I've been on this site mostly lurking for years going back to the old site. I've always received alot of help from you guys either from answering my questions or just from learning from experiences that others have posted about. I've mentioned what I've been working on in a few threads but just got around to completing alot of work and got some time to take some pics. The setup is an internally stock (for now) LQ9 engine w/ a GT42 turbo setup mated to a 4L80E trans. Take a look:




The piping is kinda close to the alternator so heat may be an issue but I'll probably thermal coat or wrap to help this out. It's just tacked up for now, need to find someone to tig weld everything so it looks nice (my welding skills suck but getting better). Need to add wastegate, intercooler and piping and a few (many) other things and hopefully well be running in a few months.

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestion?

MadMax

Awesome Setup, Not alot of room but it looks very nice. Alot of Fab work in that.

Boosted

It looks like a tight fit. Looks good. The passenger side plugs should be a real pleasure to change.

I have a 69 Chevelle that's going to get a LS1. Did you have any problems with the motor mounts or body clearance for the engine/trans? How much room is there between the motor and the steering box? Any clearance problems with the steering column? It looks like you have the AC compressor in there, did you have to notch the frame? Have you figured out the exhaust yet? Is that a Vette motor or did you get different accessory brackets? Do you have any pictures of the engine bay before the turbo was installed? Pardon the 20 questions but I haven't found anyone who's actually done this on a Chevelle.

Thanks,
Bill

I am having flashbacks! glad to see i am not alone in some things i do.

i remember when i set up my twins on my 71! looks good, that will deffinately make the front tires float!
if you were closer, i would offer my services to get those welded up. check around the welding shops in your area and look at some of the welds from different people before you choose who you want to do it.
as far as the setup, it would be best to do thermal coatings and also wrap the pipes into and out of the turbo. you could also make a heat shield for the alternator, looks like there is plenty of room for one. a small piece of stainless would look good, bend it to form around with about half inch or better gap - should be good to go.
i would be interested in some more pics and specs, also offer any help that i may be able to provide.

kinda makes me want to set mine back up............one project at a time

mounted to the engine or what? That engine is going to be pulling some serious torque, so I'd suggest a couple more of those flex pipes. If the turbo is hard mounted to the engine you can move the one you have to the exhaust pipe leaving the turbo, if it is mounted to the frame you are going to need another one added to the driver side manifold to keep from popping a line as well as the turbo to intake inlet, paying attention on placement to what direction the engine is going to torque vs the pipe direction from the piece not mounted to the engine. I'd also agree about getting the whole works, including the exhaust manifolds, ceramic coated. Heat is going to be a major underhood problem with that setup and everything you can do to keep the heat out of there. Heat won't be a problem for just power production, but for any rubber pieces under there. I noticed the driver side line goes pretty close to the brake vacuum booster, for example, which has a very large, flat piece of rubber inside that has to move a lot. Also look at replacing any vacuum lines with metal lines, with rubber connectors at the tips. Use silicon instead of rubber at any place you can, and make sure to use silicon spark plug wires. Looks like the upper radiator hose will be right over the turbo as well, I'd suggest getting an extension welded to that that will move the rubber part away from the turbo as it'll cook the line in short order. Perhaps you can put a 90 degree to the passenger side that takes it to the flex line, and put another 90 on at that point, then use one of the metal flex radiator hoses to go from the new outlet to the engine.

As tight as that is, what do you plan to do for the cooling fan? Looks like a crank driven fan is going to be impossible to fit, even looks like an electric won't work well unless you do a less efficient pusher fan from the front. If you do a pusher, you'll have to make sure the space between the fan, AC condenser and radiator is absolutely sealed.

good catch speeder, not many people would even question the flex pipe. not sure if this was his intention, but as i know it, when you have this type of crossover single turbo setup, the flex pipe is used for any expansion. you have an aluminum block, cast iron manifolds, and steel pipe which will all expand differently. even if the turbo is mounted solid to the motor, if that flex pipe is not there, you could end up blowing gaskets or breaking welds.
good point on replacing the lines with steel, i prefer stainless.
packaging does look a bit tight, thats why i was a little curious to see what the plan is for the other components.

