Homemade 125" FED Twin-turbo SBC

Great build love it, nice work..........

 

Oh yeah ! video please, with fire!

 

I think I will be firing it in February. Im going to get my top hoop bent next week, and then Im going to fab the new rearend brackets and put it the uprights. After thats all set I will mount my fuel tank, battery and weight plates then I can start it.
Unfortunately twin-turbo V8s are pretty quiet, even with such a short down pipe coming out from the back of the turbo. Alot of the sound gets canceled when it hits the turbine wheel, but to me they are music to my ears. I love the constant whirl at idle and under boost they sound like a jet.

 

I have has several turbo V8's and they are a lot of fun.

How thick are your header flanges? I find that with homemade headers, the biggest problem is getting them to seal and the thicker the flange, the better! I also have them surfaced so they are dead straight before I bolt them on.

On my newest TT setup which is sort of off topic for this board (uses an EFI tunnel ram setup with a single 3.5" butterfly) that I am almost ready to bolt together, I am using GT35's with a .83 A/R on iron manifolds. I am toying with the idea of going to a set of T04's with a .96 A/R turbine and V1/V2 compressor since its a 406 SBC with Dart heads.

 

The flanges are 5/16". I build all my headers with them bolted to a cyl head, so they dont distort from being heated and cooled. I leave them bolted to the head over night after all the final welding is complete. I have a big 4''x4'' by 3/8'' thick piece of angle iron that I use to surface header flanges. Its 3 feet long and I clamp heavy duty 120 grit emery cloth to it, it will take out imperfections in no time. So far I have had a 100% success rate with this method. Its cheap too.

 

Would you mind posting some pictures of the manifolds? Whats this turbo 406 gonna be going into? It sounds cool.

 

This pic reminded me of a rear motored, Pacific Northwest, Top Fuel car at Seattle International Raceway (when it carried that name), and driven by Gentleman Hank Johnson; who was the original owner of my old 120" W.B. FED. It was a twin turbo car that brought air from under the car like a VACUUM CLEANER; the theory was to "suck the car to the ground" for traction purposes. Of course there was a big filter involved, and the car did'nt really work. It might have been a Top Alcohol car; it's been a long time ago. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

On my turbo headers i make shields to cover them to keep from accidental burn. I weld 1/4 bolts to the tops of the header tubes, a couple is about all you need. I make the shields from .060 alum, 2 pieces with a piece of 2000 deg higtemp insulation mat between the aluminum and then rivet them together. I drill the shields to go over the 1/4bolts and hold them down with wing nuts and safety wire, the head of the bolts (welded to the hearder tube) acts as a spacer between the shield and the header.
I use 3/8 thick flanges.
Mild steel is best, there is a lot of movement from the heat and stainless will crack.
Those pipes will get unbelievable hot, if somebody touches them (remember there'll be children around and that is just the right height for them) it'll be a trip to the hospital. If you want that insulation give me a pm and i'll give you enough.

 

Good idea. The only kids I have seen at my local track are my own and they know better than to touch them. We heat our house with a wood stove located in our living room so they have learned not to touch hot things.

 

They tried turbos on some gassers in the early 70's and they worked, but the main reason they quit using them was the exhaust sound. They made the cars to quiet and the crowds didn't like, so, I think NHRA banned them, they went back to 671 blower for more noise.

 

All things being equal, is it harder to do a twin turbo than a single?

The singlee turbo plumbing just seems ridic

I'm dying to hear how loud it is. That woosh at idle is where it's at!

 

Thats understandable. They are just too quiet compared to a blower motor. But thats OK with me.

 

I have never tried a single turbo setup before so I dont really know. I like the twins because you can get 2 small turbos alot cheaper than 1 big turbo, in most cases. Although the Borg Warner turbos start at about $600 and you can make alot of power out of just 1 on a small block.
The turbos Im using on this 355 are $130 each shipped to my door.

 

I am using the STR cast iron turbo manifolds. I will see if I have any pics of them mocked up on my coffee table. At one point I had the entire top end of the motor with the turbosetup put together in my living room.

That didn't go over well with my then gf.

 

What size turbos & where are you getting them ?

Thanks, Mark

 

More like the Mallicoat Bros in the 60s and Buddy Ingersoll in the 80s making the rest of the field look bad, not much to do with noise.

 

Buddy Ingersol ... wow, that's a name I haven't heard in years. I remember his Regal. Now there was a man that figured out how to turbo a drag car.

 

Yeah, the monster motor Pro Stock guys didn't like that little V6 kicking their butts

 

They are the cheap T3/T4 hybrid .63/.50 ar turbos that can be bought from ebay. I have used them before with zero issues.

 

While we're pumping you for information, can you suggest anyplace or other to get the rest of the necessary parts like turbo mounting flange or plate or whatev, and if you have any suggestions on wastegate or BOV or any other magic turbo stuff?

Thanks Jim!

 

I have been dealing with a guy on ebay who goes under the name "Wyntomn". He sells all the flanges to completely build a diy turbo setup. He also has his own line of wastegates and blow off valves, I used his stuff before and for the $$$ they were awesome, no problems.
If you were to build a twin ebay turbo SBC like mine then you would need headers or manifolds, some 2 1/2'' U-bends to connect your headers to the turbo flanges, another U-bend to build a charge pipe, some silicone couplers from summitracing and a $60 carb hat made by Spectre and sold on ebay. If you use T3/T4 cheap turbos like mine then go to Wyntomn and get 2 T3 weld flanges, 2 down pipe weld flanges, 2 of his 44 MM wastegates, and a 35 MM blow off valve. The 2 T3 weld flanges are $12 each and I think the down pipe weld flanges are $20 each. The wastegates come as a kit, it will include the gates as well as weld flanges and the same with his blow off valve, it will come with a weld flange. My last order with him was for 2 of his 44 MM gates with 7 psi springs, and a 35 MM blow off valve. My package totaled $147 shipped because he will help you out on combining shipping if you ask.

 

If you ever decide to build a turbo motor and want someone to walk you through some stuff just ask or send me an email if Im not around. I go through phases where I stay off my computer for weeks at a time. My email is builtonabudget@yahoo.com

 

I finally have both log manifolds finished. They are wrapped, painted and baked and I think they came out pretty nice.

 

What do you guys think about this charge pipe? Its just a mock up but Im liking it, Im waiting for a 4'' steel U-bend to show up so I can connect the twin pipes to the hat but you get the idea.

 

Jim, that's looking great!

I love the fact that there is sooo much info here about adding turbos. This is a very cool build, and I'm going to keep following it.

You stated that you have 7lb springs in. How much boost is possible from these turbos, on your engine?

 

The charge pipe looks good, I will be emailing you for advice. Thanks, Trent

 

Very cool!

 

You've been a big help Jim, thanks!

Here's the seller's Ebay Store

 

You might want to be thinking about a frame to set that motor into, they won't let you near a track with what you have.

 

Nice work looks cool Jim