TCI Engineering's Turbo C10

[TCI Engineering]

This project was started back in 2013 but stalled while we built our 2nd Gen Camaro. Now that the 2nd Gen is complete and getting beat on it was time to get back onto the C10. The only problem now was R&D had other product related projects going so they had little to no time to devote to the project. Not wanting to let the project sit any longer I worked out a deal with Ed & Sal. They would make me project manager and give me plenty latitude to build it as I seem fit. A decision they will soon regret.

We are still trying to decide on a name for the project.


January 2014









February 2014

The first articles have had a few revisions through development but we're getting close.

Here, Ed is changing the anti-dive angle to 7.5.


A quick tack weld


We also revised the crossmember. We raised it up to frame another inch and put a degree tilted back.


Ed installing the upper plate onto the frame to confirm some simulations.



April 2014

More mock up pieces and parts



The crossmember is now in its 3rd iteration of the original idea.

[TCI Engineering]

We've made a few more revisions but the project is coming along quickly.

There was some discussion about which c-notch design we were going to use. The round style won out almost unanimously.





Mocking up the anti-sway bar and a few other items. This crossmember is going to be one beefy dewd once it is all boxed in and fully welded.







Torque Arm mount, I believe this is revision #2





We picked this LQ4 up with 78K miles for $2500. Compared to the aluminum counterparts I have been seeing this was a steal and the 4L80 is icing on the cake.



May 2014

More parts mock up

[TCI Engineering]

Holley oil pan definitely isn't going to clear.



F-Body pan clears the rack but interferes with two bolts on the back of the crossmember. Engine needs to go back.



Here are the plates that will be used to make the upper control arm fixtures.



Rear shock mount fixtures



Panhard bar installed



Double checking the geometry






Things to note: Driver side spindle is different than Passenger. The passenger side design is our new custom set-up. It is based on a C10 pin and uses the factory lower ball joint with a heavy duty Moog upper. The steering arm is removable and helped us attain the geometry and turning radius we desired.

[TCI Engineering]

How's this for ground clearance? We tried and accomplished keeping all suspension parts on the same plane as the bottom of the frame.



June 2014

Sal looks on as 'Tony Tech' installs the massive 31" tires and wheels onto the truck. We will be measuring for proper wheels and tires in the next week or so.








We finished up some first articles this week. The long tedious process of confirming fixtures and parts begins now.



Stock parts = #342 lbs


TCI parts = 270 lbs (Total weight savings of 72 lbs)


We also picked up a 2nd chassis to use as a rolling display. It just happened to be a longbed so we made a How-To to show the process of making it a shortbed.




July 2014

Our brand new rolling display is on the way to the Columbus Goodguys.

[TCI Engineering]

We just received our first article spindles yesterday. This was one of the most important pieces to the puzzle. We still have a lot of time studies to accomplish but we're moving very quickly, so quickly that many of the R&D projects are finished and have moved into the production department.














August 2014

We're a couple days behind schedule but here are a couple updates.

The time studies for the crossmember and lower control arms are complete after 10 sets were finish welded.





A small but significant change to the Torque Arm.

[TCI Engineering]

September 2014

I've been working on the Install Manual. Here are a couple teaser shots.

[WSSix]

Thanks for posting all the pictures. This is a cool build.

[WSSix]

double post. DOH!