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Finally getting my car running pretty smooth. Headed to the Dyno on Thursday to see what it can do with some real tuning. Decided to post something up here to catalog some of my work. Didn't take too many pictures of the actual work in progress, really only broke out the camera when things went wrong, Lol.
Started out with a higher mileage 2006 LS2 Base model 6speed. Base of the base cars at that. No HUD or any other fun stuff you could think of. Got a good deal on the car so I hit the button. At that time, it was a cam only LS2, MS4 cam with supporting valvetrain and Texas Speed Headers to a SLP Loudmouth system. I added a Vararam and ran it like that for the next year while getting my bearings with HP Tuners and an Innovate wideband. Car ran well enough to not think about drastically changing the setup. That is, until last Spring when I started to lose oil pressure, idling at a good ol' 5lbs. At that point I parked the car and started looking for a short block, not really knowing what I wanted to get into with it. After a bit, I decided I wanted FI, and found a great deal on a low mile LY6. Pulled the old motor in readiness for the LY6.
Got it delivered and torn apart to clean up. Not really knowing what I was doing, and basically going off of stuff I read on various forums, decided to pull the pan and pull the pistons to gap the rings and replace the main bearings. Also pulled the VVT system out and replaced the oil pump and front essentials with new. BTR Stage II turbo cam went in. Stole what I needed from the old shortblock and sold it to recoup some money already spent. Finished up the block with LS9 head gaskets and ARP head studs. At that point, I decided it'd be worth it to pin the crank at that point as well.
Around this time, I found a forum member selling off his CXRacing single turbo kit and I jumped on it. Might as well dive in head first...
Install was pretty straight forward. Everything had already been installed previously, so with a few questions to original owner, I got it installed.
The APS dual feed pump kit included with the turbo kit was a bit trickier. Out of the entire install, dropping the fuel tank scared me the most.
No real pictures of the install, my hands are still scarred from that ordeal.
Decided to leave the a/c compressor on as to reinstall the condensor at a future date. From there, downpipe was welded up and attached and the car started coming back together piece by piece. Turbo and wastegates installed, fuel rails on and ID1050x injectors put in. Finally the car was finished and I threw a 2bar OS in it and adjusted a few things to get it started on an OLSD tune. Various pieces came together in the days after that to get the car to the point of driving down the road and making boost.
From there, things slowed down. Issues arising here and there. Cooling was a huge issue during the Houston summer. Added an external oil cooler to the driverside fog light area. Helped a bit. Underhood heat seemed to be troublesome as well. Was looking into fixing that when I actually started a fire under the hood from a melted coil bracket (the plastic wiring shroud on the back of the metal bracket melted onto the valve cover and ignited). Was able to get it out quickly, but scared the **** out of me. Damage was minimal. Plug wires and a couple injector clips needed replaced.
So there was a cheap an easy option as to go about fixing the problem and not letting it reoccur, but as i said, head first..
Ended up relocating coils to the fenders, moving battery to rear cubby, Mighty Mouse catch can, Hi Ram intake, smoothed valve covers, e85 flex fuel sensor, and a complete rewrap of the exposed wiring harness (after resoldering in new injector plugs and fixing damage from the fire). For everyone terrified of cutting a hole in the hood, just hold your breath and lay that 4" cutoff wheel into the hood and go with it. At that point it wasnt an option not to do it. So even if the cuts look terrible (which the cowling i cut up absolutely looks bad), I know that I can fix it or replace it in the future. Had to remove the passenger wiper to get the intake to fit. All in all, im happy with it.
Aside from that, I had issues with the front nearly sitting on the tires, I went ahead and threw z06 shocks all the way around, if anything, to replace the 115k mile base shocks I had been riding on. Also traded out the base front leaf spring for a ZR1 leaf spring by recommendation by others on the forum. That lifted the front end up high enough that I actually had a little room to play with the adjustment bolts to get it where I wanted. I also made a mounting plate for the Eboost2 boost controller in the center console vent to replace the manual controller i was using. I have a Dallas performance boost by gear bracket, but will wait till I get it tuned and dyno'd before worrying about maximizing power in each gear. As of right now, on e70 and 17 degrees of timing @ 15lbs of boost, my 17" M&H drag radials cant keep traction on 80mph 4th gear pulls. So I think its making a bit of power. Hopefully it translates well on the dyno.
That about sums it up. Lots of small stuff left out. Especially my mistakes and screwups. Like I said, im no professional, but as the build progresses, I am constantly trying to go back and fix the little things I may have screwed up the first time around. Still a lot of things on my list to do. I am sure I will be replacing the stock rear end very soon.
Badass, man... Kudos to you for doing the build yourself-in the driveway even! Look forward to seeing a video and dyno #'s. Is this just a toy or something you plan on competing with?
Thanks. More impressive I think, is the build in the middle of a Houston summer... I lost a lot weight. Lol
This is just a toy. Not too serious with it at this point. Current tune and how it's running has it as a daily driver for me actually. Giving my CTS-V a chance to rest for awhile.
Running my old 243 heads on this block, so compression is higher than a stock LY6. That limits my timing on boost.
Hoping it doesn't disappoint. It is a monster on the highway as it sits...
good on you getting it done in driveway and the heat.heat must have been above torture level!!!!will be interesting to see how it does power wise.gl with it
How much pressure does a return line actually see? No doubt on my plans to replace that fitting. Just wondering what kind of pressures it sees.
Just enough to torch a car with a hot engine bay and a leak. I've seen it happen a few times. Get that bad boy swapped out and go hammer the competition around you area.
Great job. This makes me want a single turbo car in a bad way.
02-06-2018, 04:23 PM
Turbo C6 Driveway build
