Carb deconstruction

In preparation for building a blow-thru Carter...I tore down the carb today...about froze my butt off doing it...it was cold and carb cleaner is like alcohol...it evaporates fast and makes your hands even colder...Anyhow I got it stripped. It was pretty rough...everything was frozen and stuck...the big suck came when removing the throttle plates...8 screws...5 of the snapped off...so that sucks drilling and tapping is in my future.

I still have some reservations about doing a Carter (Edelbrock, Weber, whatever you want to call it...) So, I still have my eye out for a 650 double Holley...but none are falling into my lap... The Carter is nice though...simple, easy to understand, no gaskets below the fuel line to leak...a nice carb...but 99% of the blow-thrus out there run the Holley...so there must be something to it???

Stripped and cleaned

I took some time today and stripped all of the garbage off of the TPI and cleaned it up for listing on ebay. This had come off a junkyard motor so they don't do a nice clean removal...they just cut everything and leave it hanging on the unit...so it had all of the injector terminals cut, all of the connectors to the sensors cut, as well as the throttle cable, detent cable, and fuel lines... I removed all of that and gave it a carb cleaner and compressed air bath...looks pretty good.

Ditch it.

Ok after some thought and some research...I have decided to remain on the track I was on...I'm ditching this efi idea.

The reasons are mostly...it goes against the "budget" in this build. This unit came off a 350...so it has 22lb injectors...so they would have to go. (22 * 8 = 176lbs/hr)...which is only good for about 290 horsepower. So, 36 pounders would be in order and they are not cheap....even used ones run $150 or more. Then a megasquirt setup runs about $250...it you want the stimulator (tester) add another $65...plus the cost of making or buying a harness...plus, plus, plus...you get the picture.

...so while it would be cool to setup an efi - I'll be cleaning up the TPI and posting that mutha on ebay (which was the original plan)...with the hopes I can turn a profit...

Some like to be blown, some injected...how about both?

While surfing craigslist I cam across an ad that read: "TPI intake $100". I thought... gee, that is kinda pricey for just an intake...but too low to be the entire setup...what the heck IS this guy selling?...it turns out it was the entire setup...intake, runners, plenum, throttle body, injectors, rails, tps, fuel pressure regulator, cold start injector, sensors, fuel lines...the works...well what else could I do...

The question is: What the the hell do I do with it now?...Resell it on ebay?, Sell off my blow-thru stuff and buy a Megasquirt and use it?...well so research is needed...I know it COULD be used...but I don't want fuel injecting this thing to turn into a money pit...stay tuned (tuned port that is!)

Seeing in the dark

At least I hope that is what will happen...I bought a new welding helmet. My old one was the cheap-o that came with the welder and it was so damn dark I had to strain to see what the heck I was doing. So, I got an auto-darkening, adjustable lens helmet from Northern Tool. It is a cheapy but got really good reviews...So, I have no more excuses for my crappy looking welds...

A burger, fries and a Thermoquad Float

I picked up a couple of nitrophyl floats at Loop road today. These are solid floats and will not crush under boost...pretty boring huh?

Cost: $12

More stuff for sale

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have my exhaust on craigslist and just put a Autometer gauge on ebay. I bought a couple of gauges off craigslist a while back. A boost and a fuel pressure. But the fuel pressure is for a carb setup and only goes to 15 lbs (see: Fuel System Score! as to why I'll be running more than 15 lbs). I paid $40 for the two...which was a good deal as they were new in the box and Summit sells them for $49 for the fuel and $59 for the boost.
I also put on ebay a Carter Muscle car fuel pump that I bought ages ago from Summit and never used. These are only $30 new so I'm not expecting much here...

So we'll see what these bring...

