Been lurking here for over a year, and this is one build i have been following religiously. You have done an outstanding job on that chevelle up to this point, and I hope you can overcome the gremlins that are setting you back at the moment.
I just wanted to compliment you on a beautiful car. Good luck.:thumbsup:

Try Tuesday. Monday's a holiday.

Good to hear you've got some of the issues figured out though. Hopefully you can work out the smoking issue. Sucks about the rear end howl. If you'd had a month to sort through some of the issues you'd probably be pretty good to go, but damn you're cutting it close. I wish you the best of luck with it though. You've put a lot into it just to get it this far.

well, you're just a bundle of good news.............. :rofl: I narrowed it down to the drivers side by removing the pipes at the downpipes. The drain looks okay and downhill, but I disconnected it from the pan and had a bucket underneath and started the engine. No more smoke, drainage looks good out of the hose. So now it's either got a restriction/blockage at the pan, or it's not quite downhill at the pan.

I'll be back............... :unibrow:

post a pic of your return at the pan so i can see it. Ive ran into this problem before and i may have the answer.

Jody, with the way that car is going to handle and with all that horsepower even if you dont make it for day 1 of the power tour you have nothing to worry about. Heck, they could be two states ahead and you can still catch them...

Plus the gas station lines will be shorter.....

here's the drivers side, which is having the problem. #10 pushlock (5/8" i.d.) with a mandrel 90 hose end off the turbo and a 45 degree mandrel hose end at the pan. The passenger side is identical and has no smoke.

http://www.camcojb.com/temp/100_0142.jpg

Here's the passenger side.

http://www.camcojb.com/temp/100_0143.jpg

If I disconnect the drivers fitting at the pan and let the oil drain into a pan it pretty much doesn't smoke; a little, but I'm thinking that's oil in the downpipe. I can't leave it running more than a minute or so as it drains the engine oil pretty fast. As soon as I hook the fitting back up it smokes quite a bit more, but then again, I can also let it run longer, exhaust gets hotter, etc.

Jody

true, IF I was driving to the start. I'll miss my truck to ship it, it'll be in the Sacramento area this Friday picking up Charleys car.

Jody

what are you using for PCV? Because if you have too much crankcase pressure that could be pressurizing the turbos and/or fighting the oil drain causing the oil to back up in the lines and leak past. Its happened to me before

I have two #10 breather lines to remote tanks. The tanks have breather caps with a 5/8" line to the air filters so any smoke will get pulled back in. I checked those lines already, no oil in the tanks at all yet.

This started happening at idle, so there shouldn't be any pressure to deal with anyway. I've yet to see any boost with this engine in this car, but it was broken in in my GTO, ran great, no problems.

what changed between now and then? intake? anything else?

nothing changed when it started to smoke. I've had the car running with this exact combo of parts for a couple weeks. It was sitting outside the shop, idling, charging the a/c. All of a sudden I noticed the smoke from the pipe, started completely without warning while idling. The engine sounded exactly the same.

When the other guy mentioned the no boost deal and the oil seal on the turbos it made me think; all the running had just been idling, tweaking the start, etc. while waiting for the wheels so I could drive the car. So it had been doing a lot of idling, but then again the engine has a few hundred miles on it as a boosted deal from my GTO, and was pretty much broken in, never smoked (other than when the scavenge pump for the turbos failed........... :faint: ). So since it wasn't a virgin start I wasn't too worried about letting it idle while I tweaked things.

It only smokes on one side. I just filled the tank and since the rain stopped I went out and tortured it a bit. Definitely got into boost several times in high gear to load it good. The smoking is not visible cruising down the road, at least I couldn't see it, and after a few miles I returned home. I let it idle for about 30 seconds before putting it in the shop and it had started to smoke again, albeit about half as much as before, noticeably less. So maybe the driving and loading the engine/turbo's is helping, but I just have a gut feeling there's something wrong with the one turbo oil seal. That cannot be fixed before Power Tour.

