Basically my story is probably very similar to many out there... Started building a car, economy took a dump, ran out of job, ran out of money, had to temporarily move out of state for a couple years for work, and the project never got done. Everything is finished on the car but the drive train. The car has been together for a few years and running, but it was with borrowed drive train to make it to places like the Mopar Nats and Woodward dream cruise. Since then, I have moved back home, got a new job, bought a house and am starting to plan my drive train build.

I'm not new to turbos by any means, I've been on the diesel pick-up scene for over a decade, but the turbo gasoline world is a little new. Basically what I am looking to do is a 451 stroker (400 w/440 crank), Indy SR heads (I acquired about five years ago), the Indy B block intake with 4150 flange, blow thru, MSD digi 7, MSD distributor, A1000 pump and boost reference regulator. I am planning on using a BW S480 with 1.32 a/r, water-air intercooler with heat exchanger. For the trans I am planning on a 727 auto with all the bells and whistles and possibly a trans brake.
The body, interior, cage, triangulated 4-link, and entire chassis are already done. The only bad part is, this drive train build isn't going to start for quite a while. Next year a new garage is going to be build out back. After that is all wrapped up, then I can start back on the car and have a nice place to work.

I know I'm going to have a lot of questions along the way, so while I'm still in the planning stages, I figured I could start a build thread to get me going and thinking.

Here are some pictures of the car with the temp N/A motor in it from a few years ago.

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I don't usually say this phrase but it came to mind for some odd reason: that shit is pimp.

That is a clean fucking car. Can't wait to see you start throwing some piping and turbos in there.

 

Haha, thanks. I started building it when I was 24, I'm 29 now. It has been far too long for it not to be completed. I built the car in my old man's shop. He did the laser straight body and paint. I did the whole rest of the car with the help of my wife (girlfriend at the time) on the interior. I did the whole cage myself from scratch. It was the first one I ever did 100%. I even made the hood scoop. I'm kinda regreting that now... at the time I wasn't going turbo. Going turbo now, I wish it was a flat stock hood or a cowl scoop. I still have the original steel flat hood with the two little fake scoops. I may have to paint that and put it on. I was also considering keeping the hood it has, but fill in the huge scoop opening with clear lexan so it still has the look, but not acting as a huge front mount parachute.

 

that's a beautiful car. Welcome to the drug called boost. There is mo rehab for it once you get the taste in you its permanent.

 

Oh believe me, I'm already an addict. Like I said earlier, I've been into diesel trucks for over a decade, My cummins tow rig pushes 50psi.

I think what my goal is for this car will be pump gas and close to 1000hp at the motor. I was wanting to do the 451, but now I'm considering stock stroke. Which would make it 400 cid. I know this question gets asked all the time, but does anyone think that my hp goal can be achieved with either of these cubes with a BW S480?

 

You did a nice job. I know what its like to not have a car "finished." I have had my torn apart since I was 20, I'm 25 now and I know it won't be at least another 2 years. makes me depressed sometimes. I vote for the stock hood . I like the scoop thats on there but it definitely won't be needed anymore.


I'm going to go out on a limb and just guess that the turbo will reach the 1000hp mark with that 400ci motor. -

 

I don't see why you couldn't make that power. I'm in the middle of a bbm build myself

 

I think a 400 with SRs is going to find the limit of a S480 real soon, nevermind a 451. Our buddy Mike hit the wall with an S480 and a lil old 331" with a hyd. cam, and had to go with an 88mm wheel. I think I'd start with a larger frame turbo than that, if for no other reason than to allocate space and get the bracing sorted out. BWs are a lot smaller and lighter than the more "conventional" large frame stuff on the market.

Don Bailey once recommended a 106 for a 451. Even he said it sounded a little crazy, but that it would work. FWIW.

Btw, BITCHING car. Here's a vote for stock hood, too.

 

That is a very nice car, I vote for the stock hood also, makes it look like a true muscle car.

 

P.S. Do twins unless you're doing a 5" dump in front of your tires. You'll be able to get man-sized DPs out of the engine bay a lot easier. Early Bs + SR's are tight - I know first hand!!!

 

so are a bodys are tough to get anything out of there. I can run a 4" though I think under the pass side of the engine between the block and torsion bar. That's my route at least.

 

4" /= man sized, hahahahaha. Check out how Nigel did his on his "pedestrian" 850 RWHP build. He got a 5" out of an E-body by the grace of god with a stock K-frame and an RB. Similar to what you're describing. E bodies have pretty decent room though......

 

o may be able to run a 5". I've yet to place the engine in to find out yet.

 

What an absolutely gorgeous car. Kudos for putting that thing together borrowed driveline or not. You've got some pretty serious pieces picked out for the motor. I just hope someone other than Indy ported those heads. I think you need to skip the s4xx and go to the s500 series units. There's a 91.5 and a 95 mm compressor wheel in those. The 91mm would make your goal very very easily. The S488 probably would too, but I'm not a big fan of beating a turbo to death, so I'll suggest moving up a size before most others will. I suggest staying with a 400 setup. Those heads, nice mild 8.75:1 compression should be capable of making 1.3 hp per cube n/a with a good turbo cam. That's 520. Put 12-14 psi on that and you would have your 1k hp. With an a/w and aluminum heads I think that could be done on pump gas easily. 451 would make so much more torque I dunno that you could ever use it, even thou the car is 4 linked. My vote is to keep the hood on it now, just rework it. Depending on where you put the turbo, I'd plumb some aluminum tubing between the motor and rad to feed the compressor inlet. Put a bellmouth on it with some foam around the edge to make it seal to the hood, cut the hole out and have the turbo draw air in from that scoop. Build the wall behind it maybe to hide the bonnet if it gets too tall.

 

Thanks for all the compliments guys. In the pictures I posted, that was actually before it had the triangulated 4-link in it. The car actually sits lower now. I think it looks a lot better now. Thanks for the suggestion on the S500 turbo. I was wondering myself if the S480 would be enough. I don't like beating a turbo to death either. I see a lot of guys running the S480's on a little less cubes than I was looking at having. Especially with the 451. I also noticed that a lot of people are running twin MP T76's at these hp levels. I need to get myself more in tune with reading compressor maps... I'd probably beable to answer a lot of my own questions... haha. I know that the twins would be more expensive, but if I can package them easier, and do less fabbing on the car that is already painted, it may be worth it. Does anyone have any suggestions for what would be a pretty good match for twins?

 

Oops, I meant to say T70's, not T76's in my last post.

 

Sweet car man!
Can't wait to see this build.
What rims are you running?

Greg

 

The rims are American Racing Pro Series. I bought them when they FIRST came out probably about four years ago now. They are 4.5" on front and 8" on the rear. The car has a 29x11.50 tire on the rear. Will probably run a 275 drag radial on the street. I didn't want to go that small, but I also didn't want to cut the car all up...

 

If you wanna run twins it's hard to beat the MP units price. People are finding that they work very well on a very wide range of combinations. If you go 400 inches I'd say use the 70's if you go 451, you could TRY the 70's, but I think you'd end up maxing them out pretty quickly. You have a serious chassis and suspension, you'll end up going faster quicker than those of us who spent the money on the motor first. The 76's would prolly be a better fit on the bigger inches.

 

"street car" strip, or bit of everything?