1970 GTO Version 3.0

[Larry Callahan]

Very nice. I have one of those in my Camaro. Have you considered the locking cover?

[ryeguy2006a]

Must be a great feeling to have the car back home again! So much work has been done while it was away.

[dontlifttoshift]

Make sure the hub isn't dragging on the column bell, they usually do.

I also remove the safety pin in the quick release.

[andrewb70]

Very nice. I have one of those in my Camaro. Have you considered the locking cover?

Great tip Larry! Thanks.

Must be a great feeling to have the car back home again! So much work has been done while it was away.

It is exciting yet still daunting, because there is so much left to do before it starts.

Make sure the hub isn't dragging on the column bell, they usually do.

I also remove the safety pin in the quick release.

I was careful not to over tighten the hub, so there is no dragging against the column. Great tip!

Andrew

[dontlifttoshift]

Leaving the hub loosish is an option, eventually it will just be loose. I typically take .060-.080 off the hub with the lathe. This isn't an NRG problem, it is an every aftermarket hub problem.

[andrewb70]

With the car now in my home garage I am able to spend a hour or two here and there and knock out little projects. Just like the old saying about how one might eat an elephant...

This picture is at a little bit of an odd angle, but it shows the finished turbo drain. While the car was at Hotrod Express, I asked Josh to put a bead in the 5/8" stainless tube that we used to extend the drain pipe. There is also a little section of 5/8" oil safe rubber hose that goes from the tube to the oil drain on the side of the oil pan. I used Gates heat shrink clamps on the hose. The stainless tube also has a silicone/fiberglass fire shield over it.



This picture is also at a bit of an odd angle, but it shows how the heater hoses come down from the water pump and under the up-pipe. There is fire sleeving over the top of the hose where it passes closest to the up-pipe.



Here is the view from the top. Everything fits very closely together, but there is just enough room to turn fasteners and fittings. I also used the Gates heat shrink clamps on the heater hoses.



I took the intake off again so that I can clean everything and get it ready for Cerakote. Here I am mocking up the little silicone plugs that I will use to seal off machined and tapped holes.



She is looking more apart than before, but progress is being made.



Andrew

[andrewb70]

I have been watching the weather forecast, looking for a partly sunny day, with low wind and no rain. Well, today was that perfect day. I got started in the morning and started my Cerakote shop.



I had 4 parts to coat: compressor housing, charge pipe, intake lid and intake base (not pictured).



This guy was super helpful for cleaning. I filled it up with acetone, pressurized the can, and it sprayed a beautiful, fine mist that cleaned the parts well. Everything was already bead blasted before hand. I just sprayed everything down, used a red 3M pad to clean, and sprayed again. Then I used a MAP gas torch to heat the parts and evaporate all of the acetone.



I am using the Cerakite C coating, in the same burnt bronze color that I used on the valley cover and the front cover. You put down a light coat and immediately go over it with a heavier coat. It looks amazing in the sun, because the burnt bronze has a ton of gold and copper flakes in it.



I decided to leave the intercooler in raw aluminum, but I went over all of the surfaces with the red 3M pad to give it a brushed look.



I taped off the plate with my business logo, so it would stay natural. The engraving would lose all the detail if I was to paint it.



I set everything back on the engine so that the Cerakote can fully cure.



Different angle...



Here is a shot showing the compressor housing.



I did not mess around with the charge pipe because I want it to fully cure. Now, if I can only find all of the o-rings that I need to finally assemble everything....

Andrew

[GTO Jack]

That looks really good. I here it is sometimes a challenge to get it to look really nice. I think you made a mistake by showing your work here. Now you will have many many people asking you to do their parts for them.

[andrewb70]

That looks really good. I here it is sometimes a challenge to get it to look really nice. I think you made a mistake by showing your work here. Now you will have many many people asking you to do their parts for them.

I don't think people will want to pay what I would want to charge. It is all about the prep work. The actual application only took about 5 minutes for all of the parts. I just followed the instructions that were provided by Cerakote and used their middle of the road gun that they sell and a cheap Harbor Freight compressor with a disposable moisture trap. My set-up is not fancy.

Andrew

[jetmech442]

I think it looks soo good having the brushed intercooler sandwiched with cerakote top and bottom, you have a really good eye for aesthetics. It's ben really fun watching the latest transformation and seeing how build quality gets more and more professional. I'm currently redoing a lot of the stuff I originally did when I as just trying to slap it together to get it working--looking to maybe get build quality up to the quality of your first iteration. You're a huge inspiration Andrew, keep it up man.

[STREETFIGHTER50]

Everything is looking beautiful Andrew! Tons of work done!

[andrewb70]

I think it looks soo good having the brushed intercooler sandwiched with cerakote top and bottom, you have a really good eye for aesthetics. It's ben really fun watching the latest transformation and seeing how build quality gets more and more professional. I'm currently redoing a lot of the stuff I originally did when I as just trying to slap it together to get it working--looking to maybe get build quality up to the quality of your first iteration. You're a huge inspiration Andrew, keep it up man.

Everything is looking beautiful Andrew! Tons of work done!

Thank you for the kind words, gentlemen!!! I really appreciate it. I just got back from the Buick Nationals and I should make more progress next week.

Andrew

[andrewb70]

I have ben working with The DriveShaft Shop for about 15 years on various projects. They were the ones that made the custom axles for my RX7 when installed a Ford Cobra Mustang rear diff in it. They were also the ones that made the single CV driveshaft for my GTO back in 2013 and also the dual CV driveshaft in the Cougar.

