78/75 turbo build

[gatorayde]

Just checked that the crossover will fit around the AC compressor. It's tight but its going to work. Should've gone this route to begin with. Oh well, not a big deal to re-fab a few sections of tubing.

[-Ray-]

Wow, that's not the first time I've heard of those fittings failing. I wonder if it's a mfg defect or the clips not being full seated, but either way it's a half assed design.. Like I said, I've got 2 of the threaded fittings on the way to replace them with, I should've just ordered them from the get go.



Good and bad news from today. Good news is the motor isn't a virgin anymore and finally saw boost. I was tickling 1-2psi at half throttlee and 2500rpm, this thing wants to light that quickly

Bad news is the crossover needs to be redesigned. It was hard to judge ground clearance on jack stands, and it hangs way too low, I already scraped it a few times and it's going to get destroyed eventually. Right now it hangs way too far below the crossmember, and is a full 2.25" tube. My plan is to neck down to an ovaled 2" tube and get it 1/8" or 1/4" max from the k member. Either that or Ill find a way to route it over the k member somehow. And no Im not worried about flow, this is a low boost build and the wastegate is on this same up pipe, plenty of people have built more power on dual 2" up pipes.

Other small issue was not having enough breather. With only the valley plate vented to atmosphere, the CC was building pressure, turbo wasn't draining, and it looked like I seafoamed a 400k mile engine. I popped the cap off the passenger valve cover and the exhaust is squeaky clean now, all good there.

Also, I'm really regretting being a cheap ass and should've bought DEI wrap. The chinese shit smokes like crazy and give me a heart attack everytime I pop the hood. I'm really tempted to just rewrap everything with DEI while I have half the hot side off.

Overall Im happy. Ill rebuild the crossover, fill it with some corn juice, and push it hard next weekend.

I also had to cut and weld on my cross over. My G8 is lowered with Pedders. The DEI will smoke also, but dies down pretty fast. I installed the wrap dry. You need to vent or the rear main seal will blow out. I found out the hard way. What gauges are you using? Wide band installed?

[gatorayde]

That was one of my thoughts as well, I saw a shot of the Vector setup and it hangs down nearly as low as my crossover did. And yeah mine is lowered on BC coilovers. That's what I've heard as well about the DEI, all wrap will smoke to some extent. This chinese junk smoked on every startup and after any short drive, and was starting to discolor white on the hottest parts already. Im only out a few bucks for the cheap wrap, lesson learned.

The valley plate and oil cap are vented now, the turbo is draining fine so it shouldn't have much if any CC pressure now.

Im using an MTX-L wideband, mounted in the change cubby. No boost gauge, Ive got a 3 bar ZL1 map installed to reference boost levels with HPT and boost cut is set at 8psi for right now. So if it hits fuel cut Ill know it's trying to overboost. Im not a fan of huge gauge pods in these cars honestly. A small tablet install in front of the Atari gauges is something I've been thinking about though.

[-Ray-]

How much do you have the fans running? I had to replace my fan plug connector because it almost melted. I wonder if Holden engineering missed wire size on this one.

[gatorayde]

Someone played with the tune before I bought it, and the fan speeds were bumped up considerably. I never had an issue with the wiring or cooling though, so I left it alone. Looking at a stock file, the fans don't even hit 50% until it hits 220 degrees. This tune kicks them on around 90% at 180 degrees, a little aggressive now that I think about it. Ill probably ramp them in to ~90% by 210, what did yours look like if you recall?

And Im sure it's Holden trying to save money/weight for thicker gauge wiring, along with 10 years of corrosion (resistance) and the added engine bay heat = melty connectors. That's good to know though, thanks for the heads up. Definitely something Ill keep my eye on.

[G8eraid]

My radiator connector melted and caused a small fire under the hood from the pins touching. Thank God I saw the smoke immediately, pulled over and managed to put it out or my whole car would of been toast.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[gatorayde]

Wow, Ill be adding that to the to-do list then. Already have plans to mount a 5lb extinguisher in front of the passenger seat, but that connector concerns me now for sure.

Crossover 2.0 is mostly done, got the first half finished this morning before work. My DEI wrap should be here today as well, still looks like I can have this thing ready by the weekend if everything goes smoothly.

It looks close to the tie rod boot in this pic, but it's just the angle. There's at least an inch of gap.



More boogers. I hate MIG welding exhaust. The white residue is from the lovely zinc coating on the Vbands.

[-Ray-]

My radiator connector melted and caused a small fire under the hood from the pins touching. Thank God I saw the smoke immediately, pulled over and managed to put it out or my whole car would of been toast.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Believe me, I feel the pain.

[Mussin]

Looks killer.. I thought about doing a rear mount..

[travis gore]

I can't wait to see this build. June 12th I will arrive in Chandler.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk