| 6/22/00: Yesterday I drove 800 miles(not in TurboStude…) back and forth to Madison to the Studebaker national meet. Saw lots of knowlegeable folks and asked lots of questions. Ted Harbit reitterated how important it would be once I got some boost to have plenty of carburation. He suggested getting the heck to 12 volts so I could use a Holley blue fuel pump, and regulate it up with pressure from the turbo output, as I had with the mechanical pump. I found a 12 volt solenoid for the overdrive. It apparently has an integral relay. There are three terminals on it with numbers. I don’t know which goes where. Any ideas? Having 12 volts would also allow me to watch rpm on a tachometer. This website discusses the conversion well: classic truck shop Also, check this out: 6 to 12 by Steve Delanty. Ted said that it probably wouldn’t hurt to try running the turbo without the water cooling hooked up to see if the smoke is indeed coming from antifreeze leaking thru at the turbo seal/bearing. He told me how to properly install a composite head gasket (bought one in case I did blow the gasket between a water passage and a cylinder). First you soak it in water, then “wave” it dry. Spray on your aluminum paint and tighten away. He said I probably will need to run colder plugs than the AC R-45’s that I was able to find. The car is out of my reach for a few days, but when I get it back, I’ll try the water deprivation and drill some holes in the “waste gate”. 9/23/00: After a long hiatus to get some other stuff done, I have resumed development. I figured out that the reason the fuse kept blowing on the overdrive relay was that the wires on the solenoid were reversed, thus every time the governor reached speed and provided a ground, the relay bypassed the solenoid altogether and shorted out! Well, the plan is to get everything over to 12 volts as soon as I can get the car back to my home shop 65 miles away. I have found an AFB carb which I believe is 500 or 600 cfm. I picked up an aluminum carb-base which is likely from a 78’ Buick Turbo-Regal which could hold the AFB if I put in a 3/4 inch spacer (See what happens to it on Salt2Salt.com). To use this, I’ll need to make a 90 degree bend into the manifold. Also, is the cross-sectional area of the ‘outlet’ tube realistic or does it just act as a restrictor to flow, minimizing the effectiveness of the larger carb? I am in pursuit of a Holley blue fuel pump now and have learned how to modify the regulator (ala Harbit). I’ll show this soon. I have found that the routing of the reference tube into the same line as the carb vent was a bad idea. The carb fuel bowl needs a vent to run, and instantly shuts the engine down when it was plugged temporarily. I think the negative pressure waves from the top of the mechanical fuel pump were transmitted to the fuel bowl. I will reroute each line separately into the large bore of the turbo outlet. I’ll reroute the boost gauge into the intake manifold below the carb. I may need to place one direction valves on the pump or fuel bowl at some point. We’ll see….. 10/12/2000: Got the blue pump for $15 at a swap meet, but no regulator. Also found out that a red pump, which is considerably cheaper new, can be modified with a little spring (Moroso $5) which increases gpm and pressure. Since the red pump is brand new, I’ll put the spring in and see what happens in terms of pressure at the carb. Purchased a new regulator which usually comes with the blue pump (#803 $26). Ted Harbit suggested a mod to reference the pressure that the regulator “sees” to boost. I removed the locknut from the spring tension screw on top of the reg and measured the distance to the body of the reg (17/32 inches).This is a factory pre-set adjustment of fuel pressure which I’ll return to as a starting point when I put the regulator back together. I then ground down the top of the regulator to remove the “V” shaped groove which vents to the atmosphere. The tension screw then was drilled out to 1/4 inches and fitted with a copper tube which will be plumbed up to the turbo output along with the reference tube from the mechanical fuel pump. The tube is an interference fit which was sealed with flux and solder. Place a soft washer of some kind under the locknut. The finished regulator needs to be mounted just before the carb. 10/15/2000: I’ve come up with a better way to mount the swapmeet AFB (500 or 600) 4-barrel which I found. I’ll put it directly on top of the location used for the single carb using a 5$ aluminum adapter I found at the same swap. To give the gas mixture a bit more room to straighten itself out, I made a plywood spacer and sealed it with paint. Couldn’t resist adding an “injector” like the NOS guys have which may be used to leak a bit of water and alcohol into the mix if I start detonating with more boost later….. Next I rebuild the carb and try to plug the vents and accelerator pump. I’ll study the floats and find an extra set to play with but not change them till I have to. Home page Next chapter |
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TurboStude! 
