Hey guys,
I dunno if this is the right place to put this, so maybe it'll get moved. Maybe it belongs in the build section, however the comments are closed. And I'm looking for feedback, and possibly to answer any questions that might help anyone in a future build. Anyway, here goes.
I've had my 93 shortbed extended cab for a little over 2 years, and I really enjoyed driving it for the first year. Till the rusty factory steel freeze plugs finally gave up one day. It wasn't driveable anymore, so it sat for a few months, till I got the urge to make it go again. It had 215k on the clock, but still ran like a top, so I wasn't really looking to do a full rebuild. The idea was to pull the motor, put in new freeze plugs and timing chain, and go on about my business. I wish I would've stuck to the plan! So anyway, while the motor was out, I started getting ideas of freshening it up a bit. I'm sure that's probably how alot of the snowballs start! I found a late 70's 4 bolt longblock fresh from the machine shop for cheap, so I guess it's better than my "tired" old motor. lol. My next mistake was looking around on ebay! I came across a set of twin turbo headers that were supposed to fit my truck. That got me to thinking that it might be kinda neat to put it back together as a twin turbo truck. The cheap price, and idea of the build, got the best of my better judgement I guess. lol. So, as long as I was gonna go with cheap headers, I decided to concentrate on a budget build. The new plan was to build a quality, factory looking twin turbo set-up using ebay pieces. I know, I know, quality and ebay pieces don't go hand in hand! lol. My focus wasn't building a race car though, merely an every day driver that skoots. So, along with the headers, I ebayed a pair of 57mm internally wastegated turbos, some turbo and exhaust flanges, and a 50mm bov. I sourced the exhaust tubing, and some mandrel bent pipe from Summit. Everything shows up, some I'm ready to start the process. I did'nt want anything radical, so all I did to the longblock was put in a small Comp turbo cam. It's actually kinda funny how small it is, something like 447 lift. lol. The safe bet was to put in ARP rod and head bolts too. After welding on a pair of bungs to the oil pan, the motor goes back in the truck. This is the first opportunity that I would have to mock up the "twin turbo headers". And.........they didn't fit, AT ALL! they would put the turbo right where the master cylinder is on the driver's side, and interfere with the a/c accumulator on the passenger side. I was thinking to myself WTF! I was pissed about it for a day or 2, but since I already had all the pieces to do the build, I started looking for another option. For a short minute, I thought about butchering them up, and making them work. They were so far from being useable though, I tossed that idea. As it turned out, flipping the factory manifolds upside down created a perfect starting point for the build. Due to the where the exhaust flanges are on the factory manifolds, the driver's side turbo ended up being about 3/4" higher and sitting about 1-1/2" back from where the passenger turbo sits. I wanted them to be symetrical, but since the hood clearance would be an issue, they are how they are. Oh well. lol. The downpipe flanges on the turbo are 2-1/2", so that's what I made the downpipes out of. The driver's side downpipe goes down along the block, between the k-member and deep sump pan, then y's into the passenger side just under the passenger floor board. The Y outlet is a single 3-1/2" pipe that is mounted to all of the factory mounts, through a Dynomax muffler, and up over the axle. It exits on the passenger side, just behind the rear tire. Now that the hot side was done, it was time to decide on the cold side, and ultimately, the induction. Early on, I was gonna do the whole hogged out 454 tbi with 96lb injectors, but I decided that it might not be enough. And honestly, I wasn't really that enthused about the idea of burning chip after chip, looking for a good tune. I promptly scrapped all of the tbi bs. Didn't need it, didn't want it! Here comes the carb. lol. That might've been about the time I was pondering boost, cast pistons, iron heads, etc. You know, the recipe for disaster! A small, inexpensive, intercooler wasn't gonne be able to do what I needed it to do on pump gas, so along comes the non-intercooled E85 idea. Fab time again. The cold side outlets on the turbo are 2", so that's what each of the cold side pipes start out as also. I picked up a nice EV carb hat for cheap, and it has a 3-1/2" inlet. So, I made a dual 2" to single 3-1/2" Y. The finishing touch on the cold side was the new blow-thru E85 carb from Quick Fuel. It's the most expensive part of the whole build, but in the end, I wanted a quality metering system for getting boost and fuel into the engine. If the carb is crap, the vehicle runs like crap, and it turns the whole build to crap. And I didn't want that.
2 things that I didn't really mention were the trans, and the fuel system. The 4L60e trans I decided to have rebuilt, with better bands and servo. And rounded it out with a 2500 stall convertor from Hughes. It's plenty for a street turbo build. I wanted to get my cam, intake, and convertor all in the same rpm range. And as far as the fuel system goes, it was kind of a work in progress. I started out with a 340lph in-tank Aeromotive pump. They're a badass in-tank pump for how cheap they are. I cut out all of the necked down sections in the fuel system, so it was 100% -6AN line from the tank to the Aeromotive boost referenced regulator. It ran great that way for a couple weeks, then quit. Turns out that the pump draws enough current to melt the connector pigtail supplied with the pump. Before realizing that though, I had already made up my mind to change it to a stand alone Aeromotive pump and filter mounted on the frame rail. It now has -8 braided feed line. If I didn't already have the pump, filter, and alll the steel braided line, I would've stuck to the in-tank pump idea though! To do a stand alone pump, I had to convert the in-tank pump inlet to a bigger syphon tube inlet. I had the pieces to do that too, they just had to be welded together where the pump was. At least now I know I'll have plenty of fuel system when I act on the second phase of the truck build. I'm thinking a twin turbo 6-speed LS1 might be cool........
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the build. Post up any questions you've got, and maybe a few new ideas.....
