Builds Family haulin' (3 Viewers)

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'll be visiting a buddy this week who can weld cast to close up the ends on my manifold and to double pass with Tig over my welds on the exhaust connecting pipe between the two turbos in attempts to make sure there are not holes in the weld for gases to escape. Hope my next weekend is productive.

tig welding cast iron? fun stuff, I use stainless, fill rod so that I get enough nickel in the weld to avoid cracks (and bury it in pre-heated sand when I'm done)... if you're looking for just sealing, why not braze over the weld? then no cracks or potential stress cracks in the heat cycle?

 

[boots4]

tig welding cast iron? fun stuff, I use stainless, fill rod so that I get enough nickel in the weld to avoid cracks (and bury it in pre-heated sand when I'm done)... if you're looking for just sealing, why not braze over the weld? then no cracks or potential stress cracks in the heat cycle?

My exhaust connection from turbo to turbo is stainless and regular steel and that's where I'll ask him to double pass with the Tig. For the actual exhaust manifold where I need to cap the ends we'll be using nickel rod with probably his buzz box along with pre-heat. Then we'll slow the cool down cycle.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

the first time I welded cast iron, I was pretty persnickety about following the steps. Now, I really don't think it's all that... honestly, aluminum is worse to weld. There are rules for cast iron, but the biggest one to pay attention to is the cooling cycle but even that - clean, solid, and fill the holes with brass and a torch has worked pretty well for me (I do the brazing while it's cooling down from welding).

with that said, nothing lights up your light faster than welding open a gas pocket that was left over from the casting process... the other way to weld is with stainless wire in your mig.

 

[Pacer]

For me, there are two main reasons I decided to go with an isolator. First I have a main battery for starting and an auxiliary for the accessories. I can pull down on the accessory battery during camping trips and not worry about not having enough juice to start the truck when it's time to go home. I have a fridge I'll eventually set up in the truck and that will be a constant draw during camping trips. The second is that if one battery is failing, in parallel without getting charged the good one will get pulled down by the bad and potentially shorten its life. I suspect this is worse with unmatched batteries. So I can get a little more life out of good batteries by keeping them in their own corners when the engine isn't running. Batteries can succumb to peer pressure.

Just to clarify my isolator (national luna) keeps the batteries separate during starting and for the first 5 minutes the engine is running (to recharge the starting battery first since it did the work). For the first 5 minutes after engine shut down they are still linked and are then isolated after that for the rest of the time the engine is not running (batteries not receiving charge). I do have the option to override that isolation on the unit to keep them in parallel but have never set it up. I'd like to have that option (on a switch) especially during really cold mornings to not tax the starting battery as much. Now that I have beefier batteries again, I may not need to as much as I did before when I was running lesser rated batteries.

Thanks for braking it down boots, makes lots of sense.
I camp too, and just keep an eye on a small digital voltmeter mounted to the dash.
Like you, I ran the diesel's starter, (and my winch) to the additional battery, then linked the two batteries using the 3fe's original, left over starter cable.
This way the alt keeps both bats charged, and both batteries take the hit of the starter for everyday use.
If I'm so inclined, I can unhitch the heavy positive cable between them...
Again, this is the way the fuso came from the factory and works for me for now.

How does your alternator keep both charged, if you haven't I installed the isolator yet? or, you have it installed, just not all of its features wired up yet?

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I use a T Maxx isolator... I like them because they display what's going on (isolators have this annoying habit of not working), and you can jump from one battery to the other with the touch of a button

 

[boots4]

How does your alternator keep both charged, if you haven't I installed the isolator yet? or, you have it installed, just not all of its features wired up yet?

When the truck is first started the isolator keeps the batteries separate. After a 5 minute timer the isolator then connects the batteries in parallel so they both get charged while the truck is running. This is all automatic. I've had my isolator installed for 7 years now.

Almost exactly like what SuperB just posted above the national luna has an additional port where one could plug in their battery indicator and mount that in the cab with that indicator having an option to manually link the batteries together. At the time I didn't spring for that indicator (extra $). I do know which pins on the isolator to jump in order to link the batteries and my plan was to simply wire that to a switch in the cab that I could flip on or off to override and link or to let the isolator work automatically.

 

[boots4]

It is the 250 amp 40102.
J

I checked out the kit and it looks nice and I like the simplicity of it. The few painless things I have run have treated me well so I like their products. I especially dug the pre-labeled wires on my fan controller I got from them, that made it pretty easy to install. My opinion is yes to running an isolator. There sure seems to be a couple good choices on the market now which I think is a good thing for the consumer.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

I checked out the kit and it looks nice and I like the simplicity of it. The few painless things I have run have treated me well so I like their products. I especially dug the pre-labeled wires on my fan controller I got from them, that made it pretty easy to install. My opinion is yes to running an isolator. There sure seems to be a couple good choices on the market now which I think is a good thing for the consumer.

Thanks Mike, I figured it would work with the new set-up too.. it should charge the aux battery better with the extra amps..

J

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Interested to see how the volvo turbo works out in your setup. I have a volvo 7cm TD04HL-19t on my 4bd1t. I just got a 6cm turbine for it in hopes it will improve performance. I may do a compound setup with a HX35 or like if it does not improve things.

Watching yours with great interest as always.

 

[boots4]

Man, 4 solid days wrenching and I'm still not done and I'm back at work. Still have some odd bolt to find and to finish up the oil drains. Then I can start it up.

W-noob, The 19T was what I was trying to hunt down originally but had a hard time finding one. I figured I could try out the 16T and always upgrade to the 19T if I feel like I need more. At this point I hope I don't need any more.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Pics or it didn't happen!!

 

[boots4]

They will come, as soon as I can sniff diesel again. I've been spending time wrenching which hasn't left much time for uploading pics.

 

[boots4]

I'll start with finishing up the starter.

Here's the kit for the plunger and contacts.



Old and new part comparison. You can see the new contacts have more surface area to distribute the electrical load.

The kit even came with gloves and a bandaid! Very considerate.

New contacts and plunger installed. Solenoid cover is ready to go back on.

For the brushes I had to solder on two of the leads and then insert them into the brush holder. This took some finesse to get it all back together.

Once back together I installed the starter and gave it a whirl. It now spins the engine with the authority I was looking for from this size of battery. Cold starts are much easier now.

 

[boots4]

On to the twins.

Here is the spring gate I made. Very simple. I don't have any technical precedence for doing this but I'm playing with/making a dual rate spring. I kept the Ace Hardware spring numbers and will have to add those later for documentation.

This is the downpipe connecting the two turbo's. This is before I had it passed with tig. I'm certainly glad I did because during the pass you could see holes open up in the weld that surely would have leaked. The primary's flange is tilted with the manifold side up and the back of the engine angled in. This was to help fit it in the spot I was trying to get it to fit.

I had done some mock fittings to test out clearances. There were a couple of things I needed to move/adjust. One of them was the heater line routing. I reused the metal line over the turbo area but got rid of the downward pointed tee.

I picked up a barbed tee and moved that lower hose over to get it away from the primary turbo. I massaged the brake lines over the wheel well to get them away from the primary's exhaust housing. I moved tranny lines that where running along the frame to other places. I rerouted my fuel lines as well. They used to follow the brake lines that go up the firewall and over to the other side. I routed them further back under the transmission hump.

For the firewall I didn't have to cut anything out. A 3 lbs hand sledge made enough of a difference to get me the clearance I needed for the downpipe. I removed the AC unit on the other side of the firewall because I thought I was going to have to do some cutting. I later put it back in without any problems after I found that this firewall adjustment was going work. I also ground off the corner of the transmission adapter plate for clearance with the primary's exhaust housing.

After tig passing the welds and getting some high temp paint on the exhaust parts I salvaged some of the exhaust wrap I had on the previous downpipe and wrapped up the downpipe that connects to two turbos. Instead of getting fancy stainless steel zip ties I just used some stainless wire for a fraction of the cost.

I wrapped both downpipes. In the front is the downpipe going from the primary to the exhaust system. This is the only run of 3" left in my exhaust system. The rest is now all 4".

Welded up the end caps on 6bt modified exhaust manifold, drilled and tapped for the EGT probe and painted it up.

Used pre-heat and Nichol rod and then slowed the cool down.

Out of time. More to come.

 

[Pacer]

Bad ass Boots! More power!

 

[deisel 80]

Hey there a guy told me to look for you he said that you can help me out with a few questions if you go to 80 tech and look for 6bb1 in my 80 series land cruiser to chat it would be much appreciated just so i don't clog you're post

 

[The Phoenician]

It's times like these I wish I had skills other than my ninja skills. Good job and thanks for all the pics.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Still waiting

 

[boots4]

I tried a couple of ways for assembly while in the mock up phase and found the following order to work for me:

*Note: Starter has been removed for access underneath
Fasten Exhaust manifold to engine
Assemble Primary (low pressure) turbo with feed pipe and downpipe
Place Primary into new home area in engine bay
Assemble Secondary (high pressure) onto exhaust manifold
Connect Primary to Secondary
Add Primary support bracket
Route/connect oil feed lines (can be done before assemble into truck)
Connect oil drain lines
Connect boost signal line and pyrometer probe
Line up and connect exhaust
Connect compressor side feed tube
Connect intercooler piping
Connect Air filter components
Install starter


For final assembly I put together the Primary (low pressure) turbo.

Special sized gasket for HE351vgt

Is was easier to torque this down outside the truck. Exhaust feed from Secondary to Primary installed on Primary first. I installed the speed sensor to plug up a hole so oil won't spray out the top. I thought about cutting off the wires but zip tied them instead in case I ever convert to electronics in the future. Just leaving my options open.

Exhaust downpipe installed but not tightened up. It's a challenge to get this on when the turbo is in the truck. I left it loose until the part where I lined up the exhaust and then I tightened it down.

Primary placed in its new home.

Lower exhaust gasket. Standard T3.

Spacer/shape adapter for Secondary.

Had a little misfortune trying to open up the holes on the Volvo TD04HL-16T flange gasket but I was able to flatten it out and used it anyways. I figured when I torque down the nuts I'm going to flatten it out anyways (plus it was the weekend and the store I picked it up from wasn't open and I didn't want to stop because of this).

Next was bolting on the Secondary turbo to the exhaust manifold.

Sorry for the tid-bits but I'll have to break these up as time allows.

 

[boots4]

Exhaust

From the Primary down pipe I pieced this section together to go under my transmission right at the torque converter. I used two 4" 90s and had the minor U bend left over from pieces that Creepersleeper gave me two years ago when he converted his then tow rig to 5".

This is a 3" stack breaker that I used for the connection. I had the 3" to 4" reducer already from the last set up so I cut it off and shortened it to suck up this side of the exhaust.

Hooking it up.

Connected to the rest of the system.

Other side view. You'll notice that my front drive shaft isn't too far away. I will need to flex that side to see if I run into trouble and help determine the position for that side's bump stop which I have not made yet.

Here is the clearance I have between the firewall and the down pipe. I'm excited to see how this affects my floorboard heat. I'm thinking it will knock down a chunk of my under hood temps as well. Now that the cold weather is here I probably won't tell much until the heat comes back next year.