FR500TT Big Bore Boss-Stroked and Boosted w/Ethanol!

[Turbo98]

Thanks for all your comments. I appreciate it.

Regarding the A/C, as you know, there is very limited room to put a decent size cooler. The trans guy said this is the SMALLEST one we can run. I figure it will stay very cool being located where it is. If I find the necessity to put the A/C back in, I can do that. We’ll see how it goes. I debated like you described before doing it.

Yeah, braided lines would have been a lot easier I guess. We first had the fuel pressure regulator on the firewall but it could be dangerous if the clutch ever exploded. So we moved it to the passenger side front near the head. I wanted some lines I could polish up and that would look nice as well as function well.

I have seen those AN coolant fittings. They look nice and can be used in a variety of ways. If I ever go with ball bearing turbos, it might be nice for some coolant routing to the turbos. The CC tube I have now is a cast aluminum one and it fits nicely and works well.

From what I’ve researched the 4-tower coil packs can easily handle over 1000rwhp. The only reason I had to go to a BAS is because Ethanol is harder to light. If I was running gas, I’m sure I would not need the BAS. Also, I had bought those FRPP spark plug covers and really wanted to be able to use them, lol. I balanced looks with performance in many areas.

The Ethanol content display is not wired into the ECU. I did look at doing this and had a plan to use it in conjunction with the AFM PMS engine management system. But the PMS crapped out on me so that was that. With a stand alone, it could be done.

[blk mk8]

did you make all that power through cats?

[Turbo98]

No, the cats are punched out. We noticed one was cracked so we didn't want to risk anything and went ahead and gutted them.

[blk mk8]

ok cool, i had a big power car once that had cats. i went to check them one day to see if they where clogged and both where empty. i guess it had over heated them and they broke up and exited the car on there own.

[Turbo98]

Ok…. I think we’ve overcome a hurdle with regard to the electronic switching of the overdrive and lock-up solenoids. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t plan on using the cruise control mainly due to the new throttle body location. I really have no desire to use the cruise on a car like this. So I planned on making use of the cruise control switch(s) for the O/D and L/U switches. Once I started probing into the wiring, etc, I saw that there were a total of only three wires involved for all five cruise switches and the horn switches. I’m thinking what is this?? Basically the six wires in the steering wheel (not including the air bag wiring) go into a single three-wire harness which leads into the clockspring. I found the insulated sleeve in the column on the other side of the clockspring that contains the cruise control wires. But with the horn relay integrated into this circuit, there is no way I could easily use these wires/switches as planned. At this point, I didn’t have much hope to use the cruise buttons as planned.

I then turned to the resident expert Mark Olson. He is an absolute expert in this area and loves working with these cars. I figured if anybody knew how to make this work, he would be the one. He was already familiar with the cruise control/horn circuit and said he thought he could make it work. He did verify that there were only three cruise/horn wires involved. So he went to town and actually designed, laid out, and built a prototype device in order to make this all work. After designing and testing a few designed, he got it done and tested it and said it works! Mark described to me how the cruise/horn circuit works and at least to me, it’s very complicated. WAY above my capability to work with and fully understand.

Mark’s communication is excellent (which is necessary for making something like this work properly) and he went WAY above and beyond during the design and build process. This device is being used in conjunction with the relay reset pack from FB Performance that cuts the O/D and L/U if the trans is pulled out of third gear (and/or when the brake is applied if desired). He called FB directly tog get some questions answered, went to the junkyard to tear into a Mustang column in order to verify wire colors, etc, and reviewed shop manuals, etc. I can’t say enough about how impressed I am with his help and ability. Here are a couple pics he took of it. It measures 2 ½� x 2 ½� x 1�. I’ll be trying it out as soon as I receive it and can get it installed in the car. I will also take pics of how it installs. He actually made it very simple to install:





BTW, he engineered it in a way to make it expandable in order to utilize all five cruise functions if somebody wants to do that. You could also have a switch so that you could still use the cruise functions. I think the possibilities are endless with something like this. I’m just using the “On/Off� switch—On for L/U, Off for O/D. Mark can explain the circuit further and how he designed it if somebody is interested. He may chime in and explain it anyway. It’s very interesting!

