TR-6 On Twin Turbo

[NY Twin Turbo]

Now I needed to determine where the tab locations would be on the valve covers and their shape.

Notice I used some cardboard in the front and back of the coil brackets to experiment with the shapes and locations of the tabs. After I got them just right, I made them up in aluminum.

In this photo you can also see the addition of the breather tanks in the engine bay as well. You can clearly see how I was routing the breather tubing to the valve cover location.

It was late Autumn in these photos and this is around the time also I begin servicing the Buick for the next upcoming year .I was also doing it's winter clean-up. I removed all the pipes for their yearly polishing. Obviously, this makes it easier to work in the engine compartment as well.

 

[NY Twin Turbo]

Here the tab locations have been determined and made-up in aluminum. I also located, drilled and inserted the barb fittings for the valve cover breather tubing.

To hold it all together, I used a hot glue gun. This will keep it were it needs to be until I was able to get up to Massachusetts and have Cotton weld them on for me.

But, not yet! I still needed to locate barb fittings in the oil pan for the oil fill-breather tubes.

 

[RUQWKNF]

Fantastic work.
Loving the attention to detail.
Excellent.

 

[NY Twin Turbo]

Time to take the oil pan off.

I ran the breather-oil fill tubing down pitched to both sides of the oil pan and determined the best location for the barb fittings. I wanted to place them up high and above the oil fill line. Also in the center of the pan on both sides so that even on a hill the tubes are never really subjected to being below the oil level. I used long barb fittings so I could get multiple clamps on the tubing for a supper tight connection. And I figured for a little slack to allow the tubing to vibrate with engine movement. This stuff is pretty tough, but it makes sense to be careful. I know this tubing is an experimental material for me. And I'm going to have to keep an eye on it for a while when I drive the car on the street to test it.

I marked and removed the pan. Pain in the ass! I have to lift the engine off the motor mounts!!!!

This is what it looks like inside a Twin Turbo Stage Motor Street Car that has been driven on the street for 13 years!

Spotless! Yea Baby!

I needed to cover and protect the underside of the engine from dust and contaminates. Clean plastic bag and blue tape. I hate opening a motor for more than a minute and there was no telling how long it would have to remain open. You can also see here that I decided to use Thermotech heat sleeving over the tubing anywhere even remotely close to exhaust components. Not that any of it is actually close. Just in case! I'm not taking any chances.

 

[jcuadra]

Mind sharing details on your manual brake set-up? Also, how street friendly is your brake set up?

 

[NY Twin Turbo]

Mind sharing details on your manual brake set-up? Also, how street friendly is your brake set up?

Yes. It's all been documented in another thread. It was a little trouble for me to get it correct. But some of the forum members helped me out with good advice and I was able to sort it out finally.

Give me some time and I may be able to do a search and find the thread. Or you can jump the gun a little and look for it on your own.

All and all......I like it. Different, but I got used to it.

 

[jcuadra]

Thanks. I'll try searching.

 

[NY Twin Turbo]

Fantastic work.
Loving the attention to detail.
Excellent.

Thank you!

I apologize if all this information may not help many of the forum members.

I know this is a specialized application and much of what I’m doing is more or less specific to my personal Buick.

But maybe on some small little custom project some of this info may be helpful.

 

[RUQWKNF]

Absolutely helpful!
Keep on sharing.
IMO, that's what hot rodding is all about and our community needs a lot more of this.
One thing I would recommend, when you route those coil wires through the mounting bracket tube, make sure and double protect them from rubbing/chaffing on the actual tube/bracket.

-Patrick-

 

[NY Twin Turbo]

Absolutely helpful!
Keep on sharing.
IMO, that's what hot rodding is all about and our community needs a lot more of this.
One thing I would recommend, when you route those coil wires through the mounting bracket tube, make sure and double protect them from rubbing/chaffing on the actual tube/bracket.

-Patrick-

Thanks for the advice but it’s already done !

In a future post you’ll see that I completely wire loomed the wire harness with shrink wrap and filed the sharp edges away at the holes.

 

[Royal-T-Ltd]

I love seeing people doing things differently and love seeing build threads with photos... Great work!

Can you clarify one thing for me - are you running the breather vents from the valve covers to the oil pan?
and if so - would this negate the reason for the breathers? I would think if trying to alleviate extra pressure under boost you would want to vent to an external source [Catch Can] rather than back to the engine which is creating the pressure.

Maybe im thinking about it wrong, but if there is blow-by present - the pan can be pressurized as well, right?....

Maybe i'm misunderstanding, regardless- Keep up the great work!
-aaron

 

[Royal-T-Ltd]

i just looked at the photos again.... i'm thinking the lines from the VC go to the Catch cans and the other side of the Catch Cans drains back to the Oil Pan.... is this right?


-aaron

 

[NY Twin Turbo]

i just looked at the photos again.... i'm thinking the lines from the VC go to the Catch cans and the other side of the Catch Cans drains back to the Oil Pan.... is this right?


-aaron

The breather tanks are receiving the vent lines from 4 locations. 2 on the oil pan and 2 on the valve covers. Crank case pressure will push through all 4 of these hoses to the open plenum in the tanks and then be allowed to escape through the top at the filter/cap no matter what location on the engine it is coming from. The same thing will happen in reverse when the pressure drops or the engine cools down.

