The Project Pad

Great - thanks again! I'm going to pull the trigger on the exhaust here in the next few days. I'm out of town all week so I can't make progress for a few days but the cooling system is close too. I can't wait to actually drive this thing!

When Rs4tech and I finally get the ABZ in his 80q, we will be running a stebro system on it. Bolt in solution, for the most part...

DE80q wrote:When Rs4tech and I finally get the ABZ in his 80q, we will be running a stebro system on it. Bolt in solution, for the most part...

Really? Can you tell me more about it? I would love to simplify this process

And let's bring them both to Carlisle next year!

Next year isn't going to happen. He recently purchased a house, and has a lot going on. I keep ordering parts for it, but its just sitting in the one shed waiting.

Now as for the Stebro. All we should have to do is shorten the mid pipe, and fab a down pipe/Y pipe. Should be fairly simple. The hard part will be finding one these days. I picked mine up from Dana for $350 about 2 years ago. I haven't seen one come up for sale lately.

What car was the stebro for originally - a 20v coupe?

20v coupe or 90. They are pretty loud on the 20v so I imagine they will be even louder on an ABZ

I don't know. I have one on my 80 with a MC1, and I don't think its loud. You just need to find one that still has packing left in the mufflers. I have had a rear muffler that weighed very little compared to the one I have now, and that was kind of loud. You may have heard it at Carlisle.

turbo does a LOT to reduce noise...

It is still quite street-able, but not comfortable in my opinion. I had one on my car for about 20 minutes back in the day. It was not my preference.

I'm going with the 2.5" option. got all the bits ordered and will deliver to my exhaust builder once they arrive.

In the meantime, I worked on the radiator again and think I've got it all figured out.

I ended up epoxying the mounting tabs on the bottom for now - I'll have them welded later on. The top is attached with Aluminum tabs that are threaded and go through the top part of the radiator. I'll weld these too when I take it in.



I got the fan assembly attached to the backside of the radiator. There is about 1/2" or so of space between it and the radiator so It can pull from the whole thing. As of right now it just hovers 1/2" above the radiator. I'll use some aluminum tape or something else (silicone hose sliced on a bias?) to seal the side openings up once I install for good.


I have good clearance except where the viscous fan is. It hits right at the deepest portion of one of the fans. To help with this, I cut the threaded portion off of the fan roller:


I could make this even better if I removed that roller since there is no real need for it but for now this seems to work



I may even be able to use the stock ABH top radiator hose. Certainly should be able to use at least the portion that attaches to the engine.


I have some other fittings coming to figure out the return.

I need to get it driving at least well enough to move onto and off of a trailer when I take it to the exhaust shop. I haven't tried to put it into gear yet. hopefully it goes well. I still think I might have to use a longer slave rod. I re-read Marc's V8 turbo coupe and he needed it with a similar setup. Conveniently, I have one from way back at the beginning of the project my dad cut on a lathe so it won't be a big deal.

wish me luck!

I forgot, I also mocked up the snub mount

Nice! Glad you are making your own snub mount too, looks good!

One note - if i'm seeing it correctly the top radiator hose has a high spot above all the ends. That is going to be a pain to bleed all the air of if so. If you look at the factory ABZ hose there is a vent line going from there to the top of the coolant tank for that exact reason. I suggest using one of those to avoid issues with trapped air restricting coolant flow.

Thanks Kirk, that's good to know.

I am ready to get the car to the exhaust shop now. I got the car to drive just a few feet to make sure I could get it on a trailer and in the dudes shop.

Also saw the engine covers in the basement and figured they wouldn't fit since I've done so much random stuff around them. However they do and look damn good:

Where do you guys purchase coolant hoses and fittings for elbows, tees etc?

I am hoping to use the OEM ABH hoses or at least parts of them for the radiator, but the coolant bottle and heater core need to be made from scratch

You have 4 outlet pipe coming off the rear of the motor, two for the heater, one for the water line from the oil/water cooler, and one for the overflow bottle. I blocked off the line that went to the oil/water cooler, since I don't use it. Just stuck a plug in the line, with a short hose. I believe I just used two couple lines for the heater, if not just a couple of small hoses with 90 degree bends already in them. You can use a stock coupe line for going from the driver's side horizontal line part of the 4 outlet metal tube to the bottom of the overflow bottle.

I am assuming that you are going to use the passenger side radiator upper pipe for the inlet. You want the cool water coming out the bottom. You can probably use the stock ABZ head to radiator hose with a splice in it. It is made to go in that direction. You go to the local parts place and start looking at hoses with a 90 degree on it with a long tail. Cut to fit on your splice. You may have to cut a little off the stock hose to get it to line up right. The stock upper hose is $270 new, so try to get a used one.

When I did my latest radiator, I went through Pick a Part, til I found the hoses I needed. Then played until I found the right combo.

For the outlet on the driver's side, I have a suggestion. Have the outlet pipe replaced with a 90 degree bend. Looking at it right now, it has a funky angle to it that will make it difficult to get by the pulleys and belts. I have 90 degree bends on both my pipes on my radiator. Made it easier to install hoses.

If you put the 90 degree bend in the driver's side outlet, you can use a straight hose with a 90 at the top. Cut it to the height of the thermostat inlet, splice in another 90 with tail over to the thermostat inlet. My inlets are opposite of yours, but that is what I did.

For splices, I use my old backyard mechanic technique. I used the correct size copper pipe, wrapped copper wire around the pipe near both ends of the pipe, soldered the wire to the pipe, and sanded down the high spot to make a lip. Hasn't come off yet or leaked.

Hope this helps.

Greg W.

Greg,

thanks for the info. I found some other Nibco fittings that also have the ridge in them. Originally I was hoping to find the kind with Solder in them already - that Solder lives in a hump - but they don't make them in 1 1/2" and 1 3/4"

As for the radiator hoses, I have two sets of ABH hoses which are opposite the ABZ:

ABZ setup:


ABH Setup:


The good thing about the ABH setup is that the radiator inlet is on the passenger's side already. I think I can cut and paste the existing hoses that I have to make that work. it does NOT have a bleed hose on that hose though so I will try to keep it lower than the radiator bleed hose that will go back to the bottle.

On the heater core stuff, I have an ABH block so I have the water pipe on the back of the engine that expects the overflow bottle on the wrong side. I am planning to just bring that hose from the PS all the way around as of now.

Grillage wrote:Thanks Kirk, that's good to know.

I am ready to get the car to the exhaust shop now. I got the car to drive just a few feet to make sure I could get it on a trailer and in the dudes shop.

Also saw the engine covers in the basement and figured they wouldn't fit since I've done so much random stuff around them. However they do and look damn good:

This look sooooooooo good

I sent the car off yesterday to the exhaust shop!

I talked to the guy again today about the plan. originally we were going 2.25" to a Y pipe with a 2.5" Vband and then 2.5 back. He suggested today that we go 2.25" to a 3" V band, taper to 2.5" and then back. that way the reduction in size is more gradual and if I ever decide to go 3" from there back I can just attach to the 3" V band

I also drew out a plan for the radiator hoses. the ABH ones won't work - but I can use most of the lower hose.

Here's the plan for the two using silicone reducers, couplers, 90s and then two copper fittings that will work great. Upper on the right, lower on the left:





(Quarter for scale) The copper is the NIBCO Press System. These are a 1 1/4" elbow and a 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 3/4" Tee. These are all ID dimensions and the OD dimensions are 1/4" larger. There isn't solder in the humps but a silicone ring. The hump should work well to seal the silicone. I also bought a bunch of T bolt hose clamps

Anyone have specific suggestions on a resonator and muffler setup for this? they'll be 2 1/2"

Ebay SS resonator, Borla ProSX muffler. Mine's all 3" but it should sound similar, maybe not quite as deep.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbPvRM3Gjfo[/youtube]

I've always liked the bark of a Borla on a V8.

Yeah - that sounds good!

Finally getting some progress pics from my exhaust guy:

Very nice.

Greg W.

Clean, nicely done!