Show & Tell: The crap I do under a tarp

Somebody asked a while back that I post something on my heap as of late. It's fixing to snow outside, I'm bored, so . . .. bear with me. It's not as hot as many here, but it's what I have, it's paid for, and I built it myself.

I bought my '93 W250 CC new in late November of '93.
Took to playing at the local 8th mile T&T some years ago now. I've been building up the 12mm VE fueled engine slowly. Was running an S362 over an HT3B up until recently when the bearings of the 3B got too loose. I'd upsized the injectors a year or so before and sorely needed more air then.

Anyhoo, the 3B failing had me get on with moving more air.

The 3B is supposedly good for right at 80lbs/min. I figured around 150lbs/min out to cool the fuel I'm currently moving.

So, I got three S362sxe's. Two with a 12cm exhaust housing playing into the third with a 14cm waste-gated housing.
To keep the heat in the exhaust gases, all the hot-stuff is 14ga 304 stainless steel. All plumbing connections are by way of V-Band clamps.

Got a SD exhaust manifold and cleaned up the ports a little:




Port-matched all the plumbing including exhaust housings:







Made a Wye-Pipe for the primaries:







The hot-feed from the secondary includes a bellow to accommodate movement:





The primaries are supported from the block with bracketry I made from a 20mph sign:







Made a Wye-pipe for the cold-side. It includes an internal turning-vane:





To lube the turbos, I made a manifold for them. AN8 supply with AN4s for each turbo:





To make the stuff fit under the hood, I had to move the engine oil filter. So I made a bracket, modified a marine oil-cooler cover-plate, and connected it all with AN12 (I think it is) plumbing:





I had to make the exhaust plumbing as I wanted it all 5".
3" off the primaries, It was fun!:







With a number of trips under the truck, I got a 5" down-pipe out of the engine bay, and past the trans/transfer-case (16" of 5" SS triple-flex was included):







On the street, I run a very large, very quiet muffler. I also run a temporary stack in the bed for raceday. So, I made a Wye-pipe that goes just past the transfercase . . . :







A 12" piece of 5" SS triplelock flex connects the bed stack turnup:





Prior to installing the mess (for the almost final time :doh I ceramic-coated the inside and outside of all the hot-stuff:







I've got a homemade cold-air intake, I connected it to the primaries via a 6" rubber 90* that turns into two 6" to 5" 90*s:





In order to keep the AC, I had to remake the refrigerant lineset so it'd fit to my liking (fittings shown here):





To keep up with the pressures and stuff, I installed sensors on everything (ISSPRO Performax system):

Back-pressure . .


Primaries . ..

Secondary . . .



Got additional sensors for: Charge-air temp, boost (at intake-log), fuel pressure, IP case-pressure, Trans line-pressure, etc.


Found a well fitting radiator reservoir:






Got it all together long enough to get a little dialing-in done.




It appears to spool-up fairly quick and keeps the EGT in check (for the short term):

Got the boost gauge working - YouTube



Made a few passes at the track and trashed the recently renewed rearend.

In the final throws of installing a narrowed 2001 rearend that includes stock/OEM disc brakes. Detroit Locker, 35 spline chromalloy axles, stainless plumbing, etc.









Hoping to get it back on the road this weekend.

We'll see.

Wow, very impressive. You've gotten very good at this stuff.

This is just insane. I freakin love it.

Super cool build! Arent street signs the bestest things ever! Fancy mystical aluminum type material with memory and anti-trama charicteristics.

Very awesome work!


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Really nice looking setup.

You sir, have some serious fab skills.

I'm impressed. Well done !

I've worked under a tarp but nothing close to that quality. Very impressive sir!

Dayum. Nice work!

That's some really great looking fabrication work.

Everything on that truck seems to be extra clean and over the top. Post a video with sound clip of the turbos when you can.

Glad to see you got the axle in there!

Thanks for the kind words, folks.

As the fabbing/install of the turbos was somewhat drawn out, it'd be fair to say I'm a little burnt-out and just want to drive the mess. With that, it was on the road for perhaps a couple of months before the rear-end showed its rearend. I've still got quite a bit of tuning to make best use of the additional air. Was in the midst of sorting an appropriate injection event timing advance curve.

Red Sleeper said:

Post a video with sound clip of the turbos when you can.

Click to expand...

This was while messing with the waste-gate early on, just rolling into 3rd gear, (air filter plumbing in place) ...
WG@20~25 - YouTube

(The turbos are loud as crap with no plumbing on the front of them)

Fasten your seatbelt next time for the video.

Sounds amazing! I wish the speedo in my 91 moved that smooth and fast. Do you have fueling beyond 3,200 rpm?