Hey Bill, about the swap:
The engine and trans fit without much massaging of the trans tunnel. You have to use a F-body pan which I’m sure you know already. The motor mounts are the stock ones using a Trans Dapt adapter plate to mount to the gen III block. The frame mounts are the stock ones moved toward the rear so that the oil pan clears the cross member. I welded the frame mounts to the frame and drilled new bolt holes to run bolts as well. I couldn’t find a way to put the engine and trans in the car at the same time from the front w/o having to cut the trans tunnel. Instead I installed the engine first and then mated the trans to it from under the car. The 4L80 isn’t really bigger than a th400, just longer so I had to cut the mount off the trans cross member and weld it on the other side. There is only about ¼ in between the pwr steering pulley and steering box. The is a little more between the engine and the firewall. There wouldn’t have been any steering column/shaft issues if I was running the exhaust manifolds the right direction but since they’re flipped I had to run a borgenson steering coupler instead of the stock one. The frame is notched for the a/c compressor, which I did not want to do but there wasn’t any other way around this with the turbo setup with the manifolds flipped forward and up. The exhaust is pretty much done but just need to weld some hangers to the body. The motor is from an escalade and uses the truck style accessories and brackets. I don’t have any pics w/o the turbo installed but can take some when I take all the piping apart to get things welded up.
Here’s some other pics that might help:

Oil pan clearance

Here are a couple other pics to give you an idea of the clearance between the setup and the alternator and radiator:


Here’s the car with the required w/t (white trash) primered fender:


The turbo is mounted to the alternator/power steering bracket w/ a ¼” steel bracket I made up. I was considering putting in a flex section into the diver’s side pipe but figured it wouldn’t expand too much due to it’s short length. One good thing about using stainless piping is that it likes to accept heat rather than give it off if I understand correctly, although I’m sure it will be hot under there. The driver’s side is pretty far from the brake booster, at least 7in. I’m going to use stainless flex tubing for the radiator hoses, the water pump inlet is facing a real goofy direction on the truck motors but should be able to over come this with the flex tubing. There’s room for two 12” permacool fans that flow about 2700 cfm each so I don’t think this should be an issue. I would definitely like to run a flex pipe section in the down pipe but can’t find one that is 3.5” diameter. I probably need one because that stainless is going to expand a lot in that section. As far as tight packaging, I'd compare it to Stealth's new ex-girlfriend, it's not nearly as tight in there as it looks. But when you have a 3.5" thick downpipe like I do you'll fill up that space pretty easily .

Hmm...what's that sitting in front of the radiator?

i would venture to geuss intercooler, saw it peaking earlier.

as far as heat, under load at full boost - dyno or drag - those pipes will glow, seen it on a few vehicles. pretty cool to see, but not good for engine temps.

looks good so far though, i give it 2 thumbs up!

BTW, i like those wheels - even with the primer, makes the car look great.

Thanks for all the info. I shouldn't really have a problem with the trans tunnel. I'm doing a body swap so I should have everything already in place before I put the other body on it. I should be able to raise the tunnel a little if needed. I don't want to notch the frame for the AC but I live in MD. I need AC. I've looked at other options but they cost more than I'd care to spend on that. I'll have to see how that works when I get to it.

I haven't started the project yet because my kids keep helping me spend my car money. I had to officially declare the Bank of Dad closed. If all goes well, I'll start in a couple of months. It's only been sitting a year so I'm ahead of schedule. I'll post pictures so everyone can have a good laugh at my handy work.

Bill

I've got a couple of 14 inch, 2950CFM jobs on my Tahoe. They do a great job of temp control. Had a custom shroud made for it too. Is that intercooler just sitting there or is that where you intend to mount it? Gonna be real hard to get the fans in from the looks of things if the intercooler is going to be that low.

Even if it is stainless, after you get it like you want I'd still look at a ceramic coating, it'll cut 300-400 degrees off the outside pipe temp if the advertising is to be believed, and according to everyone that does coatings it's best to have it done before it's run. If possible, get the turbo housing done as well.

On the 3.5 inch flexpipe, might check around the big rig diesel shops, they run dual 4 inch systems (maybe larger) on some the big trucks and may have a need for flex piping that large.

Glad to see that's not a super sport, I've always thought the SS Chevelles should be put back to exact factory specs. Regular Chevelles can be remade into whatever, but the true classics lose tens of thousands of dollars in value when they are changed.

and the ref takes a point away.
just kidding speeder, i too think if you have a classic to restore it, IF you can afford to. unfortunately i dont have that kind of change lying around, but that doesnt mean i am going to sell it. eventually i will restore mine, until then - its my liitle mule.

TwinTurboC15 wrote:

and the ref takes a point away.
just kidding speeder, i too think if you have a classic to restore it, IF you can afford to. unfortunately i dont have that kind of change lying around, but that doesnt mean i am going to sell it. eventually i will restore mine, until then - its my liitle mule.

Hey, it's yours, you can do what you like. That's just my way of thinking about it. Take my opinion and a buck and you can get a cup of crappy coffee, for what anybody's opinion should be worth to anyone else. I'm half owner with my mother on a 1970 Chevelle SS 396, numbers matching, which only needs paint and a couple of brake components to be 100 percent original. When she passes away sometime in the next 40 years (we're a long lived bunch) I'll inherit it. I keep telling her to get it painted, I'll fix the brakes and she can sell it, but she keeps dragging her feet. Nice as it would be to have, I'd be afraid to drive it and afraid that it would be stolen so I don't want it. I'd much rather have a non-SS.