Here are some notes and pictures of my 1955 BelAir I just finished. I have had the car for eighteen years and wanted to do something different with it. It has a 283 engine, turbo 350 trans, 12 bolt 3.08 posi, air conditioning, cruise control, and front disc brakes. The goal was not to cut or move anything on the car for the turbo installation. I accomplished that with '˜the exception of about six 1/4" holes I had to drill to mount brackets. For research I started out with the book 'Maximum boost' by Corky Bell then later discovered this site. Both were great sources of information. This was also my first welding project. Turned out to be lots of fun. It starts to boost instantly and is at full boost (7psi for now) at just under 3000 RPM. Cruising on the highway at 2500rpm it shows 1psi of boost. It ran very lean during acceleration until I added the vent tube extensions shown in the pictures. Was 16:1 before, 12.5:1 after.


Turbonetics T62, Q trim .96 tangential Vband Turbo,
Self modified, per instructions on this site, Ebay 600 DP, 68pri / 77sec jets.
Tial BOV 9psi spring, VS racing
Extreme Velocity hat, Superior Airflow Technologies
Turbosmart 38mm waste gate, Fast-Turbo.com
Turbo blanket, VS racing
Silicone connectors, clamps, fittings, mandrel bends, Race Part Solutions
Walbro 255 LPH fuel pump, Cyberauto
Aeromotive 13301 regulator, -8 feed, -10 return line, Summit Racing

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more pictures;

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Very Clean and Very nice setup!!! I bet its a helluva street car

EDIT I bet it runs real good for a 283!!!

 

Thanks, only had it running for a few days, but it's running real good now after working out a few bugs. Driveablility is much better then when it was NA. No backfires, stumbles etc.. Trying not to push it to hard before winter, so I don't have to fix anything during the cold weather. Next spring I will see what she can do!

 

Nice work. Looks great. Thanks for posting the pics. Keep us posted on how she runs!

 

Those exhaust manifolds are very interesting, They may work on a chevelle project i am thinking of. What can you tell us about those?

 

thats a beautiful old chevy. funny how those colors won't fly on todays cars. nice build

 

I got the one with the turbo mount off ebay for about $100. Looks like a nice casitng. I have seen others like it since then on Ebay, so you might want watch for them there. They appear to be a very well made casting. They had holes drilled and tapped for AIR injection that I blocked off with pipe plugs. They sealed up real nice with OEM type metal composition exhaust gaskets from NAPA (Fel-Pro # MS 9275B).
The inlet on the bottom for the cross over is 2". The driver side is just the standard "Rams Horn" with 2" outl let. You can get them at any swap meet for about $10. I made the adapter form the manifold to the turbo from 2 1/2" schedule 80 (.276 in thick) weld el from Mcmaster Carr (4981T17) and 1/2 thick flanges. Here are smoe more pic's.

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Nice to see that you let your daughter help you work on the car!!! Most guys wont let there kids in the shop!!! If thats your wife you need to show the lovely lady this post to score some points looks great keep up the good work

 

Yeh thats real nice. My 12 yr old sone helps me all the time on the chevelle.

 

Thanks for the kind words. It been a fun project. That's my daughter (15), her and my boy (13) do get to help evey so often. I try to discourage them from going in the shop when i'm not there! Can't wait to get it out this spring and do some more tunning, then to the strip!

 

This is vwdave, and I approve that setup.

 

Gorgeous car and a very cool setup!

 

Thanks!

 

55,

What a nice car.

wtat,

I believe that 55's manifold is from a Martin kit, as some of those mounted the turbo at an angle [shaft not 90* from crank]. See link for one in the classifieds here. I've been trying to talk myself into buying it for G-P, but maybe you can use it. Btw, seller lists it as a Martin, but it's from an R-V kit. Not that it matters to your purpose.

https://www.theturboforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=94531.0

Dave

 

Very nice...that's what I want!