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Twin Turbo on my 6.5

119K views 190 replies 77 participants last post by  654L80 
#1 · (Edited)
I told you I would do it...;) I just picked up all the 10 feet of 304 stainless steel pipe I will need to build my... oh wait, I haven't told you yet:eek:: I'm dumping my exhaust manifolds, and building stainless steel headers for a twin turbo setup on my 6.5l diesel.

I drove to the supplier and ordered up all the 304 stainless steel 90's and 45's I should need, they cost around $130 CDN, and will be in tomorrow. I got the 10' of 304 stainless steel pipe for $100 CDN, prices were cheap because we have a place here that specializes in alloys. All piping is schedule 10S, and a secret size.:cool:

I still have to get the 304 stainless steel plate for the flanges, I'll probably just have the machine shop cut it out of some of their stock.

I'm going to buy another GM-8 turbocharger too, and another Turbo-Master as well. I'm going to try and set it up so that I can just order two 3" down pipes, and they will fit both sides, I don't know if it can be done, but I'll try.
 
#116 ·
Okay, I've been very busy with other projects, but I had a couple late nights to work on the driver's side. I'm almost half done it, however I am waiting for three more 90 degree fittings to come in (hoping they will be in tomorrow) so that I can do the rear-most exhaust port.

Sorry my pictures don't have the best lighting, but it's night time, and the flood lights' light is yellowish.

As you can clearly see in the first two pictures, it is mostly just tacked together. I will weld it solid while it is bolted to the cylinder head, to help keep it from warping.

the last two pictures, you can see the piece of exhaust ducting I have, acting as a guide for where the down pipe will be... well close enough, obviously it won't be pressed up against the master cylinder. :p: There has been numerous things cut and moved to let the down pipe run through the hole I cut in the wheel well. You can also kind of see the stainless steel hyro-boost/power steering lines. :cool:

We'll see how much I get done before Friday... :lol:
 

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#117 ·
thats going to be really good. what do you drive while this is in progress? Once you get this running you wont want to ever go back.
 
#118 ·

I drive the '87 GMC in my signature, but insurance is done on it as of Tuesday, so I have no trucks on the road at the moment, so I just borrow my parents trucks right now. And yeah, I miss driving my 6.5 Diesel, when the 6.5 TT is done, I'm putting my Twin Turbo Duramax engine (work in progress) in my '87 GMC.
 
#119 ·
Its cummin along there Will. Great work I will have to make a canadian adventure to see this truck.
 
#120 ·
Will the Twin Turbo Man! :hail:
Your gonna have one hell of a sleeper with that 87'
Now i just wanna get up there even more and see these when there done :beerchug:
 
#121 ·
well here is some pic's of the second hood if done. this one is on my truck I’ am rebuilding. when the other hood comes back I’ll get a few pic's of it. I would have posted earlier but i took a hit buy lighting and killed all electronics all phones and even my garage door opener and welding machines. I’ am just getting some of my pc's back up and running insurance said i should have all back in a week or but its been 3 weeks already .got to love them pay us now and will pay you when we want.
 

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#122 · (Edited)
great work Will, good talkin to ya today (b-day, hungover) lol.

progress! headers look solid!

the equal length is difficult to achieve, but will benefit in the efficiency. Plus, you'll never have to upgrade no matter how far you take the truck/engine, same as the wicked intake manifold you fabricated.

Mike stopped by today and gave me the run-down on your goals. i have to say, I'm jealous! and patiently waiting....you don't make it easy!

Edit: may have already been said, but what size are those primaries?
 
#123 ·
Cody, the primaries have an ID of 1.666" approximately.

This is what I did today, among other things I had to do, but I got a bunch done anyways. :)

I don't have any pictures of it installed yet, it's rather dark outside, and the truck is parked outside. It still has... 14 joints that need to be fully welded, but that is a job for tomorrow. There is a pretty wild bend that goes around the steering shaft too. Installation of this one, with the valve cover on, is facilitated by removing the steering shaft (very easy to do) or installing it by bringing the header up through the bottom of the truck.

I haven't measured, but I pretty much know that the primary pipe for cylinder #7 is not the same length as the others... oh well, can't say I didn't try. Close enough for me :D
 

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#124 ·
that wont do at all make them all the same length will gotta be fair to the engine lol
 
#125 ·
Looks good as usual Will :). Keep up the good work and hope you finish these tomorrow, or well.. today lol. I will definitely have to come back up when you get everything done with the truck!
 
