[p4msi1]

That's my boy!! Micah , just remember, the car to beat is your mom's HHR. Keep up the good work.

[charlie66]

Originally Posted by conceptfab

Hi Im Micah and its nice to see many people with talent and other really nice pics and progress on these old pontiacs. I first bought this 74 Ventura as my first car when I was 16 and its been a few different directions as far as a project goes. This time I am going with a turbo. Its been years in the making as far as saving up parts and yes I have some ancient ones being used but a couple sayings ring in my head. "Run whatcha brung" and "if it aint broke, don't fix it." Im doing both with this build and I am learning more each time I pick up the TIG torch. Heres a few pics of it so far

Can you post a picture of your header? you're doing a great job..

[conceptfab]

For this build I am using stock manifolds as people have them, they are available and if people can get 2000 HP using stock LS manifolds, why can't I make a little HP on these? I Dont plan to make too much more than 500 whp on this build so why build d port stuff? My edelbrocks are out being redone and I have a lot of learning to do still at this power level. I dont want more than this much HP for now until I'm confident I have my abilities aren't the limiting factor any longer

[conceptfab]

Here is the rest of the cold side. I like how this has such short routes from turbo to air to water intercooler and then right into the carb which translates into much less pressure drop than running pipes all over the engine bay. And it didn't all fit under the hood like I wanted either by the way. The end tanks were built here and I welded them up. Oh and now I guess my dad p4msi1 can see the progress. I have big shoes to fill with him. He's build some pretty wicked cars. I had the pleasure of driving the 69 bird in his profile pic and nasty is a good word to describe that beast!

[HO 67 BIRD]

Nice work !

[charlie66]

Originally Posted by conceptfab

Here is the rest of the cold side. I like how this has such short routes from turbo to air to water intercooler and then right into the carb which translates into much less pressure drop than running pipes all over the engine bay. And it didn't all fit under the hood like I wanted either by the way. The end tanks were built here and I welded them up. Oh and now I guess my dad p4msi1 can see the progress. I have big shoes to fill with him. He's build some pretty wicked cars. I had the pleasure of driving the 69 bird in his profile pic and nasty is a good word to describe that beast!

That intercooler is very interesting to say the least. I like it. I hope you share the turn out with it..

[krisr]

Awesome fab work man! Definitely subscribing to this one!

[conceptfab]

Here is the bottom side of the car. The tubes come off the manifolds and cross over with a flex coupler under the torque converter and join up and go inside the framerials into the turbo. Out of the turbo is a 3.5" stainless downpipe with a vent to atmosphere 60 mm tial wastegate. I welded the o2 sensor and pyrometer bungs in the down pipe too

[charlie66]

That's going to be a lot of heat on that converter.. U should wrap at that area..... I know this from experience....

[conceptfab]

Here's a an update on how things are going. Lots of wiring! I fabbed up the switch panel and the LEDs are powered off the actual fused out put to display if the component is working vs if the switch is turned on. I did this because indicating the switch is working is redundant since I can see if it is right in front of me. Anyway I also fabbed up a dual gauge mount for the column for the boost and pyrometer gauges and I also fabbed a fuel pressure regulator mount that integrates some hold downs for the -10 oil lines that run underneath the regulator. It also holds the lines off the valve cover if I need to access the valve cover

[conceptfab]

I got it started up last night and had a couple leaks. This morning I got those fixed and with the carb flooding I just HAD to take it around the parking lot. As I got to the far corner near the road I figured what the heck I'll go down the road. Now I've changed literally everything on this car so since the car felt like it had much better handling just driving around the parking lot I decided to check that out too. Going down the road it sputtered a bit till about 2000 rpm but then it came alive. I've only had it to about 6 lbs but at 4 psi at 4000 rpm in first shifting to second and about half to 3/4 throttle it felt like I rolled the back tires through water. 2 long black marks as long as I didn't lift. What a facelift for this car!

[twov8sandat4]

Are you using a heat exchanger for the A/W intercooler?

[conceptfab]

Yes I am using a heat exchanger. Its 30" x 6" and I built a shroud to hold two 8" fans and I have a Johnson controls water pump to circulate the coolant. This car is a ton of fun! The distributor is locked out at 16 degrees and boost is at 8lbs and when the boost comes on in second gear the tires spin like I hit water! And I really need to set the rev limiter because it hits 6000 rpms right away! I need to get some m and h rear tires!

[meanone]

Congradulations on getting it running! I just got my own turbo project running a couple of months ago. Turbo Pontiacs are awesome! Get some video up soon!

Is that correct that you are only running 16 degrees of timing? Are you pulling any? I have had mine locked at 36, and am pulling 1 1/2 degrees per pound now. I think that I am gonna pull it back to 32-34, and pull 1 degree per lb when I get it back out though.

[conceptfab]

How many lbs of boost are you at? Yes its all in at 16. I want to be at about 28-30 under boost since this is a completely stock bottom end 389. Do you have a link to your build? I just built the stainless dual 3-1/2" exhaust but I can't seem to upload any pics this morning

[meanone]

It is making 8-9 lbs now. I probably won't run much more until I get a block. It has a 455" two bolt block in it now, and I am nervous about splitting the block. I need to save up and buy a block this year. My build is here in the boost section and is titled My Turbo Headers.

[conceptfab]

meanone it looks like you have a nice build going on. UPDATE: so apparently the machine shop didn't do what they said they did as the cam wiped out and other stuff happened. As potent as this lil combo is and as destructive to the rear tires as it was even with 50+mph burnouts, the heads had NOT had the springs replaced with the ones I supplied and were the standard 2 barrel 6x springs like from when the heads were assembled in the factory. The machinist had a difficult time preparing how he was going to tell me the valves, guides, springs, were all factory stock and he said he didn't know how my car even made it to 6100rpm like my recall tach tells me it did due to such low spring pressures. Anytime this car is in 2nd gear and I flat foot the throttle, it hits boost and consequently 6000 rpm before I can react and dump the throttle! Anyway, now the heads will actually receive the proper head surface finish for the cometics and the rest of the work the first shop should have done like I paid them. Also the new machine shop swears by Joe Gibbs break in oil and Joe Gibbs conventional oil too so that's what I am going to go with because expensive oil is still cheaper than robbing me of my fun, tearing back into the motor, and paying to have it all done again

[meanone]

That sucks! Didn't want to hear an update like that.

[conceptfab]

but it sounds good with this combo and runs pretty good. Here is the startup vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHLo9URR8BI

[Tom Vaught]

The only way that shops like the first one will not pull crap like that is if they know up front that the customer will check the work with a fine tooth comb BEFORE the engine gets fired. "standard 2 barrel 6x springs" (:>(

Tom V.