My latest project Turbo to NA w/refresh

[rdharper02]

Well I finally decided to remove the turbo from the blue car and put it on the white car. It seems like a good time to refresh the motor, replace the rear main seal, do the clutch and add the self-ported Gt40 setup I did. I just couldnt leave her without some extra and I think the T-5 will thank me. I took the last week working on it, but have been unable to post due to the late hours. The hardest part so far has been the removal. We decided to reove the heads and intake to lighten everything up, but spent most of a day getting the bell housing aprt from the motor. The starter had "rust welded" itself to the bell housing and the index plate. We had to cut both ears off of the starter to remove it. After several busted bolts and a whole lot of removal time, we finally removed the shortblock. The good news is that the bearing retainer in the tranny is excelent and the motor had been rebuilt prior to me buying the car.
View attachment 66863
Rusty but, the bearings all appear to be great.
View attachment 66862
Suprised to see the cross hatch still in the cylinders. I went to highschool with the guy I bought it from. He said it had been rebuilt...guess he finally told the truth.

I did have to fabricate a portion of the index plate. Finding aluminum was impossible, but I eventually came up with some steel. The origional portion of the index plate was oxidized beyond use.

 

[rdharper02]

I'll post more pics when I figure out how to get more in.

 

[rdharper02]

Its been awhile. I had to move my household and have been unable to update. I have the car together, but took a ton of pics.
We took about a day and a half getting the motor out due to coirrosion. It didnt help that the "starter index plate" had rust welded itself to the bellhousing. We removed the motor and cleaned everything up. After dropping the short block in, we installed the ported Gt40p heads. It was alot of 2 AM nights, so we almost installed the head gaskets wrong.[AT The "dropping part" too about 2 hours and magically twisted into place. Nothing new, but always surprising when it finally happens. Below is the motor finally dropped in.


I had to fabricate a piece for the cooroded "starter index plate" out of steel. It was an absolute pain. I do have to thank "Torch's Custom Fabrication" for giving me the steel. Torch has some awesome custom Harleys and is worth looking up if your in NC. Below, is the piece I fabbed. It took awhile with the grinder, but all went well. It may be hard to see, but the black portion is the steel insert. Luckily, i could pick up on several of the bolt holes. The high-temp is an attempt to keep the water out.

 

[rdharper02]

Now that I finally got photobucket, i can back up a little bit. I knew the clutch would slip with the turbo building boost, but had no idea how bad. I let it go, because I rarely drive the car and dont put my foot in it. i had planned a t56 swap and was in no hurry to make my t-5 into a pile of scrap metal. When i pulled the clutch it still had material, but the flywheel was smoked. I had never seen heat checks with cracks like that, I was glad that we had ordered another steel flywheel from summit.

 

[rdharper02]

Got the heads back on it and mounted the intake. I went with a black and silver theme, but still dont know if i like it. I was glad that I tapped for the ACT sensor and did the porting. Made it feel a little more like a project than slapping parts on.



I cant remember if I spoke about it earlier, but I found out there was a difference in starters around the end of 1992. I found a use for my new, unused early style starter.I used it to down my spacer as the copper gasket maker dried. At least I got some use out of it.

 

[rdharper02]

Had some difficulty finding the right belt. I made two trips to the parts store and finally decided to get a stock length belt in case I couldnt get it right. I finally went with the stock length and cleaned up an old smog delete pulley I had. One of the things I am tackling is the gaping hole left from the turbo install. I have a fiberglass piece I started, but dont know if I like it. If I can get it right it will look like a smoothed inner fenderwell. I'll post more as I work on it.




Oh, heres the starters together. The top is the post 92 starter.

 

[rdharper02]

Had to put the final shots in it. Finished the motor up and went to start it. No luck. Did the full "no start" checklist and still didnt have it. Just proof that I tend to overlook the simplest of things. I pulled the distributor cap after putting the motor on TDC and was no where near the number one cylinder. After re-clocking the dizzy, she fired right up. Only had to do a 90 degree pluig boot on the number 7 cylinder, so I guess the AC 104 plugs work well with the 40p's and BBK headers. We let it run for about an hour after verifying the fuel pressure and timing, then dumped the oil. All the porting and assembly had been done in the garage and drive, so I didnt want to chance the dirt/shavings in the motor. Money well spent. During the move, i drove it from NC to northern VA. Not a problem with the exception of the A/C going out and the exhaust making contact with the under carriage.