Thanks again Mark!

[Turbo98]

Not a huge update. But I went ahead and got the brake pedal assembly swapped out. This was a little challenging, lol. I was just going to tuck the clutch pedal under the carpet but figured since I’ve gone this far, I might as well do it completely right. Once I get the stainless pads on, I’ll post a pic. I’m also replacing the factory plastic gas pedal with the stainless variety. Here’s a pic of the two assemblies side by side:



A friend of mine came over today and helped me muscle the trans into the car. It’s now actually bolted up to the engine, lol.



I don’t think I ever posted a pic of this custom torque chain that the shop made. This sucker is TIGHT and will help keep the engine from flexing:



I’ve also made quite a few gauge and electronic changes in the cockpit. So I’ll take a pic of all this once it’s all cleaned up, etc.

[Turbo98]

A little more progress. Hooked the new harness up and it fits like a glove. I really like the way it turned out. Got the crossmember brackets relocated about 4 ¾� forward with the help of a friend. It would have been a slam dunk if the subframes weren’t dented in from jacking the car up. So a little reshaping and beating the brackets into submission and they went on. You can see the old location:



Also got the new dipstick installed. I had to make a small bracket but other than that, this one just slips into place:



I chose to install the aluminum inspection plate cover on the front of the lower bellhousing. It’s only like 8 bucks from Ford. I just don’t like the idea of running around on the street with the flexplate/converter exposed to whatever might find its way in there. I know most people don’t do this so I guess I’m anal about stuff like this:



I also got some other misc. stuff done. This doesn’t really have to do with the trans but here is how I did the new oil pressure sending unit along with the factory one. Everything barely fits!



I’ve started making the rest of the cooler lines and will post pics when finished. This is time consuming stuff, lol.

[Turbo98]

Here are a couple pics of the interior put back together. I also popped on a FR500 wheel while I was at it:


[URL=http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2285975880106583653VfPjal][/URL

[markolson]

Figured I'd let you guys know that I built my first prototype of a full 5 switch cruise control switch circuit and it works great, with battery voltage from 8 to 18V. Each pushbutton controls one relay. Here's a picture of the circuit board:



It's a 3" square board. I want to tweak the resistor values a bit to give the circuit a bit more margin for component value varaiation, but it works great.

[Turbo98]

I got the cooler lines made, flared, and installed. My main goal was to make sure they don’t touch/rub up against anything and to keep them away from the starter. Here are some pics:

[Turbo98]

Ok, here’s the latest on the car with a surprise update/upgrade 

I bolted on the exhaust to see what kind of clearance I was going to have with the new auto. It clears on the pass. side but not by much. It’s pretty close to the trans pan. On the driver’s side, it barely clears the pan also but the v-band clamp is REALLY close to the shift lever. I actually had to turn the v-band around so the “openâ€� part of the clamp is where the shift lever is in order to give it more clearance so it will go into PARK. But the v-band clamp bolt is now jammed up against the floor board. So the exhaust really needs to be tweaked so I’m going over my options to get this taken care of. Since it looks like I will have to have some welding done to fix the exhaust, I figure I might as well think ahead and get any tig welding modifications done all at once. Some of you may know where this is going….. 

When I first decided to build this car, I wanted a 4V that did not lack in low-mid range punch on the street. Typically, it seems like turbo 4V’s that makes big power end up being a dog on the street. So I set out to prove that this could be overcome with mild cams and a manual trans. With 880 ft-lbs of torque at 4000 RPMs and over 1000rwhp, I think I met my goal. But now that the car has entered its final phase of development with the swap to the automatic turbo spooler, it’s time to get serious with the turbos, lol. Now I want to prove this car’s true potential and still have it be a real streetable car.

So I’ve decided to upgrade the turbos. I really like the turbos I have now because they spool fast and make big power for what they are. They have the older cast compressor and turbine wheels so with some better compressor and exhaust wheel technology to take advantage of, along with the automatic turbo spooler in place, it’s time to upgrade. The 58mm’s were wheezing at 1000rwhp, that’s for sure. I’ve decided on a set of Precision billet 6266’s with their new CEA exhaust turbine wheel technology. I looked at the 6262’s but considering the superior exhaust flow of the FordGT heads (compared to any other Modular), and considering how fast the 58’s were spooling, I think the 66mm turbine wheel was best. I didn’t want to limit the power potential by choking the exhaust turbine side of the turbo. I also stepped up to a .82 a/r turbine housing (up from .63) with Precision’s 3� v-band outlet. I also moved on from the standard “E� compressor cover to the larger a/r “SP� cover which will be slightly more efficient when matched up to this combo. This cover is also ported so it will help reduce the possibility of compressor surge. All in all, I think these will really allow this engine to breathe like it’s designed to do.

I will be ditching the internal wastegates for several reasons. Although I proved they could work OK on a set-up like this for quiet exhaust dumping, they were really overpowered by the backpressure of this combo. They possibly could work better with the increased flow of the new turbine housing that I’m going with, but I’m not taking that chance. I now need the flexibility that the externals offer. There are many more spring rates available with the external units. Everybody was telling me to go external from the beginning so I guess it just takes me a while to catch on, lol. One of the main consequences with using the internals is that I have a pretty small range of boost controller adjustment from 15 PSI to about 22 PSI. So from 840-980rwhp through the manual trans. Now I should be able to have a range from 9 PSI to 23-25 PSI. According to my calculations, that should give me a power range from about 610rwhp to 1150+rwhp through the auto with a turn of the knob. Now that’s what I’m talking about! Plus these internal gates were kind of unpredictable and if I ever have to remove the turbos, the brackets/actuators would all have to be re-calibrated all over again. It’s a real pain to do this without a dyno and I’m not even sure I could get them back into a decent range of adjustment. In addition, without the wastegate exhaust being dumped back into the downpipes, there are also some gains to be had by going external. So it’s best they go.

So the summary of the final transformation breaks down like this:

58mm cast compressor wheel>>62mm billet
57mm cast exhaust turbine wheel>>66mm new CEA billet
.63 a/r 5-bolt exhaust housing w/v-band outlet>>.82 a/r standard cover w/v-band outlet
.60 a/r “E� compressor cover>>.70 a/r “SP� cover
Non-ported compressor cover>>ported
2� compressor discharge>>2 ½�
3� compressor inlet>>4�
Journal bearing>>Journal bearing
Internal wastegates (excess exhaust recirculate back into downpipes>>38mm external units
5-speed manual trans>>4R automatic turbo spooler!

Even with the manual trans, I still think these larger turbos wouldn’t spool too badly at all on this set-up. It doesn’t really matter though because with the auto, spool will no doubt be fast and the newfound power will be put to the pavement more effectively. I really think these small turbos were holding back the true potential of this engine. We shall find out!

There is a fair amount of work involved with swapping these out. I have to have proprietary Precision v-band flanges welded onto the downpipes and will have to lengthen them by 1�-2� as well. You can see the set-up I have now in this pic. The wastegate flange is sandwiched in-between the turbo housing and the v-band. So with the internal gate removed, the pipes will have to be extended to meet the housing.



I will have to have the 1 ½� wastegate tubes/flanges welded on the up-pipes also. I’m going with some Tial MV-S 38mm WG’s with the mini v-band connections. These are pretty cool and compact.

So as I mentioned, since I have to modify the downpipes to better clear the pan, I want to get any and all tig welding on these pipes done ONE time and be DONE with it. I also want to get this turbo swap done now rather than later so I can get the tune touched up ONE time. Then the car will be finished—finally, and I can enjoy it. This has been a lot of work and has really tried my patience. As much as I want to get it finished up, I think doing the turbo swap now is the best time to do it. This car has gone through several iterations, but I think it’s only gotten better every time. As usual, I will post some pics as I move along towards completion.

