Ram50

We took her on the first real drive this evening. We went about 10 miles to a friends house and around 15 miles coming home another way. Everything is good so far. We are going to have to remember to take ear plugs the next time 'cause she is loud and nasty. We went through our small town stopping for a few stop lights. It hazes a bit, but, isn't real smoky unless you get down on it. I forgot about all the smoke and came down on 'er once just out of town. The on coming traffic sorta slowed down to let the smoke clear. I need to not forget that anymore.

With the help of one of my genius neighbor, we were able to get the gasser tach working. When I'm trying to build boost on the trans brake, I can get it to just about 2000rpm before she starts over fueling. In first gear cruising down the road, I have to get to about 3500rpm before I can romp on it and get the turbo to respond quickly. Once it hits, I can't watch the tach and keep it in the road so I'll have to wait till I can get somewhere safe before I can figure out top rpms.

What ya say fellas. Should I get 1500rpm put in the converter? Keep in mind, this air right now is perfect. How much worse could a fella expect it to get when the ambient temps go to 90* or so?

I know what you're saying Stingpuller. I have considered leaving the converter alone and compounding the little girl. With a smaller turbo, do you or anyone else think she would build boost at 2000rpm? With what I have now, I'm afraid if I get the converter loose enough to run good track times, the resultant heating may be troublesome on the street.

As it stands, the tranny doesn't even register on the temp gauge and I can cool the engine down to 130 if I kick on the fans while driving down the road.
 
If you compound that 80 with a little He351 60mm stock turbo from an 04.5 through early 07 cummins, you could run and even tighter converter than you are right now.

If you went with a box stock S363/68/.88 charger, you might get by the with current converter but it would probably be close to the no-spool zone when ambient temps go up.
 
I am excited for you brother.. You are getting there. I would raise that stall around 1500 rpm and error on the low side when you talk to them. I don't believe you are going to have many heat issues on the street because of the weight. Heat becomes an issue under load and long launch stalls..
Its nice to see it coming together for you. I cant wait to see how far you pass your initial goals lol..
and fyi it sounds bad ass!!!
congratulations.
 
Put like a .030-.050 jet of nitrous on it and see if it spools. ;)
 
Bodacious said:
The converter is a 13" from FTI. Same place I bought the glide. I know I would have been better off with a lock-up glide and will no doubt end up with one before its all over with. Those fellas with the bad to the bone 70 Chevelle with Duramax power are running a Hughes glide. I read on their facebook page that Hughes has developed a lockup 13" converter specifically for their application as the little one they were running couldn't hold the power.

I don't know why I do the things I do sometimes. I knew going into this project that the lock-up glide was the best bet. I can't remember why I just didn't go with it in the beginning. I'm gonna call FTI Monday and see if maybe I could return this glide and go get me a Hughes lock-up.
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If you have any questions about the XP5 in the Chevelle, I'd be happy to answer them. We went through five of the Hughes "Pro Mod" converters before running out of room. Even with as tight as they could get it, it would still blow through to red line. They nailed it the first time when they built me the prototype 13" lockup, and it was great from then on. After 100+ passes @ 4560lbs, the trans was spotless inside and needed nothing for this season. Lockup vs non lockup was worth 7.5mph fwiw.
 
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Lock up

It's cool to see it going down the road for you. Russ what was the et difference?
 
RPM Motorsports said:
If you have any questions about the XP5 in the Chevelle, I'd be happy to answer them. We went through five of the Hughes "Pro Mod" converters before running out of room. Even with as tight as they could get it, it would still blow through to red line. They nailed it the first time when they built me the prototype 13" lockup, and it was great from then on. After 100+ passes @ 4560lbs, the trans was spotless inside and needed nothing for this season. Lockup vs non lockup was worth 7.5mph fwiw.
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Who would have thought that, I take it the first convertor was their Pro Mod 10.5"..... I spent a bunch of time with them as well along with the other 8-9 converter guys. Good to see others learn the hard way though, makes you appreciate that good conv. once you finally get one that works. You can no dought get it done with a 13" with the right people and right parts

