Saga of turbocharging a SBB powered wagon I figured I should start a separate thread bout the intake my friend and I are building on our spare time for the 300 in my '65 Special Wagon. The wagon will eventually be turbocharged with a 74mm ball bearing turbo I already have. I have another block that will be stroked and bored to 350"+ with NASCAR takeout rods, custom pistons, TA Buick/Rover heads, and a roller cam, but that's a long way down the road. The car has no AC, no power steering, manual windows and locks. The only power option the car originally came with was a power rear gate window, which I find strange. I just installed Hotchkiss boxed lower rear control arms and custom double-adjustable uppers with new rear springs, Global West tubular upper and lower front control arms, and SSBC power front disc brakes with slotted rotors. Here's the evolution of the intake so far: Grainy spy photosou: I made a form out of steel channel to press the ends of a round tube tapering into a rectangular shape. Did 8 runners, but was not happy with the size (should have used 2" OD tube instead of 2.25"), perhaps they'll work for a future Buick 350 intake. So, the new runners were formed out of sheet aluminum with a taper built into them. I also decided that the 4.5" ID aluminum tube was not going to cut it for the plenum, so was to be made out of a sheet aluminum also... Runners and bolt spacers:beer
Crummy job I did cutting out the front bulkhead (hard to plasma cut with a hand in a cast) Top of the plenum formed Just need in to weld in the injector bungs and figure out a thermostat scheme... A picture of the wagon: All of the welding and a lot of the sheetmetal work is not my own. A friend of mine I went to high school with owns an automotive and fabrication shop up here. He has the sheetmetal brake, TIG welder, drop shear, and plasma cutter. I have the mill, lathe, and bandsaw. He does most of the sheetmetal and welding work, I do the machining. We're making this come together, combining our abilities and resources. I come over to the shop and cut and sand bits, offer my vision, generally annoy and disrupt his day, he cuts and bends more bits, and welds it all together. I traded him a car for his portion of the work on this and more; He's going to be making me an aluminum core support, and help in the turbo exhaust plumbing on the wagon as well. We'll see where the tab is after that. :3gears:
Thanks guys. I hope to test and dyno tune it N/A with stock exhaust manifolds first, then install the turbo. I guess this could be considered my car's pseudo build thread. The double posts from this new forum setup are EXTREMELY annoying.
Great post thanks for posting. Post this on welding web http://weldingweb.com/. Those guys will love this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's cool! I Like the "Superman" logo shape at the front. What are you doing for the water passages?
I am going to go with -12AN fittings to a remote thermostat housing. With the TB in front and the height constraints (had to fit under the stock hood) it makes the thermostat situation interesting. With the remote setup I can also pull coolant lines from the rear of the heads.. Or maybe even reverse cooling:idea2: My aluminium radiator is plumbed with -16An fittings so the danger of driving on a slick of coolant in case of a blown headgasket is greatly reduced. ---------- Post added at 09:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:13 AM ---------- I am going to go with -12AN fittings to a remote thermostat housing. With the TB in front and the height constraints (had to fit under the stock hood) it makes the thermostat situation interesting. With the remote setup I can also pull coolant lines from the rear of the heads.. Or maybe even reverse cooling:idea2: My aluminium radiator is plumbed with -16An fittings so the danger of driving on a slick of coolant in case of a blown headgasket is greatly reduced.
Nice to see a less common Buick motor get some love. I just read an article about a "Chevy" 300 V8 a guy built up and added a supercharger to for his 1966 Malibu. It runs 11.70 in the 1/4. To say I was impressed was an understatement. Good luck with your project.
do you have hood space to turn the tb upside down? if so, then you can make a t/stat housing to fit in the normal spot. on my intakes i do use the back water ports, but i tie them in with the front. the mopar racers do it with their intakes.
Thanks for the kind words guys... The IAC placement is the issue. If I flipped the TB, there isn't room between the hood, as we made the runners as long as possible within our limitations to assist in off-boost torque production. If I eliminated the IAC, I would loose the nice EFI idle qualities. I am thinking of relocating it, but that is going to add complications with running a filtered air source to it. I may have just enough room to rotate the TB 90* and squeek the throttle cable on top/underneath the plenum and have room for a proper T-stat housing (remember, the TPS is on the other side of the TB, so fitment is still an issue there). I certainly do like the idea of tying in the rear coolant passages and have been getting more warmed up (or should it be cooled off?) about reverse cooling the more I research it, especially for a boosted application. Even with a good aluminum radiator and heavy duty OEM electric fan, I can use all the cooling tricks in the book so it will never be a nagging issue. This will be my summer daily driver, so maintaining a steady temperature whilst climbing the mountain grades around here at WOT would be nice:3gears: ---------- Post added at 08:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:38 AM ---------- I was originally going to put together an EFI setup using a Ford A9L computer. I bought a new computer, painless harness, blow-through MAF, injectors, etc.. I bought a used F**d TFI distributor and took it apart. Other than rotating the opposite direction, it will be an easy adaptation. The shaft is a little larger and longer than the Buick shaft, so trimming will be easy. The body is longer and larger so turning down and a little welding will fix that. The only issue is the reluctor wheel's one narrow tooth and the opposite rotation (F**d's counter-clockwise vs Buick's clockwise), but that is more for syncing sequential injectors, which I believe the '93 A9L wasn't set up for anyway. I have talked to guys who have done just that for 4.6 F**d engines and they have had no issues. I can always make a new mirror-image wheel with my lathe, mill and dividing head. Then there might be the possibility of providing them for fellow Buick nuts... If it doesn't work out, I just picked up a Accel dual sync Buick distributor on ebay and I will go with an aftermarket EFI controller. I would like to run a MAF though due to the extremes in weather and elevation that we experience up here in the mountains, only a few hours form the ocean and an hour from the desert... BTY this new forum setup SUCKS. Nearly every post is a double post.
Hey Wes, I'm going to have to come up and see that in person! I beleive i have seen somewhere a small manifold block made for the IAC with hoses coming off of it that plugged to the intake. What do you plan to use for an ECU? There are certainly a lot more MAF sensor options out there nowadays, but wideband 02 I think works pretty well too.
Sure, anytime! Though I would suggest during the summer as the Buicks will be a-Buicking and the steamboats will be a-steaming. I was think'n the same thing for the IAC.. Though I want it to be a clean looking as well. I was going to use the Ford A9L, but I just picked up an Accel Dual Sync distributor for a deal, and just scored a complete Gen7 DFI for another deal, so I'm gunna just bite the bullet and carry a small laptop. I will probably be much happier with the added power in the end anywayou: I'm still going to work on adapting the TFI distributor for S&G's, maybe to put on my '64 riv...
I'll be in Reno in a couple of weeks. Will try to look you up, I still have your phone number. Iit will be much more constructive than what I usally do in my spare time there.. :sleep: Although I have been shopping motorcycles, I have no place for the car projects... ---------- Post added at 07:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:29 PM ---------- I'll be in Reno in a couple of weeks. Will try to look you up, I still have your phone number. Iit will be much more constructive than what I usally do in my spare time there.. :sleep: Although I have been shopping motorcycles, I have no place for the car projects...
