Chris Etemadi

After much contemplation I have decided to finally start a thread of my build. I have been on TGO for some time now and the car has gone through many iterations from a T56 swap and Lt1 intake swap back in high school (99-03), to a built 355 with a HSR and Dart heads in college. Now that I am a few years into my profession and have some fundage I can allocate to my first car, my 1991 Z28. I became engaged last summer and as a joke I told the her that I wanted to have the car turbocharged before we tie the knot in May. Well the joke turned real, and now I'm here.

I wanted to build this to document my build process, and get some input from some turbo veterans and/or share some tips to people looking or in process of a similar build.

I pulled the Dart headed HSR 355/ 700r4 out of the car partially due to it always smelling like a rolling gas station from a mega overlap cam. Sold everything in a package deal (Thank you Craigslist!), and picked up a 5.3 pullout from a 2002 Silverado. I then scored a 1997 4L80E trans which I rebuilt in my third story apartment (long story, but I received a full refund of my deposit believe it or not) I then proceeded to complete the 5.3 swap in my tiny one car apartment garage.

Enough of the intro, onto the details

Car:
1991 Z28 5.7 A4 car originally

Suspension:
PA Racing Front Kmember and A arms
C5 Z06 Brakes
KYB AXG Struts
Founders Strut Mounts
Moog 5662 springs with 3/4 coil cut
CE Engineering/Spohn 4L80E Crossmember & Torque Arm
Spohn LCA's Delsphere/Poly
Spohn Panhard
Founders Upper Panhard Bar Relocation

Engine:
2002 5.3L W/243 Heads Swapped
LS6 Intake
ARP Head Studs & LS9 Gaskets
Melling HV oil pump
LS2 Timing Chain
Hardened Push rods
Brian Tooley Racing / LJMS Stage II Turbo Cam
ATI Damper
TCI Flexplate

Fuel System
99-02 Fbody Plastic Tank
Dual Racetronix 340Lph Pumps
-8 Feel -6 Return
Fuel Lab Filter and Regulator
Deka 80lb/hr injectors

Transmission:
Apartment Avenger 4L80E Built by CE Engineering Level 3-Unit C
Dual Feed Drum with Jake's Valvebody Kit
Rollerized Rear
North Texas Converter 258mm Single Disk Converter

Rear:
Trick Chassis 9" With Back Brace
Strange Nodular Iron Center Section
3.55:1 Gear With Strange S-Trac Diff
35 Spline Axles

Other:
4th Gen Dash Swap
HP Tuners
Zeitronix WB02
4" CE Engineering Cat Back
W/ Dynomax Bullet & Hooker Max Flow Muffler
Cipher Racing Seats
SS Hood (not installed)
blah blah...

Turbo Stuff: So Far
S475 w/ 96mm Ex and 1.10 AR T6
Truck Manifolds modified and V banded
2.25" 14 Gauge Mild Steel crossover
CX Racing 31X12X4 Intercooler and 3" Piping Kit
4" downpipe planned
WG(s) TBD
BOV: TBD

I am currently working on placing this big slug, so that I can burn the crossover together and start working on the down pipe.

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

I was wondering when a build thread would start! Looks good so far. Ill be following!

Jay

Chris Etemadi

Some more photos up to this point. Broke an ear off of the cheap dorman balancer when I pull it off to swap the LS9 cam for the BTR/LJMS Stage 2.

Chris Etemadi

Added the trickflow chain damper bracket while I was in there. Kind of difficult to pull off without removing the oil pump, but I got it on there. I ended up preheating and post heating the manifolds, and migged them with standard ER70-S6 wire. Not the prettiest, but it will clean up with a grinder.

Chris Etemadi

The Speedway alternator & p/s relocation bracket looks like will will work out nicely. I modified the alternator bracket to preserve the idler and pull the belt in tighter for more belt wrap and to allow room for the driver side crossover. I came across a good deal on the ATI damper, I called them directly and asked if they had any blems, sure enough they did. Only thing is that there are no timing marks on this piece, no big deal since I am not pinning this guy down or anything.