[brian97cobra]

Craziest build I've ever seen

[knuckles4696]

this truly is such an amazing build makes me look at my drag car like its poop, the fact that you have made this streetable and confortble is great. The changes you are making are great as well external waste gates FTW. Cant wait to see more poics of what your doing bud.

Knuckles

[Turbo98]

Thanks man. Well, I guess we'll see how it does when it's all said and done.

[Turbo98]

Some of the new hardware has arrived! Since I went with the larger .70 a/r compressor cover, the inlet increases from 3� to 4�. So I need new filters. Apparently these are a special custom filter made just for HP and since they are out of business, it poses a challenge finding them. They need to have a 20* angle on the flange in order to square them up so they tuck behind the bumper support. So I found a place that could make a couple custom ones. They turned out real nice and should work great.


Ported “S� compressor housing/Billet Wheel:


V-band outlet:


Precision’s new CEA “billet� turbine wheel:


I also had to get a couple of Precision’s 3� stainless v-band flanges and clamps for the downpipes in order to match the ones on the turbos. The wastegates and other misc. hardware has shipped so I’ll be receiving that soon. Then all I have to do is get the pipes fabbed up and install everything, lol.

[brian97cobra]

when are the wings gonna arrive?

[Turbo98]

Lol, we'll see how it does.

[mustangheaven]

i have a question regarding the 5 switch board. with the steering wheel are you runing your air bag, my car is stripped but i like the idea of puting a line lock on with the cruise buttons, besides the aftermaket wheel i bought i cant really understand why i bought it now the stock one looks so much better. just wondering if there is a replacement airbag deal that will only be a cover and can still use the horn.

mark what the prices on this unit, if your making them for others, you can pm me.

[Turbo98]

It operates independent of the air bag but Mark can clarify further. The horn is on the same circuit though and still works as normal. I thought about moving my line lock switch to one of the cruise buttons also. Mine line lock is curently not set up correctly as it is on a standard on/off switch. But the box I currently have from Mark only works for the two cruise "On/Off" buttons.

[mustangheaven]

sorry for cunfusion, but im not putting airbags in the car. i was curious if there is a aftermarket center portion that replace the airbag/horn unit and i could run a panel or delete thing like the passenger side delete panel only for the wheel so it would basically be hollow, maybe im not thinking to clearly on what this looks like in my head because i have not really seen or delt with interior parts on my car for almost 4 years now so maybe im just confusion myself at this point.

also is the box customizable for different relays, bassically build to a customers requirrments or is it limited due to acutal size and availability of small circuitry. sorry if this is too much in your thread.

[Turbo98]

No problem man. I misunderstood your question. Mark can answer the electronic part. I'm not sure if there is an air bag delete panel of sorts out there ornot.

[markolson]

Sorry for the delay guys, my son and I had some dyno time for his Honda today. We managed to get up to 265hp/198tq to the ground out of his 4 banger in a 1900 lb CRX.

Originally Posted by mustangheaven

i have a question regarding the 5 switch board. with the steering wheel are you runing your air bag, my car is stripped but i like the idea of puting a line lock on with the cruise buttons, besides the aftermaket wheel i bought i cant really understand why i bought it now the stock one looks so much better. just wondering if there is a replacement airbag deal that will only be a cover and can still use the horn.

mark what the prices on this unit, if your making them for others, you can pm me.

I haven't figured out pricing yet, I was still trying to decide if there'd be enough demand to make it worth producing. I'll work that out tonight and get back to you.

Originally Posted by mustangheaven

sorry for cunfusion, but im not putting airbags in the car. i was curious if there is a aftermarket center portion that replace the airbag/horn unit and i could run a panel or delete thing like the passenger side delete panel only for the wheel so it would basically be hollow, maybe im not thinking to clearly on what this looks like in my head because i have not really seen or delt with interior parts on my car for almost 4 years now so maybe im just confusion myself at this point.

also is the box customizable for different relays, bassically build to a customers requirrments or is it limited due to actual size and availability of small circuitry. sorry if this is too much in your thread.

