Posts

2024 July Update

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 Center Console Progress So I had spent quite a lot of time designing, printing, test fitting, modifying, and re-printing all of the various parts of the center console for the Nova. After many different iterations, I finally have a working candidate.  I am not sure how many hours I spent designing and tweaking the 11 individual segments of this thing, but I believe it was worth it.  The shroud section is made up of 5 segments, each with two 10mm thick flanges on each end that use three M4 bolts to hold it tightly in alignment with the other pieces. There are also arched reinforcements on the bottom that are molded to the floor to add additional support. The top is made up of 5 main segments, plus 1 additional segment for the cup holders. Each of the primary 5 segments are held together with a dovetail joint, and then it snaps firmly into the top of the shroud, held in place only with friction. I do need to add some sort of snap/clip based retention mechanism for the final product, but
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2024 June Update

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Its been about a year since the last update, and I have been slowly working on some new things with the car. I also have started another project in the garage that is taking a lot of time. I'll share more on that later. With the Nova, I have been working on the designs for a center console that will be completely 3d printed. I've printed out a few prototypes, and think I finally have a design that will work. Center Console First thing that has changed is that I have swapped out the center raspberry-pi powered touchscreen for something that will have better sound quality. For my birthday this year, my wife gave me a brand new Pioneer DMH-T450EX, which is a double-din media center head unit with a 9" touch screen. I have also been window shopping for the speakers, amplifiers, and subwoofers that I would like to get. So far I'm leaning toward the new Focal FCU series for the front and rear speakers powered by a JL Audio JD400/4, and a Rockford Fosgate Power T1D212 12"
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2023 mid-year update

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I have done quite a lot in the time since my last post. Electrical, electronics, interior, lighting, and more. I did get the LT4 completely installed and running, and it runs  extremely  well. It also gets 25-27 mpg while cruising on the freeway, which is just astounding. LT4 and 8L90e installed and functional Shortly after I got the LT4 swap completed, I needed to replace the headlights because I simply could not see anything after dark, which made for one rather stressful drive home one night. So lets start out with:
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More LT4 Updates

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Progress on the Engine/Trans install So I had been waiting since January for the Control Module to arrive (ECU, FPPM, Harnesses, Pedal, Sensors, etc). I finally received that last week, and quickly got to installing it. The installation went quite well. I was able to route the harness in such a way that it is mostly hidden, with a super clean look on the visible connectors. After I got all of the engine connectors hooked up, I needed to fit a rather large bulk of wires through the firewall. So I pulled out the heater block-off plate we had fabricated previously and modified it with a few holes for some large grommets to pass through. I also mounted the FPPM (fuel pump pressure module) to the firewall just above the block-off plate. The ECU did not have any mounting options available, no holes, brackets, anything. I wanted to mount it on the trans tunnel, under what will eventually be the 10.5" touchscreen in the center console. So I cut up what was left of the top of my welding be
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Not sure if I can call it 'Twin turbo nova project' anymore...

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So, I have done a lot of changes over the past 8 months.... In December, I started building new stainless turbo manifolds to replace the 10 year old ones we build that had been suffering from cracking issues.
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Upgrades complete! Time to upgrade!

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So, previously I acquired a pair of billet 72mm turbos to replace the cast 67mm ones that died. Teardown of the 67's The Teardown: Teardown of the 67mm turbos showed that the passenger's side turbo was oil starved. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the oil feed adaptors I was using were actually oil restrictors. On top of that, the passenger's side one was clogged with only about 25-30% of the oil flow able to get through. I believe the source of that clog was from when my Fram oil filter came apart and sent parts of the paper element throughout the entire motor. So I am actually pretty impressed that the turbo lasted as long as it did. Most of the damage was to the bushings within the turbos, which ended up depositing most of the material onto the turbine shaft. The Rebuild: I wanted to save these turbos, as we are building a turbo LM7 to put into dad's 67 cutlass. So first was to see if we could get the turbine shaft back into spec. First step was to mic out the
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