Madaguy 1955 Nomad Build

[ryeguy2006a]

At this point the intake lid is ready to be welded. I was having a bit of trouble getting the weld to puddle up on the thick 1/2" TB flange, and I had been in contact with a local guy who does some great fabrication on racecars. I reached out to see if he'd be interested in welding the flange to my TB and he was extremely reasonable so opted to have the professional do this job. His own personal turbo car has seen as high as 40 psi and he assured me that I won't have any issues with the 8-12psi I'll be running.





He was very careful around the TB holes on the top of the intake so I didn't have to take a whole lot of effort to tap them. Nice touch.





Very quick turn around as well. I dropped it off Saturday and picked it up Sunday night. I think what I'm going to attempt is to sand down the welds and very lightly needle scale the surfaces to replicate a cast finish. I'm going to do a few test pieces to see how the results are. I'd love to make it look like an intake lid that Holley never made and fool some people.

I dug out the CWA50 heat exchanger pump I bought quite a while ago. They are off of 2012ish BMW's with factory turbos and is a Pierburg unit which flows a lot of coolant. They are a great budget option to the universal CWA50 pumps.



One unique thing is that the inlet uses a quick connect fitting. You can buy a piece from URO that's made for a Volkswagen heater or radiator hose.





I placed an order from Summit for hopefully the last pieces that I need for this turbo swap. I grabbed a supercharger reservoir from Magnuson, AEM click dial, Low Dollar wastegate/BOV plumbing kit and the pipes/clamps for the charge pipes. I also bought the Sloppy Mechanics Dial a boost unterminated kit since they were sold out of the full kit. I'm not sure if I'll ever really run it on the low boost setting, but I really like the idea of being able to change the boost level with the click of the dial.

I'm down to just a handful of plumbing items such as turbo drain/feed, radiator hoses, heat exchanger hoses, and mounting the heat exchanger coolant reservoir and pump. I'm sure there are a bunch of other little things that I'll need to knock out, and I'm getting very excited to wrap up the winter upgrades. Hopefully within the next few weeks I can the car started up and see if it will make any boost.

Cheers,
Ryan

[N PRGRES]

Wow, your growing skill sets, and balls, are growing!  I would be scared to death to cut that intake!

[ryeguy2006a]

Thank you! It certainly took a set to cut it. I sat and looked at the intake for a good minute or two with the death wheel in my hand. All part of the process! You have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet. 

[N PRGRES]

Thank you! It certainly took a set to cut it. I sat and looked at the intake for a good minute or two with the death wheel in my hand. All part of the process! You have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet. 

Eggs are cheaper than that intake!  Great job!

[FormTA]

It's not that bad. I have found, you can almost always repair something.  Like working on my wipers the other day, I cut a brand new wiper pedestal arm in half and then realized I didn't need to. So I welded it back together.... Kinda dumb on my part but, things can be fixed.

Ryan, you probably just needed to floor the amp pedal or crank up the cleaning/AC balance or lower your hertz. But I understand not wanting to ruin a good intake.

[ryeguy2006a]

Thanks guys. Luke you're right. My machine is very capable of welding that lid, but I just didn't want to mess it up. I'll practice some more on some heavier parts and maybe I'll get my confidence up.

Been slowly chipping away and checking things off the list. I'm close enough to the end, I decided to make another punch list to keep me on track. I'll probably add a few things as I go, but hoping to possibly get the car out this weekend if it all goes to plan and the parts I ordered come in.



After a bunch of thinking on how I wanted to mount the heat exchanger pump, I finally decided to just make my own bracket. I copied the idea from the catch can mount I have, and this worked out great. It's solidly mounted, with a rubber isolator so it should be happy there. Also doesn't interfere with the overflow tank so that won't need to be relocated.





With that mounting location finalized, I could plan for the hoses and where they will need to be routed. Notched the lower and used a hole saw on the upper hose. Will have a nice gentle curve for the lines to follow. I bought a few Dayco hoses that have a 90* bend with about 60" of hose length that I'll be able to use to avoid any tight curves like the lower hose.





Next up is the Magnuson heat exchanger swirl pot/ reservoir which I found as a necessity when I was building my Camaro with the LSA engine. The heat exchanger pump needed more capacity to avoid draining the lines and creating aeration. This should help to get all the air bubbles out as well. I haven't finalized the mounting location yet, but it will be somewhere on the driver's side inner fender making sure that it's located higher than the Tick intercooler brick.





I picked up some Lava Rock heat wrap from Summit and wanted to wrap up the crossover, log manifold and downpipe to help keep the heat inside the pipes and drop underhood temps. It's also supposed to help with the spooling of the turbo, so hopefully it's worth the effort. It was a much bigger pain than I thought... The metal zip ties that came with the kit were junk. I ended up using some stainless steel hose clamps which I read work much better. Glad this is over, but very happy with the results.







I didn't get any pictures, but there was a lip inside of the intake lid after I had it welded. I took some carbide and drum roll disks and smoothed out the transition so the air had a nice path to flow. I also started planning out the hardware that I'll need to attach the lid. With the angle of the tubes on the side of the intercooler, it wasn't possible to get the bolts into the lid. I realized that if I used a burr to allow the bolt to go in at a slight angle that it would fit into the slot and work. So after carefully clearance the hole, I was able to sneak a shorter bolt in there. Win! Untouched on the left, and clearanced on the right.



I'm getting very close to the point where I can start installing parts for a final time and I'm very happy about that. The weather is starting to turn here in VA and I'm so ready to see how the turbo responds. I think the last task that will be a pain will be making new transmission cooler lines. I originally routed the cooler lines on the passenger side, but with all the pipes and lines that I added on that side, it's too crowded. I'm going to loop them around the rear and come in on the driver's side. I'm still unsure of where I'm going to mount the cooler, but it will likely be right in front of the condenser on the driver's side. This time I'm going with aluminum lines with adapters to go to the 6AN fittings. I'm hoping that in addition to the cooler, that the aluminum lines will also help to dissipate heat.

Thanks,
Ryan

[ryeguy2006a]

The progress continues. I wasn't completely happy with the AN transmission lines that I made when I first got the car going, so I decided to take a different route. I bought a roll of 3/8" Aluminum seamless tubing with some AN fitting adapters. It was a lot of up and down, measuring then making the bends, but I'm very happy with how they turned out. I picked up a nice bender from Harbor Freight and it did a great job on the bends. I made sure to install the exhaust to be sure I wasn't going to be in the way of the pipes.









I originally had planned to run them to a bulkhead fitting and then run flex lines to the cooler, but changed my mind. Many OEM's run the hard lines right to the coolers without issues, so that eliminates several leaking points. With the placement of the lines finalized, I could notch the closeout panels and get some components bolted down for a final time.

Next up was deciding how to mount the transmission cooler. After some thought, I opted to just keep it simple and bolt on a 1/8" x 1" strap steel. I welded some studs to the back side, then ground them flush so they laid flat on the condenser.





Once the brackets were finished, I painted and reinstalled them on the condenser. I ended up pulling the grill out so that I could do a proper job bending the transmission lines. I tried to take my time and keep things as symmetrical as possible.



The key word was that I tried. I was thinking ahead and put the tube sleeve and nut on the lines so that I wouldn't forget them before I flared the line. However, I was thinking too far ahead and made a 90* bend and trapped the sleeve onto the line. Being the line is aluminum, you can't bend it straight and rebend it. The metal will work harden and collapse. I very carefully cut it off and had to order a new one from Jeg's. Hopefully it comes by Wednesday this week.



Next was to install the AC Dryer and bracket that came with the condenser kit from VA. It's really nice to just bolt stuff together without having to build your own bracketry. It also came with pre-bent lines, that only required a slight tweak to fit perfectly. I had to move around some of my electrical connections, but everything fit together just like before. Very happy about that. Still need to tidy up the wiring, but that's almost back together for a final time.

Lastly for this update is the condenser/heat exchanger/transmission cooler assembly installed for the final time. I'm very happy with how symmetrical it turned out and love the aluminum lines coming off both sides contrasts with the black cooling units. Once the new tube sleeve comes in I'll flare the tube and then I can reinstall the grill.





I checked off a lot of items on my list this weekend. The biggest was the transmission cooler relocation with new lines. I'm still waiting on some 3/4" hoses with 90* bends so that I can finish installing the heat exchanger/intercooler hoses. I also swapped all the plugs to a NGK TR6 for a cooler heat range while the turbo manifold was off the car and much easier to access. I'll be tightening up all of the exhaust connections and firing up the car very soon. I'm hoping the next update will include an update with a test drive!

Cheers,
Ryan

[N PRGRES]

I wish my wife gave me half the time to work on my car that you get

[ryeguy2006a]

She's very understanding, but at the same time I have been busy with other home projects too. We're finishing our basement and I've been putting up walls so that we can build a guest room, full bathroom and a rec/living room for the boys to rough house in. Plus I build a 16x20 porch pretty much every spare moment I had last summer. 









So far, I built useable storage under the stairs by adding a door, framed up the utilities room and partially finished the guest bedroom. Working on the rest of the walls and planning out where I want to add outlets now. I can't sit on the couch after work, so I just stay busy until I go to sleep. 





Cheers,
Ryan

[FormTA]

Deck amd basement look sweet! Always great ti have a place for them boys to go when it's raining or cold out!

[ryeguy2006a]

After some debate on my end, I chose to do add some manifold fittings onto the front of the intake manifold rather than try and get to them from the rear. It's very tight on the back side of the intake so this will also make servicing them much easier. One fitting is for the catch can, and the other is a manifold reference for the wastegate and BOV. I carefully covered everything inside and out so no debris got into the intake runners. Carefully measured for the center of the intake and then made some chips.







I still need to tidy up the wiring, but the dryer is installed and the lines are blocked off so no debris will get inside until I'm ready to install the AC lines. I love how nicely it tucks down low and out of the way.



I had a heck of a time getting the rear two intercooler bolts on the back side of the intake tightened. I ended up having to make a tool in order to get them tightened. I had a spare wrench, so it went under a little surgery to make what I needed. Worked great and I could use another wrench to get more leverage to fully tighten it down.



Since I needed to order a new tube sleeve for the transmission cooler lines anyway, I opted to order a new roll of Aluminum lines and re-make the one cooler line. I went back and forth on redoing it because the lines are a pain to install, but I decided to go for it. I accidently made the 90* bend the wrong way when and attempted to twist the line, but it started to kink. Once the new parts arrived, I got to work replicating the first line. It wasn't bad at all since I had a really nice template.





Since the aluminum is so soft, it can kink really easily. I found an easy way to bend it almost straight is to hold it on a flat surface and roll it out holding the one side straight. It gets the line 95% straight, and then you can make careful little tweaks to get it the rest of the way.





I didn't take more pictures since it was redundant, but the new line is completely finished and looks (and likely performs) way better than it did. Now that is done, I was able to reinstall the grill. Glad more pieces are going back on.



The heat exchanger hoses that I bought two weeks ago finally were delivered, so that I can start to finish plumbing for the air to water intercooler system. I started at this lower hose. It fits just like I wanted to and looks great. The transmission cooler lines are also there and am very happy with how symmetrical they look.



Here's the box of Dayco 80418 hoses. They are 3/4" with a tight 90* on one end and 60" of hose on the other. I know a lot of guys use these for the "LS Swap" heater hoses, but this also worked great for this application.



I had bought a cheap bead roller for charge pipes online, but it ended up being junk which is no surprise. The guy that welded my intake said he had a bead roller and I was able to trim up the pipe and take it over to him this weekend. Looks great and is now ready for a BOV flange!



Here's where the BOV is going to live. I'm going to trim up the coupler a little bit once the flange is welded in place, then it will get bolted down.



I'm really glad that I planned ahead for this turbo build several years ago when I was first putting the car together. Before I installed the oil pan for good, I drilled and tapped it for my turbo drain. I used a 1/2" NPT, so all I had to do was pull the plug and replace with my fitting. Love an easy job!





Built and installed the drain line as well. That was very straightforward as well.



The list is starting to get quite small now. It won't be long now until I can see if all this work paid off!



Last big things are reinstalling the radiator, building a mount for the catch can, mounting the HX, finish plumbing HX, and a few misc. hoses and wiring. I can't wait.

