Pennsylvania, land of salty winter roads.

[Turbo4whl]

In July of 1974 I took delivery of my '74 Jimmy. Equipped with full time 4 wheel drive, 4 speed top loader and 350 engine. One of the last light duty trucks GM built without a catalytic converter. Back in the day it received a set of Hooker long tube headers, distributor re-curve, and a Holley setup. Engine has to breath.

The truck was built during the steel strike and adding lots of road salt it rusted everywhere in seven years. I replaced it as my daily, with a 1982 shortbed stepside I bought in November of 1981. That gave me a chance to save the Jimmy. I pulled the body and replaced it with a pickup cab and built a flat bed for it. The bed is wider than it is long.

In the summer of 1982 I turbocharged the stepside and lowered it the following summer, 1983, with a 4/6 slam. It was one of the first late model pickup lowriders on the east coast. The story goes on but I'll stop here for now.

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[Doppleganger]

I know PA is really into the magnesium chloride spray....got a friend whose son is a tech in Pittsburgh - said they have 4 yr old cars coming in with rotted out steering racks. Then again, I've seen some of the cleanest cars come in from Philly. Go figure.

Anyways.....anxious to hear the rest of the story.

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[1973c10]

Welcome aboard

 

[gotyourgoat]

First off, welcome.

Second, you turbocharged an 82 sbc in 82? Inquiring minds want to know. Maybe not in the intro section but we want to know.

 

[Snoots]

Welcome from Georgia!

Nize lookin' install!

 

[ajd89]

Welcome!

 

[Backfoot100]

A turbocharged SBC in 82 and slammed stepper in 83? Talk about radical steps before their time!!!!
OK, now that you got our attention, lets get on with it Paul Harvey.

 

[dvdswan]

Welcome to the site.

 

[Dan Miller]

Welcome from Indiana !!

 

[Shorty81]

Welcome from the also salty Buckeye State.

 

[bucket]

Howdy!

Looking forward to knowing the rest of the story!

 

[animal]

 

[Turbo4whl]

First off, welcome.

Second, you turbocharged an 82 sbc in 82? Inquiring minds want to know. Maybe not in the intro section but we want to know.

A turbocharged SBC in 82 and slammed stepper in 83? Talk about radical steps before their time!!!!
OK, now that you got our attention, lets get on with it Paul Harvey.

Not many pictures as I was shooting film back then. The picture is right after I finished the initial install. Added a modified water injector with a Hobbs pressure switch set at 3 psi. Added the vacuum advance, boost retard to the distributor from GM's turbo'ed Buick. Right away I knew I needed to add a waste gate. Installed an adjustable waste gate between the exhaust inlet and outlet. Welded the two short pipes and flanges.

So a couple of months driving, adjusting the timing and tuning the carburetor the engine was wide awake! The carb I picked was a Holley 9895 spread bore with vacuum secondaries. Holley designed this carb as a direct replacement for the 1975 Corvette. Very tune-able and all the proper hookup for trans kick-down, accelerator, electric choke etc.

Add about 70,000 miles and I needed a Chevy tuneup. You know, cam and lifters. Didn't most of this area engines require this fix? Maybe a little sooner than some but the turbo put a lot of stress on the motor oil. GM had 3 different cam grinds for this engine. The truck cam, a cam that was use in the Camaro, with a little more bump and a cam that was for the Corvette. I didn't want to change the duration so I put in the Camaro grind, (TRW cam, lifters, timing chain and gears). Now the engine is running it's best ever! The rest of the engine is still bone stock.

Add about another 10,000 miles, then a problem....

It's late, I need some sleep.

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[Old77]

 

[Turbo4whl]

Thank you for all the welcomes. Okay Backfoot100, no more Paul Harvey, here is the rest of the story.

So the Shelby-Spearco kit I installed was designed for the 350 engine and I installed it on the 305. My original idea was to buy Shelby's kit for the 250 six cylinder. Seven main bearings strong, and have this 6 that would dust any small blocks and still deliver some fuel economy, if I kept my foot out of it. Well as you know GM started making the 250 with the integral head and Shelby's kit would not work on this. So as I plan this out, I ordered the '82 with the 305 and 700R4.

This system would boost up to 13 psi and I could not stop the detonation after about 9 psi. I checked with Shelby and they told me what I already knew that the kit was designed for the 350. Back to the local speed shop where I bought the kit and they really had no experience with turbocharging. Reading magazine articles, (The full internet was still someone's pipe dream) Ak Miller's name came up a lot. I found Ak Miller Enterprises and a phone number. I called and talked with him in 1982. Mr. Miller kindly answered many of my questions and more.

So with the waste gate added everything was good for the most part. The Shelby system, draw through, did have one flaw. The #2 cylinder under the turbo would run rich and the opposite cylinder, #7 would run lean. When the engine would start to have a miss, it would always be #2. That plug all carboned up not firing while #7 still firing, would have part of the negative electrode burnt missing, but still firing. Changing the plugs a little more often than most was not an issue and this is when I learned about plug indexing.

By now some of you may have guessed what happened. With 80,000 miles under boost, I burnt a hole in #7 piston. So with the engine out I'm ready to rebuild. My buddy was dismantling old cars and had just pulled a 402 out of of a 1971 Biscayne. Build a mouse, or build a rat? The answer is a 402 cut .030 over, pink rods reconditioned and pressed on TRW pistons. I also had the machine shop install the cam bearings and I built it from there. I put 200,000 miles on that 402 as I drove this lowrider for 20 years. "There is no replacement for displacement."

These pictures are 280,000 miles later after the others posted. Dirty rat:

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