There is only enough room in the ~3x3x1 box for the electronics and 5 relays that act as pushbuttons. I was able to make one aux circuit that fits in a ~2x2x1 box that will let you use two of the pushbuttons as on and off switches to supply power to one accessory and then two of the other pushbuttons as on and off switches for another accessory. I was also able to make another aux circuit that fits in a ~2x2x1 box that allows you to toggle power on and off with one button for one accessory. By wiring together different combinations of these boxes, you can have a bunch of different configurations.

I haven't had time to figure pricing for those units yet either and will figure them out tonight too.

No matter what you do with the airbag, you can use the horn. If you don't have an airbag under the horn, you could put some switches in the airbag cover. But you would be stuck using the airbag wires in the clockspring mechanism to carry those functions to your accessories.

There are two clockspring wires for the airbags that could be repurposed to carry signals from switches you put in the airbag cover. You could use a switch between the two wires to connect them when the switch is closed. Or you could have two switches, one on each wire, where each switch would ground one signal wire or not ground it, depending how the switch is set. Your third option is to put in one or two sets of 5 pushbuttons with the same resistors as the ones in the cruise control buttons, to get up to a total of 15 pushbuttons in the steering wheel.

You could also use the airbag clockspring wires to put LEDs in your airbag cover instead.

Hope this answered your questions.

[mustangheaven]

great thanks, again i hate to take up your thread but if your curious:
1994-04 Mustang Steering Wheel Airbag Delete by UPR - Free Shipping at LatemodelRestoration.com
this is what i had invisioned. im probably going to try something like this.

and thanks mark. i forgot to mention sweet ass build turbo98, are you going to raising the boost with the new turbos or are they for spooling quicker.

[markolson]

Originally Posted by mustangheaven

great thanks, again i hate to take up your thread but if your curious:
1994-04 Mustang Steering Wheel Airbag Delete by UPR - Free Shipping at LatemodelRestoration.com
this is what i had invisioned. im probably going to try something like this.

Should work great.

[Turbo98]

Nothing big but I received the rest of the hardware in to complete the turbo swap. I have two of the wastegate assemblies, inlet SS v-band, outlet SS v-band, and fittings. Each wastegate came with 6 different springs which is nice:

[Turbo98]

Well, I’ve had a few snags that I’ve had to deal with. So it kind of put me behind schedule.

First off, long story but there was a mishap with the tailshaft seal. It’s not Darrin’s’ fault or my fault. After putting 5 qts of ATF in the trans the day before, I’m getting ready to start it for the first time in at least 5 months and I notice a puddle of ATF under the seal area. So Darrin at BC sent another tailshaft housing right out and I swapped it out and re-filled it. No leak now. Thanks Darrin! But in swapping it out, I noticed that the new one he sent had a provision for a speed sensor. The original housing didn’t have this provision. Well, I thought he was setting me up with a VSS but instead, he installed an OSS which mounts further up in the trans case. I didn’t even realize this until I got to figuring out what that extra hole was in the tailshaft housing. At any rate, there was some miscommunication between him and I and I ended up with the OSS when I wanted the VSS. So I got a Speedcal and wired it up so the speedo reads correctly.

So we got it started and the trans seems fine. So far I’ve just briefly ran through the gears on the jack stands. There were a couple of trans fluid leaks at the NPT fittings—one at the case and one/maybe 2 at the front where I installed the temp sensors. I had used Teflon paste as a thread lubricant and did tighten them pretty good. They are aluminum so I didn’t want to go crazy on them. I was surprised any of them were leaking. So now I researched some actual thread SEALER. So get this… I got some Loctite #545 industrial hydraulic threadlocker/sealant. It’s designed for tapered thread fittings, etc. I also needed their #7471 activator/primer since the aluminum is an inactive metal. So I clean everything, put the activator on, and install the fitting by hand. I get it in about a turn and it starts getting REALLY hard to turn REALLY fast with a wrench. I get it about 1 ½ turns in and that’s it. It won’t go any further. So I figure I better start backing it out before it sets up any more than it already is. Man, that thing was BARELY removable! It was very hard to remove. Keep in mind this is only after about a minute or two. When I got it out, a piece of a thread came out with it. Great. Here are a pics:





The other side of the fitting is damaged due to my attempt to remove it at all costs. You can see the threads are basically gone. What happened is that they actually bonded/seized to the threads in the case and when I removed it, the threads actually sheared off—staying in the case. Unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like this. I have no idea how this product is supposed to work. So we tried using a pick to get the threads out but they are glued on too tight. I got a ¼� NPT tap and we were able to carefully chase the threads and re-tap it. Also, when removing that fitting, I can’t rule out that some metal debris fell into the dipstick hole. So I had to drain the fluid again and pull the pan and clean it to make sure. Ughh. Sure enough, there were a couple fragments of metal in the pan near the dipstick hole. This is the LAST time I’m draining it before I make 1000rwhp, lol.

I took apart the NPT fittings for the temp sensors and used some Permatex high temp anaerobic thread sealant. But it still leaked after REALLY cranking them together. So I’m done with these aluminum fittings and I am going to install brass tees and steel adapter fittings. I’ve had good success with that metal combo on NPT stuff. For the case fitting, I decided to go with the NPSM straight cut thread to -6AN adapter. I came across these when deciding on what to use and I finally decided after this ordeal to use the proper fitting. This way there is no sealant involved as it seals up against the case with the copper washer. That one is fixed up and doesn’t leak now. Here is a pic. The black one is the new Russell one I’m going to use. The threads are the same as the center one. The center one is the one that came out of the trans when I got it. The one on the right is a standard NPT thread. So I’ll just use a 45* swivel which will be more flexible anyway because I can position exactly where I need it.


Before starting it, I double checked the trans shifter arm to make sure it was going into all gears. But it wasn’t going all the way into each gear (PARK included). The shifter cable was out of adjustment so we bent the bracket forward slightly to get it to work. The nut on the B&M shift lever was coming loose too causing play in the shift lever. Now it goes into PARK all the way and shifts real crisp, etc. I really like this shifter now. But there’s no way that I can bolt on the exhaust on that side. It is just interfering too much with the shift lever.

Then I verified that the reverse light work and they did. When I attempted to start the car, nothing happened. I had to jump the neutral safely switch circuit that I made. For some reason, it wasn’t starting in PARK or NEUTRAL. So either I wired it wrong, the DTR sensor on the trans was bad, or the DTR sensor just needed some slight adjustment. I was leaning towards wrong wiring because the reverse lights work off the same sensor. So I lowered the crossmember, pulled the harness, did some tests and determined that I soldered one of those wires to the wrong DTR harness plug wire. I guess the wires were close in color, who knows. It could be that the harness is off of a truck which will have different wire colors. The bottom line is that I failed to follow my own rules and double check the wire colors with the pinout of the sensor. It works now!

I tested the O/D and L/U with the FB reset relay box in place. The O/D and L/U solenoids were not switching. I tested it with and without Mark Olson’s cruise control switch device. So it finally came down an issue with the correct wire from the FB unit being the power wire. There were two red wires and of course, I picked the wrong one. So I got that straightened out and they work now. Mark also sent me his latest beta 5 button box. So I wired my line lock up also to one of the cruise buttons. As I describe in the video, I also wired up an extra relay in order to cut the O/D and L/U without using the brake or without moving the shifter out of 3rd.

I was playing with the turbos a bit and was spinning them and noticed that one of them in particular was making a scraping sound. I removed both housings and it still made the sound. I took a vid of it and sent it to a few people and they all said something wasn’t right. I’ve never heard a new turbo make this sound. I sent the video to the service dept. at Precision and they suggested I send them back for inspection/repair.
Here’s the vid. You can hear the one on the left mainly making the noise:
New Precision 6266 Turbo Spin - YouTube

So I sent them back ($30 I might add). They called me a couple days after receiving them and said everything is fine. They took them apart and the only thing they can think is that one was lubricated better than the other. I did squirt some oil in it and it didn’t make any difference. So guess what? They came back and they are whisper quiet. Imagine that! What really kind of sucks is that I had to spend 30 bucks to send something back that wasn’t assembled correctly or was defective. Who knows what the cause was. I think it was the base of the fins just barely touching the base under it. But at any rate, they are quiet now like they should be and I’m glad I sent them back.

