IROC R/T Upgrades Page

Step One 2/15/05

Five years after I bought this car, the head gasket developed a small leak out the rear of the head. (very common for these) I decided to tear down the top end of my motor to freshen it up. Here's what was added:

K&N Filter
LRE Underdrive Pulley
Magnacore 8mm wires
Full 3" exhaust with Dynomax Ultraflow muffler
Head milled and pressure tested
Valve job
New valve stem seals and exhaust valve guides
New Cams reground to stock specs with new cam seals
Rebuilt Turbos Unleashed Garrett S-70 with quick spool wheel
FWDP SS oil and coolant lines for turbo
New Mopar head gasket and Gates timing belt
New ARP head studs
New Mopar starter and Mopar battery
Auto Meter Phantom Boost and Air/Fuel gauges in A-Pillar pod

Step Two 6/7/06

The car ran great for about a year while I started gathering some more parts. I had some plans for the next stage of the build, so I purchased:

New Tires (Kumho's again)
Large front mount Intercooler
Intercooler piping kit
Turbo XS RFL Type-H blow off valve
Autometer Oil pressure gauge
Polished vacuum block

Here is the new IC.

Step Three: 4/15/07

Before I could install the this batch of goodies, I managed to blow the new head gasket. Crap. Since I had to pull the head off again, and I need to install a new clutch, I just pulled the whole motor and trans. Even though the short block was fine, at 100k I figure I may as well rebuild it. So this time the build up was going to be much more serious.

4/25/07 Packages started arriving.....

This is the intercooler again, and the clutch/pressure plate I was originally going to use. As plans changed I decided to go with a four puck ceramic clutch disc with the stock T3 pressure plate.

Here is all the stuff I used for the short block. Includes:

-Mopar bottom end gasket set.
-Mehling high volume oil pump
-Cryo treated intermediate shaft with new bushings
-Venolia forged pistons with file fit sealed power rings
-ARP main studs
-ARP rod bolt kit
-Clevite main and rod bearings (not pictured)

I wanted the motor to handle 400 horses reliably, and I think this setup should do just fine.

A couple close ups of the Venolias

4/14/07

Finished up my Intercooler install. I ended up fabricating the brackets myself out of some 1/4" flat steel. Probably a little overkill, but I didn't want the IC moving around up there. I actually have one more bracket to make, but I need to get it leveled out first before I make the last one. With only the three brackets I cant get it to move at all, so I guess it works.

Brackets and the mock up.

Top and bottom view.

From inside the engine bay.

Since the factory intercooler bolts to the side of the radiator, I had to fab up a set of brackets to hold the radiator in place with out the stock IC. I was able to use all the stock mounting locations. The upper bracket is just a mock up because it isn't as rigid as I would like. I think overall everything turned out really nice.

5/17/07

I scored a super nice set of leather seats for the R/T in the junk yard. Only cost me $30. They came out of a 92 LeBaron, but they are the same color and design that would have come in the Daytona. Just need to find a matching rear seat and ill be good.

Also bought some new wheel bearings/hub assemblies. I figure at 100k, I may as well do it now while everything is pulled apart.

5/23/07

Head came back from Lonewolf Performance. They welded the small crack that had developed next to the core plug, they gave it a performance valve job, installed new valve stem seals, and installed new exhaust valve guides. I didn't have them port the head because they are super backed up, but I will probably smooth out the rough edges from the casting and call it good.

7/5/07

Machine shop took a little longer than planned to finish up the short block, but they did good work so I was okay with waiting.

Lone Wolf Stage 1 cams. Supposed to be good for 40 horses on a fairly stock motor.

7-27-07
In some spare time I polish the stock cam gears since they were kind of ugly. Just used a dremel bit to clean off the old paint, and then hand sanded them with a couple different grits of sand paper. I should have spent a lot more time on them, but they still look okay. Also installed the Stage 1 cams.

8/18/07
Finished putting all the odds and ends on the short block. I had a hard time finding an undented, non rusty oil pan. So I had to wait for a while to put the head on.

Shown her with the Cometic MLS (multi layer steel) head gasket and ARP head studs.

Notice the ported oil pick-up. A super easy mod for a little more power.

This is a picture after I plugged the oil hole for the balance shafts I removed from the motor. Supposed to be good for an extra 20 hp with them removed.

8-26-07
At this point, this project had snow balled out of control. I found a great deal on a rebuilt trans with brand new quaife diff installed here locally that I couldn't pass up. I also figured I may as well add an egt gauge to monitor this thing.

9-4-07

I decided on porting my own exhaust manifold, which took WAY too long. It came out nice though. Here are a couple pictures to give you an idea how much material I removed.

Even though most of this wont show when the motor is in the car, I was very lame about attention to detail. I spent quite a bit of time sandblasting and painting this stuff. I also decided I better do a quick mock-up on the accessory side of the motor to make sure I have everything and I remember how it all goes.

9-11-07

Finally got the head installed and torqued down. These pictures are just a mock up making sure I have all the stuff and remember how it goes back on. I also bought a bunch of stainless hardware for the rebuild and had some other pieces plated.

9-20-07

I decided to have the Valve Covers and Intake powdercoated. The powder coating was all wrong as it was two different colors and two different textures! I ended up just sending it all back and using the original pieces. The upgraded clutch disc and egt gauge showed up in the package though.

10-1-07

Waiting on funds and time...

11-1-07

B&M short shifter

Polybushings.com motor and trans mounts.

Walbro 255 fuel pump, +40 injectors and Accufab adjustable fuel pressure regulator.

And now the good stuff.
Atp "Ultimate Internal Wastegate" (3" b-band exit), 3" ATP Modular down pipe. Turbonetics large can wastegate actuator w/ Turbos Unleashed "Z" bracket.

Turbonetics 50 trim T3/T4 Hybrid turbo w/ .63 exhaust housing. (stage 3 wheel)

Starting to look good now.

12-1-07

And in she goes!

Stock T3 pressure plate with the four puck ceramic clutch disc on the left, and the rebuilt 568 with a quaife diff installed on the right.

The process of dropping it in.

I had a problem with the wastegate actuator bracket hitting the firewall, so I had to cut a couple inches off it. Other than that, it all fits quite nicely.

1/15/08

Spent a couple cold January days inside working on the IC pipes. They came out okay I guess. Just mocked them all up and had the pieces welded together, I then ran them through a bead roller to put the lip on the edge of all of them to avoid blowing couplers off under high boost, and then coated them all in wrinkle black paint.

Last picture are new Mopar Sport struts, gas-a-just rear shocks, Eibach 2" lowering springs, and new tie rod ends. Tighten up the suspension pretty well.

2-05-08

Amazingly I managed to pull all this together and get the car to run! Here is what the finished product looks like.

Because the turbo is much larger than the stocker, and the wastegate isn't stock, I had to have the new downpipe modified to line up with the rest of the exhaust. I also added a second o2 bung for a wideband o2 gauge when I get it.

On of our monthly Turbo Dodge gathering. This is the first time in a year I had been able to get my R/T out there. Here are a few pictures of my car next to my buddy Cory's R/T.

In the future, once the motor is broken in, look for a Devils Own alky injection kit, +40 injectors, High flow TU fuel rail, Walbro 255 fuel pump, and a FWD stage 3 calibration. Thats really the only plans I have for this car. Once I can get a 12.99 at the track i will be happy with this build. Besides, this is only going to be my fast summer daily driver...