Good to see Bodacious lisened to hard earned advise, and got this close on the first attempt, better to be to tight than to loose. I always ran mine a couple hundred tighter than comfortable on fuel and would bump in with a tiny .24" to .32" jet; it just made the conv. killer on the top end. The looser you go on the bottom the more you will give up on the top, that's just a fact. You'd be spot on now to leave it as is, and add either a nice secondary charger or a bump in nozzle
 
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We are completely street legal. We drove her into town today for a line up and inspection sticker. We passed a city police car on our way out of town and he didn't give us a second look.

We also re-weighed the truck after our trip to town. With the wiring, engine oil, tranny fluid, and 15 gallons on fuel, we gained 144 lbs. Yep, 2,768 lbs is the race weight and 62% of that is on the front tires. I guess she was a little dirty and wet. It started raining on us on our way into town. lol

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About the spooling issue, what to do...what to do????

JQ and Stock say nitrous. I've never fooled with it and to be honest, I'd rather make what I can on just fuel. I'm not saying it won't ever happen, I think I will use this as a last option. I know you all said to spool with, but, with most the folks around here, once the bottle is in, you've probably got another hidden bottle somewhere to make that thing run like it does. LOL

Big Blue24, say I did compound, would a stock HE351 stay together or should I opt for an S300 of some sort. I'd probably have to get an external gate as well???? If I did compound, I would really like to retain my t4 flanged manifold and my nice 3.5" cross over pipe. I wonder if any turbo's are available in the small S300 line that would suit my needs. Being we have the stainless manifold, we could probably add a gate without too much trouble.
Something else I should maybe consider, I don't have any idea what the steed manifolds weigh, but, I bet they are considerably lighter than this stainless manifold I have now. Also, with the addition of the smaller turbo, I could do away with the spooling valve and possibly not gain much weight at all. I'm gonna PM Taylor and see if he'll jump in here on this.

DEZLFREK, good to see ya back on here and thanks for the reply. Getting the re-stall is no doubt my cheapest and easiest out for this problem. If I had listened to your first turbo suggestion, I wouldn't be here right now. Also, considering I doubt I will stay in it longer than an 1/8th mile, I really think the big single will work.

I called Gregg at FTI just now and he said he could get me to 3500rpm on the stall and still make it tighten up on the top. So, I've thought about it long enough and I'm going to pull the tranny. Please keep the comments and suggestions coming. This re-stall may not do the trick.
 
Sorry RPM Motorsports, I meant to reply to ya in the last post. Thanks for posting. I'm not sure how far you read back on this build, but, I originally wanted one of the lock-up glides. At the time and I guess now as well, even though I believe the lock-up glide is the best trans for what I'm doing, I couldn't justify the expense. I called Hughes just a few weeks back and mentioned your all's Chevelle. They were happy to help me, but, I just couldn't let the cash go.

I'm very anxious to see the Nova roll out!!!! Are you gonna run the gear vendors in it as well???
 
Twins should solve your spooling issue too, if you don't mind going that route. Probably will be able to keep your same converter.
 
Bodacious said:
Sorry RPM Motorsports, I meant to reply to ya in the last post. Thanks for posting. I'm not sure how far you read back on this build, but, I originally wanted one of the lock-up glides. At the time and I guess now as well, even though I believe the lock-up glide is the best trans for what I'm doing, I couldn't justify the expense. I called Hughes just a few weeks back and mentioned your all's Chevelle. They were happy to help me, but, I just couldn't let the cash go.

