🔧 BUILD LAME Turbo V6 Camaro

[v6buicks]

also brace your turbo to the engine not the frame. the motor moves and the exhaust is connected to that motor not directly to the frame so when you get torquey it will actually put the tubing in a bind if you are braced to the frame or body rather than braced to the motor itself. should be able to find a hole that already has a bolt. built a bracket to bolt to the motor and either weld it to the turbo or make a cradle for the turbo to rest in. Hope this helps a little.

My troubles are a lot more specific than that. There aren't a lot of great places to bolt to the engine and give the turbo any useful support without getting really fancy (ugly) with the brackets. There are some unused bolt holes where the AC bracket was, but my charge pipe runs right where the bracket would be. There are also the heater fitting bolts, but those are almost perfectly level with the turbo. They won't really support anything vertically with a simple tie. I'd rather see how long it takes to crack. The old setup lasted a year. The manifolds themselves are still cast so it may take a long time.

 

[v6buicks]

Well there's a relief! Despite dumping a bunch of water out of this thing and having a very grungy external appearance, the parts that matter look pretty good. The reverse gear looks a bit beat, but I'm not too worried about it. I'm gonna throw the minimum amount of parts at this thing and toss it in the car.

Here's why the the cover has to be replaced.

 

[02TurboMaro]

Should be able to put a bracket on any bolt on the front as long as you have a long enough bolt there. I bet on simple piece of steel bolted from the block to the turbo and you'll never have to deal with a crack again. Glad you are getting it back together though!

 

[v6buicks]

Weak

Peelable shims are pretty cool

Beef

After hours of fumbling around, I have a frankentrans! That took way longer than I care to admit, but I blame most of the lost time on having really crappy snap ring pliers. It's time to upgrade.

Just admire the beautiful contrast. ?

 

[v6buicks]

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I had a buddy helping me knock stuff out yesterday, and wanted to take full advantage of the time. Since the GN was out of the way, weather was cool, and we were itching to wrench, we got a lot done.

First thing on the to-do list was control arm replacement on the daily. I had a nasty clunk any time I hit bump, but it was most apparent at slow speeds. Going over the speed bumps at work was actually kind of embarrassing. Here's the offender.

Yes, I know it's just a bad bushing. If you compare the low cost difference between bushings and a whole control arm then factor in that I needed ball joints as well, replacing the whole arm was a no-brainer.

It's amazing how much racket this made. I no longer have the warped rotor sensation while braking either. The only thing that sucks now is that my alignment is completely jacked. I'm going to go back in there, replace the tie rod ends, and send it out for an alignment because this isn't cool. My turn signals don't even work right!

Yeah, yeah. I have a tire light. It's cold out! This isn't a C30 thread anyway. Let's talk about the fun stuff.

The frankentrans is installed in the Camaro! In true broke boi fashion, I'm reusing that messed up clutch. I just scuffed up the flywheel and pressure plate surfaces to remove the glaze, installed the disc THE CORRECT WAY, and slammed it all back together. I'm finally getting good at reinstallation too. Lowering the k-member about a half inch is the trick. Although having the clutch hub facing the correct direction may have a lot to do with it too.

Now I just need to fill the beast up with ATF, finish the exhaust, sort out the turbo oil drain, and see how she drives! I can't believe that I've made it this far already. My drain fitting showed up along with a bunch of stuff from Summit, so my only excuse now is time. I happen to have plenty of that right now.

 

[10sec]

ATF????

 

[v6buicks]

ATF????

Yep. All T5 WC call for Dex IV.

 

[10sec]

Deng, did not know that.

 

[v6buicks]

Deng, did not know that.

Tremec as a whole is kinda strange. You would think it would use synchro mesh or something, but it even says Dexron III on the case. ?‍ Dexron IV is the updated version of III.

 

[v6buicks]

I already cut up the unfinished downpipe. I think the bend on the back side of the shock tower came too soon and was at risk of coming into contact with the body. I also thought it would look (and flow) better to make one long sweeping bend instead of a bend, a straight, and another bend.

Half the fun of welding is rigging up your parts. Good thing I had this useless bell housing and a brand new magnet!

I think this looks much better already. I hope tucking it too far under the cowl doesn't make installation and removal a bear.

Much more clearance, and no awkward space.

I was afraid of the catch can drain petcock getting in the way. It turns out those fears were justified. Oh well. That's no biggie.

Afterward I got to chatting with the neighbors, so that's as far as I got.

 

[v6buicks]

Extended

It got heavy, so I started making the brace. The alternator bolt idea got in the way of the oil filler, so I went to the weakest bolt on the whole engine.

I'm not sure how to brace the turbo, so I'm going to leave it alone. I haven't had issues yet, so let's hope it stays that way.

I'm so close, yet so far. The turbo drain is going to be a huge pain. I might have to buy yet another turbo drain fitting because the extended -10 is not going to work well even if it's modified. I'm thinking I'll have to get an NPT fitting, convert it to swagelok, and run a hard line until I clear all the shit that's in my way. Even the turbo blanket isn't fitting right.

 

[v6buicks]

Is there a "Most Improved Welding" award?

Probably mostly luck. I must say that I've been a lot more patient with my prep though. It's paying off!

With the welding done, it's time to paint.

Damn that sucker is massive. No, it's not really done, but at least connecting the turbo to a pre-made cat-back will be as easy as cutting off a small section of down pipe, welding on a V-band, and making a custom intermediate pipe. I wanted to stop here before I spent too much money. A cat-back would not be wise right now, and I still place the TKO at a higher priority.

I also played around with the drain fitting. I like this fancy oring design, but I'm a bit skeptical of it's effectiveness. This came straight from China and the black oring seems a bit small in thickness. I'm gonna run it and find out. It can't be worse than the horrible paper gaskets.

Did you catch that? Yeah, I'm gonna run it! The extended drain fitting will work just fine.

 

[v6buicks]

Want to see what how despicable my old drain fitting was? If I knew what I know now, I would have ditched this from the beginning. The new one is not great, but it's miles better than this.

 

[v6buicks]

My dumbass was so proud to be done with paint. Then I remembered a big problem. I've been using engine paint this whole time.

My beautiful work is about to turn into a nasty mess. To add insult to injury, I have to put this thing back together again just so that I can burn the paint off. Then I have to pull it off again, repaint with the right stuff, and wrap. Oh well!

Seriously though. Despite being excited to hear to the car run again, it sucks putting it all back together when you are well aware that it will all be coming apart within a week.

But first I EXHAUST painted and rewrapped the frayed section of my crossover pipe.

I'm all about copper spray and anti-seize these days. I'm in love with how easily the exhaust goes back together now.

This car may not be anywhere near where I wanted it to be before calling it "done" for the year, but I'm pretty happy with the progress all things considered. I found all the things I need to get the oil drain finished in the garage, so I might be able to start the car tomorrow!

 

[GTPpower]

You've definitely come a long ways. Not long ago, you were ready to sell it.

 

[v6buicks]

You've definitely come a long ways. Not long ago, you were ready to sell it.

Yeah, I realized that my low skilled time and effort are pretty worthless to a buyer for this car. There really isn't anything of particular value in the car. Anything I didn't make myself is mostly cheap junk or stock parts. Still, I'm proud of it. I've never done any real build up before and I didn't start with a super easy platform.

I hope I can get past my financial dip and wedding planning without needing to sell off any toys. If so, things are going to get really good for this car.

 

[v6buicks]

I think the longer and curvier downpipe is giving me a trombone effect because the exhaust note is noticeably deeper. As of right now, I love it! I'm sure its exit is going to drive me nuts once I get it on the road, but I'll fix it eventually.

By the way, per advice I got from here and some friends I was able to massage the turbo blanket into a more desirable shape and install it with just one spring. The turbo drain has a very low decline angle, but it is downhill the whole way. I hope the draining action is at least better than it was.

 

[v6buicks]

MF

Screw that. Cancel. I'll just cut the old precision flange off Dump 1.0 and weld it to the new pipe. It'll be fiiiiine.

 

[v6buicks]

This could easily go in the neglected maintenance thread. I've been dealing with driver side exhaust leaks since I plumbed the turbo.

The first step was cranking down the manifold bolts. That helped a bunch, but it still wasn't fully sealed. It was time to learn how to change a donut gasket.

Well that was easy. I shoulda done that two years ago.

I just cut the flange off of the old downpipe. I'm glad I did because I forgot that it's mated to the body. I'll have to get a new waste gate if I ever want to redo the exhaust again.

Been a while!

The paint is burning off nicely ?, the trans feels amazing, the exhaust is a lot quieter, and the throttle is even more responsive. I need to work on the brakes next. I have a stuck e brake.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Fucking love it, they should have come from the factory like that!

 

[v6buicks]

Fucking love it, they should have come from the factory like that!

Thanks! I've dreamed about that sort of thing from time to time. I think GM totally could have sold the crap out of a special edition Firebird with an L67. I'm guessing the cost would have been pricey though. The L67 wasn't exactly cheap when it was new. Shoot. Paint them all white, call it a pace car, and send it. They would still be gone in a heartbeat.

 

[v6buicks]

???? I've missed this car so much.

It's still terribly loud, but it's so much fun. The frankentrans is working fine, but there are some concerning noises at times. My buddy seems to think that it's because of my poly trans mount. After riding in his T56 car with the poly mount, I think I agree. Nonetheless, I think it's a healthy reminder to keep my foot out of the throttle. It also wants to pop out of second when I downshift. Oh well. For $220 total investment, I cannot complain!

I drove the car to work this morning, but I no longer smell paint. I'm probably going to take it apart int he next few days so that I can put the correct paint on it, wrap it, and be done under the hood. After that, I'll just enjoy it until snowfall. After that, I think it's time to finally get those friggen subframe connectors installed. I'm so tired of tripping on them.

 

[TurboTPI]

Awesome! So is the exhaust just dumped next to the bell housing like it was in the one under car pic?

 

[v6buicks]

Awesome! So is the exhaust just dumped next to the bell housing like it was in the one under car pic?

For right now, yes. I want to buy a nice cat back, but I'm broke. Lol. I need to stick to the cheap and laborious tasks for a while.

 

[TurboTPI]

For right now, yes. I want to buy a nice cat back, but I'm broke. Lol. I need to stick to the cheap and laborious tasks for a while.

I feel ya man! I ran a dump under my car for a few months. I finally have it all the way back. It’s such a difference it’s crazy. I love it. I’m sure you will too. Let me know how that extended oil drain works. I may buy the same one for my other turbo car.