I called Rad Rods by Troy today to get an estimate for building my turbo system, and to compare it to the estimate I got from TRZ Motorsports. The guys at Rad Rods were really cool and we talked about John Meaney's 1300+hp twin turbo C4.

They were saying that since that article was written, John Meaney has changed his cam specs and is now making almost 1400hp, most interesting is that he's doing that with only 15 psi of boost. They also said that he put some 15" slicks on it and went 10.40 @162mph, while still soft footing it off the line. The car does the last 1/8 mile as fast as a Pro Mod car, right at 3.0 seconds. He said the car runs about 178F all the time.

Rad Rods by Troy is only about 30 mile soutside of Chicago, I'm going to take a ride down there next saturday and get an estimate from them. I mentioned my estimate of $12,000-$14,000 from TRZ and they said that was a pretty fair price considering the material we're going to use.

 

I don't see your TKO fitting into the 10.40 162 mph picture! With 15 inch slicks. :conehead

 

Monty,

I've seen some of the "toys" that Troy has produced... Does some awesome work. Good Luck on your project. :cheers:

Keith :seeya

 

I have no intentions of doing that, too fast for me. I'll leave that to you! I'm still planning on going with 17" or 18" wheels with some 'road race' type tires for the street. I like the Pro-Touring/G-Machine concept much better. I'm just going to beef up my drivetrain as much as I can, and cruise.

 

Karl,

What do you mean by that?

 

That's a good question. I certainly won't be beating on it, but there are a few indications that it may work out. Tremec is a major sponsor in the NMRA (National Mustang Racers Association) and alot of the guys use the TKO/TKOII and they are running low 10's, high 9's with it. Obviously their cars are alot lighter, since they are race cars, but they are running 10.5 slicks and pulling 1.2 60' or less. They seem to hold up.

Also, the guy that owns a chassis shop in Des Plaines, S&S Chassis, runs a supercharged Mustang with a TKO. He's making 867 rwhp, which is probably around 1000 or so flywheel. His TKO has held up okay, and he says his car weighs in at around 3700 lbs. Mine is only about 3200lbs.

Anyway, it's not really the hp that breaks stuff, it's the torque, mostly at launches and lower rpm and in lower gears. The most torque is in first gear. I certainly won't be making full boost in first gear, it would be pointless. By the time the motor is under boost the car will usually be in a higher gear and already moving forward, so the torque will be alot less.

We'll see, I guess. I'm not going to run slicks so that will help some I hope. If it just doesn't work, I guess I'll look into picking up some kind of Liberty, G-Force or Jerico.

 

As long as you run the street tires they will spin and probably not break the TKO. why not use the T56??? In viper trim they can handle quite a bit of torque???

The liberty might be a good option too. Meaney went with a beefed slush box and from my Buick Turbo experience the turbos love an auto. tough for me to like a slushbox vette!!!

you'll need some good blow off valves with the stick to keep from slamming the compressor blades on shifts. they sound cool too.

tell us more about your project. I'm trying to build a twin turbo LT5 but it's very difficult to get any support. LPE charges too much and isn't going to build but 1 more anyway

I don't have 54K lying around and I want more than 800 hp. 1K will be enough for me!!! :hat

 

I would love to use a T56, but the gernal consensus is that it woun't fit into the C3 tranny tunnel without significant modifications. I've never attempted to see if it would fit, but I can say that even the TKO is tight in some places, and it is visibly smaller than the T56.

I've thought about the Liberty or a G-Force, but they are really only marginally streetable. I don't think you can downshift into 1st or 2nd gear. I had a built 700R4 in my car before the TKO, so I know what you mean about them not being as much fun.

As far as my project, I've got the turbochargers (Precision) and wastegates. The car is scheduled to go to TRZ Motorsports the first week of January to have the headers, intercooler, cold air intake, and exhaust fabricated. They say it will take abouyt 3 weeks. I'm figuring 4 or 5 since that's the way it usually goes, so I should have it done by mid February. Then I'll take the car back home, pull the mtor and turbo system back out, swap in new 8:1 JE pistons and a custom 'turbo' cam, and take it over to Fast Times for dyno testing and tuning of the Speedpro SEFI. Hopefully, I'll have it all done by mid March, which is typically when the weather is clear enough around Chciago to brings the toys back out of the garage.

 

Monty from my experence I can tell you that you should be ok if you don't run the big slicks the tires will spin and save the tranny however i corkscrewed two driveshafts this past summer. Building a custom shaft this winter we will see what happens next year. OH yea I'am putin more power to her this winter it never ends does it. :D :seeya


[Modified by black bart, 8:58 AM 12/4/2001]