I'm very anxious to see the Nova roll out!!!! Are you gonna run the gear vendors in it as well???
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The Nova should be interesting this year, almost 1/2 the weight of the Chevelle and a bunch more power. The GV unit will be installed, but we are hoping not to need it. Last season we were limited to tire size with the Chevelle, and barely cleared a 10.5". I made sure we will be able to run a 35x17 on the Nova, so I doubt we will need the GV unit (fingers crossed). We were only getting about 5-7 passes out of the GV clutch, and it wasnt cheap to maintain at that rate. I did read about your gear issue, and not being able to find a "Pro gear" set. We had Strange build us a Pro 290 gear for a 9.5" to go into the 9".
 
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Stingpuller said:
It's cool to see it going down the road for you. Russ what was the et difference?
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Got the mph mixed up.. 7.5mph diff was from the T400 to the XP5 lockup. Xp5 lockup vs xp5 non lockup (same conv just tested before they installed the lockup portion, to make sure we were on the right track) was 5mph and 2.5 tenths ET.
 
Bodacious said:
With a smaller turbo, do you or anyone else think she would build boost at 2000rpm?
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I went out an checked on this, because I leave most of the time on boost, not rpm, but I know the converter is tight. I also have very small twins, 57/71mm. So I checked rpm vs boost, and I can build 15psi at 1,800rpm on the footbrake. On the other hand, they do make 65psi at peak boost, so they can't be all bad. :Cheer:
 
We had Strange build us a Pro 290 gear for a 9.5" to go into the 9".
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Any chance you could post the price on these gears and maybe lone me your magic lamp? lol I'm thinking I'll be OK in the 1/8, but, if I do decide to air it out in the 1/4, I'd like to keep my options open. 2.5 tenths is huuuuuuuggggggggeeee!!!!!

P.S. Will the Nova be street legal??

I can build 15psi at 1,800rpm on the footbrake
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Is this in 'rust bucket'?

Another question for those with the knowledge, I'm running 30 degrees of timing. Will timing effect spooling much? I also have not been able to safely pull to the nose over rpm so I free rev'd it once with my fingers crossed and then hit the recall on the tach. It went to 5200 rpm. If I backed the timing up just a bit, will this effect rpm's much?
 
Bodacious said:
Any chance you could post the price on these gears and maybe lone me your magic lamp? lol I'm thinking I'll be OK in the 1/8, but, if I do decide to air it out in the 1/4, I'd like to keep my options open. 2.5 tenths is huuuuuuuggggggggeeee!!!!!

P.S. Will the Nova be street legal??



Is this in 'rust bucket'?

Another question for those with the knowledge, I'm running 30 degrees of timing. Will timing effect spooling much? I also have not been able to safely pull to the nose over rpm so I free rev'd it once with my fingers crossed and then hit the recall on the tach. It went to 5200 rpm. If I backed the timing up just a bit, will this effect rpm's much?
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The gear was right at $1k. & the personalized plates for the Nova just came in this week, she is registered :)
 
the personalized plates for the Nova just came in this week, she is registered
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Holly Chit!!! I'm glad you all are on the west coast. I still might be able to lay claim to the fastest street driven 'mud truck'. Don't tell me you plan on bolting up some scoops. LOL

I bought a personalized plate as well. When they get here I'll post up a pic.
 
Bodacious said:
Is this in 'rust bucket'?

Another question for those with the knowledge, I'm running 30 degrees of timing. Will timing effect spooling much? I also have not been able to safely pull to the nose over rpm so I free rev'd it once with my fingers crossed and then hit the recall on the tach. It went to 5200 rpm. If I backed the timing up just a bit, will this effect rpm's much?
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No, this is on my 95, the project formerly known as "Triple Threat".....it makes 600rwhp with a stock-ish 160hp pump and some pretty big injectors. Timing will affect spooling quite a bit, especially down low. If you backed it off to low 20's, you'd probably lose about 50-70rwhp but you "might" be able to spool. Something still seems weird though, at 2,000rpm with a diverter valve, that 80 should start to build some boost. You're probably just flooding it out with low-end fuel.
 
You're probably just flooding it out with low-end fuel.
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Yep, this is absolutely whats happening.

The converter is on its way to Florida for a re-stall.
 
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