Dan's '88 245 Turbo LS t56 build, silver friggin missile

Hey Everyone.

I'm finally getting around to organizing all my photos and stuff in to a build thread. I still have to take a few and add them in to make it up to date, but yea. This is my also first attempt at a build like this, so take it easy on me if I'm doing something totally back asswards! lol

Engine: L33 5.3L from a 2006 Silverado. Pulled and shipped to my door for $506, sweeeet :guns:


Car: a relatively solid $550 1988 Volvo 240 Wagon. I drove it home from 3 highway hours away.. smooth as silk :headbang:


GOALS:
-450-500 whp on low boost, 700'ish on kill w/meth
-Burnouts, go fast, get ice cream
-Hit the track once or twice with slicks to see how fast she'll go
-Just take it on road trips and have fun trolling vipers and Ferraris

Quick summary of the build sheet:
-Stock internals, just fresh rings, gaskets, bolts and ****
-7875 billet china turbo
-homemade'ish hot side/cold side
-ECU is an MS3 from Efi Source w/harness
-80lb injectors
-Walbro 450 pump
-China rails (just cuz it was pretty and cheap)
-Rebuilt T56 from high gear trans
-Tick performance clutch/flywheel/master kit for f-body (w/monster stg 3 clutch and LW flywheel)
-Custom strange mfg d-shaft
-Narrowed 8.8
-Volvo S60R brembos up front (re-drilled S60R rotors, and factory hubs to 5x4.5" bolt pattern)
-Stock 8.8 stuff out back, w/ ASD handbrake inline
-94 Rustang Slowbrah master cylinder, custom braided lines throughout (I hate making hardlines )
-Sloppy but kinda pretty?

Here we go...


after a quick wash and vacuum

Finally have enough parts to get the ball rolling! Time to yank out the old motor/trans

Steve analyzing, not looking impressed


Get the cherry picker all dug out of the corner, hook that bitch up....


And of course it doesn't work, seals must be shot or something, oh well forklift to the rescue..


Aaand out with the old, that easy


Obligatory man power engine bay shot. Excuse the hair cut... I was trimming my beard and hair the day before, messed up, aaaand ended up like Caillou lol


Mmmmm lots of room

Quick degrease/power wash


My mounts came in from STS Machining, so I dropped the block in there for initial mockup, lots of room!




So I quickly tossed my heads, intake, headers, and turbo in there to see what it all looks like! pretty as **** is what it looks like by the way.. haha

So for motor prep/build... tear down (I took a bunch of photos, but its kinda all boring, relatively standard 150xxx mile truck motor). It's been rebuilt by/for GM at some point (little plate on the block), has one 799 head, instead of two 243 heads, kind of a piss of, but what ever. Oh, also needed slightly oversize piston rings... also a pain in the ass. Since my motor guy didn't measure after he honed the cylinders for me, lol.. anyway.

Cleaned up the heads all shiny and ****, cleaned and lapped the valves


Installed BTR dual platinum springs and tool steel retainers, with new valve seals.


Gapping new 0.20" over piston rings, installing stock gen4 flat tops and stock rods. Re-using bearings and rod bolts, added 10 degrees to the torque spec for the sloppy seconds bolts lol. That summit installer is the ****ing tits by the way... just buy one, I had to buy two since I didn't anticipate my **** being slightly oversized..


High tech piston ring gap filer wiz banger


Cam install, checking marks with lots of light to make sure! Cam being used is a Lil Jon Motorsports Stage II turbo cam (226/231 .605"/.598" 113+4)


Cooking with the shop Wok lol, getting the balancer nice and hot, right up to around 180 degrees for 5 minutes or so, so it slides right on


Bling (doorman f-body balancer btw)


Then all the accessories fell on, I used a 103 amp small case alternator from like a 4.8 application, and low mount holley accessory bracket. Holley PS pump, and f-body water pump.
I switched out to an LS style intake manifold, I prefer the low height and look of them. I found a decent deal on an LS6 unit

Oh yea, the turbo being used is a VS Racing billet 78/75mm china girl, she so pretty



Wiring harness from Efi Source came through the same spot in the factory firewall that the original harness came through, the grommet even fit perfect... lol


1994 Mustang Cobra master installed


Ready for the struggle... LOL


Reverse lockout solenoid (I think that's what it's called anyway, it's late and I'm tired lol) was where the trans tunnel needed the most molestation..


from the back, sitting sketchily on our ghetto rigged T56 jack adapter... lmao


Where the shifter ended up in the tunnel. I'm going to get an MGW shifter, so I might get it clocked at 12 o'clock, might end up in a better spot.





That's about all we've gotten done so far. I have the ECU mounted, just didn't take a pic of it, same with the clutch master. I'll try to get those tomorrow on lunch at work. The trans tunnel still needs some massaging, we were just so done for the day. Man that trans is a b**** to haul in and out of there. I feel really bad for the trans tunnel, it never knew such a gang beating was coming.

I love the tapered fit piston ring compressors, definitely makes install a hell of a lot easier and stress free.

Off to a nice start. Nice photos, L33 for $506 is a great deal IMO, I guess they do still exist...

MDVLN said:

I love the tapered fit piston ring compressors, definitely makes install a hell of a lot easier and stress free.

Off to a nice start. Nice photos, L33 for $506 is a great deal IMO, I guess they do still exist...

Click to expand...

So much better than those adjustable jobbers

Yea, there are still some beauty deals out there on them. I'm almost tempted to pick up a second while I still can!

Thanks!

Very nice. I'll be keeping tabs on this thread. Seems very close to what I plan on doing with mine.

What header setup is that?

That's going to be a handful with the t56. Good work!!!

JohnMc said:

Very nice. I'll be keeping tabs on this thread. Seems very close to what I plan on doing with mine.

What header setup is that?

Click to expand...

eBay turbo headers flipped so they are forwards and down instead of forwards and up. I still have to cut them and weld on shorter reducers to make them 2.5" outlets.

Thanks Cosby, yea it'll be interesting with the t56, especially when I put some slicks on it
I like your build by the way! Inspiring for sure. I'm probably going to copy your rad and intercooler layout there.

Copy away man! That's why I share

bellofello said:

eBay turbo headers flipped so they are forwards and down instead of forwards and up. I still have to cut them and weld on shorter reducers to make them 2.5" outlets.

Click to expand...

I figured it was probably something like that, but it looked like you had a turbo hooked on them and in the right spot already.

JohnMc said:

I figured it was probably something like that, but it looked like you had a turbo hooked on them and in the right spot already.

Click to expand...

Nah it was kinda just chilling in there on some wood. Needed to see everything sitting close to where it would be for some inspiration lol. You can kinda see where the merge at the turbo and the original v-bands line up in the one photo more from the drivers side of the car.

bellofello said:

Where the shifter ended up in the tunnel. I'm going to get an MGW shifter, so I might get it clocked at 12 o'clock, might end up in a better spot.

Click to expand...

Fair warning: I have an MGW shifter on my F-body T56 and had the same plan, ended up busting a 3/8" allen key socket and twisting another before I went googling and found it to be a common problem (with at least one person contacting MGW support and being told the F-body shifter didn't support clocking). Granted, I'm also the one guy that measured the back of the shifter turret to sit behind the back of the tunnel, so my experience might not count for much

Edit: They now have a note on the product page telling you to special request your desired clock at order time, and that it can't be changed afterwards.

vertigosity said:

Fair warning: I have an MGW shifter on...Edit: They now have a note on the product page telling you to special request your desired clock at order time, and that it can't be changed afterwards.

Click to expand...

This haha, I'd imagine you ran in to why it can't be changed afterwards?? lmao, maybe I'll send them a photo once I get my trans in it's final spot and see what they think.

I'm hoping this option solves my issue with placement. If not I might be able to make a custom bent stick and just use the factory shifter for a bit. Thanks for the heads up though!

Yeah, they didn't have the note up when I did mine (~3yr and a website redesign ago). To make it doubly weird, some of their other shifters (notably, the Fox T5) /are/ adjustable after the fact.

Snapped a few photos of our custom ghetto T56 jack adapter





My welds are starting to look half decent even

Aaaaanyway, here's a little bit of progress. Got my fuel pump all situated in the tank. I decided to make a separate, easily removable unit so I can take my pump in and out nice and easy.

My custom fuel pump "hat?" started out as something like this, piece of a motorcycle crate


Smacked some holes in it, got -8 and -6 bulkhead fittings, some sealer, and wound up with this.


Traced some scientific scribbles and started cut off wheeling and die grinding the **** out of the tank


Fittings installed, hole cut, nuts marked (using flanged nuts obviously...)


Drilled a few holes near the nut holes, plug welded them up, then ground them smooth.



Hung my Wally 450 and return stuff under there after some measuring (used AN to 3/8th's hose barb adapters on the bottom)


Tested it in the tank


Seal all'd the crap out of the wiring hole and around the fittings again to be safe, anddd voila.

I should have some more progress soon. Now that my pump is hung, I can put the tank in and finish off my fuel system. Also a bunch of brake line fittings and stuff just came in, so when the motor comes out again for a few final touches. I can make up all my braided lines and what not.

No hanger on the pump?