🔧 BUILD Broke EF turbo LS SC400 Build

General Information

I may have never posted on here before, but for some reason I am inspired to post my build up here. I am going to copy and paste from another site to get us all up to speed. I will try and clean up anything that was specific to the thread I am pulling from. Now that I am getting started on the main fab work I will update this thread in real time.

For anyone who doesn't want to read it all here is the short version. I bought the car on a whim in June of 2016. It is a 1993 SC400 that was from this area, and was meticulously maintained at the dealer. I was going to stay with the original 1UZ so you will see I started installing a procharger on it. I ended up selling off the stock motor, trans, ecu and harness to a local guy and got an iron gen 3 5.3 motor. I am doing a Precision LS-7675 turbo with a truck manifold based kit (more or less). It will be backed up by a TH400, and for now will use a stock ECU with HP Tuners.

Alright, time for the massive dump of info.


A couple years ago I picked up a 1993 SC400. I wasn't really looking for a car, but a late night search found this one, and I have always liked them. I decided to go down and give it a look in person, and it was even cleaner than it looked in the pics so I bought it. Here are a couple pics of when I first got it.

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I wont bore you with all of the middle shit, just hit you with the highlights.

I removed a couple tons of wiring that used to be an alarm system.
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I had the gauge cluster fixed/updated with white LED's.
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Fixed up the wiring that was kind of hacked up from the alarm. Changed the steering wheel, etc. etc.
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I then updated the climate control, and put in a nice head unit.
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Just a bunch of little changes and fixing up small things here and there. The car was extremely well maintained and really did not NEED much. My plan was always to make it fast of course, and do drag week with it. The factory 1UZ motor is a very good starting point and can make some really solid HP. The stock trans can be built to live as well. Packaging was kind of a nightmare as you can see, but other than that it was a good option.

I ended up stumbling upon a great deal on a procharger kit that was actually on an SC400 locally. It was a P1SC that came with some shitty piping, a way too small intercooler, but a Tial blow off valve that actually had the right spring it it! I started installing that setup.
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You can see one of the things that was constantly in the back of my mind for making this a drag week car. Look how complicated that engine looks! If I had a problem on the road not only would parts be an issue, but just the time to do simple repairs is a nightmare. For example the starter is under the intake manifold in the valley.

So when a local kid hurt the motor in his SC I offered mine up to get him back on the road since that is his only car. We struck a deal and I ripped that shit out the next day.
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It happened to work out that a 5.3 LS came up for sale for the same money I just sold my old motor for, so I jumped on it.
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Its update time! Nothing really exciting, but I have been slowly chipping away at things.

First up was wiring. I am planning on using the stock ECU for a little bit with HP Tuners, so I had some wiring work to do.

Harness as I got it with the motor
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Stripped of all of the brittle loom and crappy electrical tape.
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Unfortunately I ended up having to move it around after I had stripped off all of the crap, and it got pretty tangled.
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So I decided to just fully depin everything since I only need a few things from that mess.
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Here is the pile of junk I didn't need from that harness. There is actually a bit more, but that is 99.99% of it.
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And here is everything all apart, ready to be cleaned, routed, extended, and loomed.
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Next up I got some mounts for the LS from Dan Perlenfein. He even made me a custom trans mount for the TH400. These are very nice pieces, and I got them really quickly.
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Got them set in the car, fit like a glove! (BTW they are not bolted down in any of these pics, just have the nut on the other side a few turns)
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Next up I pulled the oil pan off my motor so I could drop it in and see what I am working with.
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Bit of wishful thinking seeing of the truck intake would clear the hood. It wont.
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So keep in mind that the mounts are not 100% bolted down yet. I need to get my trans from my buddy so I can get that in place before locking everything in place (just to take it all back out again). Once I have put the trans in then I can check a few things, and it can all come back out. Engine bay is going to get cleaned up, and the motor will get some TLC as well. I am still planning on trying to get it running and driving this year, but we will see if it happens. I am not one to let things be "good enough" so I may end up spending a bunch of money and time on the motor even though it will remain a stock bottom end.

Anyway I am really happy with the fitment, and how much space I have! This seems to be more room than I remember in an F-body (on the sides) even with a tubular K-Member. Should be able to get a big single in there no problem with a 4" down pipe to run out back. I am really glad I went LS!



Well time for a small update on the thread that nobody follows :) I got the trans, and a converter from my buddy a while back. Turns out the trans was shot, and needs a rebuild. That pretty much killed my plans for just getting it running this year. The good news is that I will be able to use it as a core to verify the trans mount, and hold everything in place so I can do all the fab work and wiring. I need to get un-lazy and move the car over in the garage so I can get the trans in one of these days. Its been hot as balls, and until I got my turbo there hasn't been much of a reason to bother getting it done. That excuse is out the window now though, since this came in last week

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Its nothing special, just a Precision LS 7675, which is a cast wheel journal bearing 76mm. It should be able to max out the 5.3 though, so it will do for now. This weekend (it was hot as balls) I went out to the garage for a bit to try and get some idea where I was going to place the turbo so I can start getting an idea for a materials list. First up I got the radiator sitting in place (close enough)
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These were the most obvious positions (turbo would need to be clocked differently for most) that I snapped some pics of not in any particular order.

Inside forward facing 45
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TA style
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Inside forward facing
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Outside forward facing
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That is really about all I got right now. I guess I also got the LS6 intake since my last update. That is still sitting on the truck steam ports which is why it isn't flat. I also got a set of non-EGR truck manifolds to use as the base of the turbo kit.

So right now I need to get everything mounted temporarily. That includes the trans, front accessories, exhaust manifolds, intake manifold, etc. Then I can lock down the turbo placement 100% and order material to start work. I also need to delete the ABS so I can mount the ECU over there and get started on the wiring. Well that's all for now, thanks for following along the journey of me seeing how dirty I can get my car.



Time for a small update, just because why not :)

I needed to get the trans in so I could check the fitment of the mount, as well as get everything locked into position for fabricating. Doing a trans by yourself is no fun, worse when you don't have a lift, and worse yet when you have to do some modifications for it to even fit. I ended up grabbing a trans jack from Harbor Freight to make my life a million times easier.
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The only downside to it is that it is quite a bit taller than having the trans on my regular jack, but other than that it was SO MUCH BETTER. I could slowly move it into position and make small changes to angle and overall position with ease. Not to mention how nice it is to have the trans stable as you are moving around to get a good look at everything. It turns out it only needed a little massaging to get it bolted into place. Again, that is without a shield on it (or a bell) but I was glad I didn't have to spend hours hammering overhead.

Ignore the mess, the garage is in process of getting a lot of work as well.

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Next up I wanted to see what I was working with on the exhaust manifolds.
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Driver side is actually hitting the frame, but that is fine since I always planned on v-banding them anyway.
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Plenty of space on the passenger side
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Next up was trying to get an idea of what to do for accessories. There are about a million options out there these days. I started by trying to place the stock truck pieces just to get some idea.
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Clearly those weren't going to work, but it was worth a shot. I have since figured out what I am going to do, but I will post more about that when I get all the parts. After that I reassembled the main fuse box under the hood. I need to patch where I cut for the procharger bracket, but the car is going to be outside for a bit while we finish the garage so I wanted to close off the fuses and wiring.
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That was about it. Got the car back on the ground and pushed back out of the way for now.
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Not really a crazy update, but progress none the less. While we are finishing the garage I will get the rest of the parts needed for the accessory drive setup. Once that is all in place I can start on fab work (FINALLY!), so hopefully the garage wont take too long. That's all I got for now, thanks for following along!



Nothing exciting, but parts have been coming in lately. I had to figure out and order up all of the front accessory drive components. Luckily there are a LOT of options for that kind of stuff these days. I ended up with a set of ICT billet brackets that will use a mix of F-body and Truck pieces.

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While I am at it, I got all new everything else too since most of it required f-body pieces anyway.

New tensioner
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New power steering pump pulley
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I have a new water pump, but no pic of it. The new power steering pump will be here early next week as well. I haven't ordered an alternator yet, but I will later when I get a crank pulley.

Next up is some of the fabrication pieces for the turbo kit. I have only ordered the parts and pieces for the hot side so far.

All stainless steel T4 flange, four 2.5" 90's for the crossover, and a 4" 90 for the start of the down pipe
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The stainless steel adapter from the weird 3-5/8" outlet of the turbo to 4" tubing.
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I am still waiting on the 2.5" stainless v-band assemblies and the stainless O2 bung. I will also run another section of stainless on the downpipe, then a bellows, then adapt to aluminum for the rest of the exhaust. I probably wont start on that until after I do the cold side piping, which I will hopefully be able to start directly after the hot side fabrication is done. My garage is currently being finished, so I wont be able to start work for a couple weeks still, but its great to see parts coming in! That's all I got for now, thanks for following along.


Here are the 2.5" stainless steel v-band assemblies and the stainless steel O2 bung.
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They are very nice with indexed flanges built in
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Quick release clamps, another nice touch!
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GM reman power steering pump came the other day as well
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I was a bit surprised to see that the pump did not come with the pulley bolt, or the reservoir cap. Not a big deal, just slightly annoying. That is all I have for now. The garage is taking longer than expected, but I have also been working on the wife's car anyway. Sometime next week I will probably stock up on welding supplies so I can be ready to go. I should have enough to get started, but I know I will need some soon.




On to a bit of news, my garage is 90% done!! Paint went on last night, so now I can trim it this weekend and move everything back. Here are a couple quick pics.

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For reference, here is a pic of the garage when we did our inspection (before we bought the house)
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It had a single light bulb, and the opener was plugged into an outlet next to the switch with an extension cord duct taped to the drywall.

Here is a shot after we had added the sub panel, lights, and pulled down the drywall. I then insulated everything, and put up new 5/8" drywall.
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I know not car related, but it has been a massive project that has delayed the car so I figured I would throw it in there now that I can see light at the end of that tunnel. Next update will be all car!



Well nothing too exciting to report still. I have been busy as hell finishing the garage, and getting our house ready for a party this weekend. I did however order up a bunch more material and pieces. I should have everything to build the intercooler piping except the intercooler (which is on backorder). I have all of the material to build my exhaust, but will probably need a couple v-bands so I can section it. Anyway, here are a couple pics.

Half stainless, half aluminum 4" V-band. I have two stainless steel 90's to come out of the turbo and get me to about the firewall, then it will be aluminum from there to the bumper. The other three pieces are 3" aluminum clamshell clamps for the intercooler piping.
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Detail of the 4" v-band
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And one of the clamshell clamps pulled apart.
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I also got two boxes of piping as well. Those have a single stainless steel 4" 90, ten 3" aluminum 90's, six 4" aluminum 90's, two 4" aluminum 45's, two 2' long aluminum straight sections, a 3" silicone coupler, and a 3" to 3.5" silicone adapter with T-Bolt clamps. I am really hoping to start fabrication next weekend now that I should be done with all of these other projects. My pile of parts/material is starting to take up too much space!




Finally time for a bit of an update! After busting our asses on Friday night, the garage is now 99% done. All that really means for non OCD people is that I have more than 2 outlets (a LOT more) and don't need to drag extension cords all over! Let me back up a second, I needed to get the steering rack out of the car since it was wore out and I got a replacement for it. I also wanted to take the motor out to make taking the rack out easier, and so I could do some things with it on the stand. Thursday night I got under the car and pulled the trans.

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Pretty easy to do with nothing really connected at all. Friday the car and the bike went outside while my buddy and I did the massive amount of electrical work in the garage. Saturday got mostly eaten up cleaning the garage from the previous nights thrashing. In the evening I got the car pulled back into the garage and was able to get back to work on it.

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I let the snow melt off and dry up a bit before getting to work pulling the motor. Not terribly hard (again, nothing to disconnect or move), but kind of a pain in the ass since I have to come at it from the side.
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So one of the first things I wanted to try, was see about fitting AC. I don't think I would run it this year, but if I could build with it in mind it would make things easy down the road. I grabbed a bracket and a junk compressor from a buddy so I could mock it up. He also had this manifold laying around, so I took that as well.
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It is clearly a tight fit, but I think I could make it work. It pretty much kills running a 4" downpipe on the passenger side though, so I grabbed a piece of tubing to see what it looked like on the driver side.
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Again, very tight but I should be able to make that work if I need to. I still haven't decided if I am going to mess with it or not, but its good to know about options. Next up was getting the front accessory drive all installed.

All laid out on the bench (minus the water pump since I forgot where I put it!)
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Unfortunately I have the wrong tensioner, and I clearly still need parts (balancer, thermostat housing, alternator, etc.) but I can move forward with fabrication for now. Once that was done I pulled out the old rack.
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Then I got the new poly bushing installed in the new rack
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Then got it put in for now.
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I am going to change the "EVO component", intermediate shaft, and outer tierods but its in the car so I can fabricate around it for now and keep it out of my way.

Then I got busy organizing all of my material so I could clear the space under my bench.

Pile of tubing!
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Ahhhh thats better
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At that point I was going to call it a night, but I decided to dive in and try and get something done. So I busted out the big boy grinder
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Then I hacked off the end of the driver side manifold
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Unfortunately, that was where I had to end it. Its been so long since I have welded, the batteries in the hood were dead! I am going to stop and get some on my way home today, and I am also waiting on some welding supplies. It was great to FINALLY be working on the car again! Like I said I am still unsure on the whole AC deal, but I think for now I am going to cut up that manifold and see whats up. I will also be putting the motor back in the car as soon as I get my new steering parts (that is a whole story on its own). Thats all I have for now, thanks as always for following along!




WHEW, that was a lot of info! I ended up having to pull the post from a site I had already done this same thing on. So I again apologize if it doesn't make a ton of sense since it was a catch up on a catch up. Going forward this will get updated in real time though. I have some tools and supplies coming this Friday, so hopefully I can get a good jump on some of the fab work. I guess we will see how it goes. Look for an update later in the weekend, or Monday. Hope you guys enjoy the build, I look forward to hearing from you guys.


Thanks,
Sean

IDAFC21

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Yeah,... and what keeps fucking with me is what caused it? Was it too much amp draw, was it ambient heat, was it a combination of both? I am going to run a larger power wire, and to a different loaction, but still just want to know.

Hopefully you get it worked out. For me, electrics/wiring is like trying to learn another language :ROFLMAO:
 

Broke EF

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Dec 8, 2017
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Another day, and just a bit more progress. I started off by trying to get my streeing fixed. I had the wheel basically straight last year, but the quick connect was turned to the side. A mintor thing that alwats bugged me, so I figired I may as well fix that befoe I put the engine back in.

Step one was re-assebling the disconnect, extension, and wheel.
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Next up I had to disconnect undo all the steering stuff so I could re-index the shaft on the rack. There was a bunch of fucking around before that point, but thats the short story.
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Its MAYBE 1 spline off, but its a pain in the ass to take it all apart to try and get it that perfect. It also needs an alignment and that small amount could be corrected then anyway. SO moving on then!

After that I cleaned up some and got ready to move the car. You know its getting serious when the pushbar is hooked up!!
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Lets just get into the good stuff
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Back in, easy peasy!
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Decided to get the radiator and fans together, and back in the car so I can stop tripping over them
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Then I took the front apart again so I could get the intercooler back on. All back together.
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And here is where I stopped for the day. The wife and I had some running around to do, and we grabbed some dinner. Some of you eagle eyed viewers may notice the turbo is missing. I have no idea why, but I decided to take it out today, and thats when I found some leaks.

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That bolt has never been installed BTW. I am gonna fix that before it goes back in. New gasket, probably some RTV for safe measuere, and actually all bolted together correctly this time. I also found that the 3" v-band is leaking pretty bad as well.
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I dont think any of the 2.5" v-bands are leaking, but I will look a bit closer at them when I put the hotside back on. I know they make gaskets for them, but I dont know if they are worth it or not.

Tomorrow the main job is getting the car up on the lift so I can get the trans in. Then I can just keep plugging away at putting everything together. Dpending on how some things go, I could probably fire it tomorrow or Sunday.
 

Broke EF

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Dec 8, 2017
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misaligned steering wheel....

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must.........fight........back...........OCD

All the rest tho :love:
If it makes you feel better, this was the starting point today. Wheels are straight....
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So the end resutlt is pretty good I'd say. Plus the rest of the car is a POS, cant have this being too nice now!
 

Broke EF

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Dec 8, 2017
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Made some progress today, but not nearly as much as I should have. I ended up standing around most of the morning waiting on a buddy to come by and help me move the cars around. I really wanted to get that done yesterday, but I couldnt rope anyone in to help so I had to wait. Anyway once that was done I was finally ready to procrastinate some!

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Looks like everything is still there, so thats something. I started by cleaninig and doing the thermal barrier.
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Not my finest work, but it was kind of a pain to do such a large piece on my own. The stuff is super nice though, we will see how it holds up and how much it helps. I also took some pices I cut off and put them in the wheel well near where the downpipe runs. I dont think that was an issue, but figured why not.
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The plan was to put the trans in next, so I had some work to do first. I needed to remake the line for the vent. Last year I had it running to a catch can I made, and then when I finsihed the exhaust I had to ditch that so I just looped the long line around. All fixed now.
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It was around then that I again rememberd that this block was missing the dowel pins for the trans. I ordered them yesterday, but they wont be here till Sunday, so I decided to wait. I did check the converter on the flexplate, and then installed it in the trans. It dropped right in first shot. I spent a while double checking it because it literally went straight on.

I took a bit of brake and had some dinner, and then headed back out later.
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I got the manifolds on, and the crossover. It went together pretty well actually!
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I also did plugs and got the wires on, just took the pic before I did the wires for some reason. Next up was tackling the turbo flange.
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One came out really easy. One probably fucked up the treads some, and those two are now part of the flange forever. I didnt feel like fucking with it anymore so I called it a night. I have some ideas for how to deal with it, and Ill dive into it in the morning. Thats all for now, thanks for following along!
 

Broke EF

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Dec 8, 2017
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Well started the say by breaking the two bolts in the flange
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With that out of the way I had my morning coffee and some breakfast before moving on to bigger and better projects.
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Finally decided to chage the oil on this thing. I checked it this morning, and it was off the stick so it seemed like a good time LOL. Once that was done I filled her up and cut the grass.

While I was mowing the dowel pins got delivered. So it really seemed like I was out of excuses to not put the trans in.
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After MANY hours of fucking around, and getting annoyed, and questioning my entire life I fianlly got it in with some help from my neighbor.
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I figured thats good enough for today so I went and hung out at the neighbors after that. I still need to connect the linkage, and actually bolt in the crossmember. Then I get to wrestle with the driveshaft/driveshaft loop.

I am gonna head by my buddy in the morning to fix up the flange, and do some other running around. I need to get gas for the welder for one. Then I can finish up the car and probably fire it Tuesday morning. Maybe tomorrow night depending how long I fuck around for.
 

Broke EF

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WHEW what a LONG DAY!! I got up and faught traffic to go by my buddies shop to fix the flange. Saw this rig when I pulled up
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With that excitement over, my buddy Lou got right to work. He just tossed it in a Bridgeport and started drilling out the two bolts.
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He was able to get the one out without too much trouble. He did say that it was very hard metal and had to go slow or he would stop up the bits.
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The second one faught him a bit more, and he had to mill it down flush first before drilling it out. He then drilled all 4 holes to accept a 3/8" bolt. He also flattened out the mating surfaces to help it seal better. It was pretty warped, but ist nice and flat now!

Then I did a bunch more running around while I was out, and then when I got home I started by assembling the turbo again. You can see here how bad the gasket was leaking.
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I cleaned that up before I put it all back together. Now its got RTV on both sides of a gasket, and 4 bolts fully tightened down!
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Ole girl is gonna get a beating this season, thats for sure :D WIth that done I got back under the car and started finishing up everything down there. Trans tighened up, crossmember in and tight, driveshaft in and tight, loop put back in.
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I totally forgot about my converter bolts being short.
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These are the 1.25" long ARP bolts. I ordered up some new bolts, but I did re-install these for now because the new ones wont be here till Thursday and I want to start it tomorrow. I finished up everything under the car that I can think of, and then got the turbo fully installed.
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It doesnt look like a ton of progress, but it was a very late start to the day. We also had to stop by the neighbor to give thier kid a birthday gift. I am trying to take my time and do everything as nice as I can this go around. I am trying to make sure everything is fitting together tight like it should, making adjustments etc. Its still a pile of shit, but it should be better than it has been before. Maybe good enough to survive Sick Summer even :D
 

Broke EF

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Dec 8, 2017
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The sticks
Another day full of working on this pile. Lots of small things, a few struggles, but in the end its ready to go test.

Putting in some break in oil because I still couldnt find the orings.
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I cleaned up for a while, and wasnt able to find those damn orings so I went on the hunt. I tried every parts store in town, nobody had anything. So I came back and got back to work, and found 1 oring! So I wanted to see what the intercooler looked like with piping on both sides.
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Ill have to get a better shot of that tomorrow when I get the car outside before I put the bumper back on. After that I finally got around to installing the intake manifold, and getting all the plumbing back in.
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Random shot of it up on the lift :D
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I then started on getting the wiring back in, and all the other various things.
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I moved the ECU again, this works better for the wiring which is still a mess.
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Aslo, I fucking hate the dashboard :( I have ideas for what I want to do later, but I wont do anything until I redo the roll cage so it fits the car much tighter.

ANYWAY, got the wiring all done for now. I will tidy it all up soon (maybe tomorrow actually) and then finished everything under the hood. I need to rewrap the exhaust, so that is going to stay off for testing.
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Thats all for now. I am going to have the tuner remote in tomorrow morning to check everything over and make some small changes since its got more compression and a new cam. I am still planning on going to GLD tomorrow to see what all this time, and work, and money was for. Hopefully I dont have to immediately light it on fire! Since the track isnt open till 5, I will probably spend most of the day doing little things. Maybe I will tackle the passenger window regulator which is something I have been putting off for a year now LOL.
 

Broke EF

TCG Elite Member
Dec 8, 2017
1,724
4,345
The sticks
Man, another LONG ASS DAY working on this pile of shit. It started off pretty good, got on the phone with the tuner, he remoted in and checked over everything, updated the software etc. Then I tried to fire and it sputtered and died. No crank signal, fuck. So I swapped in a spare I had. No dice. I ran to the parts store and got a new one, threw it in and it had no cam signal. Just to get it going he turned off the cam sensor, and wha lah it fired up!

We let it mostly get up to temp, and then did some setup on the boost controller. Once that was done I ran to go get another cam sensor. Before I called him back I got the boost controller hooked up, and wired the dome pressure sensor. Something still isnt right with that, but I will mess with it tomorrow. Anyway he made some changes, and I also figured out that I just didnt plug in the cam sensor DUH!!! So once that was plugged in, and everything was ready I fired her up again. It came to life on the frst hit and ran like butter.



Once it got up to temp he suggested I take it for a spin and make sure everything was good. I ended up buttoning up some small things and then backed her out. I needed to add trans fluid, but once that was done I went down the street and back. I havent changed the wastegate spring setup since last time I drove it. I think its a 17lb stack, maybe more, but it only made something like 9lbs the last time out. Today, it shot to 21-22 basically instantly!! He had a hard cut at 21lbs so it kept hitting that on me, but DAMN! Shes an animal now!

I got back home and let it cool off some. Then I started it back up to add more trans fluid. While I was doing that, it burped out trans fluid (probably just an air bubble) before I got the dipstick back in. As soon as that happened It started making a terrible grinding noise, so I reached in and killed the ignition. The engine was still turning though, and I was like what the fuck?! I was thinking maybe it was just inertia but that made no sense. I then ran to the back and killed the power and it all stopped. Turns out the starter was stuck on, strange.... Its a brand new starter BTW. I then put the car up in the air and saw a decent amount of water under it. Also weird because it wasnt leaking before, and I also could not see where it was coming from. More on that mystery later. I checked the starter and the bendix was not engaged, so its not fucked. I then assume (somewhat rightly) that its the wire from the relay to the starter. This is the same wire that burned up on the fan. I changed that out, same result.

I then start investigating the relay, the wiring, etc. I determine that its the relay, great. I am using the MSD solid state relay pack, and that one is also controlling my fan. Well remember that water from before... I am pretty sure it was condensatuon in the down pipe that found a way out and onto the NOT waterproof relay board and fried it. Mind you this all took a ton of time to figure out. I was able to temp in a starter relay, and get that going. I had hoped that the fan would still work, but no dice on that. I will have to deal with that in the morning I guess.

In the morning I am going to change the oil. Then run and get a relay so I can get my one fan working for now. I am actually waiting on a relay board from Leash for the fans, which makes this even more annoying than it already is. I want to swap out my headlights, and rewire the main power for them as well. Then get the bumper on, wash it and load up for the track. I am also going to have the tuner look over the boost stuff make sure its 100% and get me a baseline set up. I am also having an issue with the trans brake I want to resolve even though I probably wont even use it tomorrow.

Well thats all for todays saga. Sorry for the boring long winded post. I fucking hate this car.
 

Broke EF

TCG Elite Member
Dec 8, 2017
1,724
4,345
The sticks
Today was the day! It was not an easy day, but overall I am happy. This morning I started by changing the oil. 100% should have waremed it up some, cause it took FOREVER to drain!

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This is what I was draining out for anyone interested.
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And puttin in the good stuff
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You may notice the downpipe not where the downpipe goes. That was because I had to fix the fan wiring. I wonrt show the nightmare fuel inside the car, but here is the end result in the bay.
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After it was all back together I got on the phone with my tuner and we did some work on the trans brake and bump. Something wasnt set right and it was causing me issues. So we got that worked out and I wamed up the car to get a baseline set for the bump. While it was warming up I got the trailer hooked up and ready to go!
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We had to tweak the bunp a few times to get it to work how it should. The first time it was close (actually moved) the car started spraying someing and smoking. So I hung up and jumed out to see...
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To be honest those caps were always temporary, and I am glad it happened in my driveway vs on the track. I decied to load her up and fix it at the track.
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By this point I am pretty fucking beat. I do not do well in the heat (what am I doing drag racing), and I had been at it non stop since 8AM. This was probably around 4 or 4:30. I tried to cool off a bit and drink some water and then I hit the road.

Once I got to the track I fixed the cap, I repaced both with ones that are much better. I am still going to do something better about that, but its good for now and I have spares. I then warmed it up and added more trans fluid. For anyone keeping track I am up to 2.5 gallons or 10 quarts. I went to tech where they litteraly did not even look at anything. I handed him my card, he goes "you already have a number, so you're all set" and that was it! I checked the trans fluid again and then went to staging to bake for a while.

When I finally got up there, I did a decent burnout, probably lined up out of the grove, bumped in and waited for a bit before realizing that I wasnt bumped QUITE far enough (lights were flickering) so I bumped again and let her go.
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I am car 39, left hand lane. I feel like it spun pretty much all the way though first and a bit of second. Then I think it was breaking up some in second and thrid. I havent even pulled the logs to see what it all looks like. Regardless the car felt WAY better than last year. This was only on wastegate pressure, I saw about 14lbs on the screen, but I will know more when I check the log. My one big worry was that at the end of the track I shut it all down to take off my gear. When I went to pull away the trans screached pretty badly. That and the breaking up didnt really inspire much confidence to run again. If I went with some people I 100% would have, but the thought of loading a broken car by myself with no winch, hard pass. Plus I was feeling really fucking terrible by this point. I really barely made it home, and even had to pull over once to make sure I was OK.

I made it home safe and sound, and the car was driven off the trailer and back into the garage.
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So all in all a sucessful first outing. I want to make sure the trans is OK (I really hope I dont have to pull it out), and just go over the car. Obviously I want to get the front end back together, and something is coming for that tomorrow. So maybe I will have an update this weekend. Also shout out to Boostie Boostie and P PJx5x for lending me the -8AN wrench and cheering me on. Sorry I didnt hang out more, I just felt like crap and wanted to get back home.
 

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