I decided to cut some pie slices with the remainer of the sch. 40 2" pipe I had after working with the manifold, I didn't end up using them as I will have clearance just by turning down shortly after the v-band.

I also have the obligatory turbo size reference photo with one of my favorite beverages.

Chris Etemadi

Thanks Jay! I decided it was time to start my own thread finally. I have been following yours for a bit. I am looking forward to seeing you complete it.

Gsoleski

How do you like the trick chassis housing as far as fitment and all that? I've been thinking about one of those myself

Chris Etemadi

The housing fits excellent, very beefy. The powder coat is also very thick and durable. The LCA brackets have several lower mounting positions and even have provisions for a ratchet strap hook on the back. I liked the fact that the housing is all new with internal gussets. Alex is also very helpful.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

Now that is a sweet turbo Camaro project!

Subbed...

Chris Etemadi

After brainstorming mounting locations and considering the support this beast is going to need I think I have decided to place it on the passenger side where the battery was. The front and center mount looked good and it was pretty symmetric with the crossover; however, things get crowded in a hurry. Might also help by having less of the mondo down pipe in the engine bay to heat things up.

I am hoping to utilize the long studs from the idler arm bracket for a support. I may also build a stand that uses the drain port for additional rigidity.

This method will also allow me to keep the radiator inboard. I did cut the upper core support and will be fabbing in a 1" piece of square tubing that will tie the sides together and allow the hood latch to be retained. I was really beginning to hesitate with the front mount as the taller LS1 fans would have easily forced me to put the radiator further forward. With all of the weight I am adding forward of the front wheels with the turbo, the last thing I want is to have to move the radiator further forward.

I will be moving further South to DFW within the year and I want to preserve the ability to mount a AC condenser up front and will likely run a vintage air or classic air unit under the dash. This would allow me to simply remove the ac delete box I have now and gain even more room to put something else.

Last benefit I could see is that the wastgate will be easier to package and plumb. I am going with a divided flange, but I am starting to lean towards a single larger wastegate, possibly a JGS 50mm. I will try to put a divider in the merge as close to the wastegate valve face to help restrict flow from crossing over to the opposite side.

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

Looks good! My first setup was in the passenger side battery tray as well. only pain was the oil return but yours looks to be in a better spot than mine was. Give me hope if I wanna upgrade to a T6 next winter!

Jay

scamaro355

im curious about your trans crossmember? have any pics?

JAYDUBB

Someone needs to make a cross member and sell it. I bet they will make a huge profit. BMR gave up on us...

Chris Etemadi

I have attached what I have available from mine. I used the center section from my Spohn 700R4 crossmember basically just for material. I had to shorten the torque arm by 4" or so to get it away from the tailshaft housing and mount of the trans.

The main issue in my opinion is the distance from the transmission mount to the factory weld nuts available in the frame rails. I ended up making some 1/4" plates with nuts welded to them that I fished through the rails using the existing holes in the back of the rails. I threaded studs in to keep the plates in place. This reduced the cantilever effect from the trans and torque arm. greatly.

I used 3"X3" 3/16 angle iron to create the new rails to bolt to the frame rails. This piece could definitely use some optimization to reduce the weight, but I am not at all worried about its strength. In fact, it is a bit overkill honestly. The crossmember was created in a single car apartment garage in a rush to get the car running after the ls/4l80 swap.

It was kind of tricky to form the passenger side especially. I ended up cutting pie shaped slices out of the angle and using a torch to form the channel in the shape I needed with a cardboard template for reference. I do not have any pictures of passenger side on my phone at the moment.

If you want to run a torque arm like a BMR track pack or jegster tunnel mounted arm, you may inquire with PA racing as I believe they are in the prototype stage of releasing the crossmember that I have attached pictures of also. I am just not a fan of subjecting the soft material nuts in the frame rail to the prying cantilever forces as mine were in pretty poor shape already. I would suggest using studs to help preserve the life of those poor things.