Jody

I had been thinking it was a seal before, but as I'm not the most knowledgeable in this area, I didn't want to say much. Could you have Precision ship out a new turbo to your beginning destination and get some guys to thrash install it before leaving? Just an idea. Oh, and since when does anyone need a working speedometer anyway? Especially on Power Tour.

I wouldn't mind, if I KNEW that the turbo was the issue. I suspect it is, but don't want to commit the money and effort to ship the car 2000 miles and find out that doesn't fix it.................. :willy:

The speedo may just need the calibration done. When I find an area with mile markers I'm going to try it.

Thanks Alan.

Jody

Jody-

I was looking at your pics & trying to figure out if the drains were working against the bottom of the sump (however, they look like they go to the front end sides of the pan)- might they be backing up against oil in the sump? If so, would it be possible to put a check valve inline (uphill) on each return line?

I know it's a pain, but I'd do a 'weep' check on the hot side before removing it. I've found bad seals by running a Q-tip in the area where the oil will puddle inside the turbine housing. This could eliminate your drain system from being at fault.

I think the drains are fine. I spoke with a friend who is pretty much a guru on turboed LSX's (thanks Kurt Urban!!!!!!!!), and he thinks it's too much oil pressure at idle causing the issue. Often it's only one turbo that exhibits it and he used restrictors in the oil feed line to get the pressure at the turbo in the 5-9 psi range. Still plenty of oil, but eliminates the oiling issue at idle, which is where mine seems to be.

I guess as the turbos spool they naturally direct oil down the drain lines, but at idle they aren't moving fast enough to do that and can easily back up in the turbo itself and push oil past the seal. There is no liquid oil coming out the downpipe, so it's pretty minor. And it does not appear to smoke at all cruising down the road, only at idle. It just doesn't take much oil in a hot exhaust pipe to get smoke though...........

I was thinking the same thing (pressure too high), even with restrictors... but I figured PT had that worked out for ya when they were on the Goat. We've had to use regulators on some uphill setups before (prior to the catridge). Anyway to slip one in there?

Either way- good luck on your final steps! I've long been a fan of your build mentality, and photog ability! How you find the patience to take pics while you're making progress, I don't know.

completely different turbo setup in the GTO; that kit had it's own regulated oil pressure log, no problems.

I'm looking for ways to regulate the pressure down, if you have pics or links it'd be appreciated.

Jody

Jody if it's smoking a little less it might be the residual oil in the exhaust and not from the turbo anymore. Did you just run it at idle with the down pipe unhooked? I pounded on my turbo to get it to stop smoking. I bet I did 10 WOT runs through 4 gears just to make sure. :unibrow:

I've also had a few turbo's that didn't like a -4 oil feed line, they liked the -3 better another suggestion from Harry.

well, I'm heading out there in a bit to see what size the restriction is in their fittings. I know they're set up for #4 lines, and I even called them before plumbing the car to verify, but they said #4 is fine. I have heard that #3 solves a lot of issues.

I have some restrictors from another turbo project, and was curious what size they were, and measure the ones in there currently; .062" seems to be the most popular size used on this type and size of turbo to stop the idle oiling issues.

Jody

the stock inlet fittings from Precision are .040" restrictors. That's already smaller than what most people use. I do have a set of .035" restrictors from a GT ball-bearing turbo setup I had on another car, tempted to give them a try.

Jody

I would just to see if it makes a difference. I went through 2 months of turbo problems 1 summer just trying to remember everything people told me to try. I hope that fixes it!!

well, didn't stop it, but seemed to make it take longer till it happens. I'm thinking I have an issue with this turbo. It's fine running down the road and under acceleration. Got home, no smoke, but I let it idle for 30 seconds or so and it was back.

Oh, and I picked up an exhaust leak with the wot stuff............... :thumbsup:

Gonna take a break, and let it cool off. I'll pull all the plugs just to make sure it's not an engine problem, and see if I can find the new leak. Sounds like a header gasket, and I'm using those felt-type 2000 degree gaskets.

