56 Hardtop, LS1, Twin Turbos, C4 Corvette Suspension by Hot Rod Jim's
 

Here’s a fun project we’ve just started here at Hot Rod Jim’s.

http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro.../logo_crop.jpg

Fred’s 1956 came to him as pretty nice car but after selling his C5 Corvette the Old 350 and power glide just didn’t impress him anymore nor did he really trust it any more. We’re first outfitting this 56 with our Stage 2 Rolling Chassis so we can toss some custom tweaks to the frame for the turbos. With the corvette suspension this car will now have power rack and pinion steering, all wheel disk brakes, QA1 coil over shocks, IRS suspension and our front sway bar upgrade. To Power the new chassis we were looking for power without breaking the bank. So we started with an LS1 and T56 from a 2000 Camaro. For less than 4,000.00 we now have a LS motor, T56 transmission, pulleys with power steering pump and AC compressor, a wiring harness we can rebuild and some exhaust components to start with. Fred wanted about 500 HP and he was looking at LS7’s and LS3’s but once you got the 5,000.00 motor now your looking at a custom harness for at least 1,000.00, 1,500.00-2,500.00 in pulleys and you still don’t have a transmission flywheel or clutch. So we’re going to huff a little more power in this bad boy with a custom STS Twin Turbo System pushing 5-7 PSI and giving us about 500 at the rear wheels and we’ll also get better gas mileage too, 28+ on the highway.

Some photos of Freds 56. We’ll be going to pick the car up and bring it back to Hot Rod Jim’s so we can swap it over and re wire the car.

http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...ate_01/s-1.jpg http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...ate_01/s-2.jpg http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...ate_01/s-3.jpg

Here’s Fred’s Chassis as it would be delivered to a customer who ordered our TriFive Stage 2 Rolling Chassis with Fred's LS1 and T56 sitting in it already.

http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...ate_01/s-4.jpg http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...ate_01/s-5.jpg


-Russell Alexander

LS1+STS - Nice choice
 

Russ,

Nice to see an affordible approach to getting power down to the wheels. I think you have enough lessons learned from the PT-57 to get this at full power on the first key turn.

Dave

Very cool. Will be watching to see how this bad boy comes out!:thumbsup:

Ya, its easy. Don't try to build the whole system in 3 days when you haven't slept in 2. Don't leave parts at home when you go to the dyno in another state. And don't let someone who doesn't know how a waste gate work put one on your car. :lol: Now if I can just get dad to stop calling waste gates, blowoff's. :rofl:

My favorite Tri-Five model. Sounds like a cool project. I'll be keeping my eye on this one.

Nice to see a Tri five get some love

Killer project I want to help.:rofl: :rofl:

Update Dec 11, 2009
 

Turbos and exhaust goodies came in earlier in the week so we’ve got a few mockup photos for you all. We will be doing a little floorboard mod to the back to give us a little more room for the turbos otherwise the rest of the floorboard is stock. Waist gates will dump down in front of the rear end right where the tubing turns up to go over the rear end.

http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...ate_02/s-1.jpg http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...ate_02/s-2.jpg http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...ate_02/s-3.jpg

http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...ate_02/s-4.jpg http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...ate_02/s-5.jpg http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...ate_02/s-6.jpg

-Russell

Looks awesome Russel. Keep us posted.:thumbsup:

Looking good. I am curious because I know nothing about turbo set ups but is there any power loss having the turbos so far away from the motor?

Good to see you giving that Tri-Five the PT treatment. :thumbsup:

No, really thats the only down side but there are tons of advantages that you get from putting them out back.

Consider all the back pressure your taking off the turbo's compressor wheel by having a tiny short exit out of the car after the compressor. A normal car is required to spin its turbo then push the gas trough the rest of the exhaust tubing and normally a muffler or resonator at that point do to harmonic amplification in the pipes. That's all back pressure right on the compressor that will cause lag in a turbo system. If all that room and positive pressure is in front of compressor then the turbine will be quicker to respond and spool.