Cheers,
Ryan

[FormTA]

Looking like a very professional install Ryan!

I will probably need to fashion some transmission lines.  Do you recommend getting aluminum tubing and bending them up or braided AN line or???? Same for fuel lines. What would you recommend for some good permanent lines? Can you use aluminum for fuel and can those hydraulic flare tools make the gm push connect flare on aluminum without destroying it?

[ryeguy2006a]

Thanks, I can't wait to wrap up this project. There have been so many nice days that I could have taken the car out already...

So far, I'm happy with the aluminum lines. I bought a 37* flaring tool from Jeg's which is a manual tool, but I probably should have gotten the dyes for my Mastercool flare tool. We'll see though how they work after I get a few miles on them. I have a GM push connector dye for my Mastercool flare set, I can test out how they flare and get back to you. I'm hoping that the aluminum lines will act as a cooler themselves since they will also help to dissipate heat.

[N PRGRES]

Looks awesome!

[ryeguy2006a]

Now that the charge pipe is mocked up and I'm happy with where I can place the BOV, it was ready to be burned in. I left the pipe intact while welding and then used a hole saw to drill out the center. Worked really nicely to prevent me from burning through the pipe. I practiced a little on some scrap aluminum, then pulled the trigger on the real piece. It turned out pretty good considering it's one of the few aluminum pieces I've welded.







After that was all done it was time to get the pipe installed and bolted down for good.



I built a new bracket for the catch can and switched over to mild steel this time. I was going along pretty good, then I think I built up too much heat and it started to glob up at the end of the weld. Plenty strong though.





This is when I stopped getting as many pictures because I was just trying to grind out the work. My dad also stopped by this weekend for a visit and he helped me with some small things and verify fitment. We mounted the coolant swirl pot for the intercooler and I was able to get all of the lines routed nice and neatly. You can also see the finished catch can routing.





One of the last things that I needed to do was cut a hole for the CAI. There are many ways that I could have routed this, but I liked the clean look of routing it through the inner fender and having the filter in front of the tire.





Now after a little test fitting it became clear that I need an additional pipe to route the filter a little differently, but overall very pleased with the fitment of everything. I ordered it and that should be here soon. This was after the first test fit. I was able to loosen the pipe and reclock it higher which gained me another inch, but still would contact the tire at around 3/4 of the wheel turned. Good enough for an initial test drive!!



At this point, I had waited long enough and just wanted to see if this thing would actually run/drive and build boost! The one last thing that I needed to do before I could shut the hood was to drill out the rivets for the hood baffle. With the center mounted radiator, that baffle was contacting the radiator. For now, I just drilled them out which allowed for the hood to shut. One thing that I didn't get a chance to do was wire up the heat exchanger coolant pump, so for now I was effectively running it without an intercooler, but I just had to hear it run and drive it down the road again.



I had my dad help to prime the oil system and make sure there was oil feeding the turbo before I fired it up for the first time in 2026. Cranked with no fire... Hmmm... checked everything and ended up leaving the TB unplugged. Plugged that back in and it immediately fired right up! I let it run for a minute or two to check for leaks. Not one leak!! At this point I left off the full exhaust because I wanted to confirm there were no leaks with the new transmission lines. I quickly installed the rest of the exhaust and then lowered it back down onto the ground and backed it out of the driveway again. That felt amazing.



I let it run up to temperature and I had also tripped the breaker for the cooling fans at some point. Once that was reset, the fans kicked on and the temps stabilized. Then my Dad, my youngest son and I drove it up and down the road maybe 3 miles round trip. Everything felt great, and best of all the car built some boost! The coolest part for me was when I let off the throttle and the BOV made that whoosh sound. Such a cool sound! We brought it back and then let it all cool off. I took out the car again yesterday this time with just my Dad and I was able to really get on it. We made a few WOT pulls and the car performed great. It definitely feels more powerful, but I'd still like more. I left the 8 psi springs in that came installed from Summit. When I reviewed the datalog, it looked like the most boost it saw was 135 kpa or ~5psi. I think what I'll do is swap out the springs for the 17psi combination of springs which will hopefully net more like 10-12psi where I'm targeting. I couldn't be happier with the car overall and it's also quieter at cruising speeds which is a nice fringe benefit. The older I get the quieter I'm liking the cars haha. One thing I also thought was really cool is that even without the intercooler hooked up the highest the IAT's saw was 140 and it was about 85* yesterday so it was a pretty good stress test.