#126 ·
Looks good as usual Will :). Keep up the good work and hope you finish these tomorrow, or well.. today lol. I will definitely have to come back up when you get everything done with the truck!
Yes, indeed, we all expect a ride Will! :p::D
 
#127 ·
A few new pictures, doesn't look like a ton of progress, but I got the base for the collectors made and measurements all taken. I stopped at 7:30 tonight because I Burned my thumb pretty bad. Ice on it since then. As soon as I was finished tacking one spot, I grabbed it to move and weld another, but there was a hole in my glove and burnt me enough to turn my skin white, and melt in a bunch of oil on my thumb.

Hopefully my thumb will stop feeling like it's on fire, and I can finish up this driver side turbo setup tomorrow. Then will be on to the intake piping. :cool:

As you can see I have it bolted to a cylinder head, and am finishing up all the welds. All the primaries came together nicely.
 

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#128 ·
I burned my wrist on the turbo much like your finger feels and once I was welding with all the face and hand and forearm protection but some sparks flew onto the sleeve by my shoulder and a few seconds later my arm had a hole in it, and it took a couple seconds to get that off through my shirt all the while burning fierce. Burns suck, it took about a week for them to totally recover.

I think going with dual GM8s is the right move, any larger turbine turbo will cause too much lag in the dual setup, and add more exhaust noise and resonance which can be annoying. Im hooking up two straight through mufflers in line to try to get my somewhat civil ride back after putting 5" pipe out the side and the new larger turbine turbo. But the truck loves it, although now I have some black smoke which was nonexistant with the GM4. The high end power and MPG increase is substantial, although low end isnt much different than with the GM4.
 
#129 ·
lookin good will cant wait to hear it and see it run
 
#130 · (Edited)
A small update... all the pipes and flanges are fully welded, and it all bolts on nicely. :cool: I started doing the collector, and have to install this assembly next, as pictured, to make sure I get the flange of the turbo on the right angle. Otherwise there will be no room for the down pipe, or the turbine housing could be too close to the master cylinder ect.

I snapped a couple photos of the welds too, just because I don't recall taking any before...

I got a late start today, and my thumb isn't 100% yet, but I am anxious to get this done. :whip:
 

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#131 ·
Lookin good, Can't wait to see them both all finished up lol. Don't forget to get the pictures with both turbos and your intake for the semi-finished picture lol...
 
#132 ·
Both headers are pretty much done! :D I will go over the inside of both of them with a die grind and make sure everything is nice and smooth. Then tap the flanges for the turbo's to be studded onto. Surfaces still need to be trued up good, and holes drilled and tapped for Drive Pressure gauges.

The first picture is the end result of three different tries of getting the height of the turbo level with the other turbo, at the right angle, square, and straight.

The second picture is just one of the welds for the collector, they look nice and colourful before you take a wire brush to them.

The last two pictures I took late at night, so is not the best lighting. But you can see that everything fits properly, and that they do indeed sit very high in the air. Chances are pretty good that I'll make some stainless steel heat shields in place of the factory ones on the turbos too. Probably a few louvers for looks too :cool:

More updates tomorrow I hope. :D
 

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#133 ·
#135 ·
Okay, I put a few parts on, I wanted to scope out how it's all going to come together. The intake piping is going to be completely changed from what I was originally going to do. I'm very happy it all fits under the hood good... Oh, and from the driver's seat you can clearly see both turbos and the top of the intake manifold. :D

Also, in the pictures of everything installed on the 599 block, on my engine stand... I am NOT crouched down for the pictures, that is how big this all is. I stand 5'8" and the tops of the turbos' are above my head.

Now comes the time to route many things, to make the engine as clean as possible. I like clean engines with lots of room, so lots of things will have to be changed.

I can't think of much else to add... except that I need to sandblast the aluminum timing cover, so it's nice and clean. Also, my cousin and his friend almost defecated in their pants when they saw this engine on the stand :cool:

Enjoy the pictures :)
 

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#136 ·
wow those turbo's sit high!
 
#137 ·
This is a great build.
 
#138 ·
"defecated in their pants" LOL nice!

Damn Will, you've been bustin *ss the last couple days. Looks great! keep it up.
 
#139 ·
I gotta say that looks really sweet! now you just need to come up with some wild injection pump set up to match the wild twinturbo theme. Inline p-pump or a dual mechanical rotary pump maby? lol nice job so far

Justin
 
#140 ·
yea you should try and run 2 4 banger rotary ip's thad be cool!
 
#141 ·
Jesus dude... Couldn't have kept things a bit more compact? :p:

Great work though, now..... FINISH IT ALL!!! :D

Keep goin man, so close!
 
#142 ·
Nice Work, step aside Heath Diesel, here comes speed racer

One regular DS4 should be enough to feed it with a power program. I dont really get up to the limits of mine, not even running 100MPH or at 15+ psi sustained boost.
 
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