88mm Turbo 5.4 Build by Z06KILLR

9 minute(s) of a 58 minute read

Since this intake has the intercooler built into it and takes up the valley...the original alternator location will not work.

Here is a pic of an idler bracket i made to take the place of where the alternator went. This is required, at least on my car, to route the belt properly.

Here we have an alternator bracket that my friend Roy drew up and made. These are available for purchase if anyone if interested. They move the alternator to the diver side of the engine and invert it.

Here is the alternator mounted along with a resivour tube/tank for the power steering pump..

10/1/2008

10/8/2008

Drove it around for about 30 mins tonight and I think it's finally done. No leaks, squirts, drips, chirps...nothing.

Tune is tomorrow at 2pm @ Lidio's (Alternative Auto). Auto works great (shifts way to early but Lidio will tune it up)...

Wish me luck...hoping for low 700's on 15lbs through the auto 

Yeah it made 864 on 15lbs last year with the stick....I'm not sure how much power this automatic is going to eat up so I'm shooting for low numbers. It has .7 more compression so perhaps that will factor out the auto and it will make around the same power...i'd be pretty pumped if that was the case. Well see!

10/8/2008

no numbers...something happened around 5k on a dyno run. The exhuast popped extremely loud a few times and the car stalled out. It starts up, but runs very rough and pops. Seems to be a timing chain/cam issue..fuel, oil, spark, injectors, trigger wheel, COP's, etc are all reading correctly. Compression checked out 150ish across all the pistons...

I'm pretty bummed...but well see what it is eventually. 

10/19/2008

Looks like things *might* finally be getting easier for me...

Pulled the front cover off and didnt find anything wrong with the tensioners/chains...

But I did find this..

11/20/2008

Yeah...it's back together (minus a fuel leak) sitting in my garage on a lift with a tank full of race gas and an untuned motor and trans...damn winter!!! Just ran out of time and actually grew tired of working on it...

I'm not sure if it's smart to tune it in 20 degree weather...I'll see what lidio says.

3/1/2009

Got it running tonight, it was indeed the trigger wheel...started right up. Should have it tuned by the end of the month...

4/2/2009

car was on the Dyno yesterday...made some progress after we eliminated the boost controller (it wasnt keeping the gate closed).

We put vacuum to the top of the gate and let her rip...turbo seems to max out around 19-20lbs of boost (starts to fall off after 6000 RPM, turbo is rated to 1250hp)...the last pull we made before running into a timing problem was 772rwhp @ 19lbs with 10 degrees of timing...hoping to get it back up there and get the tuned finished and get some final numbers..

To be honest I might just keep the timing super low and keep it close to where its at...i'm not sure I want to throw a ton of timing at it and try and make 1000rwhp after all the work this has taken...

I just want to drive it..

4/3/2009

She's back on the road...

8/23/2011

It's been over 2 years since I posted last here. The car has been sitting just as long as well. Havent had time to work on it much since moving to houston. But I'm in the process of fixing it now. I did get married and have a baby girl in the mean time, though! lol

9/14/2011

Here is a video of the car on the dyno.

It developed a rod knock after this pull. We ran into an issue with a pegging meter on the dyno. The air/fuel ratio would spike to 12.5-12.7 above 5500 RPMs with 24lbs of boost (wastegate pressurized closed). The tuner added fuel to the table over a couple of pulls to correct it but it didnt work until AFTERhe noticed the pegging meter and THEN added a mafia.

Too little too late. I checked the cylinder when I got it home and it was down 60psi. Added a shot of oil and it picked up a bit. This combined with the lovely rod knock was a pretty ominous tale of what happened.

So I'm in the process of rebuilding it now. I'll add pics and info as they become available. shortblock should be done in a couple weeks the the longblock a week or two after. Then its off to try it one more time before it gets an LSX

10/17/2011

Getting close. Had to replace all the exhuast valves in the heads as they were damaged from the combustion heat. The rods and block were replaced as well. Diamond pistons with coated side skirts and tops. I hope to have the engine this week/next week ready to drop in.

I ordered up some Bosch 160lb injectors for E85 and new springs/retainers. Looking forward to seeing those injectors! 

11/1/2011

had a falling through with the engine builder. Im leaning towards MMR or side lining the car and getting an inground pool, lol.

1/14/2012

I'm going with MMR.

5.4, Manley Billet Rods, MMR 2500 Coated Race Pistons (11.5:1), Total Seal Rings, Forged Crank, MMR Stage III Turbo cams, Manley Springs & Titanium Retainers.

The builder I had building this was taking my parts and selling them online and using my money for other engines.

I got my money back for the parts and labor that was never done. Time to go with a shop that does this everday. 

1/15/2012

Seriously man if this build fails car is for sale and im building a LSX First Gen Firebird

5/1/2012

It's alive. Fired up instantly. I'll put up a video and pics in the next couple days.

I havent found a tuner yet. I had the tune pulled off the chip and edited for the 160's and E85. Im going to put some break in miles on it and try and find a tuner I'm comfortable with.

The additional compression , MMR cams, and E85 create sich a sinister exhaust note.

I'm working on the last issue. Clutch is giving me fits when i want to put the trans into gear. I think the 1st disc in the clutch isnt clearanced enough from the floater plate (mcleod street twin)

sigh...

5/20/2012

I took it outside the Subdivision for the first time last Sunday. Havent started it since as I'm waiting on a tuner appointment (Manny @ HPP). I'll trailer it up to Dallas and let him dial it in.

runs and drives well. Had the existing tune edited for E85 and 160's so it shouldnt need too much work.

I'll start it up tomorrow and get a video up.

5/21/2012

I have a date with HPP June 15th or June 22nd. Hopefully I can get in the 15th as having this sit for a whole month will be painfull.

I took a video with my phone but the sound is horrible. I'll get one with the camcorder tomorrow.

6/6/2012

 

6/15/2012

800whp on 13lbs with 17 degrees timing

900whp on 15lbs with 17 degrees

Car was perfect on the dyno. Was 95 degrees and made pull after pull without issue.

Manny did an INCREDIBLE job. Kept at it 7000 rpm. May take it back in the fall to see what she will

do with cool air and some extra boost and rpm. 

6/16/2012

Looks like my camera man didnt get a pull. He hit the stop record button when I handed him the camera. Really bummed!. Should have recorded multiple pulls.

Here is the graph of the 13lb and 15lb pulls. I have the 15lb pull set on the eboost sp2 (12lb by default). 

Really can't say enough about HPP & Manny. The whole staff was really a pleasure to do business with. Manny spent about 6 hours tunning it (got done about 8pm).

He said the turbo was really just hitting it's sweet spot as 2lbs of additional boost added 100whp. I also noticed how much cleaner E85 burns. It's incredible.

Hats off to MMR for building such a beast. They clearly know what they are doing.