More Photos (Edited 04/14/07)

The Grey Ghost goes Electronic!

More Photos (Edited 01/07/09)

CLICK ON ANY THUMBNAIL PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT

Hit 10.5# of Boost, but now I'm up to 12.8#

Now up to 12.87# with the new 4" mandrel bend intake pipe

This is a coarse copy of the Winpep7 printout from Apex, since I still don't have a scanner.

You can see where the converter locked up right about 5000. The cam pretty much runs out of steam at 6250 no matter what the blower is doing, as I tested it all the way to 6750rpm.

2nd run of my 2nd chassis dyno session at Apex

Too bad Apex closed as they were nice guys over there, for a Mustang shop!

Good Rear Quarter Shot

Fuel Cell is now black where it shows. The Black smudge is exhaust from the rich start tune.

The front sheetmetal obviously still needs to be aligned, and the front spoiler (El Camino SS spoiler) is now on. The car is calico underneath; it was a $370 rolling wreck, and it is much cheaper here to get an excellent fender or door and stick it on there than it is to pay for bodywork on a old, dented one. My front spoiler is from the OEM spoiler material and is strong but pretty flexible, like urethane. Sort of a natural cream color. You can use your body color paint, in most cases, with a flex additive, to paint it. Mine will need to be stripped before painting again.

4 big cans of primer gray, and 1 of primer dark gray, and I have a new paint job in 2 hours. Fenders are $25, doors $30, clean bumpers maybe $20.

I built this motor from a bare GMPP 4-Bolt Block

I ported the heads and then had Bob Gromm Heads do a 5-angle valve job

Custom Inlet Adapter for Vortech Blower & Bypass

Braided line on right is blower vent line; Braided cable on lower left is engine & Vortech ground.

A Jan/04 Shot of The New Motor

All-forged 383, Holley 950 Pro Fuel Injection, Vortech V2 Supercharger, Bell Intercooler

Starting the layout. Lots of elements in place.

Still a lot of unknowns, though.

Old Flex Hose Setup

It does not like to have things rubbing - the wire eventaully wears through the casing

NEW: Current Engine Shot 051408 w/new air intake

I am currently designing a mount for the coolant tank, low right, shown temporarily mounted.

NEW: Last pictures of 383 setup

New Wilwood Master Cylinder, Canton Racing coolant tank (temporarily mounted). Designing new mount.

Getting there...

More alignment and cosmetic work needed.

New: FelPro Vortec Gasket w/Metal Core

This should hold up under boost a lot better than the fiber one I used before.

New: Ported Holley Vortec-style Single Plane EFI

The holley injector bosses were really big and used a lot of space.

Intake Ports, after spray w/carb cleaner 091207

The intake ports looked way better than the manifold, because the ports get rinsed by gas.

Top End Inspection 100207

Other than the non-metal core Fel-Pro intake gaskets shown above, it looked pretty clean

New Pulley Routing & Drive Layout

I added an idler pulley to the circuit before the blower to get better belt control and increase the belt wrap.

I also beadblasted this 2.95 Vortech pulley - made it a little rough - then had it hard anodized for long wear. A little more aggressive than Vortech's 'Hi-Traction' pulleys.

Lastly, I designed a reinforcement for the tensioner wheel mount, to stop it deflecting under tension. The reinforcement takes the strain off the post and lets me run a much higher belt tension.

New Pulley Routing & Tensioning 090107

I added an idler wheel before the blower pulley for more wrap/better control. 11.7# on T-trim now!

NEW: Current undershot shot

GW Billet Hubs, Baer Trackers, Canton Pan, Deep Hughes Tranny Pan, 13

I am replacing the air filter adapter from the current (cheesy) PVC drain to a more aerodynamic billet aluminum adapter, shown below. The adapter (below) now has mounting holes and final grooving. It now needs anodizing. I am hoping this flows enough extra air to get maybe another .5 or 1 pound of boost - up to 9lbs. seen at the motor after the throttle plates. I am currently seeing a peak of 8 lbs. after the throttle and Bell FMIC, with an average peak of about 7.2lbs.

2 Pieces Welded, Turned, Shaped & Blasted at Tom's

I did the rough shaping with the lathe and the fine shaping with sanding rolls in a die grinder.

DONE: Inlet for Air Filter

I machined some square-edged grooves on the 1st inch of the body to help retain the 10" K&N Can.

NEW: Finally the big K&N Can appeared...

I hope that this intake lowers the restriction and ups the boost!

NEW: The adapter fits perfectly!

I designed the adapter to extend far enough into the filter to get unobstructed air. Perfect!

The K&N is directly in front of the wheel

Next I'll consider making a cover for the air filter to deal with unexpected rain.

Tom in his Complete Shop

Tom runs a fully equipped, very friendly shop: Welding, Machining, Assembly, etc. Reasonable $ too!

Good Front Shot

Cool Cruise with the local Turbo Buick Club

14 Turbo Buicks and 1 Malibu 4DR

Finally had something useful for the unused TV Cable Bracket above - used it and a couple tiewraps (not shown) to route and secure this new breather line.

NEW: Crankcase Breather Tank Installed

The lines will be tiewrapped together for a stretch, then routed as cleanly as possible.

Crankcase Breather Photo (Topside)

2 Valve Cover Breathers, 2 Valve Cover Breathers to Catch Can, 1 -8 Crankcase Breather to Oil Pan

Custom Canton Oil Pan w/2 Extra 1/2" NPT Bungs

One used for Vortech Oil Return, One for Crankcase Pressure Evac

When I was building the motor, I added a 'short fill' of HardBlok Block Stiffener to the GMPP 4-bolt block. I also put the motor together with an all-forged (6" H-beam rods, 4340 Eagle Crank, JE dished pistons) kit from Speed-O-Motive, and used ARP main studs, head studs and hardware throughout. A 7.25" Fluidampr smooths and adds reliability. All balanced at 6200RPM.

Below you see the 2 NOS stage setups. The crisscross in the middle helps here, since you need some flexibility in the line to easily change jets. The Stage I purge valve will be routed up front of the FMIC to fill a IC-cooler spraybar up there. The Stage II purge will cool the inlet NOS line and solenoid, or perhaps the back of the IC.

Front of NOS System

7 solenoids total: Fuel Stage I, II and NOS Stage I, II, Safety, Purge I, Purge II (NOS-side Shown)

I figure I put every subassembly together at least 4 times before it is finally ready to use. If I rush and guess I always regret some part of it later. Measure twice, cut once and all that...

Various Parts

Custom Bell Intercooler, K&N, 4L80E X-member, Electronics Panel (950, 4L80E Controller, FJO WideO2)

I exchanged the Wilwood rotors in the above photo (still brand new) for 13" Coleman rotors via Global West Suspension, when I bought the 17" wheels.

When I needed them to get the car down on 4 wheels, he only had curved-slot versions. It's hard to see the slots when parked or moving, though. Not seen in this picture, the calipers have since been 'dumbed-down' in appearance, using some matte Black paint. Bottle Cap hubcaps will be low-key after a little dirt and brake dust...

Inside View of A/C Delete Panel & Electronics

Will be weathertight with grommets, gasket around perimeter, etc. After troubleshooting!

The custom Bell FMIC must be black for stealth, so I painted the front of the core lightly with Eastwood Radiator Black. It conducts heat and is OK for this. The tanks are Chassis Black. The core is 22" wide, 6" high and 4" deep. It has 34 down channels and is rated at 1089cfm with a max 1.5psi loss at 15lbs. (I am aiming for 1psi max loss) of boost. I need to modify the bumper and fab a plenum and duct. The blower exits straight down, under the radiator into the IC, then out the top passenger side around the side of the radiator. 3" pipe and T-clamps throughout, with Turbonetics silicon joints. I hope the hood fits without mods - it'll be close. The crossbrace (not shown) from a Pontiac GP will need mods because of the downtube from the blower.

FMIC mounted on modified rad. support

Bumper needs extensive mods to compliment FMIC

The inlet to the IC is on the rear, passenger side of the IC, also a 3". There is now flexible foam between the IC and radiatior, sealing the two coolers without having the fins rub. I have made a screened inlet and sheetmetal duct as well. I am up to about 7.5lbs. of boost at the motor, with a 7" crank pulley and a 3.125" blower pulley. I still have a 2.95" blower pulley but that will overspin the blower at over 6200rpm, so for now I will stick with this one. If I want to go much higher in boost I will have to go to a YS-trim, straight gear blower and a cogged belt drive, but they are quite loud... too loud for a sleeper. Maybe for track use only???

Notice the belts, pully mounts, pullies and brackets. The brackets and pulley mounts are, on the left side (facing the motor), all things I designed or adapted. Tom modifed the mount to handle the Vortech V-2 SQ S-Trim after I initially had it set up for a different blower. He also added a 3rd plane of reinforcement to the bracket (in black here, beneath the Vortech pulley in the pix), further stiffening the blower mount. I then had to notch, lower and re-drill the entire thing to lower it about 3". I couldn't clear the hood without moving it down. Luckily, the geometry transposed downwards 2 3/4" without problem. I only had to make a small notch in the rear plate, and move 2 sets of holes in the plate.

Then I designed a blower input flange to adapt a 4" hose smoothly to a 3 1/2" blower inlet; with a smooth transition into the blower, and with the bypass dumping directly down into the blower adapter.

The normal accessory pullies are Dayco 1-bearing (6-rib and smooth), GM (power steering pump/pulley, alternator/pulley) and Edelbrock (Water Pump). The wide blower-idler pulley is a Dayco HD Diesel Dual-Bearing. The Vortech 3.125" pulley and ASP 7" crank pulley give me a blower redline around the 6400 range, just when the cam is starting to run out of steam.

New: Intake Piping Welded

Still needs final filing. I chose a matte grey ceramic coat. Temp inlet ducting shown.

New: Intake Adapter for Vortech V2 S-Trim Fabbed

I had to design a 17 degree angle into the intake adapter to clear the valve cover.

DONE: At this point, the Intake Adapter is done and on. The entire piece is ready to be black anodized. I modified the blower end of the intake adapter to clamp on instead of using an epoxy, due to service considerations (the blower would be much harder to remove with the adapter permanently attached). It's a nice, tight clamp sealed with an O-ring.

NEW: Vortech Intake Adapter - Fab Complete

At some point I will anodize this piece black.

DONE: I am hand-finishing the intake pipes, mostly with a coarse assortment of files. Tom will finish-weld or finish-fill (with brass) the depressions that show up after finishing the initial welding, then I will again file down until everything is smooth, then sand the entire outside to remove file marks and the rest of the aluminum coating (for more consistent coating). The goal here is to get the intake pipe smooth enough to look like one piece. I think I will get to about 90% success here.

NEW: I have decided to get the pieces Ceramic-coated, but matte Grey.

Intake Plumbing, Detail 2

I hope all the prep work pays off.

A lot of hand filing and flapper-wheel sanding went into prepping each stage of these pipes. Whenever I found a void or depression, I would mark it up for filling by Tom. We went through 5 rounds of this as there were some stubborn spots that concealed voids. They are hidden when you are actually brazing because of the flux. I used a small, air-powered disc sander for the initial smoothing, then a coarse file for levelling, then a flapper wheel to finish sand.

New: Pre-Coating Closeup of Intake Plumbing

Probably 40 hours of work into this part alone, to make it right. Very visible part.

External Oiling System

The Internal Stuff: Canton 5-trapdoor RR pan, Diamond Windage Tray, Crank Scraper, Canton Pump

Oiling System Block Diagram

I do these to get it all straight in my mind.

The 383 mated to the Hughes 4L80E

The tranny was built for 900ft/lb of torque

NEW: Tranny Linkage Mods

Rod and Bracket were both legthened and painted after welding.

Hughes 4L80E with G-Body Notes

With Hughes 2500-stall lockup converter, Hughes Deep Sump Pan (not shown here)

Tranny Wiring Harness & Computer

I got this from GMPP via Sallee Chevrolet. They get them from TCI Transmissions. Software is T-Com

But first, I upgraded the suspension and brakes to handle the planned power: 725 Crank HP w/9lbs. boost and w/o Nitrous, with a dual-stage NOS kit offering an additional, programmable and progressive nitrous rate of up to 350HP (150 Stage I; 200 Stage II). I will never use this much nitrous. More like 50-100 Stage I, 50-100 Stage II.

New: Wolfe UCA, GW LCA, Herb Adam's 1.5, 3" dual

Updated: Moser Pro 12-bolt, 3.73, Eaton posi, Wilwood 4-piston 12.2" vented rotors,

Rear - Ready to Install

Wolfe Racing UCA on Modified Moser Pro Housing, 3.73 Moser gears, Eaton Posi

Front Susp, AFCO springs & weight jacker, Bilstein

A Herb Adam's 1.25 SB, Baer Trackers, Hotchkis UCA, Polygraphite bushings

Front Brakes, hub and spindle

13"X1.25" 6-piston Wilwoods on Global West billet hubs on modified B-body, powder-coated spindle

Rear Brakes Installed

Trunk Shot

Nitrous tanks, rear-mount battery, fuel cell & pump, nitrous fuel cell

On the right side above you see the 3-gallon fuel cell for the NOS stages. It feeds the pump below and goes to a Mallory Bypass Regulator you can see on the passenger side of the engine. This fuel pump also runs straight off the Excide battery above it via a solenoid, and has an Earl's -8AN filter right before it. The entire system is -8AN except the return line, which is -6. The small fuel cell shown above still needs its looped, -8 vent line and external K&N filter put in. The large cell is complete and grounded. The cells both have tipover safety check valves and are foam filled. Since I have no cats(offroad only), I can run C16 for the NOS - FJO Racing says the WB O2 sensor will be OK with moderate leaded use. I need to finish fabricating the holdown bracket for the little cell.

New: Fuel Pump & Filter for NOS System

It's a 250lph Holley run straight from the battery via solenoid.

I had to do this to keep everything straight!

From pure chaos....

Spaghetti!

To pure stealth...

Still have to wire the nitrous, so everything is tucked up in there temporarily.

The J&S Safeguard Knock Computer Installed

The Vacuum Hose will connect to Manifold Vacuum/Pressure

The J&S Safeguard Knock Computer (above) on the lower right will be covered by the original plastic kick panel that covered the (long gone) cheesy 1981 GM computer that sat there...

Main Plumbing & Wiring under Pass. Door

A little more tidying but basically done...

Just put on the HRPartsNstuff Lower Control Arm Front Braces. I just got access to a Lincoln MIG welder and am learning how to use it. I am obviously not a welder by trade, but the Lincoln makes it pretty easy to get strong (if not beautiful) welds. The brown stuff sprayed around is flux from the flux-cored wire, and wipes right off. These braces are quite strong, fit perfectly on the pieces they attached to, and will paint up nicely. Between those and the Hotchkis Braces, I shouldn't have to worry about launching forces messing anything up.

Thanks for letting me use the welder, Bill!

Mount each brace plate and weld them in

Do some welds on each side as you can reach

Ready to prime and paint (Chassis Black)

Not a pro job but after it's painted it will be acceptable.

Done: Complete Rear Shot

Done: Exhaust was mostly aligned & welded. Needs final mods & wrap.

This is an extreme undershot looking up - the car is up on carskates as well. The fuel cell does not hang down too much below the bumper, and should be pretty easy to conceal.

Done: The exhaust still needs final alignment and welding. After welding I will wrap the rest of the exhaust in black header wrap from the end of the collectors rearward. I will leave the tailpipes clamped and unwrapped until I know they don't rub as the rearend goes up and down. The wrap makes the exhaust very quiet until you get on it, then the dual 3-inch pipes just wail...

Below, the exhaust system is tacked up. Any of the joints could be ground open to move a pipe, but everything is aligned here, so I don't anticipate any big problems... With the urethane engine and tranny mounts, I won't get a lot of engine movement to worry about, especially down real low on the motor.

Exhaust tacked together to mufflers...

After testing I will finalize the tailpipe placement, then finish wrapping the exhaust.

Batting and Heatshield on Pipes

Installed so far between collectors and Flowmasters. Tailpipe after test drives.

The masking tape above will crisp up quickly under heat, and cause no damage. It's just there to retain the ceramic batting until wrapped.

Exhaust w/Header Wrap & Batting

The Header Wrap always starts from the rear so there is no exposed leading edge hanging in the wind.

Hedman Huslers, 1 3/4" Primaries, 3" Collectors

After my mods: Bolt holes lowered .2" for raised exhaust port, clearanced, Jet-Hot coated

Moser Rearend Ear Trimming 1

I used 4 brand new bi-metallic blades and plenty of Triflow lube to cut each side.

Moser Rearend Ear Trim4

Both sides complete

Test Tiny Sig

Meaty

Got the rear wheel wells filled the way I like. Fronts aren't, yet.