LOL. i guess i need to just suck it up and get one.

 

You can try it first, and then you know for sure. In hot rodding just because it doesn't bolt up doesnt mean it won't fit! But I do think the pans are priced fair.

 

Beautiful car man! Build looks great so far! As far as the oilpan goes, yoy can cut the truck one but you'll be down to about 4 1/2 quarts of oil capacity. A buddy of mine had to cut his after he lowered the car from the jackstands and couldn't get out of his garage because the oulpan scraped lol. I went wirh the. F body pan. As far as the manifolds go, a 98-99 f body passenger side manifold will fit on the driver side flipped forward. 98*99 only. They're slightly different than the newer manifolds. I couldn't find one that woyld work on the passenger side so i decided to go with stainless headers. Here's my build thread, it may help you along your way

 

http://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-ind...lq9-build.html

I'm also running a tremec tko 500. Broke it twice already lol

 

Thanks! I seen your car and talked with you at Maple Grove Super chevy show last summer. I've followed your build-up on the turbo forums.

I'm still working on this car, but haven't had much time to work on it recently. I actually just finished an LQ4 swap into an 85 GMC K3500, but I'm working out a few gliches in it (it pings pretty bad for some reason?). I need to finish that project before I get back on my car!

 

Oh ok yea i remember you lol well build looks great man and i still have that fbosy manifold if you need. If you have any questions or anything id be happy to help!

 

Do you have any pictures to prove this? I've heard it before but have never seen it. And I believe to make a truck manifold fit on the passenger side you need to vband it as well as the fbody manifold on the driver side.
I am actually taking the same route right now and as soon as I start taking the car apart ill be attempting this. Already have 90% of the parts so might as well

 

can't wait to see this one done too. Liked the last build.

 

I don't have any pics but i did lay it in there to see. It was clise to the steering box bit it cleared everything. I'll be following the build, get her done! Lol

 

You might consider using a Corvette oil pan with side kick outs in order to maintain adequate ground clearance. Maybe you already considered it but I thought I would throw out the idea for good measure.

Good luck with the project.

 

Fbody pan fits great. No need for a vette pan

 

My thought is that he's lowering the engine. Going to chew up ground clearance.

 

Hey if you have any questions let me know. I got mine all put together finally.. With a/c. Still need to update my thread

 

Did some mock-up this weekend. I'm feeling pretty good about the layout and it should work out nice. The only big change is I've broken down and decided to drop A/C off the wish list. I'm a believer in the KISS theory and trying to add A/C back into this car will complicate matters more than I prefer. I like the look of both manifolds pointing down and front (the only way to keep the A/C would have required the pass enger side manifold to be pointed up and front). I will have to slightly notch the crossmember to clear the manifolds since the engine will be lowered about .5".

The GMPP Corvette accessory drive fits nice.

 

Progress this weekend:

1) Big news is that I've changed my plan for this build from a single to twins, with the two turbos mounted asymmetrically like the supra guys do. I have been back and forth on this for a long time. I wanted to use twins, but KISS (keep it simple stupid) was part of the idea for this build and a single would have been simpler and of course would have easily met my modest power goals. Since I decided to forget about adding A/C, I had some extra room. Then when I talked with my local turbo shop (Blouch Turbo, Lebanon PA) they seemed to nudge me that way too. They specialize in the small to mid-frame turbos (Subaru WRX, EVO, Porsche, etc)and so they felt they could better match my needs with a smaller pair of turbos (they have their own billet extended tip compressor wheels for these applications). Then they GAVE me two mock-up turbos, and the look was enough to have me hooked! The corvette accessory drive I'm running prevented putting one turbo on each side.

2) I also made my motor mounts. I used the factory rubber mounts (replaced the worn out rubber part with poly bushings), but I moved them 3" back on the cross-member. I then fabbed up new engine mount brackets which bolt to the engine. These brackets lower the engine 1/2" and shift it to the driver side 1/2" (from the factory the engine was 1" to the passenger side on my car, so now it is only 1/2" off of center). This gave me extra clearance to the hood and allows me to run two 3" downpipes past the RH exhaust manifold. I measured three times but still had to cut twice! The RH side was goofed some how, I still can't figure out what I did wrong, but a simple relocation of the mount tabs 1/2" up made everything line up and sit perfectly level. I even made the brackets to use the factory locating tabs on the mounts so it is super easy to drop it in and line everything up (just like OEM setups). I did a quick cut on the underhood bracing and the hood does close over the Edelbrock pro-flo intake. I could not lower the engine any further because it would have hit the steering linkage, so minor cutting of the hood was needed to clear the intake. Note my hood is modified with a raised center (cowl induction) but the under side bracing was still stock.

3) I installed some casters to roll the car around while the front end is apart. I'm fortunate to have a well equipped shop for this project, but the downside is the shop must be clear by first thing monday. This can't get in the way of the revenue work!

 

I am finishing this build in the power adder section since the engine 'swap' is done.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/powe...win-turbo.html