Looks real nice. Well done.

 

Clean set up hope she runs good for you.

 

Hi, just read your story !
Really nice build but there was no real end on this story, did your turbo 383 do any good power ?

Any 1/8 time ?
( have a similar build but w holley tbs )

 

I've been driving the car for a few summers now but haven't put too many miles on it and haven't done any trips to the track. It took an entire summer to sort out an overheating problem, but it stays cool now after a huge cooling system upgrade. I'm still not positive that I didn't just band-aid some underlying issue, but it does stay cool!

I have no intercooler and haven't installed the meth kit yet so IATs are pretty high... like cruising at 140F and goes up quickly from there when into the boost.

I've limited it to around 7 psi so far and I'd say that it's making only OK power. I am planning to turn it up a bit this upcoming spring and see what it does.

Any pics or thread of your build?

 

Having a shroud for you radiator fan, and sealing the front areas around the radiator so its pulling the most air from the outside/grill will go a long way.. Otherwise its not creating the proper suction or pull through the radiator.

 

Yeah, it had a factory clutch fan, and I added a shroud. I moved to a Volvo electric fan and a custom-made shroud, then a Spal fan on same shroud. These all would creep up in temps. The solution (for me) was to upgrade to a larger radiator (from a 22" to a 26") and put a giant Mercedes PWM electric fan (like 40 amps on full) and shroud on. This keeps it cool under every condition so far including 40*C temps on a mountain pass.

 

Ok, nice to hear that it ran !
but w/o trying to be a doctor ,my 2 cents would be checking the ign advance at cruise !
My experience is that to low ign is 40% of all overheating problems
40- ich degrees on cruise is what I would aim for.
All my heat wraping actially made my under hood heat lower than stock w stock raiator new fan clutch and std shroud.

I have my build first on a virgin -66 383 to try out the injection and turbo syst, and now have it rebuilt w 440 source heads cam and forged internals, also a new stronger trans .

Have only pics of before taking it apart.. #ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad

 

Very cool! Have you driven it much? Any dyno or track times?

I used the same "low perf" manifolds on my build too, and your crossover pipe looks nearly identical to mine.

I prefer your wastegate to downpipe routing to what I did. Mine comes in on the bottom of the downpipe into a v-band and it's an absolute pain to hook up.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to diagnose my heat issues... I have the fuel injection system controlling ignition via 8 LS coils. Its cruising at 37*. I ran it NA for 20 years with no heating issues, including 5 or 6 years with the fuel injection and ignition stuff done. I would swear it's a head gasket or a crack somewhere, but all tests I try don't point to that. Temp creeps up at idle, in town, cruising on highway. Again, the new cooling system keeps it cool now, but I would prefer if it didn't need such an overkill fan setup and the load it puts on the electrical system.

#ad
#ad

 

I only drove the car for about 1 and a half week that way, enough to keep my interest on a nearly top
-much needed cuz the coming rebuild of the entire drive line,
Have seen to many big dream projects hwo never went finished, w alot of new parts on sale for cheap, including myself.
I think it's the whisteling turbo and some easily made tire smoke that sometimes keeps most people motivated . (at least me)

Had the Holley dealer on a daily tune upgrade that week.
learned alot from being a carb'n points distributer super conservative guy.
I can hear you know your ign and inj system!!
Could be a crack showing gap only when hot and running ?
I did once visit a" car tec'n tools show "
There was a guy demoing a "leak locator" it was a colored smoke made from a generator , pumped into a plugged and pressurised intake system and also possible to run in a empty cooling system, then a UV-flashlight to detect the smallest crack or leak.
Seemed to work, but probably the most expensive and serius way to go..

Did you have any video clip on yours running ?

 

Here are a couple of older clips of it when I first got it running. Nothing exciting here but making some nice noises!

 

Really nice sound!!
I see you got some flex pipe between the crossover peace, that's probably not a bad idea when heat makes it longer .
I will probably notice down the road if it will leak when boosting it harder..

The stock log manifolds is of course real race stuff if not going into 4 digit
and watching mr Holdener making great numbers w stock manifolds is good to know when trying to pack things tight together.

Curious about your cam choice.
Did you end up geting the right one?
Running good on low rpm and spooling the snail?

 

I went with the custom Crower 226/222 on 114 LSA hydraulic FT... I kind of wish I'd gone with a solid FT (mostly because I had been running a solid for the last 15 years), but it does spool very quickly and starts making boost down low. It's very mild when off boost. I haven't checked backpressure yet, which I suppose that I should.

What cam are you running?

 

Oh, that first run was on the stock cam but for the new enging it will be a hydraulic ft
from Howard .
A guy named Luke recomended this cam and he seemed to know his stuff.
Lift: .518 / .543, Duration @ .050: 224 / 234, Centerline: 108, LSA 112
Want a low set revstop and this one should stop pulling in the low to mid 5k and also have good vacuum .
w stainless steel rockers 1,5 ratio.
Now my head porter guy told me that i should get the 1,6 ones on the intake to make it work, so it looks like I have to buy one more rocker kit and rob the 8 rockers from there.
It's the PRW pqx ones that you have to buy in a full kit I'm afraid...

I will use the Felpro 1009 steelring head gaskets to seal mine, but did you use the std headgaskets ?
Was just thinking on your old heatissue..

 

Sounds like a good one! We put a very similar sized Crower cam in my dads NA 440 a few years ago and it is absolutely awesome in there! I’ll be curious to see how it goes for you.

Is your hot side 2”?

I went with Cometic MLS head gaskets. My plan has been similar to yours in that I want to build a fresh engine after sorting everything out, but used the 383 that I already had been running forever and has good parts on it. I went with Cometics because you can get them thicker than typical to drop compression without new pistons (and the subsequent work required for that). This is part of why I suspected a blown head gasket since I didn’t prep for the Cometics other than copper spray. Anyway, it’s all working good enough, so I’m delaying the new build.

 

Ok, yeah my hotside is 2,25 inch.
I think 2" is all good enough to meet your goals, ( at least my goals) having "no restrictions" on the turbo outlet is probably the moore importent part on the tube sizing.
About your head gaskets , I was also on that trail of yours using the cometics but got a little lazy cuz the extra prep you mentioned.
Anyway, it's not a "1 time use" gasket from what can be read , unlike like my choice..

I have almost the same cam as you in my NewYorker -68 440" otherwise stock except a little portwork in the intake, heads and logs w. blocked heat crossover.
Retarded 4°
Works surprisingly good, this is my "cruise night "car I pull around with my friends.
I 'm looking forward to see your future 383 build ..
You should get some video clips next summer from inside when making some pulls!!


Don't want to steal your thread , so maybe I just put a new build thread on my project..

 

Don't worry about stealing my thread... this thread was dead for a few years. I've been wanting to make my own build thread too, but somehow can never find the time to actually do it.

You should do up a build thread though, I would like to see your progress also. How far away is your 383 from being finished?

A question about your intercooler... did you have to cut holes for your cold-side pipes to get to and from the intercooler?

 

Maybe I will do the build thread in the near future then..

I have the in and outlet pipes cut up in the lowest place possible to make it enter under the battery and over the steering.
Add some pictures, hope this helps.

My engine now lives in 3 different homes.
My heads is probably ready by this weekend, got them ported and flow tested.
At first it was ment just to be a small pocketport job , but instead turned in to a little fullport w backcut valves and mira-cut seats with new angles on valves .
Advertised flow @0,6 lift i think was like 295cfm on their chart, but fearly unrealistic like most aftermarket heads.

Flowed 241cfm @0,500" lift out of box and after hit with Mr.Cox 271cfm@0,500" lift on the intake on a random port.
That should help to get a little better N/A hp to start with.
Also had to nock down(up) a seat that was not in the bottom position.
out of the box = out of the question..

Waiting to get my block bored and honed to 4,31"w plate and ARP studs. linehoned w ARP mainstuds and sqared up decks , getting the crank ground down 010" on both .
Then have to turn the shortblock w,the new cam and some clay on those Chevy BB pistons to determine the possible need of valve releafs.
I got the 440 long rods( h -profile) and I foud the cbb 496cui pistons to fit the deck close enough .
Then I have to go back and balance everything.

- So now I'm just waiting on everything to get finished at the shops while getting some old leaky heater core fixed along with other heater related issues .
Just got the engine bay painted a month ago , having lots of parts to detail , little by little almost every day after work is getting the fullsize rocket closer to finish every week.

My hope is to get it running by late winter and get some roadtime this summer..

How about your plan to water/ meth inject or air to water intercool?
I read about your plans way back, haha.. now you are thinking in the right direction , air to air intercooler is great and won't give you anything but the extra hoses,pipes and cooler to fit.
Fairly cheap too.

Ok, I moved my condenser to make it fit so now I have to custom fit two condensers in a serie somewhere under the front so I will have a little extra headache ..

#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad
#ad

 

Got some newer pics....
This core is 12 x 28 x 3" core including shortsides ,whithout mesuring the in and outlets .
In and out = 3"

#ad


#ad


#ad


#ad


#ad


#ad


#ad

 

I know this isn't a restoration forum, but my big problem with adding an air/air intercooler is that it is a 1969 Super Bee and I have so far avoided making any un-reversible modifications to the body. I just can't bring myself to cut the radiator support.

I found a brand-new Snow water/meth kit at a swap meet for almost nothing, so I have had that kit sitting in my garage staring at me for a few years now asking me why I don't just install it and see what it does.

I think that an air/water intercooler would be the way to go, but I have run out of room under the hood to put more stuff... thinking I might put the battery in the trunk and use that space for the A/W intercooler.

Thanks for posting all of your pics! Do you happen to be in Quebec? I'm in BC

 

Ohh thanks , I was just smiling inside when I read your post...
If I plan to go anywhere near your home town , I promise to keep in touch..
I'm in Sweden (south)