Also, I have attached a picture of the progress with the upper radiator support. I hacked the factory stuff out in hopes to run the front mount; however, understanding how much further forward it would take to get sufficient room has deterred me from running the turbo front and center. Now that I have settled on the passenger side mounting, it is time to begin putting the puzzle back together.

Chris Etemadi

I got a little bit more mocked up over the weekend. I think this is a pretty good route for the crossover. It leaves plenty of room for the radiator & fans, as well as a pretty straight shot for the down pipe. Unfortunately I did run short a 14 ga mandrel U bend, so I will have to order another one from North Carolina, which is the only place I could locate them. (Suggestions for other sources for that would be nice.)

I will more than likely need a 45° swivel thermostat housing to clear the passenger side crossover leg. Also, as Jay mentioned the turbo drain line could get interesting to route.

Next step is to work on mounting the turbo in place. I am wanting to support it by the drain adapter as well as the flange. I am just awaiting my RPS order that will have the divided flange from with a larger radius on the corners where the pipe goes into. This will allow for a better overall match to the S400 twin scroll housing ports, but it will greatly simplify forming the 2.25" pipes into the flange.

I am also on the fence about the waste gate strategy. The bigger single WG would be nice due to reduced cost of that setup. Right now it is either a JGS 50mm gate or twin Tial units.

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

Placement looks awesome! Makes me wanna start over with a T6 again lol

I got all my 14awg bends off "ubendman" on ebay.

I like the twin gates because of the side but with your setup a single may make life easier if you are going to dump into the exhaust. i guess twins wouldnt be too bad either. I waited for the RPS black friday sale and got my twin 38 Tials for like $200 a piece. Couldnt complain on the price.

Jay

Chris Etemadi

Thanks Jay, I also got my bends from him on Ebay, I was holding out hoping to find a source (possibly locally) but getting this 14 ga stuff is pretty difficult.

$200 each is a steal! Were you able to use the 0001 discount at RPS on top of the black Friday sale? I wish I knew when RPS was going to go have a sale again, I would definitely pick them up.

I know that the twin gates would likely respond a bit more quickly, plus the exhaust energy from each bank wouldn't leak over running them independently. As you said, it appears to be easier to package with what I have mocked up so far, if I built up a divider in the merge up to near the face of the valve, it should restrict the pulses from "crosstalking" quite a bit. at $369 vs 2x $259, I think I may just go with the single 50mm unit for now. I don't plan on needing to turn it down below 8 psi for anything. You should be able to crank it down pretty low without creep with dual 38's.

I don't remembered if you said or showed pictures, but are you dumping your WG's to atmosphere or are you going into the down pipe? I see that some people have built a little mufflers to keep the open WG "Jet engine" noise down.

Chris

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

I didnt know they had another code! Just did the Black Friday one which was 20% iirc.

I have mine dumped The way I tucked my turbo in close to the motor makes it pretty well impossible to add it into the DP unless I got really creative. Then again i would have to work around my rad hose etc. Ill try to get some pics this week and update the thread. I really havnt updated much since I wrapped the hotside and finished up the fuel etc.

Jay

86trbota

nice job so far on your build, looks really good. the s400 t6 frames are not the easiest to mount thats for sure. looks like you might have enough room to get the drain adapter and a -10 45 on there to get the drain headed in the rite direction. if you dont i would go through the framerail with a piece of 1/2 id tubing and a male adaptor on the other end. ive got a pic of how the s400 mount/drain is on my duramax i will post up to show you what im thinkin here. great job keep it up!

86trbota

not the best pic but hopefully you can see the drain/mount on there. this bolts to the block and halfway down has a female -10 90 welded into the pipe to get the drain where it needs to be. just an idea to help.

Chris Etemadi

Very nice setup 86trbota!

I have looked into some oil drain/mounts. I was thinking of securing the turbo with both an inlet flange mount and a oil/drain mount. I am still waiting on the RPS divided T6 flange as it has a larger mounting flange and what appears to be ports that will work with the 2.25 pipes a little better.

Originally I was looking to use the bolts that fasten he idler arm to hold a bracket for a support. This would allow for no modification of the frame rail to accommodate. It may be easier just to bring the bracket off of the frame rail though.

After contemplating what seems like forever, have finally decided to go with the 50mm JGS wastegate & 50mm RPS/Jodar BOV.

There is now less than 60 days to get the car on the road, 57 to be exact; so I need to start making some major progress here soon.

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

better get moving! Im sure you will be happy with the JGS 50mm Lots of people run it. I dont really heave a deadline on mine but I just paid insurance so im busting my *** to get it fired by mid april. Roads generally arn't salt free around here til may anyways

Jay

Chris Etemadi

When does the first snow typically happen up there? October/November? I don't know if I could handle that much of the year without driving the car in fear of body rot. I am actually looking to move further South (Dallas, Texas) for work towards the end of the year.

I do suppose it allots a good chunk of time for projects like you are currently taking advantage of!

It is frustrating to go out into the garage some days and basically just stare at the car pondering what is next to do, what is the next best step or alternatives on how to do this or that.

Basically a run down of what I have left to do, that I have thought of at least.

Finish tacking up hot side crossover once additional U bend and new flange is received
Complete the turbo mount and oil drain
Route the Downpipe
Start working on WG merge dump into the down pipe
Finish radiator mount and fully weld in support
Mount the intercooler/fab new center support for impact bar
Route charge piping and weld BOV
Install vacuum manifold & plumb vacuum/boost lines
Research and purchase boost controller
and on and on and on...

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

usually we start getting snow in december. Jan/feb we get hit pretty hard. But my area isnt crazy for the most part. 2 hours north there is a snow belt and they get hit with 2-3 foot blizzards a lot lol. it is brutal only getting like 4-5 months then parking it.

Hahaha sounds like me. Some days im the same way, get out there start looking at it and just say F it and go in lol. Usually when trying to find a turbo placement.

Any ideas on what controller? I went with the innovate scg-1 since it is a fail safe/afr/boost control all in one. If I wasnt in need of a AFR gauge I probably would have done a AMS500. lots seems to love the eboost 2 but I didnt want a 60mm gauge. Plus its fairly pricey.

Jay

Chris Etemadi

Not sure on the boost controller yet, My 3 picks as of now are the Eboost2, the Auto Meter unit, and the boost leash unit. I like that those three all would essentially include a boost gauge, so that isn't needed anymore.

I got somewhat frustrated with the best way and position to mount this behemoth. I think found the best spot is in fact nearly where Jay's is, just 2 or so inches further forward. This will allow for a good path for the drain and radiator hose (with a straight neck) and a straight shot for the down pipe.

My main concern with the mount is that pushing it back will prevent room for a flex pipe on the passenger side and mounting it via a bracket on the head would be difficult as it is further forward than Jays. The engine does have solid mounts so movement should be restrained for the most part. Also, it may be tight to merge the waste gate pipe in the short run of pipe on the passenger side to the flange.

I decided to move on to other things and start plumbing the down pipe (from the bottom up and doing a mockup of the inter cooler, radiator and trans cooler.

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

With solid mounts I would just toss a small 4" long flex on each side of the crossover then make a brace right to the idler arm bolts. Last car I had the turbo braced to my rad cradle top bar.

Is that a 4" pipe? I know I probably coulda fit 4" but just went with 3.5" since I have poly mounts.

Jay

Chris Etemadi

It will be pretty tough for me to get a flex pipe and pull off for the wastegate merge in the short run from the manifold to the turbo flange. With the turbo where I would like it to sit, the flange is nearly equidistant from the idler arm bolts and the face of the head. I am working on a bracket off of the head to temporarily hold the flange/turbo in position so that I can mockup the crossover routing to verify that it will work ok.