This time around they will be building a dual CV driveshaft for the GTO, but with a twist. They have some new, super strong CVs that they want to use on this project. The front slip yoke is already configured for it, but the rear needs an adapter, because the CV pinion yoke was made for the smaller CV. That said, they designed an adapter for me and sent me a 3D printed prototype for test fitting.















We live in truly amazing times. As Vic likes to say "That's some Buck Rogers S**t!"

Andrew

[Way2qwk4u]

Awesome. It’s is truly amazing that ppl can print up mock-ups and send them out. Saves so much time and materials.

[andrewb70]

Today I had the opportunity to go work i the garage. I decided to tackle the intake manifold assembly and final installation.

The first step was to install the o-ring that seals the base with the intercooler. It is a single viton string that gets inserted into the machined groove, the ends are butted together, trimmed flush, and the a drop of super glue is used to hold it together.



The intercooler is bolted into place.



Followed by the lid.



I also installed the all of the fuel injectors and rails. I used the rail brackets that came with the intake manifold, but I replaced all the hardware with ARP stainless fasters. I really like this combination of black and silver against the bronze intake manifold.



I took the masking take off the heads and cleaned everything with acetone.



Then I installed the intake manifold assembly on the engine. The intake manifold has o-rings that seal it against the heads. I also lubricated the mating surface so the intake can easily slide around and find a happy spot as it is being torqued down.



I used these stainless p-clamps for the oil feed line, again with the ARP bolts. Vic added these holes to the intake manifold months ago.



Here is a broader view that shows all the details of the stainless hardware, with black, against the bronze intake, with a pop of red on the valve covers to keep it interesting.



Slowly, but surely...

Andrew

[STREETFIGHTER50]

Lookin awesome!

[GTO Jack]

I see you piped your steam vent to the back of the water pump. Did GM ever do it this way? On my set up, I was told it must go to the high point of the radiator both for the air to go to the top, and that is the best place for a bit of suction on that line allowing it to work as designed.

[andrewb70]

I see you piped your steam vent to the back of the water pump. Did GM ever do it this way? On my set up, I was told it must go to the high point of the radiator both for the air to go to the top, and that is the best place for a bit of suction on that line allowing it to work as designed.

GM had the steam vent going to a heater hose on the Trailblazers with the 5.3L. I have the Holley mid-mount system and their main water pump casting has provisions for the steam vent to go into the water pump. It is a legitimate place for it.

Anrew

[andrewb70]

Progress has stalled a bit on the GTO, although I managed to take an interesting and useful detour. I was working with a local customer a couple of weeks ago and I noticed that his 5.4L Mustang GT500 engine had a very interesting looking sensor on the fuel rail. After some digging around I figured out that it is Bosch 0 261 230 093. What caught my eye is that one side of the sensor was in the rail while the other side had a vacuum nipple on it.

As I suspected this is a differential pressure (Delta P) sensor. It outputs the difference between rail pressure and manifold pressure (positive or negative).

You may wonder why we should care. I am glad you asked, because differential fuel pressure is actually what we really care about, not rail pressure. Another way to think of the differential pressure is the pressure across the injector discharge. Let's do an example:

Let's say you have a fuel system that is set to 60psi at the rail and there is no vacuum or boost reference on the regulator, or the regulator is not adjustable. This is a fairly common scenario with a LS swap, simple in-tank pump, and a Corvette style regulator. Let's also say that you have a moderate performance cam and the engine idle around 50kPa, which is about 15in/Hg, which is also about -7psi. Note that the units are all different, but they are describing the same thing, which is the amount of vacuum in the intake manifold when the engine is running.

In this scenario the rail pressure doesn't change, but what happens to the pressure across the injector discharge when the engine is running? Because of the vacuum that is generated by the engine, the differential pressure across the injectors is actually 67psi. In other words, the injectors act as if they flowed more. That is exactly what this sensor will read, because it measures differential pressure directly.

Consider a different scenario. Turbocharged engine, adjustable regulator with a vacuum line hooked up to it. Let's assume the same base pressure of 60psi. When the engine is running under the same conditions, a normal pressure sensor would show 53psi at the rail, but this sensor will still read true differential pressure, which in this case is 60psi. Take the same scenario under boost. Engine is making 10psi, rail pressure sensor will be reading 70psi, and this sensor will still read 60psi. The purpose of having a vacuum/boost referenced fuel system is in fact to maintain consistent differential fuel pressure.

This is a fun topic and if anyone has any questions, please post them.

Here is sensor mount that Vic machined.











It attaches right to the back of the rail with the AN-6 female to female union.



The eagle eyed will notice that it is mounted to the Cougar. I am using the Cougar to do the testing for the sensor.

Andrew

[langleylad]

Consider a different scenario. Turbocharged engine, adjustable regulator with a vacuum line hooked up to it. Let's assume the same base pressure of 60psi. When the engine is running under the same conditions, a normal pressure sensor would show 53psi at the rail, but this sensor will still read true differential pressure, which in this case is 60psi. Take the same scenario under boost. Engine is making 10psi, rail pressure sensor will be reading 70psi, and this sensor will still read 60psi. The purpose of having a vacuum/boost referenced fuel system is in fact to maintain consistent differential fuel pressure.



Andrew

Thanks for explaining this Andrew , as I'm very much a novice at this I found this info helpful. As I was checking out a data log recently I noticed that my fuel pressure at the regulator was 60lbs and the fuel rail pressure was 53lbs I thought there might be a problem but apparently not . Win !