Mike
I'll try to post up pics as soon as I figure out how. lol
I dunno if this is the right place to put this, so maybe it'll get moved. Maybe it belongs in the build section, however the comments are closed. And I'm looking for feedback, and possibly to answer any questions that might help anyone in a future build. Anyway, here goes.
I've had my 93 shortbed extended cab for a little over 2 years, and I really enjoyed driving it for the first year. Till the rusty factory steel freeze plugs finally gave up one day. It wasn't driveable anymore, so it sat for a few months, till I got the urge to make it go again. It had 215k on the clock, but still ran like a top, so I wasn't really looking to do a full rebuild. The idea was to pull the motor, put in new freeze plugs and timing chain, and go on about my business. I wish I would've stuck to the plan! So anyway, while the motor was out, I started getting ideas of freshening it up a bit. I'm sure that's probably how alot of the snowballs start! I found a late 70's 4 bolt longblock fresh from the machine shop for cheap, so I guess it's better than my "tired" old motor. lol. My next mistake was looking around on ebay! I came across a set of twin turbo headers that were supposed to fit my truck. That got me to thinking that it might be kinda neat to put it back together as a twin turbo truck. The cheap price, and idea of the build, got the best of my better judgement I guess. lol. So, as long as I was gonna go with cheap headers, I decided to concentrate on a budget build. The new plan was to build a quality, factory looking twin turbo set-up using ebay pieces. I know, I know, quality and ebay pieces don't go hand in hand! lol. My focus wasn't building a race car though, merely an every day driver that skoots. So, along with the headers, I ebayed a pair of 57mm internally wastegated turbos, some turbo and exhaust flanges, and a 50mm bov. I sourced the exhaust tubing, and some mandrel bent pipe from Summit. Everything shows up, some I'm ready to start the process. I did'nt want anything radical, so all I did to the longblock was put in a small Comp turbo cam. It's actually kinda funny how small it is, something like 447 lift. lol. The safe bet was to put in ARP rod and head bolts too. After welding on a pair of bungs to the oil pan, the motor goes back in the truck. This is the first opportunity that I would have to mock up the "twin turbo headers". And.........they didn't fit, AT ALL! they would put the turbo right where the master cylinder is on the driver's side, and interfere with the a/c accumulator on the passenger side. I was thinking to myself WTF! I was pissed about it for a day or 2, but since I already had all the pieces to do the build, I started looking for another option. For a short minute, I thought about butchering them up, and making them work. They were so far from being useable though, I tossed that idea. As it turned out, flipping the factory manifolds upside down created a perfect starting point for the build. Due to the where the exhaust flanges are on the factory manifolds, the driver's side turbo ended up being about 3/4" higher and sitting about 1-1/2" back from where the passenger turbo sits. I wanted them to be symetrical, but since the hood clearance would be an issue, they are how they are. Oh well. lol. The downpipe flanges on the turbo are 2-1/2", so that's what I made the downpipes out of. The driver's side downpipe goes down along the block, between the k-member and deep sump pan, then y's into the passenger side just under the passenger floor board. The Y outlet is a single 3-1/2" pipe that is mounted to all of the factory mounts, through a Dynomax muffler, and up over the axle. It exits on the passenger side, just behind the rear tire. Now that the hot side was done, it was time to decide on the cold side, and ultimately, the induction. Early on, I was gonna do the whole hogged out 454 tbi with 96lb injectors, but I decided that it might not be enough. And honestly, I wasn't really that enthused about the idea of burning chip after chip, looking for a good tune. I promptly scrapped all of the tbi bs. Didn't need it, didn't want it! Here comes the carb. lol. That might've been about the time I was pondering boost, cast pistons, iron heads, etc. You know, the recipe for disaster! A small, inexpensive, intercooler wasn't gonne be able to do what I needed it to do on pump gas, so along comes the non-intercooled E85 idea. Fab time again. The cold side outlets on the turbo are 2", so that's what each of the cold side pipes start out as also. I picked up a nice EV carb hat for cheap, and it has a 3-1/2" inlet. So, I made a dual 2" to single 3-1/2" Y. The finishing touch on the cold side was the new blow-thru E85 carb from Quick Fuel. It's the most expensive part of the whole build, but in the end, I wanted a quality metering system for getting boost and fuel into the engine. If the carb is crap, the vehicle runs like crap, and it turns the whole build to crap. And I didn't want that.
2 things that I didn't really mention were the trans, and the fuel system. The 4L60e trans I decided to have rebuilt, with better bands and servo. And rounded it out with a 2500 stall convertor from Hughes. It's plenty for a street turbo build. I wanted to get my cam, intake, and convertor all in the same rpm range. And as far as the fuel system goes, it was kind of a work in progress. I started out with a 340lph in-tank Aeromotive pump. They're a badass in-tank pump for how cheap they are. I cut out all of the necked down sections in the fuel system, so it was 100% -6AN line from the tank to the Aeromotive boost referenced regulator. It ran great that way for a couple weeks, then quit. Turns out that the pump draws enough current to melt the connector pigtail supplied with the pump. Before realizing that though, I had already made up my mind to change it to a stand alone Aeromotive pump and filter mounted on the frame rail. It now has -8 braided feed line. If I didn't already have the pump, filter, and alll the steel braided line, I would've stuck to the in-tank pump idea though! To do a stand alone pump, I had to convert the in-tank pump inlet to a bigger syphon tube inlet. I had the pieces to do that too, they just had to be welded together where the pump was. At least now I know I'll have plenty of fuel system when I act on the second phase of the truck build. I'm thinking a twin turbo 6-speed LS1 might be cool........
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the build. Post up any questions you've got, and maybe a few new ideas.....
Mike
I'll try to post up pics as soon as I figure out how. lol
