With how long the truck has been down my itch to modify something has gained control of me again :spit: Ever since I saw James' thread on turbocharging his Suzuki I have been slowly rounding up parts and info to do the same to my daily driver.
The candidate: 1997 Cadillac Deville. 4.6L VIN 'Y' 275hp Northstar V8. Seen here on the "summer wheels" :roflmao:
So I'd like to start off by saying yes I know I can buy a better vehicle that can easily make more power and go faster, but what's the fun in that?? I have always been the kid that enjoyed building the Legos more than actually playing with the final product
Basically I want to challenge myself and see what can come of it. And if after all that I have a turbocharged car, well then that's just a plus! I've used and abused this car and it's been a trooper through it all!
This will be my first experience with a turbocharged gasoline engine, and to further complicate things, my first REAR mounted turbocharged engine at that. GM really crammed that V8 under the hood so there isn't much room to spare. It does however have a LOT of room behind the rear suspension under the trunk. It has factory dual exhaust so the passenger side will run towards the charger which will be mounted directly behind the passenger rear tire. The driver's dual will now be the location for the wastegate. Planning on running the intake up into the trunk as this car sees mud/dirt/dust/snow constantly and I just don't think I could make a filter survive.
Now I have a few stock LB7 and LLY turbos, along with a Chinese 60mm "T70" and a Garrett off of a 6.0 Powerstroke. Was planning on building it around the Chinese T3 charger to make it universal however my buddy here in town just finished up a super cheap install of a 6.0 charger on his 5.4L F-150. He said it seems to work relatively well. Pushing about 10psi with a simple rheostat to control the vanes. Here's his cheap setup:
So I'm leaning towards trying this out first being that I have all the mechanical parts for it. I like the thought of utilizing the vanes for a little more control. However this is still theory as from what I've researched, rear-mount setups seem to favor tighter turbine housings due to the less efficient setup.
In regards to fueling, I'm just basing off calculations right now. I'm a mile high in elevation so my assumption is GM tuned the car to fuel correctly all the way down in death valley. This is a MAF car and the limits I found for the sensor support about 5-6psi before the sensor voltage is maxed out at my elevation. I'm not really looking for a lot of power at this time, just more like an "altitude adjuster" :roflmao: GM did a very good job and making this car hard to modify in regards to electronics and the ECM programming. If I do find the MAF/BARO sensor wont support my mods then I'll look into getting a mechanical fuel managment unit and try my luck with that. Worst case scenario the boss is willing to donate a Megasquirt setup and some 60lb injectors that we have laying around the shop, just to see what this little project can do
Again, not looking for a lot of power at this time. The engine block is cracked and who knows what the 4T80e will do with any power increase. My assumption is the drivetrain was built to handle roughly 300hp at sea level so that's what I'm going to shoot for first. And if it blows up, hopefully its spectacular and I get it on video! Luckily these drivetrain's are a dime a dozen due to the weak headgaskets (which mine have been repaired). So if somehow this works out better than expected then I'll have a new modified engine sitting on the stand waiting to install!
Let me know of any suggestions, help, calling me crazy, etc :rofl:
The candidate: 1997 Cadillac Deville. 4.6L VIN 'Y' 275hp Northstar V8. Seen here on the "summer wheels" :roflmao:
So I'd like to start off by saying yes I know I can buy a better vehicle that can easily make more power and go faster, but what's the fun in that?? I have always been the kid that enjoyed building the Legos more than actually playing with the final product
Basically I want to challenge myself and see what can come of it. And if after all that I have a turbocharged car, well then that's just a plus! I've used and abused this car and it's been a trooper through it all! This will be my first experience with a turbocharged gasoline engine, and to further complicate things, my first REAR mounted turbocharged engine at that. GM really crammed that V8 under the hood so there isn't much room to spare. It does however have a LOT of room behind the rear suspension under the trunk. It has factory dual exhaust so the passenger side will run towards the charger which will be mounted directly behind the passenger rear tire. The driver's dual will now be the location for the wastegate. Planning on running the intake up into the trunk as this car sees mud/dirt/dust/snow constantly and I just don't think I could make a filter survive.
Now I have a few stock LB7 and LLY turbos, along with a Chinese 60mm "T70" and a Garrett off of a 6.0 Powerstroke. Was planning on building it around the Chinese T3 charger to make it universal however my buddy here in town just finished up a super cheap install of a 6.0 charger on his 5.4L F-150. He said it seems to work relatively well. Pushing about 10psi with a simple rheostat to control the vanes. Here's his cheap setup:
So I'm leaning towards trying this out first being that I have all the mechanical parts for it. I like the thought of utilizing the vanes for a little more control. However this is still theory as from what I've researched, rear-mount setups seem to favor tighter turbine housings due to the less efficient setup.
In regards to fueling, I'm just basing off calculations right now. I'm a mile high in elevation so my assumption is GM tuned the car to fuel correctly all the way down in death valley. This is a MAF car and the limits I found for the sensor support about 5-6psi before the sensor voltage is maxed out at my elevation. I'm not really looking for a lot of power at this time, just more like an "altitude adjuster" :roflmao: GM did a very good job and making this car hard to modify in regards to electronics and the ECM programming. If I do find the MAF/BARO sensor wont support my mods then I'll look into getting a mechanical fuel managment unit and try my luck with that. Worst case scenario the boss is willing to donate a Megasquirt setup and some 60lb injectors that we have laying around the shop, just to see what this little project can do
Again, not looking for a lot of power at this time. The engine block is cracked and who knows what the 4T80e will do with any power increase. My assumption is the drivetrain was built to handle roughly 300hp at sea level so that's what I'm going to shoot for first. And if it blows up, hopefully its spectacular and I get it on video! Luckily these drivetrain's are a dime a dozen due to the weak headgaskets (which mine have been repaired). So if somehow this works out better than expected then I'll have a new modified engine sitting on the stand waiting to install!
Let me know of any suggestions, help, calling me crazy, etc :rofl:
