Turbo Meister

I'm running a full 3" dual exhaust from the down pipes all the way over the rear end into big FlowMaster mufflers and out the back. I drive real slow over Speed Bumps because the exhaust is low. Hanns

Mike, Those are great numbers and they are bound to get even better as you continue to dial the car in. Keep it up.Hanns

The engine is back in my 72 Z after replacing the 10:1 CR pistons with more "Turbo Friendly" 8.3:1 CR ones. Unfortunately, this will reduce max power but it will be acceptable if the car's drag strip performance becomes more consistant and predictable. The lid has been left off the pressurized intake air box for the photo so that the placement of the carb in the box can be seen. Hanns

Terry,After the conversion of this site I can't even see my own picture on my post. I hope things get squared away, soon. Hanns

Welcome to Hybridz. You will find this a great place to learn about building fast Z's. Recently the format of this web site was changed. Unfortunately, the photo album section was deleted in the process. I hope it's only temporary for I will re-post my pics as soon as this function has been re-enabled. Good luck.Hanns

Ben, The box is 3/16" aluminum I cut out of a sheet that cost $20 at a salvage yard. I used 3/4" bar stock, for $5, as a locator for the 16 bolts that hold the lid. The 90 degree 2.5" pipe bend for one inlet was $25. The other inlet uses a piece of 2.5" fabricated pipe that cost $5 ( for 3 feet ). Welding everything together cost $40 labor. Attaching the turbos and realizing everything worked without leaks....Priceless Hanns

Mark, Thanks for the comments. You might check with silicone boy because he is making some nice prototype manifolds out of LT1 castings. The turbos you selected sound like they will spool up right off idle. Your rear tires wont have a chance. Hanns

Mark, What type of exhaust manifolds will you be using for your TTsbc? I had to have custom ones made. They are homemade appearing but do the job on my TT383. Hanns

I was able to fit a Twin Turbo 383 Chevy into my 72 Z. It required some planning and custom exhaust manifolds to fit everything into the engine compartment without cutting into fenderwells or using a hood scoop. It drives like a normal v8 Z on the street until I punch it. Then its not practical but much fun. Hanns

Nion, If you are refering to the turbine housing, yes it is big. Too big in fact to allow a quick spool-up. But once it starts going there is no stopping it. A friend is allowing me to use these turbos for free so I cant really complain. I have tried to find some smaller turbine housings for the existing compressors but parts for old Rajay turbos are becoming harder to find. Turbonetics now owns Rajay but their people are not very knowledgeable about their older products. Hanns

Ronin and Znow white, thanks for the comments. Mike and Austin, thanks for the offer but I think I'll keep the engine because one can never get enough Horsepower. I dropped the engine and trans back into my Z today and hopefully will start her up tomorrow. The hardest part will be to let the new rings seat before I punch it. 8) Hanns

I have posted engine pics out of my Z into my album for those of you who have asked for detailed pics. Hanns

I did not cut up any portion of the engine compartment or the hood. The entire system is mostly homemade in design. The exhaust manifolds are made from 2.5 " square tubing and the turbo compressors dump almost immediately into a sealed box containing a 750 dp carb. Shortly I will post pics of the manifolds, turbos and the engine. There are several pics of the car and engine in the Turbo/Supercharger forum around early Nov of 2003. Hanns

What do you intend to do with a turboed V8? Street or Strip or both? I can tell you what I did to build a Twin Turbo carbed 383-blow through for my 72 Z. However, you need to learn about turbo systems and carbs in order to make it work. Corky Bell's book on Turbocharging is a start. If you can afford it go FI, it's much easier to tune. I have turbo lag with my system because the turbos are too large but they were free from a friend. Drag racing my Z, therefore, is a balancing act. Coming off the line at too low engine rpm results in a bog and at too high rpm causes the car to launch sideways. Bottom line is, dont plan on solving anticipated traction problems with turbo lag. You wont like the driveability problems. You will need a custom turbo kit to fit into your Z (very expensive ). Read the book and you will be able to make your own system since you have fabrication skills. There are a number of companies like "Turbonetics" that can tell you what size turbo to buy for your desired application. You can see my turbo installation in the Turbo/Supercharger forum under Twin Turbo 383 Chevy. Good Luck. Hanns

Sorry, I'm 62 and also having a lot of fun playing with my Twin Turbo 383 72 Z. I'm retired too, so have to watch the toy expenditures. Welcome back. Hanns

Go to the "Turbo/Supercharger" Forum and on the bottom of page #6 you will find my post under "Twin Turbo 383 Chevy". There are several good photos of the engine compartment. I was able to fit two large turbos under the hood without any engine compartment or hood modifications. One turbo installation should be much easier than two. Hanns

I will be there on Sunday. Hope we can get a spot for all the Hybridz'ers. Hanns

Steveo, As Tim240z indicated, the S&S headers are lower on the passenger side. If you check in the "exhaust" forum, ZRossa posted a similar question on 12-30-03 titled "SBC full length headers". There were several responses and even pics of these headers. This post can be found on the first page of the "exhaust" forum. I never scraped my headers either street driving or drag racing. However, my Z never saw any offroad or unfriendly asphalt action. Hanns

Steve' date=' Before I turboed my 383 Chevy, I used [b']S&S[/b] 1.75 primary headers #5205c. They fit perfectly in my 72 Z only when I used JTR motor mounts. They are long tube headers and were easy to install. S&S is located in Arizona. Good luck. Hanns

I really like the looks and placement of your LT1 turbo exhaust. Do you have enough clearance to face both compressors forward and thus open a straight shot for fresh air ? This would also give a less twisted path for downpipes. My twin Turbo setup would not work with your manifolds because my turbos are physically too large to fit. That's why I placed them in front of the engine. Remember I'm only using them because they were free from a friend. Otherwise, I would have used smaller ones. I'm checking out your progress because you could be the source for a whole bunch of Twin Turbo Chevy engines. Keep it up. Hanns

This is not fair!! I had to plan and plan and fabricate; and you just found the perfect exhaust manifolds. Well, I realize you also spent much time just trying to visualize the perfect setup. Congratulations, the manifolds look great. How much clearance is there between the top of the turbos and the hood? You might have to attach some type of heat barrier to the underside of the hood. My exhaust manifolds are 2" from the inner fenderwells and I'm beginning to notice some slight paint discoloration from the heat. I'm considering some type of heat barrier at that point, myself. Also, plan to reinforce the engine compartment sheetmetal to withstand the incredible and overwhelming engine torque complements of Twin Turbos. I noticed that my turbo engine torque has slightly tweaked the inner fenderwell metal of my Z. I'm anxiously awaiting the results of your first twin turboed drive. Hanns

Much of my wiring was burned or chopped up in my Z when I bought it. Therefore I purchased the Painless Chevy 18 kit. It was quite a project since none of the wiring diagrams acurately reflected what I had. Since I was unaware of HybridZ, it became a "Painful" task. However, I was impressed with the helpful support of the Painless staff. The kit is not cheap, so if your stock wiring is in good shape I would keep it and modify as needed. Hanns

Bill, If you go to page 5 of the Turbo / Supercharger forum, you will find pics of my Z under the "Twin Turbo 383 Chevy" post. I'm currently installing lower compression ratio pistons into the 383 engine and am taking pics of engine, exhaust system and induction. I will attempt to post the pics, in a few weeks, in the "album" gallery. Hanns