Just finished with the shakedown runs of my new project 2.3ltr turbo pinto drag car. I started building this car in May of this year after crashing my 85 turbocoupe in Feburary. I used everything off the turbocoupe except changed to a narrowed 9" rear end. The chassis is a full 2x3 .083 wall square tube chassis, ladder bar suspension and modified fox body front suspension with a SLA conversion of my own design. (similar to the Griggs SLA conversion)
Engine is a .030 2.3ltr, crower sportsman rods, je 9.0 forged pistons, esslinger svo head w/roller cam. I am also using a C4 that I built myself. Engine management is FAST bank to bank and running a PT67 T4 turbo with an air to water intercooler. Engine also has a full block girdle built by a machinist I know.
I sure there is a lot I missed, but here are some pictures and link to last Saturday's shakedown passes. Still a lot left in this little motor when I get the bugs out.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/jbcalhoun/DSC00056.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/jbcalhoun/DSC00045-1.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/jbcalhoun/DSC00048.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/jbcalhoun/instrumentation004.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/jbcalhoun/Picture003.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/jbcalhoun/pinto001.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/jbcalhoun/pinto003.jpg
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/59fe80ca-a77a-4fe2-8ae4-986901667751.htm
Enjoy
Brad Calhoun
That's a pretty serious 2.3T you got there Brad. Nice Pinto. Keep us posted on the progress, as I see 8 second quarter mile potential in this car. :fastcar:
Thanks Curtis. A picture of the block girdle in the almost finished state.
Forgot to mention, wheelbase is stretched to fox body specs.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/jbcalhoun/DSCblockgirdle2.jpg
Brad
Awesome job! You should make those girdles and sell them, very cool!
Yeah,Brad.I'll take one of them girdle thingies.
My machinist will only build one more girdle and I got "dubs" on it! lol
Sorry Curtis.
Brad
Brad,car looks great.what's the actual wheelbase?Did you stretch the fenders yourself?
Strat6pony - Wheelbase measures 100.5". Fenders weren't actually stretched but the wheel opening was cutout and moved forward and the rear part filled in with metal. I didn't do a great job on them either. lol
I've got a lot of clean up to do on the car this winter and then paint. Wanted to make a few runs first just to see if everything looked like it would work before painting.
Like I say, everything up front is fox body, AJE tubular crossmember and lowers, stock strut spindles with my adapters for the SLA setup using tubular control arms. Motor has a rear sump pan (11 qt), windage tray, trap door, modified oil pickup (off a modular motor).
I have aerospace components 4piston drag brakes on all 4 corners using wilwood individual mc's and a wilwood brake pedal assy.
I know it's hard to see all the work that went into the car but I promise, no shoehorn or sledgehammer was used in this construction project! lol
Brad
UnFreakinbelieveable man. Awesome job. The engine did seem to be running a bit lean. Incrediable.
The turbo whine sounds awesome.
Thanks 77turbowagon - AF looked good on the computer. Plugs looked like it could have been a little on the lean side though. The car should do better on the next outing. Turbo really talks to you! Thanks Again
Brad
UPDATE:
Car went 6.04 @ 114.56 with a 1.34 60' today in the 1/8 mile at Desert Thunder Raceway in Midland, TX.
We'll keep trying to dip into the 5's. I know it will do it. Pulling the transmission to get the converter tightened up. That should do it! Have a video but it's real crappy. Post it later.
Brad
Congratulations Brad.There's not a doubt that you are in the fives soon.You are officially a big dog.Keep it up.
The passes on 11/25/06 were 6.18, 6.04, 6.05, and 6.11
Oh so close to that high 5 second pass we were looking for.
Here is a link to the video of 2 of the runs. I appologize for the quality.
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/jbcalhoun/?action=view¤t=1980TurboPinto11.flv
I still haven't turned on the nitrous but will when I get this thing tuned. Will use the nitrous to spool the turbo faster.
Brad Calhoun
I can't get the link to work.
Try it now Curtis.
Brad
MUCH BETTER.The car is definately working Brad.When all the tuning is done and you throw about a hundred shot on it ,it should go mid fives with no problem.That makes it a legitimate eight second quarter mile car.ROCK ON. :fastcar:
Brad, just my 2c with the NOS. Watch #1 cylinder real close. For some reason my car ran real lean on # 1 and eventually ate the piston.
You know, I have tried nitrous on 2 occasions before, always leaving it on during the whole run. Both times blew headgaskets, one causing the demise of a 85tbird and breaking my back. It was sized for a 35 shot only. I only want enough nitrous to spool the turbo off the line, so next time I try it I will only spray on the transbrake. I figured out my problem, I believe it to have been a restriction in the pre fuel pump filter. My pump was unable to keep up with the required needs when spraying and went lean. I really didn't know this until about a month ago, now making much more horsepower, but was leaning out during the runs. Changed the type of filter and now no more problems. Data logs look much better and times are improving.
My gasket let go on 1 and 4 the first time and 4 the second time.
Thanks for the advise and I will definately bear it in mind.
Brad
Simply awesome.
:surprised: that is one Gnarly looking exhaust manifold.......i want one! LOL
cheapracer thank you and bluefordpinto that is the shortest equal length header I could build. Yea, exhaust gets confused on the way out. I am no longer running the fast bank to bank as I went to Fast Sequential before the last runs. It obviously helped with the times and now idles somewhat better.
Today I am getting the car weighed so I will have better data for the rebuild on the torque converter.
Thanks
Brad
Well, Pinto got weighed this morning. As Follows:
LF 630# RF 610#
LR 624# RR 589#
Front Total 1240# 50.5%
Rear Total 1213# 49.5%
Total Weight 2454# with my 180# butt in it.
I like the weight distribution.
Brad
I'll introduce my self. First post and my name is Scott. Sweet car dude. I got an 80 and am going to try something like you did. After seeing your car I couldn't beleaive how cool it looks. But damn I dont plan on going as fast as you do. lol Any advice about instaling a full frame and cage?
very nice! I really like the interior. It looks amazing!
Drumincarguy (Scott) thanks for the complements on the car. Wow, that's a lot of question on the frame.
I basically built the full frame out of necessity because I didn't want to change out my rear sump pan. Sounds like a lot of work to avoid a pan change doesn't it. With the full engine girdle and the engineering that went into all of it with the pan there is no way I wanted to change any of it. With the initial thought of moving the stock suspension package forward to accommodate my setup and then looking at the fox body tubular xmember I already had, it just made more sense to bite the bullet and do a full frame. I had always wanted a full frame car and this would probably be the last full build I would make anyway.
I started off with making an elevated chassis jig so everything could be held in square. Elevated so I wouldn't have to work down low. Got to make it easy on this tired old body ya know! lol
Scott the main thing is just take your time, keep things square and level, and never think you can't do something. I also used an assortment of laser levels, digital levels, squares, etc to keep things in check. As far as the cage, it was a pre-bent cage that came as part of the car when I purchased it. Whoever bent it did a lousy job as I had to modify it quite a bit. I then bent extra tubing to make the added bars I wanted.
Hope this answered your question.
Wingless01 thanks.
Brad
Brad what does a motor setup like that cost roughly?
I really don't like to even think about what it costs. In the motor/turbo alone I would say about 7k. Add in the fuel system and engine management, throw in another 3k. Not cheap by any means. You really have to love getting this kind of horsepower out of a little motor as there is no other way to justify the costs.
Brad
Enjoy! ;D
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/jbcalhoun/?action=view¤t=593.flv
Brad Calhoun
Insane and impressive, I'd be thrilled with mine even if it was 3 seconds slower.
Brad,
Glad to see you got your 5.90 run. It makes all that hard work worth it. The best part is that you did it yourself....
jim
that thing is SICK!! congrats on your break into the 5s.
bob
I knew there were some 5's in the car. CONGRATULATIONS. You have done a great job and are an asset to the Pinto and Turbo Ford community. WELL DONE!