Air Delivery

Air is delivered to the engine via a forced-induction system.

I took the stock airbox (which houses a large K&N re-usable cotton air filter) and cut the lower section off leaving just a "frame" to hold the filter element and bolt the top section to. This was bolted to brackets welded to the fender floor of the car. Then, the floor was cut out under the box leaving a very large opening for air intake. A piece of perforated aluminum plate was instelled for protection from large debris. There is a sheild under the car which will prevent any large splashes of water from entering. The open construction of this airbox combined with the short run of tube to the turbo inlet allows some of the turbo noise to escape. It has a noticable turbo sound!

Some cutting of the car's fender structure and core support was required for this modification. I welded in some additional material along the edge of the hole to reinforce it whereI had removed material.

This is the new Turbonetics turbocharger. It took 2 tries to get the right one (the fault of the distributor, NOT my fault nor Turbonetics ault) but it was worth the wait! I didn't expect a polished compressor housing! This turbo has a T4 size compressor housing and a T3 size turbine housing and center section.

This unit is based on a T3 turbine housing which has the 5-bolt flange. It could have a factory swing-valve wasegate in other applications but Turbonetics recommended against this for my engine setup. The poppet-style wastegate will be plumbed into the small port visible above and to the right of the turbine outlet in this picture.

Looking at the center housing of the turbo, you can see the 3/8npt water port facing up. This turbo will be used on a street-driven car that will see in-town and highway driving. It will not have a "turbo timer" or after-lubricator. The water cooling system keeps the bearing housing at a safe temperatire to prevent oil coking and clogging of the lubrication channels. Not visible is the low-inertia ceramic-ball bearing which is supposed to increase the performance of the turbo.

Here, you can see the large air-to-air inercooler. This is a part bought from the junkyard from a Volvo. It is a Blackstone intercooler and is almost 3/4 as large as the car's radiator! The inercooler is the radiator to the right of the small transmission oil cooler, behind the 2 silver tubes. The large black rubber hose coming in from the left is the hot air hose coming from the turbo. The air outlet points back into the engine compartment.

This is as far as the hood pops up when the primary latch is released via the "Hood" handle in the car. The black "tab" visible to the left of the Buick emblem is the secondary latch release handle. Pushing it up and to the right opens the hood.

Because of the close proximity of the intercooler to the underside of the hood secondary safety catch, this part had to be modified. The consequences of not having a secondary latch can be tragic as I have had my hood come open when hitting a deer. Thankfully I didn't wreck afterwards. BUT I have also seen a terrible crash where an old, ragged car's hood blew up and obscured the windshield. The driver tried to dodge into the center 2-way left turn lane and had a head-on collision. SO the secondary hood latch HAD to be adapted and retained on my car!

This is how it's done! The latch hook was shortened and welded to allow full hood closure without breaking the intercooler. Then the handle was welded onto the latch and positioned so it is reachable after the hood has been popped. When the hood ic closed, this handle is not visible unless you peer into the gap between the header panel and the hood.