The speed bug has hit hard recently. Now that i'm unemployed i have lots of time to create something fast. Little background info on the vehicle and engine. The engine is a 72 350 that was bored .030 over and used 10:1 hypers. The cam was a TA-310 with their stg1 valve springs using factory pushrods and aluminum rockers. The engine made its rounds. First it was in a 90 Lincoln Towncar and used TA headers that fit perfect. Then it ended up in an 88 B2200. I had zero room for the headers and even had to beat the fire wall in on the passenger side for the manifold. Ran that truck all summer long and it was a blast. Lay rubber as long as you wanted. Had a 4.10 gear with a trak-lok(Ford 8.8) in the back. Wouldn't do more than a 100 but got there in a hurry. Then around the end of October '07 i was going to school and heard a faint knocking. Got in the parking lot and pulled the dipstick. Nice an glittery, great. Now here it's mid October and i want to get it going again but with a twist. I want to turbocharge it. The B2200 when it still had it's 4 cyl in it had a turbo on it. I made a log manifold and used a .60/.63 turbo from a t-bird and rebuilt it myself. It was being feed by the front 2 barrels of a 600 holley. I think i had less than $300 in the whole thing. By mid summer she was running around 15psi and what a ride. Stab the gas a few times, dump the clutch, and let her eat. This is what i want again but this time going a little faster. So a couple weeks ago i pulled the motor out for dis assembly to see what failed. Mind you this motor probably had less than 5,000 miles on it. Started pulling the rods out and the site was none ive never seen before. The bottoms of the bearings looked ok but the tops in the center were worn to the copper. They were all like this until number 7 and 8 rod bearings. The number 7 rod bearing was worn to the copper on the edges and the number 8 was starting to come apart and the lower bearing was starting to get a flat spot in it. At first it looks to me like lack of oil but maybe i had detonation i couldn't hear slowly beating the bearing up. Had about 15psi at hot idle and around 60 psi at my 5500 rpm shift point. First plan was to buy a running 350 and just put new bearings and gaskets in it. Throw a turbo on it and have some fun but that didn't end well. Found a bent rod and 5 out of 8 pistons had broken rings. This one was a 73 and still had the early style rods which was also a bust for me. I found another one locally that was a 78 that had been sitting out side for 3 years on cement under a tarp. Tore that down and am going to steal the crank and rods from it to use in my 72 block. So now i have 3 350's.:Brow: The turbo motor will be built up as follows. 72 block bored .030 over, 72 heads with a decent home port job, 78 crank and rods, TRW-L3072F 8:1 pistons(Thanks Sean), Comp 268H with TA lifters, TA STG1 springs, TA adj pushrods, TA dual groove cam bearings, TA booster plate, TA Intake, HEI Dist, GN crank and water pump pulleys, 88 T/A alternator and a 650 DP Holley. Fuel System will be the stock tank modified with 1/2" feed and return lines. Using dual MSD EFI fuel pumps. The regulator is a Mallory return style that i've had for a while. Then obviously 1/2" feed and return lines. Turbo is a gt45 ebay knock off with a .66/69 trim compressor and a 92 trim 1.05 turbine. Through doing research, if you take the turbo apart and clean it out they seem to work just fine. Apparently the Chinese don't worry about debris in their parts. Plus, $260 for a wet float bearing turbo, not bad. Haven't decided on a waste gate or bov but can assure both will also be ebay knock offs unless i find a real one cheap enough. I'm also looking at a air/water intercooler on ebay that may just fit under the hood. For manifolds i'm able to use factory ones swapped side to side. I had to clearance the passengers side motor mount a little but otherwise no big deal. Only other issue i may have is oil filter clearance but i'll worry about that when the time comes. I'm hoping that by limiting my rpm to 5500 that the motor will stay together while hopefully making in the 500-600hp range. Back in '07 i weigh the truck in at just over 2800lbs.:Brow: That power with the weight should be enough to reach low 10's. That and beat most cars on the road should the need ever come about. Monday the block goes out to get re honed, cleaned up, new cam bearings installed and get the pistons pressed onto the rods. Left the camera out in the barn with the pictures on it. Tomorrow night i'll post an update with some pictures. Jeramie
Sounds like youve done your homework. Look forward to watching your progress. You could always get a remote oil mount if the filter is an issue.
That's what i was figuring. I might even do it just to have better access to it and add a inline cooler. I know i'll be adding a bung in the oil pan for a temp gauge. I'm going to try and do what i can to keep the motor living a long and healthy life. Jeramie
We also make a billet oil pump cover that allows you to use a remote oil filter. They're really nice :Brow: TA 1512E or TA 1512F http://www.taperformance.com/products.asp?cat=182
Sounds great! Thanks for building my multi-port Fuel Injection and Megasquirt it will help my Turbo project!
When i was looking through the TA catalog i saw those and was tempted. Just don't have the extra funds at the moment. If i run into a clearance problems it will be at the top of my list for a solution. Today i'm weighing the pistons up and will weight match them, then do the same to the rods when i get the pistons pressed off of them. Not sure if it makes a difference doing them separate but i'll try it. Then also polishing the tops of the pistons. I'm almost done cleaning/rearranging the garage so i can start doing this stuff. Should finish up today/tonight and be able to start tomorrow with the heads. Just going to take some grinding stones and gasket match intake and heads, then clean up the intake bowls and do the same with the exhaust. I'm not going to plug the heat crossover in the heads. Tonight i'll post up the pictures of the engine/truck/work space. Jeramie
Regarding the piston and rod weights, I know the machine shop weight balanced my pistons and rods separately on my engine. Regarding those pistons I gave you, if you can come up with any spare cash get a lighter wrist-pin you will save HUGE weight over the HEAVY ones that come with it! I do not have the numbers handy but I saved a bunch of weight going with a set of lighter wrist-pins in my original 398 hp 8.3:1 engine using the same TRWs.
I weighed a piston and got 685 grams. The wrist pin is already alot thinner than the factory pins i have in the factory pistons. What is the lighter pins part number and where can it be found?
Didn't do to much engine wise but got most of my work area cleaned up. Tomorrows agenda is to weight match the pistons polish the piston tops, clean the casting flashing from the valley area and drop everything off to the machine shop. Got the truck back on the ground after removing the traction bars and helper spring clamps. The rear end flexes some again. I'll probably make up my own leaf packs. I want to try and get the rear to have some squat to plant the tires. Hopefully sometime next week i'll get the truck up to the house and start putting some of the goodies in the bed to use. Here are some pics of the work area. These were taken yesterday. It's a lot cleaner today and almost done. Just you basic 2 car garage with your basic tools. Nothing special. Jeramie
I can try to dig up a part number, my machine shop sourced them for me. The quality of the metal in the wristpins must make a huge difference in how thick the wrist-pins must be. The diamond pistons I have came with VERY light wrist-pins and when I called diamond to talk to them about the strength of these wrist pins and my intended 700+ hp purpose they said they would be fine. I would contact Diamond or another piston manufacturer for details on light wrist-pins.
Sounds good Sean. I didn't know if you got them from TA or not. I'll try to take some material off the pistons. Probably won't be much but every little bit helps. I have more time than money at the moment so the free mods are the best. Jeramie
If you can smooth the tops of the pistons especially the angles of the dish it will help prevent detonation. I am going to smooth the valve reliefs in the Diamond pistons and have them re-balanced for the same reason... Any sharp edges are bad for detonation.
Yeah, definitely don't want any detonation. That's one reason she's going to be a corn burner. Just gotta make up a kit to convert from rice.p I think i've read those porting articles 100 times. Always a good late night read. I was planing on gasket matching and bowl work, mainly around the valve guide and smooth out the radius's.Then smooth out the exhaust ports a bit and call it good. The boost will make up the rest. Jeramie
Little bit of an update. Polished up the tops of the pistons. I stopped at 800 grit. Looks good enough. No sharp edges or anything that looks like it would contribute to detonation. I also weighed the pistons. The heaviest is 688 grams and the lightest is 647 grams. I'm not sure if i can remove that much weight from the pistons but i'll try to get it as close as possible. All the pins weighed in at 123 except for one at 108. Also did some grinding on the block. Cleaned up all the flashing from the lifter valley and the outside of the lifter bores. Then also removed the flashing from hole that goes from the lifter valley to the front cover area. I'm thinking it might help bring oil down to lube the chain and dist gear. Tomorrow i'm for sure dropping the block and the pistons off to the machine shop. I'm going to ask to get the rods back before the new pistons get put on so i can remove the casting lines and weight match them. Slowly but surely it's getting there. Hope to have it running around thanksgiving with the turbo. I hope to be breaking in the cam by the 1st of November. Hopefully i can meet these goals. Also, how much can i get taken off the block before i run into sealing the intake? I'm thinking i may want to get .030-.040 taken off to help with piston depth. With the old pistons i measured just under .09 below deck. Jeramie
I agree. UPS has it showing up on Friday. The minute she shows up i'll take some pictures and post them up.
See here how the machine shop removed weight from the bottoms of the pistons? Here is a light set that i still need to smooth the edges on:
You know what, The TRW pistons you have pictured look completely different than the ones you sent me a while ago. The ones i've got look like they are a cast piston but going by how TRW numbers their piston, L3072F would mean it's forged. Im not sure if i can remove that much from the pin area on all the pistons. I'm not sure but is 41 grams alot to have to remove from a piston? The only other thing i can think of is to use a thicker wrist pin in that piston to bring the weight up. Another thing, How much can i deck the block before i run into intake gasket sealing issues? I'm thinking of getting .030 or so taken off to true it up and to help with compression. The machine shop wants $30 a side and just wondering if it's worth it? Ended up helping out with a side job today so i didn't get to much done. Got the rear galley pipe plugs out. This was fun. Ended up breaking a craftsman 1/4" ratchet and extension. So now i need to make a trip to sears. I think i have 5 or 6 other sockets i need to dig up and take with me. Any way, got them drilled out and ready for a line from oil pressure port to the rear galley plug. The the other is ready to be used as a oil pressure sender port. In the morning I'll get some fittings to install and finally drop it off at the machine shop. Next up is porting out the timing cover then onto the heads. Jeramie