Yes the STS system has to push the air all the way back up front but thats about the only down side. Consider all this too.
1)The air coming into the compressor is much colder taken from the back of the car where there is almost no heat.
2) No pressure drop due to large restrictive inter-cooler. (No IC on this car and I'm going to take the one off my 57 soon)
3) Colder IAT's (My PT-57 was showing +5 degrees from ambient on the dyno)
4) Heat, Turbos operate 400 colder than traditional turbos, motor runs cooler since your not adding another hot object(s) under the hood.
5) Cast manifolds are the best thing you can have on a stock CID motor because the keep the heat in the system.
6) Weight, Face it these cars need a little more weight on the back and a Flowmaster weighs almost the same as a turbo.
7) Driveability, Turbos don't spool unless you stand on it and keep the RPM's up. Crazy cams and blowers are always there. You can easily daily drive a properly tuned 1000+ HP Turbos cars because the boost is variable.

Now lets talk price.

TURBOS
This is the STS Universal TWIN Turbo System that we're running on the 56 and my PT-57
http://www.ststurbo.com/universal_turbo_systems
$2,745.00
Blow Off Valve +300.00

MOTOR
LS1 60k, T-56, flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, Pulleys (that clear the C4 corvette cradle), power steering lines (that work with the C4 rack and pinion), oem wiring and ecm. Thanks eBay
$3,895.00

UPGRADES
Cam
LS1 STS Turbo Cam Shaft, Dual Valve springs, push rods, titanium retainers, and all the gaskets and crank bolt for the cam swap.
$1,035.25
Clutch
Fidinza 2.1 pressure plate and clutch (or stage 1 is what it should be called)
$560.00 (these are silky smooth and worth the extra cash)
Injectors
42lbs x8
$360.00

So your into $8,895.00 for all the parts, call it 10,000.00 once you get all the exhaust tubing you need front and back (i use all pre bent mandrel bent up and back) and your fuel system, the 2 Bar MAP and tuning for everything you need, motor and all the systems to install it into your car.

You show me another combination for the same money with
LS Motor reliability
550+ RWHP & RWTQ
6 Speed Manual Transmission
30+MPG
Smooth Driveablity

Hope that answered a few questions
-Russell

You should be working, your lunch break was much too long for you to explain all that stuff.You have 323 days until SEMA.:rofl::rofl:

Thanks for the great info Russell. It all makes a bit more sense now. And from a cost standpoint it looks really good too.:cheers:

Don't get me wrong, its no cake walk. You need fully plan the car's driveline to make it work. If you do that then you'll be fine. Read STS's website, and a few turbo books, Maximum Boost by Corky Bell is a good one and know how your engine management works so you can safely tune your car. I don't have a dyno at the shop so it a bit of a long process but I can feel the power getting there on the PT-57.


Sorry Kendall I was out playing in the rain.

Its funny to roll on the gas in 5th gear at 55 (1750 RPM's) and listen to the turbos snap those 345's loose under the car.


http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...-57_mud_01.jpg

http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...-57_mud_02.jpg

-Russell

They are made to drive killer love the shot.:bow: :bow:

So the 56 is here at the shop. We have torn into it looking for the good the bad and the ugly and deciding what we're going change. The project will be progressing quickly starting with an awesome rendering from Fast Eddy

http://www.hotrodjim.com/immages/pro...56ht2d/s-1.jpg

Kendall Burleson of Adrenaline Rides is doing a killer interior with the 04-06 GTO front seats and all custom leather paneling with a classic flare.

The chassis is still in line but a few minor things have changes mainly to the body, nicer paint, a few patch panels need to be cut in and a killer Auto Rad radiator system will be fitted to the front. ISIS Wiring, Power windows and Vintage Air Gen 2 with ISIS interfacing (if you saw their SEMA booth you'll know what I'm talking about)

Will start posting photos ASAP.

-Russell
Hot Rod Jim's