Yeah it is a 4" pipe. I built the 4" catback and would like to be able to snake it out the back the whole way.

Chris Etemadi

Made some progress late last night. I ended up moving the turbo forward again and fabbing up a temporary bracket to hold the turbo in place. I need to go by some local exhaust shops to source some 14ga. 2.25" as I didn't have a straight section long enough, hence the several pieces taped together.

I am starting to give up hope that I will be able to squeeze an AC compressor in the mix now. Summer time down here is no joke, especially in a black car. The addition of a turbo and moving further South will not be helping things very much at all.

I am also contemplating cutting out the raised coolant reservoir mounting boss on the wheel well to allow the turbo to fit a little bit better. I already hammered it down a little for clearance.

Chris Etemadi

I made some more progress over the weekend, specifically with the turbo support. I decided to get some 5/8" threaded rod and with a single hole drilled in the car I was able to get the main support in place. I used a thick washer with a large OD on the bottom side and I cut out the plate in yellow to help distribute the load a bit. I still have the bracket on the exhaust flange as well. This turbo isn't going anywhere.

The oil drain/support adapter still needs some thought, I have modified a -12 fitting so that it is a high as possible to help routing the drain line. After thinking about this more, it will be pretty difficult to tighten the mondo fitting with everything going on, so I may just bend some tubing to bring the hose end out where I can get a wrench on it without too much trouble.

Finished cleaning up the manifolds and painted them with some rustoleum 2000°F paint. This stuff held up pretty well with the F body manifolds when I was N/A. However, the turbo will definitely put it to the test.

I also tacked up the passenger side cross over sans one piece just before the flange. for the drivers side I can either route it fairly straight, or I can throw in two 90° bends. Any thoughts on these options?

pmcruz781

This is going to be sick I can't wait till your finished so we can see it!

86trbota

lookin good man! either way will work for the drivers side. just do what looks the best to you and what has the best clearence. both ways are a pretty straight shot to the turbo. where are you gonna mount your wastegate at?

Chris Etemadi

Thanks guys, I am leaning towards the running the two 90° as this may allow me to make a more symmetric merge for the wastgate. I have not gotten the wastegate in so I can't say for certain however, I would like to have it in front of the idler.

I have also attached a sketch of the turbo drain/support I am considering. This will allow for much easier access to tighten the fitting.

Chris Etemadi

Made a little more progress last night. I am not waiting on the 50mm JGS wastegate so that I can make a merge. In the mean time, I will start working on the down pipe and try and get that squared away in addition to finishing up the radiator mount details and get the intercooler mounted up as well.

I used a code -12 61 split flange to -12 JIC adapter elbow which I cut to move the fitting out to where I can get to it with a wrench. It looks like it will work out pretty well! I am kind of tempted to run a steel line under the crossover as I am sure it will get toasty in that area during operation and I am not sure how much faith I have in the push loc stuff.

At the very least I will probably try and bundle the radiator hose, turbo feed line and drain line together and cover with something. My hope would be to prevent a hose failure from spraying oil on hot exhaust pipes.

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

Looks great. Makes me wanna rip the GT45 T4 setup out of mine and start over LOL

Jay

Chris Etemadi

Trust me Jay, the struggle of placing this thing is real!

I made some more progress this weekend. I started the down pipe trying to run it from the turbo back, and while it looked alright up top but the plug access was horrible and the kick out near the frame rail was getting sketchy. The first picture shows this. Yesterday I got frustrated and cut everything up to start from scratch, this time running from my cat back up. This was much better for routing. The clearance between the start and frame rail is nice, The V band location is good and I have decent access to the #8 spark plug. I just need to run about 12” of pipe to the turbo to finish the down pipe besides plumbing the waste gate into it.

I am still waiting on RPS to deliver the JGS 50mm wastegate. I need to get this plumbed so that I can move onto other things. Today I will call and see what the problem is. After seeing the 38mm Tial units in person (a friend picked some up for his build), I think that If mine still hasn’t shipped that I may be tempted to cancel my JGS order and go with dual Tial units instead.

In the mean time, I am going to finish up the radiator support, mount the intercooler, route new trans cooler lines through the frame rail, plumb the turbo feed and drain lines, rad hoses, ps pressure hose & cooler. Still plenty of things to do. Only 39 days to go until the deadline!

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

Lookin good man! i must say the Tials are pretty nice. Really compact. I was happy with the choice once I got them. They were almost half the size of the X02 44's I had.

Jay

Chris Etemadi

Quick update, not as much progress as I would like at this point. I will be gone for my bachelor party from Thursday through Sunday, so I am trying to get as much done as possible tonight and tomorrow.

The crossover is tacked up and ready to be fully welded, sans the wastegate merge. A friend of mine is going to TIG it up for me while I am gone.

Currently everything is torn down and I just have a few more things to do before primer and paint. I did go overboard when I cut out the battery trays, but those who have cut them know how much structure is left with just the bottoms cut (not much) lol. I did weld in some rod to help stiffen things up a bit.

The intercooler mount came out pretty nice. I borrowed Jay's design on the top bar, and threw in my own flavor for the bottom bar. The intercooler fits right inside the grill with not much room to spare. I am not sure if this will breath very well and I may do one or more of the four things if the IAT's get too warm.
1. Reconfigure the intercooler at an angle to catch the air from the foglight holes & underside.
2. Mount a puller fan in the center of the intercooler for more flow across the area blocked by the bumper/grill.
3. Upgrade to a better intercooler.
4. Cut the center out of the bumper grill. (last resort)

I could always just run low boost on pump gas, and make sure I fill it up with E85 for high boost. We will see what happens.

Also contemplating some pretty crude options for the start of my oil drain hose. Black iron pipe FTW! I have the adapter to take the -12 fitting right off the center section of the turbo however, I do not see how it is possible to get a wrench to tighten the thing! I am trying to avoid this pipe altogether, and I have ordered some corrugated stainless steel tubing (used for gas lines) that I will be trying to run in place of the pipe, and for further down where it fishes through the crossover. Last thing I want is the pushloc hose getting too hot and spraying a leak.

Chris Etemadi

Here is the picture with the trays cut out. I got a little carried away.

I have also plumbed the trans cooler lines inside the passenger side frame rail, which should work out quite nicely. I will try and get a picture of that tonight.

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

Id say you are making some good progress! In for pics of the trans cooler lines. i want to re route mine once the trans is in. Did you drill a hole in the front and back of the frame rail?

Jay

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

was going to install my trans tonight then noticed how you probably ran the lines. totally copied you lol. im the hole just in front of the trans mount and out the access hole for the pitman!

Jay

Chris Etemadi

You nailed it! There was already one hole there, I just crammed my drill up there with a step bit and opened it up. The other hole I drilled right next to it. The line is 919 Parker SS braided/Teflon hose, since I plan on running a trans brake down the road and outlet temps supposedly get pretty toasty (300° and higher). Not to mention the fact that they have practically an infinite life and I will not be able to easily inspect things.

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

Hmm may have to drill those holes also! I ended up coming out of the bottom hole that is in front of the trans mount. Maybe Ill drill a hole next to the trans there since my DP may be in that area. Looking good though!

Jay

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

You happen to have any underside and side shots of the exhaust? Im pretty well at the point of connecting from the sideskirt area to the downpipe. Looks like a giant PITA. I kinda copied how stock routes but 3.5" is so big it hangs under the side skirt like 2"! Also trying to cram in a flex pipe is making it harder lol. Stupid poly mounts. i shoulda tossed in solids.

