steven_esworthy Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Just thought I would share my pictures of the manifold I just welded. My first time welding, came out fairly well. Got the manifolds on ebay for $30/shipped and the T3 flanges were about $35. Not bad for $65 turbo manifolds. Not sure if I want to put the heat shields back on. This is going on my LT1. I tried to bolt it onto my engine, but the manifold bolts arent long enough for these manifolds. I will try to get some and take some pics of it mounted. Anyways let me know what you think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 LS1 Twin Turbo sounds very tasty. Hope it all works out for you. Very creative. I am not a welder but can you weld steel to cast? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silicone boy Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Mine are still holding up. You just have to be careful and take your time welding the cast iron. This setup is very thermally efficient as it places the turbo right on the manifold, and the heat shield holds the heat it (I even wrapped header tape under the heat shields). Looks like you are going to have to rotate the compressor housings. Good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven_esworthy Posted January 29, 2007 Author Share Posted January 29, 2007 Thanks! So I guess you put the heat shields back on? I was going to have the headers coated, but I could probably have the shields done as well! The best part about these is I sold my LT1 Manifolds on ebay for $80, so they paid for themselves. It seemed difficult to weld them(probably because of the diff in the metals) but it seemed to come out ok. I am now going to be welding on the Z(floor pans, rust repair, etc...) I will aslo be rebuilding my LT1 with lower c/r forged pistons, and welding the bungs on my oil pan. Cant wait to post some more pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustin280zx Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Thats a very nice set up you have got. I read silicone boys writes, which were very well detailed, thank you silicone, and a big money saver which has got me almost want me to do would be doing a blow through set up instead of FI. There are countless poeple with blow throughs (check out turbomustang.com and no its not just mustangs). Send your carb out to CSU and have it modified for blow through for 400 bucks and thats it. If you have any problems with the carb just send it back and they'll fix it. My brother-in-law has a 383 with a F1-R procharger and put out 695 rwhp with blow through. And there are countless poeple over 1000rwhp with blow throughs. Granted it wouldnt be as good as FI cause that is the best, but it is alot cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silicone boy Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 I owe a bunch to the turbo mustang folks. They virtually invented turbocharging on the cheap. Take a pair of Thunderbird turbos (or Buick), flip over a pair of headers (or in this case, the stock Corvette headers) and you're in business. Some of those guys are making sick horsepower. BTW, I coated the headers, used the header wrap, and put on the heat shields. The more heat you can get to the turbos, the more thermally efficient your system will be. What kind of turbos are those? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paz8 Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 I have done some welding on cast exhaust manifolds and found that if you heat up the area your welding it will mig weld OK. The hotter you get it the easier it welds, let it cool down SLOWLY when your finished welding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven_esworthy Posted February 16, 2007 Author Share Posted February 16, 2007 You think anyone would beleive that this is a stock engine cuz of you know, the nissan logos on the turbos? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 Good pictures, Steve. Thanks for sharing those. It gives a lot of guys a wayof doing it. I want to see your plumbing (on the engine) when you're done! Routing the piping may be a real chore. Good luck!!! Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustin280zx Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 I'm putting a datsun logo on the vavle cover. LOL. Those guys that know something about engines will know its not a nissan but the poeple that watch the fast and the furious and believe all that junk will never know a difference. Great story by the way, I was at the track with my brother-in-law and he's got a F1-R on his monte. And those things are ear peircing at idle...just squeels like you wouldn't believe (say its the nature of the procharger) and a kid in a civic came up and said close to quote "yo man, whats wrong with your car?". My brother-in-law said that he just replaced the muffler bearings and they weren't broken in yet. and he replied close to quote "yea man, i didnt know they sounded that loud". I just about died laughing when he left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 Let me get this right, those are stock Corvette LT1 manifolds? I'm not looking to turbo my LT1 but it is good information to have if thats correct. Have you checked hood clearance? If so, will they clear? Wheelman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven_esworthy Posted February 17, 2007 Author Share Posted February 17, 2007 Wheelman, They are stock corvette manifolds, just upsidown with some T3 flanges. Pretty sweet, they do clear according to silicone boy, all props to him on this one. I wasnt even considering doing turbo till I read about his setup. To make the plumbing simple, i was going to use the attached intercooler. They are on ebay for about $250. Also, I am going to try to use the internal wastegates. Those are some good stories. I am stationed in a small town and everyone here is putting neon underbodies on there civics. I was going to get the LT1 fuel rail covers and have Nissan or Datsun put on them to maybe make it look a little more stock... might fool some of the real dumb ones. But considering I will have fender flares and 255 rear tires, it might be hard to pull off. Anyways, I will post more pics as I get em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atx_s130 Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 i ran 255's on my z an dits stock iwht a 6banger in it. bow if you put 335s on it then you might be giving it away. jsut make sure you use a fart can exauhst and theyll buy it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8_DatZun Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 son of a !!!! lol.. when i had my exhaust manifolds turned upside down everyone thought i was stupid... never thought of mounting turbos to it... my first time seeing this didnt know silicone boy had a write up on it... makes me wish i HADNT got the keith black's now... you guys think they'd hold up with kinda low boost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustin280zx Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 They will hold up as long as you keep it from predetinating. Also depends on your c/r. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8_DatZun Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 i've got flat top kb's with stock chevy heads... no idea what the compression ratio is... would i have to look at the casting number of the head to find the CC.. then be able to determine the CR? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustin280zx Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 its prolly over 9:1 then, so i'd say like 6 pounds of boost maybe 8. If you drop a point of compression you can add two pounds of boost which will give you roughly 30 more horsepower. Course buick guys ran 25 pounds of boost on stock bottom ends (I think they were cast pistons stock) and didnt hurt anything (even heard of a couple pushing 30), but then there headgasket was a safety feature, blow the headgasket before putting a hole in your pistion, and that's not on pump gas either too. Just buy some forged trws or now speed pro. They're not a big dent in the wallet if you dont mind replacing pistons. But just remember that whatever goes out the exhaust goes into the turbo i.e. little motor peices that likes to destroy turbos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven_esworthy Posted February 18, 2007 Author Share Posted February 18, 2007 I plan on getting TRW-L2441F forged pistons. A set from summit is about $360. They are 21cc dish. With a thicker head gasket I should be able to get about 8.5:1 compression. Unfortunatly the LT1 has small CC's and so it is harder to get lower c/r without replacing the heads, which I may do eventually(along with a complete forged rotating assembly). The turbos are off of a Z31 300zx that are .63AR. I plan on running a lower amount of boost(about 8psi). The turbos seem to be the same as the T3's from turbo thunderbirds with manual transmissions. The only bad thing about the Z31 turbos is they have an odd downpipe flange and so I will have to modify the existing ones to work instead of buying flanges. Anyways, just thought I would share some info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8_DatZun Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 thanks for the info.. im just wanting info... lol want to ride on the engine i JUST built for a while.. havent even got to drive IT yet.. but if i'd known all this i DEFINATLY would have got some forged pistons..may be in the near future when i get more power hungry know the thrill of new speed doesnt last long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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