A while ago, I dropped the truck off at a shop in El Paso, TX that usually does work for me. I challenged them with the task of throwing on a new GT40 avnt
. What follows are some of the texts between me and the shop owner.
shop owner: This is a pain in the ass..still haven't removed the old turbo. getting to the hardest part now, the up pipes.
me: i bet, take your time
shop owner: 10-4 chief
(hours later)
me: how does the old turbo look?
shop owner: good so far, still not out though, that up pipe flange between the engine and firewall underneath the turbo is almost impossible.
me: damn
(3 days later)
shop owner: ugh...lol still not out... (see picture 1)
(1 day later)
Shop owner: like pulling a rotary engine lol (see picture 2)
shop owner: (see picture 3)
me: what do you think?
shop owner: very big difference. the cold side is much more aggressive. and the hot side turbine looks about 3 mm bigger and much less restrictive. will be noticeably laggier but much more potential, id say around 200 hp more.
Me: i can get around the lag with tuning.
shop owner: truck should be back together tomorrow. turns out the book called for an 18 hr job. I had miss quoted you, ouch...
me: how much?
shop owner: same price bro
Thursday I decided to go get the truck back. I had no way to do it, he was too long for any of the trailers we had except for the gooseneck. So I decided to get a B&W installed on my LML. Friday morning at 7:45 I get to the trailer shop to get the hitch installed and I'm out by 10:15am. I head to the farm 25 miles away where the gooseneck is located but find that it isn't ready. So I decided to have lunch. After lunch the trailer is ready to go, I hook it up for the first time and head out. The LML tows like a dream, was really impressed with it. When I get to the shop, one of the guys who worked on it goes on a test drive with me. Even on the stock turbo tuning, what a difference! At low rpms, very little to no boost but once the throttle comes on a bit, the turbo wakes up and screams. Very impressed with it. We got back to the shop and loaded him up. (See pictures 4 and 5) After I payed I was on my way. This is where the fun began.
On the way back, I didn't want to go through down town El Paso so I pointed the nose towards the Patriot Freeway and Trans Mountain. Trans Mountain is a hwy that goes through the Franklin Mountains. This road is 11 miles long, climbs over 1000ft and has 8% grades. What better place to try out the LML's power and exhaust braking. As soon as I made that left turn and hit the incline, I went full bore. Holding the throttle all the way down up the mountain just to stay at 55mph. 3/4 up the mountain is a small section where the road levels off right before the last big incline. Right before that section, the motor started getting a little hot (outside temp was 94), so I backed off the throttle and dropped down to 45mph. He cooled off right away and I brought him back up to 55mph while we were leveled off. Right before we hit the last incline, I brought him up to 60mph and held it to the floor again. We hit the summit (5280ft) at 55mph with the engine at normal temps. On the way down, exhaust braking took care of everything. Didn't need to touch the brakes except for one time where some little Aveo needed to pass me before it became a single lane. The rest of the trip home was a breeze.
We arrived at my shop and unloaded. (See pictures 6, 7, and 8)
. What follows are some of the texts between me and the shop owner.shop owner: This is a pain in the ass..still haven't removed the old turbo. getting to the hardest part now, the up pipes.
me: i bet, take your time
shop owner: 10-4 chief
(hours later)
me: how does the old turbo look?
shop owner: good so far, still not out though, that up pipe flange between the engine and firewall underneath the turbo is almost impossible.
me: damn
(3 days later)
shop owner: ugh...lol still not out... (see picture 1)
(1 day later)
Shop owner: like pulling a rotary engine lol (see picture 2)
shop owner: (see picture 3)
me: what do you think?
shop owner: very big difference. the cold side is much more aggressive. and the hot side turbine looks about 3 mm bigger and much less restrictive. will be noticeably laggier but much more potential, id say around 200 hp more.
Me: i can get around the lag with tuning.
shop owner: truck should be back together tomorrow. turns out the book called for an 18 hr job. I had miss quoted you, ouch...
me: how much?
shop owner: same price bro
Thursday I decided to go get the truck back. I had no way to do it, he was too long for any of the trailers we had except for the gooseneck. So I decided to get a B&W installed on my LML. Friday morning at 7:45 I get to the trailer shop to get the hitch installed and I'm out by 10:15am. I head to the farm 25 miles away where the gooseneck is located but find that it isn't ready. So I decided to have lunch. After lunch the trailer is ready to go, I hook it up for the first time and head out. The LML tows like a dream, was really impressed with it. When I get to the shop, one of the guys who worked on it goes on a test drive with me. Even on the stock turbo tuning, what a difference! At low rpms, very little to no boost but once the throttle comes on a bit, the turbo wakes up and screams. Very impressed with it. We got back to the shop and loaded him up. (See pictures 4 and 5) After I payed I was on my way. This is where the fun began.
On the way back, I didn't want to go through down town El Paso so I pointed the nose towards the Patriot Freeway and Trans Mountain. Trans Mountain is a hwy that goes through the Franklin Mountains. This road is 11 miles long, climbs over 1000ft and has 8% grades. What better place to try out the LML's power and exhaust braking. As soon as I made that left turn and hit the incline, I went full bore. Holding the throttle all the way down up the mountain just to stay at 55mph. 3/4 up the mountain is a small section where the road levels off right before the last big incline. Right before that section, the motor started getting a little hot (outside temp was 94), so I backed off the throttle and dropped down to 45mph. He cooled off right away and I brought him back up to 55mph while we were leveled off. Right before we hit the last incline, I brought him up to 60mph and held it to the floor again. We hit the summit (5280ft) at 55mph with the engine at normal temps. On the way down, exhaust braking took care of everything. Didn't need to touch the brakes except for one time where some little Aveo needed to pass me before it became a single lane. The rest of the trip home was a breeze.
We arrived at my shop and unloaded. (See pictures 6, 7, and 8)