Jay

Chris Etemadi

Here are the best pictures I have of the exhaust. I was able to tuck up in factory routing location. After struggling with building it from the front to back for me it much easier to start from the back and work forward. I had previously built the 4" catback so there was something to build off of.

I made some additional progress on the car this weekend. I had a friend tig up what I had tacked on the crossover with exception to the turbo flange. Next is to re install the turbo, figure out the wastegate merge and plumbing into the down pipe, route the lower radiator hose, and fab an upper radiator/fan bracket.

Doubtful it will be driving by the big day however, I may be able to get it started if I push it. Not sure if that would be worth the trouble at this point, haha. I am a little disappointed about it, but I will be able to get everything proper. Also, I am ordering a Tooley trunnion upgrade and it would be a little cleaner to have not started it.

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

Wow moving pretty good man! Thanks for the pics. Basically the same thing im looking at. I can stuff the 3.5" there but it hangs low. Hard to tell with the car up in the air. I have been working my way forward also since I had built a 3.5" for it last winter. I need my buddy to cut some pie cuts for me since its such a tight bend. May have him tig me up a nice pie cut exhaust cutout too.

Jay

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

Any new updates? I know this board has been pretty dead lately!

Jay

Chris Etemadi

Jay, I know what you mean about the boards. I think a lot more people browse through than comment sometimes. I have been browsing the updates on your thread, I find that it gets me motivated a bit more to see that you are getting into boost in your ride and I am still playing in the garage.

I have made some marginal progress. I was supposed to be driving three months ago per the original goal, but had to get hitched, buy a house and begin what is turning out to be a lengthy relocation process. I have recently got back on it, but with temperatures hitting consistent triple digits I tend to go out until I am drenched in sweat before retiring to house so it is hard to get a lot of progress accomplished.

We are in the process of moving to Dallas, TX. Actually the wifey has already moved and I am finishing up some work stuff through the end of the month before I go. Basically the movers left me with an air mattress the car and some tools to finish up the car with. So my new goal is to have the car ready and make the maiden voyage from Tulsa to Dallas which is a 4 hour/250 mile drive by the end of the month. What I am not too happy about is that I am traveling for work all this week, which is turning out to be a significant in chunk of the time I have left. I hope to get back to work on it by Sunday.

I have included some pictures of the progress that I have made fairly recently. The crossover is being fully welded up this week. The merge took some work, and I kind of regret not going with twin gates. I choose to go with a JGS 50R gate. I think it should function pretty well as it has priority flow and is fully divided up to ~.25" of the wastegate valve face. If I can get it to regulate boost to 8 psi or so I will be happy.

I have the following things to to when I get back:

• Weld the WG dump into the downpipe
• Run charge piping from compressor outlet to intercooler
• Order Catch can
• Figure out boost controller debacle
• Extend nbO2 harness leads
• Reinstall bumper
• Order air filter
• Start car
• Tune
• Tune More
• Tune even more

Regarding the controller, I have been eyeing the Eboost2 and the Autometer unit for awhile now, I have just hesitated dropping the coin on it due to all of the new house expenses. The cheap part of me wants to just run a manual boost controller and get a boost gauge, although that money would be better spent by just purchasing the controller that has all of that in the first place. I would also like to get a fuel pressure gauge going on for piece of mind that everything is working properly while in the boost,

Sorry for the novel, that should take care of 4 months of updates!

Chris Etemadi

Here is what I am left with to finish up... An unfinished car and a work bench full of car parts and tools.

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

I hear ya on busy times getting married. Been there! The build is looking good. I like the merge for the gate. Nice flow.
Thats pretty well why I dropped the money on the SCG-1. Gets me my boost and AFR plus I get the boost control out of it. Was a no brainier since I needed both gauges. Hopefully this week I will get the wastegate dumps welded on mine and stuff in a 10psi combo in each gate.

Jay

85mcss

iTrader: (5)

Looks great! Awesome fab skills, my friend!!




Hurry up and get this finished so we can go tear up Dallas sometime!

(Brandon K)