Here are some nearly final engine bay pictures. Once everything burns off with the heat wrap, turbo and whatnot, I'll install the turbo blanket. I think that will help keep things much cooler in the engine compartment.





Cheers,
Ryan

[5th T/A]

Ryan, taking it out for the first ride with the turbo functioning, you must have felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. Incredible workmanship. You will get some interesting comments from people inspecting the engine compartment at cruise nights and car shows.

[FormTA]

Ok, first if all, great job on this! It looks so professional and high quality work (except the zip ties hoses, get an aluminum clamp) just kidding it's all great. Anyways, did you adjust the tune before you drove it? Or just let the ECU adjust for the boost? This EXU tuning really has me baffled. I'm looking at getting a supercharger from a V or camaro to throw on a 6.0 and maybe running a Holley Terminator. I'll shoot you some pictures of what we're building at work that I may get some parts from...

A Cadillac CTS V wagon with a manual. Was all stock but not anymore!

[N PRGRES]

Now you're just showing off lol

[ryeguy2006a]

Now you're just showing off lol

 

As with all new builds, there are a few bugs that need to be worked out. My biggest issue was the air filter that I was trying to re-use was dimensionally too large. It was not allowing me to rotate up high enough into the pocket in the fender. Once the car was at ride height, I only had about 3/4" clearance. It was enough for me to get a test drive in, but not a long term solution.



Since I had modified the air filter housing for a fitting to allow fresh filtered air for the PCV, I had to add a fitting to the new tube. Gave me another opportunity to do some AC TIG welding. I cut a little square piece of thick aluminum and bent a slight curve into it to match the curve of the 4" intake tube. Cleaned everything with a wire brush (only used for Aluminum) and acetone. Then I got to work welding it.







With that modified, I could now reinstall the intake tube and rotate the air filter up where I wanted it. It fits really well and now I have 3-4" of clearance with a jack under the a-arm and the wheel at full lock. No issues with it contacting now.





Now I can drive the car without needing to worry about the filter coming off. Next is trying to figure out why the 8.3 psi spring was only building 5.5 psi of boost. I figured that backpressure may be an issue, so I decided to try the 16.8psi combination of springs to hopefully net me around 11psi if the math was the same. 11psi is my target as I'd like to net around 500 rwhp.





I swapped out the springs and took the car for another test drive. The car was definitely making more power, but after checking the logs it maxed out around 156 kpa which is about 8psi boost. Closer, but I think there may be another issue that is causing the low boost. I was leaning towards backpressure being an issue, but after talking with some buddies, it may be something else. I'm going to make some changes and do more testing. I have the first car show of the year this weekend so I'll get the car out again to see if I can get the boost numbers closer to the wastegate numbers. I also ordered some fittings so that I can finish wiring up a dial and control the boost with Holley.

Cheers,
Ryan

[ryeguy2006a]

It's been a little bit since I've updated, but soon after I got the car back together we took a family trip to the Smoky Mountains. Great trip and spending time with the family. After I got back I took the car to the first car show of the year at a local restoration shop. As usual, I forgot to take photos but I did grab one in the parking lot at the gas station right before we got home. My youngest son came with me and we had a great time. He got a cool shirt from the show too.





Then the next day I thought it would be great to take the car out to get some icecream, but the car was running very rough. Then shortly after I smelled fuel and when I lifted the hood there was fuel misting out of the turbo vband area. I shut it off immediately and then pushed it back in the garage. After spending the next week troubleshooting, chasing wires, using the Holley Diagnostic tool, and etc the only thing that I could determine is that there was a faulty spark plug wire on cylinder #6. I spent a lot of time but didn't find anything really conclusive. I swapped the wire out for another one I had and it runs fine. I'm definitely going to keep an eye on it though until it earns my trust again. Very strange. I ended up ordering a set of new MSD wires just to be on the safe side.

In the process of troubleshooting I pulled all the plugs and determined that I need to lean it out a bit and could add some more timing.



I also discovered in the process that that the downpipe had shifted slightly after a few heat cycles and I need to cut and replace the vband off the turbo. I didn't realize that there were so many different size vbands, but the one that I used was too small for the turbo which is I think why it shifted in the first place. I'll expand on that later, but that brings me up to last weekend where I attended one of my favorite events of the year; Spring Carlisle. Pictures to come soon.

Cheers,
Ryan

[ryeguy2006a]

Spring Carlisle is always a good time. Was very fortunate to have a really good weather day this year, sunny and 70. Been there many years where it's rainy and 40. First thing I see in the gate is this setup! 



There seem to be an increasing amount of "patina cars" at these shows. Loved this truck and wheels. 



Saw a 55 Nomad for sale at the show. The color caught my attention. 



I was walking through the Blueprint booth and noticed a familiar face. Lou Santiago from many car shows that I watched growing up! I stopped and talked with him for a good 15 minutes which was really cool. He was there to talk with high school age hot rodders about getting into the industry. Great hearing some of his stories too. I couldn't help but ask for a picture. 



Then while I was at the Blueprint booth, this LS and 8HP70 setup really caught my eye. They currently only offer this setup as a complete package with engine/trans/hareness/ECU, but I'm sure as time goes on they will offer it as a transmission only package. They couldn't get into the details on the ECU, only that it was proprietary. Although it sounded like it could be modified using HP Tuners, so it must be based on an OEM setup. It's way out of my pricerange, but all things considered for a $20k drop in engine/trans setup with a warranty that is a good price point. 





I also met a friend that I met on a TriFive forum. He was traveling here with a friend from Sweden, and we got a chance meet and catch up in person. Was great meeting him and seeing what parts they picked up. Hard to see, but there was a nice 1957 hardtop project behind us which is very appropriate since he is also restoring a 1955 Nomad. 



I picked up a few parts to save on shipping, but didn't have a huge haul this year. My best deal were finding 3 complete LS coil packs in someone's $1 bin! I didn't even talk them down haha. 



I also picked up a fan shroud from Auto City Classics, 1955 Belair Accessory Bumper guard and a new hood baffle since the one I have is quite rusty. Bummer I'll be cutting it up, but it's not original so I'm not too concerned. One piece I was pretty excited about is the BelAir trim steering wheel. It is in good driver shape and is much more fitting for the Nomad. Before and after shots with the old 210 steering wheel. 







The last thing that I picked up was a 1955 Nomad Bluetooth speaker. It's goofy, but I like it. 



What I didn't expect was how my kids reacted. They insisted that we make it look just like my car, so I let them. I was shocked at how closely it resembles my car!





They even nailed the rusty roof!



Overall was another successful swap meet haul. I'll post up some pictures of the car with the new accessory bumper soon. I really like how it changes the look of the front end. 

Cheers,
Ryan

[5th T/A]

Carlisle sure looks like a lot of fun. Maybe someday I’ll get there.

Love the 55 model and how well your kids were able to emulate the real thing. Probably a moment you will cherish for a long time.

[rkellerjr]

The model is awesome! Way to go kids!

[N PRGRES]

Love the model!  Great job!  More patina cars because no one can afford paint or the labor costs anymore.  I love a well done resto, but I do love the patina look also

[ryeguy2006a]

The day after I got back from Carlisle, there was a small car show right in my town, so I packed up the kids and we stopped by for an hour or so. Really cool show and great to see a lot of really nice cars. Some guy brought some high end full custom 30s street rods. All had beautiful custom interiors that were classy and not tacky. Some of them can be very interesting when they go full custom.

Cool shot of the new accessory bumper! The guy said it was NOS, but had been sitting for so long it had some chrome chipped. Not sure I believe that, but I knocked his price down significantly so I was happy.





One last thing that I forgot to mention was that when I met with Carl at the Spring Show that he gave me a decal for his car club in Sweden! So nice and I can't wait to stick it in the car.



