Builds 97 80 Build Thread (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Briano
- Start date
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alia176
SILVER Star
Curious why the oil drain flange didn't show up with your order? Or is this a special dealio that I missed in the thread?
NLXTACY
Wits' End
No me being stupid
NLXTACY
Wits' End
Originally I used t-clamps but I found that they distorted the aluminum intake tubes. Worm clamps keeps them round (even pressure). Trust me, I like the t-bolt look better myself.
NLXTACY
Wits' End
Hopping you still have the clamp/bracket on there that connects to the bellhousing. That setup prevents cracking by supporting it in place.
- Thread starter
- #167
Yea I got that on there!
- Thread starter
- #168
Well I got everything hooked up except the exhaust, decided I will eliminate the first cat, tomorrow it goes to the exhaust shop to bend s small piece of pipe! Had it running for a bit, no leaks and all sounds good!!!
Looks amazing, I didn't see if you said above but what Body/Paint shop did you get your paint done at?
- Thread starter
- #170
I used a shop in gunnison Colorado called John Roberts that a friend of mine does the body work, they do not do restoration work, I did 100% of the tear down and reassembly, and they did the body/ paint work
They did an amazing job, thank you for the contact info!
- Thread starter
- #172
Got the exhaust done today!!!! Decided to wrap the connection piece. Put about 25 miles on it and I am extremely happy, this turbo is such a game changer for an 80 series, I feel like I’m driving a non lifted modern V8! For anyone that is curious I have owned a supercharged 80 series with 4:88 gears and 37s, essential the same setup I have here minus the supercharger and turbo instead, the supercharger doesn’t even come close to comparing, I would never consider a supercharger for an 80 series again! Another note on that, my supercharged 80 lived at sea level, I currently live at 8k ft!
LC4LIFE
Supporting Vendor
Nice. I am very seriously considering this for my rig. Were your coolant temps relatively unchanged?
- Thread starter
- #174
I can honestly say this is by far the best modification I have made to this 80! With 37s living at 8k ft and trying to pull a small Offroad trailer, it was embarrassingly slow and frustrating..... This turbo changes all of that, it will be enjoyable to drive and pull the trailer, I own a lot of vehicles and my favorite is this 80, the only discouraging thing about it was the power! Temps seemed normal, did not see anything funky, and I was getting on it a bit! Truthfully I feel like it runs so much smoother than it ever has, turbo is also super quiet, can hardly even tell it’s there, if you had a passenger in the car that didn’t know 80s were slow they wouldn’t even realize it was turbocharged!! Which I think is a huge bonus, i don’t like a bunch of noise while driving hundreds of miles!
Very impressive build. It's been about a year with the turbo. How has it been? Lots of tinkering? Trouble free?
- Thread starter
- #176
Hey, honestly 100% trouble free, the only maintenance I’ve done to the turbo is tightened the boltS where the turbo bolts together, I saw It sweating a bit of oil, other than that not a single problem! I don’t think I could ever go back to a non turbo 80 series!
NLXTACY
Wits' End
man this is sooooo good to hear
Agreed, it's great to hear. I keep hearing that turbos are a nightmare and superchargers are the way to go for reliability on the trail etc, but I feel like so much care was put into the wits end turbo kit, that conventional trope doesn't exactly apply. How many miles have you added since adding the turbo? I have a 2,000 lb camping trailer and thinking the turbo may be the help I'm looking for. Not trying to turn this into a turbo thread, but genuinely curious to hear your experience.
- Thread starter
- #179
So I have had a supercharged 80, my opinion is the turbo is wayyyy better, I pull an off-road camping trailer weighing about 1500lbs, it pulls over 12k ft passes with ease now, compared to crawling in 1st gear before, turbo produces a lot more power than a supercharger for Highway applications/ towing applications! Downside is you don’t really notice any performance gains at slow speeds or slow wheeling, supercharger produces power instantly but doesn’t produce very much.... turbo has some lag but gives you some serious needed power!!! As far as mileage, I’ve put about 6k miles on it, one big road trip to New Mexico, and a bunch of local off road passes!
- Thread starter
- #180
Well warm weather is coming and I got the itch to get my cruiser out of the garage for an early spring cruise, got it up on the lift for a little check out to make sure it’s ready for camping season, and decided I was ready for another suspension upgrade, just ordered a king 2.0 steering dampner and BP51 shocks for all 4 corners!!!! Can’t wait to get those BP51s, absolutely love how they feel in my wife’s 200 series and the tunability is incredible!!!
