Stage 2 TT street car

Had some time during the blizzard and found out why my drive shaft would not work, the copper bushing inside the tail housing needed massaging with 220 grit sandpaper. After sanding on it for an hour it finally slid on. The drive shaft safety loop I was using will not work with a 4" shaft so I need to make one.

I designed a bracket that bolts onto the factory rear console mount, the Kwik Shift 2 then bolts onto the bracket. Had it machined from 6061 aluminum and painted it black so its hard to see installed.
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Mike
 
Remote oil filter bracket arrived from the machine shop, it fits where the battery used to be, found a nice big driveshaft safety loop as well:
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The engine pulley system is holding me up from finishing the car, hopefully it will be completed soon.

Mike
 
Great idea! using your available real estate! I did the same thing. But I put my coolant reservoir in that same spot.

It's great to see this project of yours come together like this.

Please share with us your final choice on the accessories you plan to include on your pulley assembly. I sort-of wimped out a little. Because I did my pulley set-up first, I didn't want to take any chances not having the room I would need.

So, I only have an alternator and crank pulley. I don't really miss it much, but I guess it would have been nice to know I could have included the power steering. I also strongly considered using a vacuum pump. I was talked out of it by J. Cotton. Mostly for the sake of simplicity. However, I still wonder if it would have been the right move.

Do you plan to use one?

Too bad you won't have this thing together before R. Clarks event this spring. I would love to mind meld with you.
 
Nothing elaborate, just P/S, water pump and alternator, but they have to be tucked-in tight to the front of the engine. I wanted an expert in front accessory design to design and fabricate the system and Jones Racing is the place to go, but like most top places they are swamped. Next year I plan to add an A/C compressor to the mix but not until its running perfect. All the plumbing and final turbo position is dependent upon the location of the front accessories so I have to wait till that gear is installed to move forward. All this custom stuff can be easily duplicated, all it takes is one motivated vendor.

Mike
 
Nothing elaborate, just P/S, water pump and alternator, but they have to be tucked-in tight to the front of the engine. I wanted an expert in front accessory design to design and fabricate the system and Jones Racing is the place to go, but like most top places they are swamped. Next year I plan to add an A/C compressor to the mix but not until its running perfect. All the plumbing and final turbo position is dependent upon the location of the front accessories so I have to wait till that gear is installed to move forward. All this custom stuff can be easily duplicated, all it takes is one motivated vendor.

Mike, warning. Another long post ahead.

You may have noticed other chat on this forum about the production of twin turbo kits in the past. Mostly it is discussed among newbies. I have been asked about possibly allowing my set-up to be used as the mock-up for a vendors kit. I wonder if you will agree with my next statement.

It's impossible.

There is no way a single hard kit can be built to satisfy the desire of all the possible customer requests in its production. We all build what we want, but unless someone wants the exact same thing as you, it's difficult to design a kit that is flexible enough for general mass production. And even if they did want the same exact set-up, the amount of accessories included in the kit would normally bring the cost up so high that it would be hard for anyone to shell out with one single cost. Even if there was few nut-jobs willing to lay down a ton of money on a kit, the demand still wouldn't make it cost effective for any vendor. Sure, you could sell just a portion of the set-up as a "kit". But, then it ends up just the way it is now. "Here is what you ordered, now make the rest work yourself."

Lets not forget all the possible combinations of engines, heads, turbos, pulley accessories, exhaust, intake manifolds, throttle bodies, intercoolers.......the list goes on and on. And my particular set-up has absolutely NO flexibility built into it. I would almost certainly have to do a total redesign if I even change a single thing. I'm limited to using only the configuration of what was used during fabrication. For example, I simply cant go swapping intakes, nor can I change turbos, nor can I add power steering, or even go to vacuum brakes. Unless I want to start a whole big fabrication process again. It is what it is. And that's how it stays.

Thank God I don't plan on building on my combo.

Mike, warning. Another long post ahead.

You may have noticed other chat on this forum about the production of twin turbo kits in the past. Mostly it is discussed among newbies. I have been asked about possibly allowing my set-up to be used as the mock-up for a vendors kit. I wonder if you will agree with my next statement.

It's impossible.

There is no way a single hard kit can be built to satisfy the desire of all the possible customer requests in its production. We all build what we want, but unless someone wants the exact same thing as you, it's difficult to design a kit that is flexible enough for general mass production. And even if they did want the same exact set-up, the amount of accessories included in the kit would normally bring the cost up so high that it would be hard for anyone to shell out with one single cost. Even if there was few nut-jobs willing to lay down a ton of money on a kit, the demand still wouldn't make it cost effective for any vendor. Sure, you could sell just a portion of the set-up as a "kit". But, then it ends up just the way it is now. "Here is what you ordered, now make the rest work yourself."

Lets not forget all the possible combinations of engines, heads, turbos, pulley accessories, exhaust, intake manifolds, throttle bodies, intercoolers.......the list goes on and on. And my particular set-up has absolutely NO flexibility built into it. I would almost certainly have to do a total redesign if I even change a single thing. I'm limited to using only the configuration of what was used during fabrication. For example, I simply cant go swapping intakes, nor can I change turbos, nor can I add power steering, or even go to vacuum brakes. Unless I want to start a whole big fabrication process again. It is what it is. And that's how it stays.

Thank God I don't plan on building on my combo.
 
Put your cell phone on a selfie stick set to record a video, and just reach up under the dash from outside the car :). Or, if you have one of those video borescopes use that. Or use your GoPro, or ... I'm way to old and stiff to crawl up under dashes any more, and I needed to see what the blendoor motors looked like on my pickup truck, so I reached up in there with my cell phone and got a nice clear shot. May need to add a worklight to get enough light.
I know you recommended this a few months ago but I pulled the seat yesterday. There is only one spot on my brake pedal to connect the MC push-rod. It's on the factory pedal stub. I didn't change a thing.
 
Small update, sent out the headers to Swain for White lightning coating, Jones Racing could not design the accessory brackets, so I am doing it myself. I created a 3D CAD model of the parts and they are now being machined. I decided I cannot live without AC so I am putting in a trunk mounted unit from Vintage air, using a Sanden compressor on the pass side.

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Mike
 
Nice build I love all the custom fab work. A TH400 with a 3.50 gear is very streetable and TBH I dont think you will miss the OD much unless your worried about Hwy fuel mileage. I would also check out what Lonnie at EA has been up to with the 4L80 he has a new billet VB design that makes that trans a bolt in if you just have to have OD.

If you are going street car stick to the 70mm TB, I went 8 teens over 170 with one and 3" IC pipes and I dont think it was holding me back at all. The 90mm is much harder to tune for drive ability on the little V6

IMO on a street car I would consider ditching the PS in favor of a manual TRZ rack setup before I went to manual brakes. On my TSO car I was still running the stock PM at over 170mph lol, my brakes worked great but its a lot to trust in the shitty PM. Its tough to get manual brakes to work well with the pedal ratio on a Gbody, I am interested to see how the set you designed works out.

Here are a few pics of the custom DLS accessory drive Dan built for me for use with a distributor and belt drive. I also had a TT S2 but no PS or AC on that set up either. Just some pics for ideas.


 
Thanks for the tips Chris, seeing those engines of yours, wow those are nice. I would rather go with a 4L80 than pay for an overpriced GV unit, I'll just have to drive it for a while to see if the 3 speed TH400 bothers me. I am placing the P/S, alternator and an idler pulley on the driver's side and just the AC compressor on the pass. side. Vintage Air makes an AC bracket system for the 231 that is for the Sanden compressor. I have a Gates serpentine belt alignment laser I will use to align the pulleys but I need to calibrate it.
I also put the battery in the spare tire wheel well and am getting close to finishing the wiring, the cardboard box is a mock-up of the battery size I am going to use. The mounting system is just like another member posted, but this is temporary. Later I am going to have a shop cut out the bottom and square it so the battery can be lowered down enough in the well for me to place a sheet metal cover over the well. This will put the battery out of sight.

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Mike
 
A/C mounted and accessory mounting design process, it took a while but its now sorted out, sending it all out for powder coating:
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Kore Corvette Z51 big brake kit for AFX spindle, approx. 13.5" dia.

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Finally ready for a battery, 7 gallon water tank I have not mounted yet.

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Mike
 
3rd times the charm, since adding A/C I didn't want a frontmount taking away from the condenser. I designed a WTA intercooler to fit in front of the engine, Bell Intercoolers built it, beautiful job, excellent craftsman:

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Mike
 
Liquid intercooler/tank/pump, initial fitting, quality is outstanding, highly recommend Bell Intercoolers.

Vintage Air Evaporator/duct install:
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Mike
 
Made a flexible rubber bellows so the evaporator could be positioned properly, evap. is in, now on to the dryer & lines to the front. Best part, I didn't have to crawl around under the dash like a dog.
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