The Skeletons in my Closet

I should mention that I have a bunch of crap in my closet for this truck already that I am not counting in the $1000 cost goal. This stuff was all bought and paid for before I decided to do the turbo so it doesn't really count ;-). Besides I think most hot rodders will tell you..that you should never keep track of EVERYTHING you spend...otherwise it'll make you cry. So, here are the skeletons in my closet:

Value Train:

• Cam: Summit 224/234 @.050 (282/292 adv) 465/488 lift 114 centerline. (hey I accidentally picked a good turbo cam with that 114CL!)
• Lifters: Sealed Power
• Valve Springs: Edelbrock Torker
• Rockers: Steel Roller tip rockers (not the cheap-o stamped type the good true roller tip like the Comp Magnums)
• Pushrods: Comp Cams hardened
• Timing Gears: Cloyes double roller
• Chrome Timing cover

Air Fuel:

• Edelbrock Jet/Metering Rod kit
• Stainless braid fuel line
• Weiand X-CELerator Single-Plane Intake
• Chrome feed line for Edelbrock
• Rebuild kit Edelbrock Carb

Misc:

• Shifter: Hurst Quarter Stick
• Trans: B&M shift kit
• Rear End Gears: Richmond 4.10 sportsman
• Rear End: Crush sleeves and such for gear install
• Exhaust: Misc 2.5 inch pipe and 2.5 inch header collectors

Turbo Maps

While researching doing a turbo...I found one of the hardest things to do is choose the actual turbo. It is all based on turbo maps. These are charts put out by the turbo manufacturer the show the islands of efficiencies. These are done with the x-axis showing the lbs/min air flow and the y-axis pressure ratio. Well, How the hell do you figure out your engines pressure ratio and air flow? Lots of math. You need to know the cid, max rpm, volumetric efficiency, max boost and intake air temp in order to arrive at the lbs/min and pressure ratio...then map it to the compressor map.

So, like any good computer geek, I wrote a JavaScript program to figure this all out and do the mapping. I can feed it any specs and give it a map and have it mark where that set of specs falls. I might post it here someday...but it is of little use without being able to upload your particular map so..for now...here is the output. The red X is where my motor lands with a boost of 10psi and a max rpm of 5000. It also falls in the islands of efficiency for most of the rpm range. As well as up to 18 lbs boost and up to 6300 rpms

Fuel System Score!

Ebay is your friend when building on a budget...if you keep looking. I had in my Summit cart a Mallory 60FI for this project...but deleted it not being able to swallow the $165. This is a 60gph (360lbs per hour), 55 psi fuel injection pump. Found one used on ebay...watched it, watched it, no bids, no bids...watched it...last second - BANG! Won it for $10.52!!!! - SCORE!


Ok, I know what your thinking. Bill you idiot, you can't put 55psi to a carb! It'll blow right past the needle and seat. Ah, young grasshopper, read on and learn.

When building a blow-thru you end up either modifying a mechacnical pump for boost reference (adding boost to the atmospheric vent on the pump to increase the fuel pressure as boost rises) or using a Fuel Injection style pump with a boost referenced regulator.

The reason for this is when you put boost to the carb you are pushing back on the incoming fuel at a 1:1 with boost...so if you are running 10 lbs boost, 6 lbs fuel pressure and had 5 lbs for line-loss..you are looking at 10psi + 6psi + 5psi = 21psi...even the healthiest of carb pumps like a $200 Holley HP can't handle that! (it only puts out 16psi max) ...and if you are using a dead-head regulator add another 10-15 lbs for adjustment. So, from a pressure standpoint you got to run a bunch and regulate it down.

Then we have to think about feeding the beast. How much fuel does it take to feed a turbo small block. Well it goes a little something like this:
BSFC - Brake Specific Fuel Consupmtion. This is the amount of fuel it takes to support 1 horsepower for 1 hour. For a normally aspirated engine this is around .5(lbs/hr)/Hp for a turbo it is about .6(lbs/hr)/Hp (as a side note: superchared is even higher - around .65 - as it takes crank energy to spin the blower). So to figure your needs you take your target horsepower (in my case 425ish) and multiply it by this number:

425Hp * .6(lbs/hr)/Hp = 255 lbs per hour. This pump flows 360 so it would be good up to 600 horsepower! Nice.

The new phone book is here...the new phone book is here!

Ok it's not the phone book..it's my new wideband 02 sensor! Sweet deal from ebay...a brand new Innovate lc-1 kit for $150...nice. O2, LC-1, laptop cable, software...and most important...a sticker!


