Just a quick update.

[Shoprat]

Howdy folks. It's 3 am here and I can't sleep so I'll somewhat bring ya'll up to speed on the LC Engineering turbo upgrade I'm involved in. It's much more involved than I thought. The stock column shifter ear hit the down pipe on the turbo header and so rather than get medieval with a hammer on the pipe, I decided to install a floor shifter instead and get rid of the columnshift all to gether. This meant that I had to fabricate a bracket on the tranny to hold the shift cable.

The wastegate also took up the same space as the power steering lines, cruise control head, and the lower radiator hose. I was able to move the power steering lines by re-bending the brackets that positioned the lines. The old vacuum cruise control head had to go because there was no room elsewhere in the engine compartement, so I removed the whole thing and am going with a more recent electronic control instead.. The new lower radiator hose I will have to fabricate or use a flex-to-fit if the flex type doesn't put too much strain on the lower radiator pipe.

The downpipe of the turbo is 2 1/4". I decided that downsizing the exhaust system to the existing 1 3/4" was silly. Ya can't get air in if it can't get out, so I'm going 2 1/4" all the way out. Cat and all. I had to fabricate a pipe to mate up to the downpipes' 2 1/4" 3 bolt header type fitting. This pipe also was made to accept the oxygen sensor. The exhaust now comes out right above the left torsion bar. I will have to gently move the motorhome to an exhaust installer and have a pipe fabricated to sort of twist around the torsion bar so it will mate up to the cat and muffler. I want to bring the exhaust out the side in front of the left rear wheel so there are a few bends as possible to restict the exhaust flow.

I am also going with the SDS fuel and ignition programmable controller. I have replaced the fuel injectors with a larger size, and am now replacing the wiring and sensor system to bring this vehicle into this century. I have pulled and will not re-use the old ignition system, the E.G.R.valve system, and several water temp sensors that control vacuum and electrical circuits that are no longer needed.

As an aside, when I pulled the radiator to gain access to the harmonic balancer to install the ignition trigger magnets, the radiator mounting bracket was pulled loose from the bottom of the radiator on both sides, and the lower fins in the drivers side of the radiator had turned to green gunge. Green radiators are soon failed radiators. So, a new ones going in. Also when I was under the vehicle, I noticed that the rear tranny mount was looking kind of old around the edges, so I'm going to replace that also. I have noticed a rather cyclic vibration at highway speeds that wasn't corrected by a wheel balance job. Hopefully, replacing the over the hill mount will take care of this.

Jeez. This ran longer than expected. Sorry.

[nolan]

[shoprat, Your turbo upgrade sounds like a great undertaking, will be anxious to hear the results of all your work to transform the beast. Doing anything about compression ratio or just gonna keep the boost within liveable limits?

Best of luck with the project, not many of us adventurous types that like to these 4cyls to the upper limits.

[Shoprat]

[shoprat, Your turbo upgrade sounds like a great undertaking, will be anxious to hear the results of all your work to transform the beast. Doing anything about compression ratio or just gonna keep the boost within liveable limits?

Best of luck with the project, not many of us adventurous types that like to these 4cyls to the upper limits.

[Shoprat]

Sorry I didn't get back to you Guys sooner, but the excrement that life throws at you got in the way. So, here goes !

The LC Engineering Upgrade is a complete HP output undertaking. When I get the whle thing done , I will give a dollar total, but right now it looks like about a 5 grand project. As an ol' " Keep it Cheap " type dude, I am appalled at the money I am throwing at this thing ! But, man , are the results worth it to me. So, each little problem that rises its' ugly head , I will try to report on, and if'en any of ya have questions, I'll try to answer from a moaning bill payer viewpoint !

As I have said, this is a total HP output upgrade. The turbo is just the foundation of the new Trump Towers ol' Shoprat will be herdin' down the road. The SDS ignition and Fuel Management System completes the package and is the most mind boggleing. The SDS system directions must be followed in the order given in the instructions . I tried to bypass them-- don't do this- it leads to frustration and heartbreak- I know.

