ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Joined: Jan 2002
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From: Hampden Maine
Car: 1992 Firebird
Engine: Stealth Rammed 412 with TC78 Turbo
Transmission: '93 T-56
Axle/Gears: 3.27 9 bolt posi with PBR discs
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
I got a slightly oversized T4 flange with a mounting tab from www.racepartsolutions.com It is similar to this one: http://www.racepartsolutions.com/ind...part-solutions except mine came with a small tab that matched up to it, which I welded onto the mounting bracket I built. You can kind of see how it goes together in this pic:
I was really happy with how it worked out!
-Paul
I was really happy with how it worked out!
-Paul
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
^ What did that bushing start out as? I would rather not go solid mounts, but my turbo will be too far away to brace to the engine, so this looks like a promising compromise.
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 818
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From: Hampden Maine
Car: 1992 Firebird
Engine: Stealth Rammed 412 with TC78 Turbo
Transmission: '93 T-56
Axle/Gears: 3.27 9 bolt posi with PBR discs
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
It started out as a decent sized chunk of rubber a friend of mine found laying around the shop where he was working at the time. A construction company had used the building for equipment maintenance prior to the time he worked there. I can't honestly say what the chunk of rubber was used for originally, but it worked great for this application! I still have what's left of the piece. I could get pictures of it for you if you think it will help.
-Paul
-Paul
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Posts: 553
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From: Ballwin, MO
Car: 1987 Trans Am
Engine: 355 tpi
Transmission: 5 speed
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Maybe you should email them again and let them know that you are on this site doing a build using there product and letting the members here know how dissatisfied you are with them. And that they are loosing potential customers, Maybe that will get them to get your stuff done and back to you sooner.
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Posts: 1,773
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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From: Utah
Car: 89 RS 89 iroc 87 firebird
Engine: 3.1 Turbo/ 355 twin turbo
Transmission: a4 w/ 4500 stall/ a4 / t5
Axle/Gears: strange s60 /w 3:42's
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
what nitrous system is that?
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Joined: Jul 1999
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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From: Utah
Car: 89 RS 89 iroc 87 firebird
Engine: 3.1 Turbo/ 355 twin turbo
Transmission: a4 w/ 4500 stall/ a4 / t5
Axle/Gears: strange s60 /w 3:42's
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
i have the spray bar kit one , i like the looks of that nozzle kit , any chance u would be willing to part with it ?
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Joined: Jul 1999
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Posts: 1,773
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Looking good, glad to see you're getting back in the saddle on this. Setbacks suck but you've gotta work through them. Because you're going to the extra time and expense when you're done with this it will be a true set of "lifetime" headers that you will have to do minimal maintenance to and that will grow with you to the point of full race car if you go that route.
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Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 1,773
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 1,773
Likes: 7
From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 1,773
Likes: 7
From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
For the Vbands, get yourself a few sanding drums and make a jig to hold the vband assembly, like take one tack it to a piece of plate and use the clamps to hold it on.. Should be able to take care of that little material fairly easily. For all the quality issues you're having you're making progress.
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Joined: Jul 1999
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 1,856
Likes: 13
From: St. Augustine, FL
Car: 89 GTA
Engine: 383
Transmission: 4L80E
Axle/Gears: 12 bolt-3.73
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Your work is beautiful. Keep going. it will be worth it when it's done, then people can 'ooh and ahh' over your engine compartment at the car shows.
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 25,896
Likes: 430
From: Pittsburgh PA
Car: 89 Iroc-z
Engine: 555 BBC Turbo
Transmission: TH400
Axle/Gears: MWC 9” 3.00
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Looks great so far! You have to understand doing projects like these that there are always setbacks and especially when it comes to fabrication. Parts dont always fit and things are never as advertised. Expect the unexpected.
If it was easy and painless, more people would be doing it. I too am at my breaking point with my car. Its finally together but it was a major stressing pita year to get it done. I swear i will never change anything on this car again til it blows up
If it was easy and painless, more people would be doing it. I too am at my breaking point with my car. Its finally together but it was a major stressing pita year to get it done. I swear i will never change anything on this car again til it blows up
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Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
I'm in the middle of final welding the headers now. I've welded to the point of exhaustion now. It's going ok but I'm ready to be done forever with this project. I can't believe how much money I'm blowing through for gas and filler rod. I'm pretty certain I will have to fill both bottles one more time to get this project done.
At this point I have all 8 primaries hard tacked and a couple partially welded. Collector grouping is tacked on one while the merge bullet is fully welded on the other. It's proving very difficult to weld the flange on the side where the tubing points, especially the center cylinders. Also the merge pipe is fully welded although I'm still welding the T4 flange.
A funny thing happened. I made fun video about making a merge bullet since Columbia River never sent the one they owed me. A few hours after posting the video, the owner of CR called me. It seems one of his employees is a subscriber or something. He quickly handled the issue and they are now sending me the bullet. Sadly I got an email yesterday (1 day into a promised 2 day delivery) from customer service stating the item was in production. Great, more delays from them. I will hold out on welding that collector as long as I can, but I do have my crooked home-made one at the ready if the CR one doesn't show up by Friday.
Right now I'm anxious to make the 'first start' with the open headers on. I'm hoping to find the time to get supplies for my oil return line, as the turbo will be ready to mount as soon as the headers are on. Just have to build that crossover.
This project is much bigger than I'd hoped. Expensive and extremely time consuming. Not sure I could recommend it to most people. Next time I might just take the bus instead. It had better run like a scalded cheetah and then maybe I'll consider it having been worthwhile.
At this point I have all 8 primaries hard tacked and a couple partially welded. Collector grouping is tacked on one while the merge bullet is fully welded on the other. It's proving very difficult to weld the flange on the side where the tubing points, especially the center cylinders. Also the merge pipe is fully welded although I'm still welding the T4 flange.
A funny thing happened. I made fun video about making a merge bullet since Columbia River never sent the one they owed me. A few hours after posting the video, the owner of CR called me. It seems one of his employees is a subscriber or something. He quickly handled the issue and they are now sending me the bullet. Sadly I got an email yesterday (1 day into a promised 2 day delivery) from customer service stating the item was in production. Great, more delays from them. I will hold out on welding that collector as long as I can, but I do have my crooked home-made one at the ready if the CR one doesn't show up by Friday.
Right now I'm anxious to make the 'first start' with the open headers on. I'm hoping to find the time to get supplies for my oil return line, as the turbo will be ready to mount as soon as the headers are on. Just have to build that crossover.
This project is much bigger than I'd hoped. Expensive and extremely time consuming. Not sure I could recommend it to most people. Next time I might just take the bus instead. It had better run like a scalded cheetah and then maybe I'll consider it having been worthwhile.
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Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 1,773
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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From: San Antonio, Texas
Car: 1987 Camaro Z28, 1989 TTA #922
Engine: lb9, 3.8L turbo
Transmission: 700r4, 2004R
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Coming along nicely man keep it up, and sorry to hear about your job seems like youll be quite consumed within the next couple of weeks!
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Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 1,773
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Joined: Apr 2008
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From: Utah
Car: 89 RS 89 iroc 87 firebird
Engine: 3.1 Turbo/ 355 twin turbo
Transmission: a4 w/ 4500 stall/ a4 / t5
Axle/Gears: strange s60 /w 3:42's
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
gota love the fireballs lol , sounds good what cam is in it ?
just posted up some new vids in my thread as well,
the 355 in it now is comming out for a sb 406 and larger turbos
just posted up some new vids in my thread as well,
the 355 in it now is comming out for a sb 406 and larger turbos
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 1,773
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 1,773
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Passenger header is now completely welded! Next up is the driver side (tomorrow hopefully) and then the turbo mounting bracket. I've decided to mount the turbo to the engine block instead of to the body. The hope is to keep stock engine mounts. After the turbo is mounted I will have the final position of the end of the merge pipe sorted out and the crossover can be completed.
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Getting her to blow some smoke has really lit a fire hasn't it?
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
gone!
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Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Yes I am slightly re-motivated now! But I'm completely swamped with work now. I haven't even had a chance to invoice for the month of October until now. At least the payday will be big and best of all no paychecks were given out this week or next! So at least I will have some extra cash to chase problems on this thing.. but that '14 Vette keeps calling my name and trying to reason with me about throwing money away on this. That's why I keep saying it had better run this time!
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Jeez another week has gone by and I'm still hard at it. Tonight I finished the crossover pipe, minus final welding of the vband flanges. The downpipe is also designed, but the locally sourced 3" "mandrel" tubing is really poorly made. I'm thinking it would be worth the wait to order something better but I might go by the exhaust shop down the street and let them put the individual pieces in the their expander and see if that works. Anyway that still have to be welded and there are six cuts plus the vband flanges to weld still! Lot of work left there.
The turbo is now solidly mounted on a bracket that only needs one bolt besides the two T4 bolts. The bracket stays with the turbo and merge pipe during removal and uses a pin for the bottom mount. Very easy to install and remove. Even better, the downpipe will come right out without touching the turbo mounting! Much better setup than my old one in that respect. I was able to retain the factory motor mounts for now. I think there is enough clearance everywhere but if something starts rubbing I will put the solids in.
Next up will be the wastegate and then the coldside connections. Oh and I finally broke down and bought an electronic cutout for the downpipe. Now I can turn some heads at car shows when I pull in but still have silent cruise mode!
The turbo is now solidly mounted on a bracket that only needs one bolt besides the two T4 bolts. The bracket stays with the turbo and merge pipe during removal and uses a pin for the bottom mount. Very easy to install and remove. Even better, the downpipe will come right out without touching the turbo mounting! Much better setup than my old one in that respect. I was able to retain the factory motor mounts for now. I think there is enough clearance everywhere but if something starts rubbing I will put the solids in.
Next up will be the wastegate and then the coldside connections. Oh and I finally broke down and bought an electronic cutout for the downpipe. Now I can turn some heads at car shows when I pull in but still have silent cruise mode!
I'm a fan of stealthy but lethal personally. Will be interesting to see if you gain much from the cut outs. Keep an eye on the WB and boost gauge the first few times you use it. Pretty soon your involvement with a '14 Corvette will be offering it a nice view of your tail lights. I'm totally amazed at what your little turbo has done on this 350, I just picked a T66 up for my van I can't wait to see what it does.
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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From: Windsor Ontario
Car: 1987 Z28
Engine: 2005 5.3L, LS6 Cam
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: DTS 9" 3.50 TrueTrac
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Looking good! Also looking forward to some action videos!
Jay
Jay
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 143
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From: Wisconsin near the 54757
Car: 1986 Camaro Z28
Engine: 385" SBC
Transmission: built out 700r4
Axle/Gears: 4th gen, 373, LSD, GIRDLE
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Read the whole thread starting with the first article! All today while at work keep working hard man!
keep working hard man! 
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Joined: Jul 1999
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
The new headers will change the exhaust note. How much is up for debate but i suspect more people will know something is up without the hood coming up. Close, when you are done I think you will have some of the nicest turbo headers for a third gen out there. I think that video made me giggle a bit, sounds great!
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From: Sneads, Fl.
Car: 90 Formula Firebird WS6
Engine: 305 TBI
Transmission: 700R4
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Sounds good! Ready to see it make a pass. Will be at Breakaway on the 23rd if all goes well.
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Joined: Jul 1999
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 818
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From: Hampden Maine
Car: 1992 Firebird
Engine: Stealth Rammed 412 with TC78 Turbo
Transmission: '93 T-56
Axle/Gears: 3.27 9 bolt posi with PBR discs
I would look into Remflex gaskets. They are nice and thick and provide a lot of compression so they are forgiving to less than perfect flanges. I have used them with success and have yet to hear anyone provide a bad review. Very nice company to deal with as well!!
On another note...would it be worth taking the headers to a machine shop and having the flanges machined flat to give you a better sealing surface?
Setup looks great!!
-Paul
On another note...would it be worth taking the headers to a machine shop and having the flanges machined flat to give you a better sealing surface?
Setup looks great!!
-Paul
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From: Minnesota
Car: '88 Iroc
Engine: Single turbo Vortec 5.7, Megasquirt
Transmission: Probuilt 700r4 3000 stall Vigilante
Axle/Gears: Moser 9" 3.25 w/True Trac
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
Wow looks great! I agree, obviously trying to resurface the flanges flat if it doesn't require too much material removal is what I would do first. I have cheapo metal gaskets on both sides of my turbo bracket where the T4 flange is. No leaks to speak of in 2 yrs. And the cheapest copper header gaskets from eBay have also been holding up great for me. Just have to recheck my header bolts every once in a while as they tend to loosen up a little.
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Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 1,773
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From: Panama City FL
Car: 87 Iroc
Engine: Turbocharged 5.7 Pro-Fl-XT
Transmission: 700R4 for moment
Axle/Gears: 3.25 9 inch
Re: ZZ3 Turbo Iroc - Round Three
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