Next up was a bit of a bummer for me as I didn't want to do the work, but it was necessary. The vband flange that I used originally when I put the car together started leaking. I believe after a few heat cycles it may have shifted. After doing some more research online, I realized that I used the wrong size. The OD of the vband flanges need to match or be very close to get the best seal. When I pulled off the charge pipe and remeasured the flanges that I have are the more standard 3.580" OD, where the turbo I have measured at 3.725". Also the flange I used was meant to be a male/female connection so it had a small sealing surface area.

Old flange:



After searching all over the internet for the "right flange", the best I could find was a SS version on eBay with a 3.75" OD flange which is much closer and I can turn it down with my lathe.



Once I received the new flange, I chucked it up and turned off the 0.025" so that they flanges match. Used my dial indicator to be sure the flange is flush with little runout.



I checked the flange several times and test fit with the turbo flange a few times. Once I was happy it was time to cut off the old flange and weld on the new one. I didn't take many pictures because I just wanted to get this done. I attempted to weld the flange on the car, but soon realized it was too much of a challenge with the TIG torch and foot pedal. I ended up just pulling off the manifold and turbo in one piece and put it on my welding table.





I was able to get about 3/4 of the way around the flange unobstructed, but the last 1/4 was a real pain. I ended up welding in many different positions, welded left handed (I'm normally right handed), tons of tungsten stick out then finally made it all the way around. My older welds were a little prettier, but these are solid and the job is done. I also had to re-wrap some of my heat wrap, which was annoying, but I didn't get a picture after it was finished. The one here is right after I finished welding.



I got it all installed and tightened back down and no leaks! I took the car out for a quick rip around the block. Still makes 8psi and once the new exhaust wrap burned off it was back to normal. While it was off I also installed a new set of MSD spark plug wires. Glad that it's back together and running great again. I grabbed this shot in the driveway. One of my new favorites.



This past weekend I found myself with a free morning and realized it was a Cars and Coffee morning, so I bribed the boys with some Dunkin breakfast sandwiches and we headed out. It's about 40 miles round trip and the car ran great. I had to take some time to reflect as I was driving it just how much work I've done over the last few years. The front suspension feels great with the sway bar and dialed alignment. Engine/trans/rear end all work so nicely together and just cruise 65-70 on the highway so smoothly. After I got home there were a few photos posted on the FB group so I grabbed them. One of my older son is really cool with his mullet between the two patina cars at the show.







Love this photo.



I had a great time and talked with a lot of cool people. One of the best things that happened was when we were walking around looking at the other cars and I noticed a really nice Lamborghini. I said it to both of my boys and my older son freaked out a little and then my younger son (6 yo) says "Oh wow, did you see there's an old Jeep too!" 

Thanks,
Ryan

[ryeguy2006a]

I haven't had much to update as I've only been driving the car and attending some car shows/cruise in's. Last weekend I decided to take my car on a longer cruise. I have a buddy in Richmond, VA that we'd been discussing meeting up at the cars and coffee near him and this was the weekend. I got the interior cleaned up a little bit and my youngest son decided to make the trip with me. It was about an hour and a half drive there and about 150 miles round trip. Like a dummy, I got so busy looking at the other cars that I forgot to grab a picture of mine next to my buddies 1968 Biscayne. Only picture I got was this really nice 1999 Skyline.







Last weekend was the longest drive since adding the turbo and I had no issues overall, but something I do need to look into. Car ran great at 75-80 mph on the highway, but I looked down and noticed that the engine temps had started to creep up around 198-200. I read a while ago that without a hood baffle, that it can cause overheating issues since the air can bypass the radiator and go up and over the radiator support. I had to remove the baffle to center mount the radiator, so I'm hoping that is the culprit. I did buy a new replacement baffle from the Carlisle show I was at, but before I cut up the new one, I thought I'd cut up the old one since it was pretty rusty. The cuts were pretty crude, but the profile is spot on. If this works like I'm hoping, I'll use this as a template for the new piece I have and attempt to make it look factory with the bead rolling and rolled lip.





Met a friend of a friend at the cruise in who had a really nice turbo'd 87 C10 who gave me a tip about how my wastegate and BOV were plumbed up and how I could make it better. I had both Tee'd together with a manifold vacuum source which worked ok, but he said that the wastegate should see a pre-throttlebody boost reference so that the wastegate doesn't see any vacuum. The BOV is what needs to see the vacuum source so it can open. I had seen where that was an option for many and my turbo had an untapped boss. So I drilled it out and tapped for 1/8" NPT.