SDS -- Oh MAN- THE POWER IT GIVES YOU --OhOh- sorry for shouting. This system allows you to program all the ignition timing and fuel injector pulse times for start up temps, engine load during vacuum and boost, and any other parameter you can think of. At every 250 R.P.M. step. YOU program this thing- not an engineer in an Ivory tower someplace. You can input the Injector Pulse width to suit your cold start problems, for just about every cold engine temp. I got a Fuel/Mixture ratio guage to tell me if I am running rich/lean at a given engine rpm going down the road, I can record this , and re-adjust it with the programmer, and then re-check the mixture a little later. It takes time, and some mental effort, but by Gadfrey, you can tune your engine to YOU !

But, back to the Turbo. This unit must be set to the boost output you want. I opted for the low boost unit. The wastegate that controlls boost like a pressure relief valve came with the pressure spring installed that puts the pressure at the advertised boost. To controll boost, they give you a pressure controll knob. This knob control fools the Turbo so that it will put out twice the spring pressure. I wanted to hold my boost to about 7 psi. They installed a 7 psi spring- my boost controll then raised it to 14 psi, WAY over what I wanted. I then had to pull the wastegate and installed a Green colored spring giving 3 1/2 psi, dropping the boost to the safe, non-hairy chested psi I felt safe with. To all you H/P at any price afficianados, I don't want to try to chase my crankshaft down the road when I don't have to. Hey- wimp at any price, that's my motto.

But, to the chase. I have not gotten this unit dialled in to the max yet, but from the totally non-scientific road test data I have accumulated so far, the boost upgrade is a success. To whit- going down the road and coming to a hill, before I would have to keep shoving down on the accelerator pedal to mantain speed or to even just not loose a lot of speed. With it is as it is now, if I shove down on the pedal, I will gain speed ! Yes, you 4 cylinder fans, I will gain speed ! I am pleased with the results so far.

I admit, it takes work, it takes time, it takes a lotta bucks, but what does peace of mind give you back?

And, you know what? Stock sucks !

[nolan]

Sounding good Shoprat, playin does get expensive doesn't it, but you should have a nice ride when your done. I can relate to a lot of your tweaking after the fact, it takes time to get a performance engine dialed in to maximize the parts and pieces put in to get the most out of them.

I also went with an aftermarket ignition setup, well worth the expense just for the firepower to light the fuel mixture, but found the boost control on mine wasn't all that worthwhile, possibly would be if I was pulling more pressure, but in keeping things conservative like i did I haven't had any problems with detonation that i feared, that was the biggest reason for the boost control, but found it hasn't been a problem if I keep it fed with 92 octane. Maybe my preplanning paid off in building the engine, as detonation is a real killer of pressurized engines. Best of luck and have fun.

[Shoprat]

Thanks for the kind words , Nolan. Sorry this reply took so long to get here, but I have been running around like a one legged man in a buttt kicking contest lately, so here are the latest tales of woe !

We got his motorhome so we could take it South to the Smokies every year. The trip was scheduled for the first two weeks in May. I was bustin' my a--- cough -back to get the turbo upgrade done in time for the trip. Didn't happen ! The mounting all the goodies and getting them to work half way efficently ran into the first week of my vacation. I finally got it so it would go down the road somewhat well and figured I could dial it in on the road to the Smokies, this was Friday night All the parts didn't fall off , so I was driving it to the gas station to top off the tank to start the trip a week late on Saturday morning. I stopped at the traffic light, and while I was waiting for the light to change, I noticed that my foot and brake pedal was dropping slowly to the floor . I let up and stomped the pedal ! The dropping stopped, then I released some of the pressure and the pedal started dropping again. Master cylinder took a s---, oops, was bad ! I had replaced it last year ! It just crapped out. So, me an momma transferred some stuff to the pickup and went in that. I was pis--- , ooops, highly dissappointed.

So--- all the horsies in the world won't do ya much good if they don't WHOA ! I ordered a new master cylinder when I got back from the trip last Saturday. I also ordered slotted rotors and high performance pads for the front brakes. Just to be contrary, I ordered a steel hood scoop to add above the turbo so the pressure pipe doesn't hit the hood and cause the Toy to sound like a Cessna getting readfy for take off. I get the urge sometimes to go out and throw a single fingered salute toward the Toy.

I feel much better now that I have vented---

anyhow, Nolan, as far as detonation is conscerned, the SDS system uses a knock sensor so I can program how sensitive I want it to be and how much to retard the timing when it detects a " Knock Event". The SDS system rocks.

I will now go and curl up into a fetal ball.