Any oil that separates from the air will just just condense on the insides of tubing as well as in the tanks. Then gravity will cause it to drip down the tank and through the lower hoses and find its way back into the oil pan. This also explains why I can simply use the the breather tanks to pour in my engine oil.

The baffle that I installed within the tank is only there to prevent the possibility of oil bubbling up from the lower hoses when it may splash around at the same time crank cases pressure is building from boost blow-by. I didn’t think a baffle would be required where the valve covers tubes enters the can.

So to clarify, no gasses are actually recirculated to the engine. Just the oil drains back.

 

[NY Twin Turbo]

So now that I had the valve covers mocked-up and the oil pan off and the barb locations marked, it was time to take a ride up to Cotton's Performance in Massachusetts.

The tabs and vent barbs got welded exactly where I specified.

The oil pan already had a bunch of crap welded into it already. I guess now it needed 2 more things added.

In case your wondering..........

-The two AN fittings coming out at angles in the front are the oil returns for the twin turbos.
-The one in the middle of the front is the by-pass return from the Duttweiler oil pump.
-The big one in the back is the external pick-up for the above mentioned oil pump.
-The one poking out and hitting the table is for the dip-stick connection.
-The small plug on the top left is obviously the drain plug.

-And finally, the two big barb fittings sticking out of both sides are the new connections for the vent hoses leading to the breather tanks!

I polished this aluminum pan years ago. But apparently I was too overly concerned about getting it as shiny as a diamond. I accidentally polished it enough to expose some slight porousness in the welds. Very very small amounts of oil would occasionally bleed through at some of the seams. To fix my stupid mistake, and stop the wetness, I needed to mix up some epoxy and brush it over the seams. Then I ended up painting it silver.

Jack Cotton yelled at me. "Why would you over polish a part that no one will ever see?!!"

My answer? "Because I have some sort of obsessive mental disease."

Here you can see the welding was done from the inside.

 

[~JM~]

It's called: O.C.D.

Which really bothers me. Shouldn't it be: C.D.O. ?

It HAS to be in alphabetical order!

 

[NY Twin Turbo]

It's called: O.C.D.

Which really bothers me. Shouldn't it be: C.D.O. ?

It HAS to be in alphabetical order!

I'm not sure what it's called. But some of the guys at work tell me I may have a variety of mental disorders.

I was recently told a new one. I also have Opposition Defiance Disorder! I couldn't even believe this was even a "thing"! When I got home I asked my daughter what it was and she said "Don't worry about what it is. Just know that your friend at work was correct. You have it!".

I used to like it better when everyone just called me a Maniac! An all encompassing term that gets strait to the point!
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So now I took the stuff home and couldn't wait to test the coil brackets out on the new valve covers and see how they work out. I never drilled out the holes on the mounting tabs. I figured I would wait until the valve covers were test fitted with gaskets in place. This way if the holes needed to be moved 1/8th up, down, left, or right, I could chose the best spot on the tab. Just a slight amount of adjustment would be needed to keep the coils from resting or rubbing on the fuel rail. Just a very slight tap with the hammer allowed me to adjust the horizontal tab in the back to rotate the bracket so it holds the coils in an even plane with the top of the valve cover.

 

[NY Twin Turbo]

I also immediately got that oil pan back on! Same pain in the ass as removing it. This is a 2 day process for me. Jacked the engine back up and off the motor mounts. Glue the gasket on the night before. Connect all the lines mentioned in my previous post. This work sucks out in front of my garage in the freezing cold. I will save the on-going bitching for another thread.

Anyway....................

The easiest part of the job. I cut the filler/breather hosing to the right length and connected them to the 2 barb fittings using 3 worm clamps a piece. I lubed the barbs with a little grease before I slipped them on. Nice tight fit. A little slack for movement. I think this is going to work out nicely.

Sorry. No picture of this. Nothing really to see. Just an oil pan with 2 barbs and hoses attached.


But here are some photos of the valve covers and coils on the engine!

Notice the barbs for the vent hoses. This is will be the general final location for the hose routing back to the breather tanks. I just need to cut them to length, slip them on and clamp them, leave a little slack for movement, tuck them under and zip-tie them under the cowl, and make a little strap to secure them to the fire wall.

 

[NY Twin Turbo]

I changed out the spark plugs and put in a new fresh set gapped around 35. And then I took this opportunity to mark the ignition wires for a custom cut, fit and terminate.

In order for the wires to nicely hug around the the valve covers evenly and not come to close to the downpipes, each one actually needs to be a slightly different size. When I got close the perfect length for each, I cut a 1/4 inch off at a time and then slip a piece of hose on the very end of the wire and rest it on the plug. When the curve looks right, then that's it! This leaves me enough material to strip and bend back the conductor under the crimp on the terminal.

 

[~JM~]

I was wondering about the angle & direction the valve cover vents were pointed. Didn't think you would want them to cross over. That curve looks nice & may help separate any oil during venting.

 

[NY Twin Turbo]

I was wondering about the angle & direction the valve cover vents were pointed. Didn't think you would want them to cross over. That curve looks nice & may help separate any oil during venting.

The breather tubing doesn’t cross over itself to go to opposite sides . The passenger side valve cover is vented too the passenger side breather tank. And the drivers side is vented to the drivers side tank.

The angle on the barb fittings is just to smoothly direct the tubing back and up the firewall toward the underside of the cowl.

In later photos you will see that the breather tubing disappears under the cowl over and along both sides of the TR-6. And they reappear again just as they connect to the breather tanks.

Very clean and simple.