So not really a positive update by any means. A few minor set backs but that’s the way this stuff is. Actually the whole project has been this way for me. I suppose it will be worth it in the end. Here’s a quick overview video (nothing spectacular by any means):

98 SVT Turbo Cobra 4R70W Swap Overview - YouTube

I’ll have another update real soon.

[Turbo98]

IT’S ALIVE AGAIN!!!

Well, FINALLY got it filled up and fired up again. I still have 3 out of the 4 NPT joints at the temp sensors seeping fluid. I just got the new fittings in so I’ll fix that in the next day or so.

So we took it out on its maiden voyage!! Man, I really like how everything works and feels. This auto makes this beast a whole different animal. All I can say is I wish I would have done it sooner. Can’t wait to unleash it under some serious boost. The tune needs to be touched up as it will sometimes die when put into gear (you can see this at the end of the video). But other than that, I’m really impressed with how it performs and it has exceeded my expectations so far. One step closer to completion!

Again, it’s not the best video but you get the idea.

'98 Turbo Cobra First Drive After 4R70W Swap - YouTube

'98 Turbo Cobra First Drive After 4R70W Swap - YouTube

[Turbo98]

The old turbos are out. Here’s a comparison. So I’ll get these new ones in and then get the exhaust pipes fixed up:

[Turbo98]

Got the new turbos mocked up. They fit pretty good. I was slightly concerned since the compressor housing is a little larger. But they squeezed in there. The charge pipe on the pass. Side fits better now since the internal wastegate stuff is not in the way anymore. As usual, here are a few pics. More later.

Pass. side:



Driver’s side:

[brian97cobra]

why did you go joural bearing instead of ball bearing?

just wondering

[Turbo98]

Well, I personally don't think there is much benefit considering they are about twice the price. The ball bearing ones are supposedly more durable but I've never had an issue with the journal bearing and have had great success with the. Also, I didn't want any oiling issues as far as trying to figure out what restrictor, etc. with the ball bearing. There are cars running super fast with these type Precision journal bearing.

I know people will disagree but these work great for me.

[Turbo98]

Finally got the turbo drain lines rebuilt in braided for a few reasons. I was going to do it later but figured now is the time while doing the turbo swap. One was to get rid of a kink which I didn’t like. Two because of the heat, over time the pushlock can split at the turbo fitting. Three is because one of the fittings at the turbo had a 3/8� NPT end instead of ½� like everything else.


This is the line that had a decent kink in it:


At some point soon, I’ll also replace the pushlock going from the scavenger pump to the pan. There is a small kink in that but it’s not as compromising because the oil is being pumped in that line.

[Turbo98]

Got all the vacuum lines finished up, turbos bolted up with all new stainless hardware, new drain lines on, feeds hooked up, went over all the silicone connector clamps, and did a few other misc. things. Oh, I also clearanced the bumper support on the pass. side so the filter clears better. Just a few pics before getting the pipes fixed up and putting the front back on, etc.

Downpipes are about 2 1/8� short:


Random, lol:




More later….

[badass98svt]

I just came

[Turbo98]

Well, I finally got the car in and out of the shop and the new exhaust is DONE. I took it to Craven Performance in St. Peters, MO. They did an awesome job! They basically re-made the downpipes. They could have modified the ones I had but by the time they spent a lot of time messing with them and re-welding, etc, it was just better to rebuild them from scratch for a cleaner set-up. The wastegate placements turned out real nice—right off the bends in the up-pipe like they should be. These wastegates are so compact and they fit really neatly. It should make extreme power with efficient wastegate dumping and good boost control. I still need to hook up the vacuum lines and tidy up some stuff but here are some pics:




Driver’s side:








Pass. side: