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chris' VS ute

crack

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WAA WAA WEE WAA, very nice for me a young vs ute owner myself it gives me something to aspire too! love your work

hahaha. i said the same thing when i was your age. i'm now 22 so i've waited long enough. looks like your ute will be a good base for you to start modding and you seemed to have picked it up for a good price too.

Looking good mate. Will be good to see when it's all together.

give me two weeks if all goes to plan. i'm going to attempt to track down an engineering workshop tomorrow to tig weld up the manifolds for me next week. i'm going to try and get the manifolds cut and tacked together with my $25 stick welder on the weekend.

i'm going to try and drill and tap a hole in the sump tomorrow afternoon but something tells me that it is going to be a 5lut of a job.
 

VT-565

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give me two weeks if all goes to plan. i'm going to attempt to track down an engineering workshop tomorrow to tig weld up the manifolds for me next week. i'm going to try and get the manifolds cut and tacked together with my $25 stick welder on the weekend.

i'm going to try and drill and tap a hole in the sump tomorrow afternoon but something tells me that it is going to be a 5lut of a job.

Just bear with it mate, if it starts to peeve you off, just put the tools down and go do something else for a while. Don't forget to set your root gaps when tacking your manifold pieces together (you want between 1-2 mm) . This will ensure a sweet weld come time to tig it up. Not to mention it will be smoother inside too...
Regarding the sump, you may want somone to weld a boss to where you want to drill and tap your hole. Cast ally isnt the strongest material and should be reinforced where possible. IMO i would have gone with a welded JIC fitting on the sump and run a short braided line to the end of your oil return or even all the way to your turbo. This would isolate any (if at all) weight transfer to the sump and since you are doing up a proper fitting, you are guaranteed a good seal.
take it easy Chris
 

crack

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yeah, if i had my time again then i would have got a alloy fitting welded to the sump but i have to have the sump back on the car tomorrow morning so that i can start to make the primary sections of the manifolds. these are due at the welders on monday.

then i'm going to attempt to jig up the turbo with some scrap laying around and tack together the dump pipe so that i can finalise the wastegate position and once this is finalised then i can get the welders to finish off the manifolds.

it is going to be a big day tomorrow...
 

crack

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the primary sections of the manifolds... these are due at the welders on monday.

it is going to be a big day tomorrow...

sure was a big day. got the sump out and put a fitting in it. put the sump back in the car. then made the collector sections of the manifolds so that they can be TIGed up.

here are some pics:

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i bought some steel today to make a jig for positioning the turbo. tomorrow i'll determine the position of the turbo and then make the intercooler plumbing out of 3" mild steel. i'll keep you all updated.
 

VT-565

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Not bad work. Dig the aviators on the toolbox. Are they half inch exhaust flanges? look beefy. Are you changing the cam in this thing? How much boost will you realistically run in it? keep up the good stuff
 

crack

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hahaha, the aviators are my friends. he got them from buying a CC at the pub. yeah, the exhaust flanges are 12mm. i'm trying to minimise warpage.

i have already got 1.9:1 rockers with the stock cam. (i.e. heaps of lift with stock overlap.) i have heard that forced induction setups don't like too much overlap because it will blow fresh charge straight out the cylinders, so i'll probably leave the current cam/rocker combo for a little while.

wrt the boost level, i pretty much got the best parts for this turbo setup that my funds allowed. i reckon my engine is the weakest link. when i get it tuned i will find out how much boost it takes to get to 250rwkw and then set this as my highest max boost level on the eboost. the other boost settings on the eboost will obviously be lower than this.
 

crack

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today was a pretty slack day. mounted the turbo. mounted the intercooler. finished half the intercooler pipework.

the intercooler pipework is pretty cool. the maf is hidden. there are only two silicon bends in the engine bay. the pipework is 3" mild steel. it will be MIGed up by the local exhaust shop and then i will grind/sand it back and then paint the pipework black.

hopefully tomorrow i'll pick up some EA thermo fans and a VT fuel rail (which is heaps better looking than a VS one). also, hopefully i'll be able to finish off the intercooler pipework. also, tomorrow the welding shop should have finished welding up the collectors sections of my turbo manifolds.

i have still got a tonne more work to do and only just over a week to do it now... starting to freak out a bit...

btw, Nick how's your Chev VT project coming along?

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VT-565

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Hi Chris, youre making some pretty good progress there. I was asking about the cam as even the stocko might be on the borderline for max overlap. You should be good though. I have a question for you, in the photos you are mocking up the cooler piping to the turbo and TB. How did you get your placement for the turbo? the manifolds may move a little during full welding, this might put your hairdryer in a slightly different position too. I know you have probably got it all covered, I was just putting it out there :thumbsup:
As for 'chev-vt' well, i guess it aint 'chev-vt' any more, more like 440-VT.
I have a few valiants here and one is a 72 hardtop, which I plan on putting a 440 magnum into. Why have big block mopar and big block chev bits getting mixed up? I thought I might as well run the same in the commodore. I have two big turbos sitting here should i feel the need to put them on, but at this stage, i am looking at about 528 cubes through a stroker crank and throw some gas down its throat. i am conservatively looking for 900hp with the nitrous on. this should be good enough for easy nines with the car I have built. Its on a rotisserie and the chassis is finished, just tidying up the floorpan and painting a few things, then its on the ground and in with the cage.
Sorry for rambling on, but I like talking. :whistling
 

crack

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I have a question for you, in the photos you are mocking up the cooler piping to the turbo and TB. How did you get your placement for the turbo? the manifolds may move a little during full welding, this might put your hairdryer in a slightly different position too. I know you have probably got it all covered, I was just putting it out there :thumbsup:

For the positioning of the turbo I made sure that it was centered width ways. Height wise I made sure that it was roughly below the top radiator hose. With regards to length ways I made sure that it was as close to the engine as I could get it so that I could fit thermo fans infront of the turbo.

The turbo is only 10mm away from the water pump pulley so the manifolds cannot really afford to warp during the welding process.

I had a very frustrating day today as I bought the wrong thermo fans (EA instead of AU) and I don't know if I will be able to return them. Also, my drop saw cannot handle 50nb pipe and has been cutting very unsquare. Now my turbo install plan has been screwed up and I'm not sure that I will be able to get it done by the time I have to move to Brisbane. (I've still got a bit of uni to finish off in the mean time as well.)

I wish I had a daily driver as I'm always needing parts but not able to go and get them because I'm relying on friends. Anyway, enough b1tch1ng from me...

As for 'chev-vt' well, i guess it aint 'chev-vt' any more, more like 440-VT.
I have a few valiants here and one is a 72 hardtop, which I plan on putting a 440 magnum into. Why have big block mopar and big block chev bits getting mixed up? I thought I might as well run the same in the commodore. I have two big turbos sitting here should i feel the need to put them on, but at this stage, i am looking at about 528 cubes through a stroker crank and throw some gas down its throat. i am conservatively looking for 900hp with the nitrous on. this should be good enough for easy nines with the car I have built. Its on a rotisserie and the chassis is finished, just tidying up the floorpan and painting a few things, then its on the ground and in with the cage.
Sorry for rambling on, but I like talking. :whistling

good to hear that the project is still going strong. i guess it doesn't really matter what make of big block you have, they can all be worked just as hard. are you planning on trailering it to Townsville every month or two? You could try driving it but I doubt that the police would believe the V6 Ecotec Executive badging on it.

how many other tuff drag cars do you know of out at Mt Isa?
 
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