Jody

Jody

problems
 

all these 64 chevelles are a problem...sounds like it is time to put it on craigslist and call it a day:lol:

well, barring a miracle from Precision Turbo on Tuesday the car ain't gonna make Power Tour this year. http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/sign/sign0181.gif I just finished pulling the turbo, no obvious signs of oil leakage. But it's positively coming from that turbo somehow, as the plugs are spotless, there is no other way to get oil into that pipe.

I've had e-mails suggesting to just not idle for any period of time, but on Power Tour you might have 1-2 hours of idling/slow moving to get into a particular venue. So your cooling system better be up to task, and the car better not smoke........... :yes:

It's been real and it's been fun updating the thread, but it hasn't been real fun................ :lol: Thanks for all the comments, and I'll let you know Tuesday what's happening.

Jody sorry I didn't look back through the thread. What turbos are you running?

Precision PT 6776RE ball bearing turbos.

Jody

Its not over until the fat lady sings, she might be humming, but shes not singing yet. We're pulling for you on this one.

Sorry to here about that situation Jody. Hopin for a miracle.

somebody give that fat lady some qtr pounders with cheese,large fries,an a 64 oz coke.......... jody needs some time......:_paranoid

just get your butt over here and start buffing............. :rofl: Well, the fat lady appears to be singing. I just got off the phone with Precision and the turbo needs to be sent in to be checked. I've tried everything he suggested as possible issues already, so the only thing left is a visible inspection and repair.

I mentioned the build, 70000 views on three sites, Power Tour, etc. but the bottom line is that they do not stock this particular turbo, and it would take a few days to assemble one. So, it was close but no cigar.

I appreciate the support and feedback from you guys throughout this build, it's made it a lot more fun. I feel good, I got the car done, but a mechanical issue is beyond my control.

Jody

You da man Jody.

Did you already send it back? I like many others are not as advanced as you are but, it got me thinking a little bit more. Have you moved to turbo to the right side and vice-versa? It would confirm your issue if it now started smoking out the right side.....


Might be worth a shot..... Plus I work in Sac so I can always come by and bring some starbucks or food over so you can keep working on it.... :)

I considered that Brad, but it's a lot of work getting that thing in and out of there; just enough I really don't want to, even with Starbucks...................:rofl:

Jody

Jody,

I don't even know you personally but you are still my Hero :bow: . It's an amazing build (Power Tour or not) and I am glad you shared it with all of us. It's funny I have found myself bragging about your car to some of my friends that don't spend time on the internet...why I don't know. I guess when we all spend time here you tend to feel connected. Maybe that sounds silly, but I hope to see this car in person someday. Will the car be at SEMA this year?
I would think there should be offers for a car like this. Forgeline??

Hey, don't give up yet.

It is still time to change to a N/A spare engine. If I was closer you could have borrowed mine. It has been around your garage before, right ;)

With all the great people here there must be one that has an LS1 or LS2 laying around that could quickly be trashed in to your car. Might not be pretty but you could still make the tour.

Come on lets help Jody get the car running.


Jan

Jody - if your not going with the Mali2ude are you going to take a different car or still go along with Charlie or someone?

It's too bad if your not going at all because of these last minute issues

Well, it wasn't for the lack of effort, that's for sure. We all know that you put countless hours in this spring getting the car back together and dialed in.

It's an amazing car, you should be proud of what you accomplished. :bow:

Congrats!! on completing that beast you built, this is by far the best thread/build Ive followed and thank you for taking the time to share it with us,very inspiring. if I were an engineer working for Prescision turbo I would be lobbing heavy to get my arse over to your place with spare turbo in hand. This kind of exposure is huge for these company's they should be jumping through hoops to help you out. Absolutely awesome job, I hope I get the opportunity to see it in person some day. Good Luck- Rich

They're aware of this thread and how high exposure the car is, but they don't stock that particular turbo. They'd have to build another and it's a 3 day turn around. Jody would have to have the car on the trailer Friday to get it to Memphis (where we're meeting) in time for the Power Tour and there's just not enough time.

Sucks that you will not make the power tour. You still have a twin turbo car that will kick ass! I bet there will be another power tour next year :thumbsup: