Project VerTTigo - 1964 Buick Skylark Turbo LS Convertible by Wasted Income

By diyauto
( 3 )

10 minute(s) of a 52 minute read

4-3-2015

4-3-2015


Well....$hit just got real....


Picked up a forged 383 LS shortblock for the Buick....built for boost. Figured it was for the best to sell the LS6 while it was still all in one piece and worth something. lol


K1 4340 forged stroker crank

K1 forged H-beam rods

Wiseco pistons and rings

ARP Everything

Clevite bearings










5-26-2015


Progress stalled a little bit as my wife and I had birthday stuff to do with our son and daughter, and I was also thrashing to get my own hot-rod ready for a big road trip I took with my buddys a couple weeks ago. Said roadtrip got me fired up to do some more work on the buick.



Turbos arrived!! They are Borg-Warner S360. T4 flange, 60mm compressor with a 68 mm turbine, and a .90 A/R. Should light up real fast on this 383, and make around 800 whp when turned up.








10/1/15


Progress has been slow for 2 reasons:

- Crazy busy summer
- I hate doing sheetmetal repair.

Finally got the trans tunnel modded and fabbed up to where I'm happy with the clearance around the 4L80E. What a pain...




11/11/15

Trans tunnel done, welded, ground smooth.








Decided to do solid motor mounts. Had my buddy make some aluminum inserts for the motor mounts to replace the poly bushings. I'll try to dig up some pics.








Playing around with where to locate the turbos. Lots of room up in the fender tips, but might try to get them moved back a bit to simplify the plumbing.








1/8/16

Ok, made a little more progress on this drawn out project. lol. 

Started working on the turbo headers, beginning with the collectors.

Cutting the 304 stainless to length.



Cut, cleaned up, beveled, and ready to go.





Saw fixture





Not bad for my first try





I'm happy with the internal fit-up





Tacked together





Finished product is pretty close to what I modeled in Creo. Modeling it helped me figure out the exact cut angles and position to get stuff how I wanted...huge time saver.











1/27/16

Started out with some simple water cut header flanges, but wanted some steps in them for positively locating the primaries around the ports, so I bored some steps.












Had been putting off starting on the trunk floor replacement...but in the words of the wise buddy of mine, "Sometimes you just gotta start cutting". So I did.








Spot welds ground and rust neutralizer in the supports where the media blaster won't get to.




1/29/16

It's not Buick related, but I figured you guys might get a kick out of this. 
Got my Blazer back on my buddy's dyno a couple months back...she laid down 825 rwhp and 899 rwtq. 370 cubic inches, 80 mm turbo, 23 psi boost, E85 fuel....drive it anywhere. 
I can't wait till the Skylark makes noises like this.

2/15/16

Header progress






2/17/16

Got one side all fit...on to the other side...then finish welding. ugh.


2/19/16

Thanks Sean. Getting there 







3/7/16

Got the headers all welded up.








Pushed it outside for the first time in a long time, in order to clean up the shop a little. 






3/30/16

Turbo Mounting:


I was not able to find a drain flange mount of the design I wanted...so I built my own.


Started out with a hunk of bar stock





Ended up with:








Burned a plate to the frame, with a mating bolted flange that will allow easy removal.





Final mounting location




4/4/16

Made a bit more progress this weekend.

Wastegates go on next.



4/4/16

Thanks!

I also got a new tool that should help this project immensely.

Whirly Jig!



10/18/16

Finally got some work done on the Buick again.

Got the wastegates fitted up...which is a seemingly simple deal, but takes FOREVER when you're trying to make things as symmetrical as possible. Not to mention, working with sch 10 stainless is a total bish.



12/20/16

Small progress. Downpipes are done to the firewall.





1/16/17

Intercooler showed up...and of course, the first thing that was required was to cut it up. lol.



Cut the straight outlet off and welded on a 90* elbow. Also have some more work to do on it...will post pics once its done.



Decided to hack up the core support as well, for intercooler/radiator clearance.









Had to do some trimming of the core support to allow the IC to tuck back into it. Welded tabs to the support to mount the IC. 







Also ordered a Ron Davis radiator today...great guys to work with...but that hurt the wallet. lol. Should be here in a couple weeks.


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