Glad to see you started this thread here on CompD covering your truck BC! Keeping up with its evolution over time on 1stgen.org, and here as well, is part of what sparked my initial interest in owning and modifying diesels, and thus I've kept a lookout for updates on the progress of this rig more than any other I can think of. To me it is a testament to what an owner of a truck can do when they don't just move on to the next newest thing and observe "the best trucks are built, not bought", mantra. Props to you Sir. I know what it means to get a little burned out on a project and just want to drive it. I really look forward to seeing how the new setup runs out!

Red Sleeper said:

Fasten your seatbelt next time for the video.

Sounds amazing! I wish the speedo in my 91 moved that smooth and fast. Do you have fueling beyond 3,200 rpm?

Click to expand...

Oh, I wear my seatbelt (did vol EMS stuff for 13ish years). But on point, my electrical system is in stark contrast to the mechanical on this truck. I'll get to it eventually (got parts to upgrade the fuel supply so, that'll start it :bang ).
The VE is quite stock/OEM on the fuel-wetted side .. . for now. As such, the peak fuel volume moved is rolling-off after 2800 or so in my current condition. Like everyone else, I'm outrunning the vane-pump thus loosing case-pressure thus having the injection event timing retard @ WOT. It seems most big-name VE builders take the easy route to address this and pin the timing advance mechanism. Yeah, well . . . . .

Mooner1 said:

Glad to see you started this thread here on CompD covering your truck BC! Keeping up with its evolution over time on 1stgen.org, and here as well, is part of what sparked my initial interest in owning and modifying diesels, and thus I've kept a lookout for updates on the progress of this rig more than any other I can think of. To me it is a testament to what an owner of a truck can do when they don't just move on to the next newest thing and observe "the best trucks are built, not bought", mantra. Props to you Sir. I know what it means to get a little burned out on a project and just want to drive it. I really look forward to seeing how the new setup runs out!

Click to expand...

Thank you kind Sir. It has been a good truck though the years.

I would like to point out to anyone contemplating doing anything custom like this . . .. . .

You have to live with it.

Think about all that statement might include.


While I tried to include living with it in the design, you'd be amused at some of the aspects in that regard. For example: Removing/installing the down-pipe is easy as Hell. Getting to it is somewhat more involved with a 30ish step process that is VERY sequence specific. Early on, I found that the way I made the basic triple-turbo sub-assembly, allows one to simply swing the mass up, and out of the way should you need to get under the mass . . .



I am truly blessed in that my Son takes after me with a wrench. He's been a HUGE help (READ: younger strength/grunt).

BC847 said:

Oh, I wear my seatbelt (did vol EMS stuff for 13ish years). But on point, my electrical system is in stark contrast to the mechanical on this truck. I'll get to it eventually (got parts to upgrade the fuel supply so, that'll start it :bang ).
The VE is quite stock/OEM on the fuel-wetted side .. . for now. As such, the peak fuel volume moved is rolling-off after 2800 or so in my current condition. Like everyone else, I'm outrunning the vane-pump thus loosing case-pressure thus having the injection event timing retard @ WOT. It seems most big-name VE builders take the easy route to address this and pin the timing advance mechanism. Yeah, well . . . . .




Thank you kind Sir. It has been a good truck though the years.

I would like to point out to anyone contemplating doing anything custom like this . . .. . .

You have to live with it.

Think about all that statement might include.


While I tried to include living with it in the design, you'd be amused at some of the aspects in that regard. For example: Removing/installing the down-pipe is easy as Hell. Getting to it is somewhat more involved with a 30ish step process that is VERY sequence specific. Early on, I found that the way I made the basic triple-turbo sub-assembly, allows one to simply swing the mass up, and out of the way should you need to get under the mass . . .

I am truly blessed in that my Son takes after me with a wrench. He's been a HUGE help (READ: younger strength/grunt).

Click to expand...

As far as I'm concerned, this deserves a nod and frankly you could make some serious $$$$$ should you consider building these kits as they would sell no doubt in my mind.

Great thread and build.



And not that I'm some grammar or spelling nazi but I can't be the only one that appreciates the OPs sound vocab and grammar? Soooo much better than the hack on the English language so many post with at times.

BTW,

- There's a tool for every job, and a job for every tool.
- If it looks like Channel-Locks, Adjusts like Channel-Locks, turns bolts and stuff like Channel-Locks: It's not a hammer.


So, since I do HVAC&R type work, and I wanted to move the trucks refrigerant lineset around to fit like I wanted, I bit the bullet and bought a refrigerant fitting crimp-tool thingy.





Yeah, OK. It makes the nice professional fitting terminations. But, . . . get out of the box.


I used those same crimp-ferules (or the general idea) to make the primaries lube-oil drain-line . . .




More recently, with making the 2001 axle fit the 1993 truck, I had to "adjust" the 2001 parking brake cable lengths. After shortening the things, I reattached the original sleeve fittings using those crimp-ferules . . .





In hindsight, I believe one could have cleaner looking, perhaps notably less expensive AN fitting type plumbing made using the crimp-ferules.

They are available in both aluminum and well as cold-rolled steel.