Twin Turbo '66
 

Howdy,

I just now found this racing part of the forum, and thought i would stop in and say Hi.

I just started working on my '66 that I call Lucky Sock.

Is torn down, and starting to build the goods after driving it for about 2 years as a daily, 5.7 vortec swap truck.

Will be a twin 61mm Turbo, Aluminum 5.3 LS and Th400 build. Going to be a alot of street driving, some track, and a few trips to mexico here and there for fun.

As of now, just finished up getting the LS built and done and this weekend will start getting it set in the truck and finalize position and get the trans mounted up as well. From there will start mounting turbos, piping intercooler, radiator, new fuel system and all that jazz. It should be an exciting truck.

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Right on nice build should be a fun setup, keep us up to date on it.

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Very cool.

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

I like it! (except for the part about taking that baby down to Mexico)

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

I personally don't go to Mexico, too much risk with my career.

(Mexico is slang for "acceleration contests" on "public hard surfaces.")

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Mexico Illinois, St Louis Mexico, Mexico-St.Paul MN
And thats not even leaving the midwest yet :)

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

We got the motor and trans dropped into the truck this weekend. Used new CPP perches, with Solid motor mounts bolted to Dirty Dingo Sliders. The Th400 tranny bolted to motor went in easier than expected. Its on a CPP tubular cross member with Polyurethane mount.

So shes in, and we have a whole lot room for turbo piping, especially since we are going to do a rear mounted radiator with external pump to put some weight in the back as well as clear up engine bay.

More to come!

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Looking good!

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Oooo Im in!

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Made it out to the shop today after work to work on the ol '66. First had to drill some holes for the new tranny crossmember and get that tight, then i could tighten up the perches after everything was straight.

The FTI stage 4 th400 with a brake looks pretty good sitting up under there!

Next started to pull apart the old fuel system. The line is -6 with like a 250lph pump, and that wont cut it at all for the new setup. So got it all torn out, and dropped the tank. For the tank i need to drain it, and drill a hole for a bulkhead fitting so i have the ability to drain it when i need too.

Since im running E85, and here in the midwest come winter time you cant get E85 for a few months, so need to be able to drain it and get pump gas for when i drive it during the cold.

The New system will be going in soon, a bigger in tank pump at 450lph and -8 line all the way to the fuel rails. sooner or later will upgrade to dual 450's, but single will work while we get the tune laid out and some driving time on it.

Slowly making progress on it!

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

sweet project! like the setup. what rear gears are you going to be running?

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Currently it has 4.11's with a 275/60/15 tire. Thats probably same tire i will run in slicks, or radials since they fit. But we may leave it, or may regear it for some 3.73's. Havent looked to much into yet, need to do me some research

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

With the turbos?

Anything 3.0 to 3.50 will work great, I personally love the 3.25's in my turbo truck. With boost, you don't need a deep gear at all and the high gear gets that heat in the pipes for the spool much more efficiently. Awesome build!

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

3.25's got it, i need to ask my Uncle who has LS turbo as well what his rear gear is to start out with and see. His runs well in the 9's, so would be wise to start there lol

the 4.11's we just through in there to have a little fun with the old Vortec that was in the truck when we bought it haha

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

I have done some tinkering on Lucky Sock past week or so, but mainly just wanted to show off me new parts i got. 417 Motorsports out of Missouri makes some badass parts! Owned by Blake Hughes who has an LS Turbo S10, thats won dragweek and hauls some ass. One of the nicest and most helpful genuises you could find.

I got their -8an threaded fuel rails made for my edelbrock intake, which are nice quality and were the same price as Edelbrocks fuel rails. They utilize stock length injectors which is another plus.

The big beauty is their one of a kind designed water manifold block. With the rear mounted radiator and external water pump this easily allows you to only run 2 hoses back, as it is a crossover block. As well as having (2) 1/8" ports on top to easily dump steam crossover into as well as a pressure sensor or something else. It may cost more than just some adapter plates for the block, but you actually end up saving money after not buying as many AN fittings, and hose. Plus it just looks badass so thats a plus as well haha.

More to come, the Truck should go to Chassis shop in the next month or so to get a 8.50 certified Roll Cage and maybe some other work done.

More to come!

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Quick little update and photo dumb on the Truck. Haven't made whole lot of progress as we were waiting to figure out what and who to do the roll cage. Whether we want to do it and take a little longer but save some cash. Or take it to the local chassis shop and have them do it quicker but pay a good amount more.

We ended up deciding we are going to try it out and do it ourselves. My uncle is a good fabricator and welder and has always wanted to try it and see if he has the skills to do so. So im giving him the opportunity too.

First off we knew we needed to fix the frame from previous owner where they cut out the frame and just straight destroyed the front crossmember. So we cut that out, and then started patching up the frame cut outs. As well as we are going to box the frame in that area just for some extra strength, as well as were put in a chromoly bar for the new "Crossmember".

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

While my uncle was welding up frame and working on that, i stopped at local yard store and got some 2 3/4" full aluminum round bar to make some solid cab mounts. Cut em on the horizontal band saw and finished off in the lathe so are all the same and a nice solid finish. They will help not letting the cab move at all with the roll cage.

I also was able to finally figure out the accessory drive, and find a belt that will work for it as well. Was a tad tricky finding how to mount and run everything while using an external water pump. Ended up using a tensioner from LSX Innovations that bolts to pass side head. I will clean it all up and get everything painted to finish it out.

Also attached a picture my uncle whipped up for his plan on the roll cage. He has one in his truck and knows what he does & doesn't like. So he added couple extra bars for extra safety and support. It'll cert to 8.50 and we will be good to go. I'm hoping this weekend we can get the main hoop going and start rocking on it. More to come as we build the cage in the coming months.

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Find Super73's thread on his chassis. It was well thought out and looked good. I would blow the truck apart and box the frame and really think about a 4 link. The curved rear bars need to be straight to be effective at that length. Also you will want to ad a sill bar on both sides. I would do what ever you can with this cage that will allow you to update it SFI 25.5D. Some times you dont need the cage for how fast you go but for a stiff enough chassis to handle the power you have.
Jimmy

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Thanks for the reply, and the comments on what your opinion. i'm open minded about it all and will take it into account. This is my first build so im learning and others have done it and have the knowledge and im happy they are willing to help out! I will talk to him and see what he thinks

I guess i should point out i'm not building a full blown race truck either lol yes it will see the track and the occasional race on the street. But its may purpose is to daily drive it to work and i would really like to do Rocky Mountain Race week. I guess i care more about building a fast fun truck that i still drive everyday and on 100+ mile trips. Realistically if it goes into the 9's ill be happy. I may build it more race worth later in life, but i'm doing what i can afford now being straight outta college and paying that off and buying a house haha.

Appreciate all the feedback, it all is greatly appreciated!

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

That's coming along nicely. Why in the world did the PO do that to the crossmember?

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Lol i wish we knew. I wish i took better pics of it. Looked like they learned how to stick weld on it. It was some sort of a masterpiece thats for sure haha. There were a whole lot of....lets go with creative and questionable things welded and built on the truck when we got it

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Another photo dump for the guys that care to see the progress of the '66. We started the roll cage not too long ago and have been making some good head way for mainly just working on weekends. We got the main hoop bent and in, as well as the under bar that it sits on going over the driveshaft.

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

We also got the two pillar bars done and in, this was challenging as we decided to go through the dash instead of around it. This was based on me being huge (6'6" 300 pounds) and want all the legroom i can get lol. just had to cut up the dash and it all fit like a glove! We then dropped it all so we could weld the tops of the bars and create a nice foundation to build off of from there. The windshield bar was bent up next and thrown in. From here we can start the back bars back to the frame as well as the front bars going through the firewall. More to come as we continue to get the cage built!

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Little sidebar on the '66 project. 1956 Bel air that my father in law is building to be a drag week car. BBC with Twin 88's should be one hell of a car. It finally got its chassis certification and now we are mocking everything up to get it all finalized before we blow it all apart to paint stuff! Im sure ill post more on it in the future as its a pretty badass car, and going to haul some ass for sure.

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

The cage in the truck is looking nice. The 56 is Awesome

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Another few weeks have gone by, and we got some more on the truck done. Starting to make good progress on the cage and getting it dialed in. We got the last bar up top in to connect the Halo and keep it stiff if it ever does in up on its lid.

We also got the seat mocked up, and located where we want it to be so we can get the back bar bent and in. As well as building the mounts for the back of the seat to this bar. I also made some templates and figured out which Holley Dash i am going to run. With Holley's new Terminator X Max kit, i will run the small screen it comes with along with their new 6.86" Pro Dash. Should make it look super nice, and still see everything i need to.

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Another big milestone in the build (at least we think so), was getting the holes in the cab blown through and getting the bars roughed in for the back. Got it all notched and held in place for now. We are going to weld some of the other bars before we get these welded in, but we wanted to see it so we got it clamped together to hold for now. From these bars we will build a mount for the rear radiator setup, as well as the bars for some rear shocks going straight up and down to help out. It'll all get covered with a custom tonneau cover and still be functional behind the bars to the tailgate. Hopefully lots more to update in coming weeks, and hope to get alot done over Thanksgiving Break!

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Nice work.

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Cool truck and nice work so far.

On page 1 you have a post mentioning draining the E85 out because it’s not available during winter months. Not sure if you’re aware but the Holley has the ability to run a Flex Fuel content sensor that tells the ecu the ethanol content of the fuel. It doesn’t matter if you have a tank full of e85 or have it diluted down to 20% ethanol content the ecu will adjust the fuel trims for it. This is separate from the “self tuning” the ecu may do to maintain a target afr. Either way no draining of the tank or adjusting the tune for ethanol content is required when using a flex fuel sensor.

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

damn fine job so far!

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

More Photo dumb time.......im terrible with updating this as things happen, usually after awhile i remember and then update a bunch of things with pictures at once lol.

Anyway, Lot more work done on the cage in recent weeks. Got alot of the bars in and finalized as well as alot of it all welded together. Its all starting together slowly and surely!

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

The front bars through the firewall and attached to the frame are in as well. They follow the inner fenders perfectly, and although i don't have a fiberglass front end or anything we will still have the ability to pull/put on the front end all together as one clip. As well as this will give us a decent place to mount turbos and stuff off of. From here all we have is alot more welding to do, and one final bar to put in (dash bar) and the cage will be complete.

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

We also got the fittings finalized for the front water manifold. With using the stock alt/power steering pump bracket i had to get an aftermarket tensioner for the serpentine belt. The thick aluminum puck is just the spacer to get it out to the stock truck spacing, and we were able to chuck it up in the lathe and get the middle taken out for the fitting to fit inside it. This allowed the bottom fitting to fit tight, and all look clean. The -16AN fittings are quite large and made it sort of difficult, but am glad we were able to get this figured out and make it look so clean.

Re: Twin Turbo '66
 

Another 417 Motorsports post.....

We needed a tank built for our rear radiator set up so we picked a spot in the bed and measured it out. I then modeled it up in Solidworks and sent them the drawing so that they could make it to my specs. They did an amazing job on it and it looks fantastic! Im almost a touch sad that it would be covered up with a tonneau cover.

The tank will be mounted with cap flush with the bed top, with the fitting on the bottom will fit/mount the EWP 150 external water pump. with fittings going to the motor, and then out of motor to radiator and from radiator back to this tank. Cant wait til we can start mocking all this stuff up once we get the rest of the cage welded up and can finally move on.