Cost $150

Deconstruction Begins

Ok I has some time Saturday so I began to make room for the turbo. A/C-Gone, Fan-Gone, Shroud-Gone, Inner Fender-Gone...that's better.

Th mad hatter...

I got a carb hat from Pep Boys. It is a Spectra jobbie...They are really pretty nice for the money...it is a polished cast aluminum...so it looks nice and should be quite strong enough to support the 10 lbs of boost. They sell these a Pep boys as a dress-up item...but they make a great budget hat - I saw somwhere on theTurboForums.com that there was someone running 9's with one of these!


Cost $59

ebay money burning a hole....must spend.

Ok so I bought some more goodies with my ebay score.

I bought a Carter Competition 600cfm carb with a broken choke horn off ebay $21!...and on a blow-thru you cut the choke horn off anyway!

I went to Summit for some parts for the carb...It needs a marine accelerator pump to keep fuel from blowing out around the shaft under boost and a bigger .110 needle and seat...It also needs solid floats as the tin floats will crush like a beer can under boost...since no one makes a solid for a Carter/Edelbrock you have to use a Thermoquad float and graft to the the Carter Comp's arm. I have those ordered from my local (good) parts store...Loop Road Auto Parts...where they actually know what you are talking about when you say I need a Thermoquad float!


I also bought a side pipe install kit because it's cheaper to get j-pipes and elbows in this kit then seperately...squeek, squeek....

..and then I'm surfing ebay and found a place selling a new Innovate LC-1 wideband 02 sensor kit for $150 wow that's $50 less than I have seen it evereywhere else. This comes with the the cable software so I can add a laptop and track the real-time air-fuel ratio for tuning...sweet.

Cost: $230 (all of the above)

Hey I'm an ebay seller!

I finally got my own ebay account ...and stopped using my wifes. My first order of business was to sell off some other parts I had around...I sold off a Crane Cam, a Sun tach, and two posi units (one 10 bolt and one 12 bolt truck). I actually enjoyed selling this stuff...ebay is fun... and I found that people will buy damn near anything. The 12 bolt was listed as "needs rebuilt", "has bad chatter" and "may be good for a core"...and somebody still paid $80 for it.

Income $334

Sold the Plymouth

In an effort to offset the cost of this project we jettisoned the other 1965 Plymouth Belvedere that has been a driveway ornament for the last year or so. We sold it on craigslist to a young guy that wants to make a cop car clone...

Income: $275

I'll have the General Tao's Chicken and a Wastegate

More ebay fun. I bought a cheap-ass chinese made wastegate on ebay. It is a 50mm with a 10lbs spring installed...

Cost: $47.00

The Turbo.

Here it is. A Garrett GT4082. It is off a 6.0l Volvo powered excavator. It is A/F .58 on the compressor and an A/F 1.18 on the turbine side. Maybe a bit big in the turbine...we'll see if a 350 has a hard time spooling it If not, I will try the trick of blocking off one of the scrolls (as it is a twin scroll) one of the fun tricks you will find on theTurboForums.com (aka turbomustangs.com). If you are planning on building a turbo car...you MUST spend some time on that site....anything you want to know is there somewhere...

I bought this used on eaby...so crossing my fingers that it is good (I have had some bad luck with used ebay stuff)...it seems tight...no shaft play of visible issues and turns nicely and the seller deals in used turbos and has a 99% rating...but I won't know for sure till it fires up.

Cost $153.oo

Where it begins

This blog will be documenting the build of a 1984 C10. I will be adding a Garrett GT40 82mm single turbo and other assorted goodies...on the cheap.

The Goals for this build are:

1. 400-425 horsepower (crank) / 360ish (wheels)
2. 8.30's 1/8 Mile (as my local track is 1/8)
3. 12.99 1/4 Mile (once it is sorted out I'll haul it to Rockingham)
4. Do it for $1000 or less out of pocket.

The starting point:

• A $1800 1984 Silverado
• 350 cid. Turbo 350
• Iron heads, Mild Cam, Headers, Performer Intake, Edelbrock Carb, Stock HEI with Moroso recurve kit and Accell Super Coil, 2400 rpm B&M Holeshot converter, Auburn Posi with 3.73 gears.