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Cars back together, it runs great. I fixed up a few little issues with the tune, so it idles and drives very well now. The trans seems to have straight cut first gears, and whines like an old chevy 3500 in first.
Next step is to find a Dyno tuner to see how much HP we can wring out of this thing! They all seem to be at SEMA this week though : )
I ended up at Pure Tuning in Ohio. I'd highly recommend them. The car had two issues during tuning, a silicone coupler popped off at 15 PSI, and the headgasket started to let pressure into the coolant at 24PSI. Each time Aaron stopped tuning and asked me to come asses the situation and decide on a course of action. We repaired the coupler in about 20 mins, and decided to stop when the coolant overflow began to ... over flow.
In the end the car made 534whp, which works out to 666hp at the crank, assuming 25% loss for the huge 4L80E. Its fairly impressive for me, I wasn't sure if the hand assembled engine would survive. The leaking head gasket is due to a poor surface finish by the machine shop. They assured me it would seal with copper gasket spray, but I should have known better.
IATs were 111F on a 35F day. This 76F rise suggests the turbo is running out of efficiency. I'm planning one last set of upgrades:
-Re-deck the block and head, considering adding O-rings
-Change 500hp intercooler for 1000hp unit
-Change single S369 turbo for a pair of 7670 units
-Single 3" exhaust to Dual 3"
-Custom intake manifold
Hopefully this will edge everything towards 900 crank Hp!
The place had a nice setup Partial Tune Final Results
I've just gotten married and my life is taking a different direction. The complete forged built engine from my SC400, along with turbo set up and a sweet intake manifold is for sale in the classified section here. Go check it out if you're interested!
Damn you Kyle!!!!! haha. We all know how it goes. Best of luck moving forward. I hope you can find another project in the future to satisfy your tinkering.
Thread Revival! The project came back to life, some time and funds freed up. Spoiler: It runs and drive great, and will be getting tuned mid April
Here's how the old project ended up: Spare engine - turned into coffee table. Wife approved! Lots of scrap metal. Worth about 26$ at the local recycle Sold the forged engine w/turbos etc to fund the rest of the build Scrap rod - desk ornament. Teddy bear tire swing
Wiring. Made my own LS engine harness, integrated it into the SC400 body/engine harness. Everything works except Tacho and Speedo, they will be fixed next
The 1UZ-> GM trans adapters I used before were not square, or not aligned properly, and caused the trans to self destruct. This is the main reason for the LS swap, the engine and trans fit together perfectly. There are no strange vibrations, and the shifting is super smooth.
Bought the CX racing LS swap kit. The turbo placment was odd, and designed for the tiny turbo they offered. I bought my own S475, but the placement had it sticking out the hood.
Ended up scrapping everything except the manifolds and re-making it all...
Engine in. The CX racing engine mounts put the engine and trans 2" further forward than I had previously. Had to re-make the drive shaft and trans mount to accommodate. Had to also shift the radiator 2" forwards to fit the turbo - ended up buying a 1990's mustang radiator to better fit the space available.
Radiator custom lower mounts. From top to bottom: Ford mustang rad. Tube gets welded to the radiator support on the car. Orange is a silicone rubber bushing. Aluminum "T" gets welded to rad. 3 parts fit together as shown Mounts welded to rad
11-06-19, 06:45 PM