It only took me about an hour to pull the turbo housing off, drill/tap the port, then reinstall with new nylon hoses. I figured, it was worth a shot since I'm still very new to turbocharging. When I found a safe spot, I gave it WOT and when I glanced down the boost gauge said 9.5 lbs which is about 2 lbs. higher than before. Not only did it go higher, it seemed to build boost sooner and at a lower rpm. With a light load it was seeing positive boost pressure around 2300 rpms. The BOV was also more responsive and not as "lazy". It seemed to snap on rather than a longer whoosh. Overall, I'd say that was a nice win and a pretty quick/cheap way to gain ~40 hp! With that trip I'm about 500 miles on the car so far, and need at least 700 more to hit my goal of rolling the odometer over to 50k miles.

I've had a few bites on the car and one serious offer, but was lower than I'd sell the car for. If he decides to buy the car I'll probably sell it to him, but if he turns it down I'll probably pull it off the market. It's really fun to drive and I don't "need" to build a garage right now. I just know it will take me many years to save up for one and I'm not extremely patient.

Cheers,
Ryan

[N PRGRES]

Wait, you're considering selling?  I love the progress on it and would hate to see it go

[ryeguy2006a]

I am considering it. I'd really like to build a garage and with the prices continuing to go higher, I'd rather not wait 5 years to save up for one. I have it listed now and if it sells, I should have enough to build a 28x36 Garage with enough left over to buy a cheap 3rd or 4th gen fbody to have a fun drive around car. Then I can find another long term project to build.

[FormTA]

You baffle me. I can never let them go, especially after I put so much of my soul into them. That said, I don't know what I would do without my shop and then the barn to store the projects in. It's getting worse here as my son is now collecting cars/trucks and we are out of room....

I'm going to call you some day to chat about your turbo experience if you don't mind.

Good luck in whatever life brings you!

[5th T/A]

I am considering it. I'd really like to build a garage and with the prices continuing to go higher, I'd rather not wait 5 years to save up for one. I have it listed now and if it sells, I should have enough to build a 28x36 Garage with enough left over to buy a cheap 3rd or 4th gen fbody to have a fun drive around car. Then I can find another long term project to build.

Wow Ryan, you caught me off guard with the possible sale of this car. I have enjoyed watching your progress and incredible skills on this build. I was also amazed on the Camaro build. I think you are someone who loves building cars and taking on the challenge. Nothing wrong with that.

I built my dream garage thirteen years ago, a smaller footprint than what you are talking about but it has a second level that my wife uses as a quilting studio for her long arm quilting machine. Now at 72 years of age, my biggest regret is I didn’t do it sooner.

Definitely not enough activity on TAC and pretty much only second Gen Firebirds. So maybe an interesting third or fourth gen build would motivate others to do the same. I love how you have your kids involved, creating memories that will last forever.

Best of luck with what ever you decide and thanks for taking the time to post your builds on TAC.

[ryeguy2006a]

I love knowing that I took a car that was in rough shape and brought life back to it. I believe that we are only caretakers for these cars, and there are so many that I'd like to own and experience. If the car sells great, it gets me towards the goal of having a large garage to build more cool cars. If it doesn't sell, I have a fun car the family and I can cruise in. I'm happy either way.

Luke, you can call anytime. The turbo is a lot of fun.

5th T/A, I hear you on that. I didn't know how good I had it when I had my first house. It had a huge 30x40 garage, with a 20x30 carport on the front and a 20x40 lean to off the side. Next house had a nice 28x28 with a huge storage utility closet, and a 24x30 "garage/shed" that I stored yard tractors and extra car parts in. My current house is a 22x22 with a small storage shed. The houses got nicer and the garages got smaller.

I'd agree that I do enjoy building and hunting down parts as much as I do enjoy driving/experiencing the cars.

[MNBob]

I think you are right that there is an engineering mind in all of us that own these cars.  It just that fixing something old and broken, or coming up with a new design allows a certain creativity that is rewarding and part of the fun.