Wheel Adapters

A lot of people have asked about the wheels on the truck and how I got them to fit.  The wheels are off of a 2006 BMW M6.  My neighbor was throwing them out (no joke) and I figured I would see if I could make them fit on my truck. 

There were four issues:

1. Bolt pattern.  The stock bolt pattern is 5x4.75" or in metric:5x120.65.  The wheels are 5x120.  .65mm does not seem like a lot, but we would be putting undue stress on a very important part of the assembly if we tried to directly bolt them on.
2. The wheels are hub-centric.  What this means is that the wheel is centered on a flange on the hub rather than lug or bolt-centric, which means the wheel is centered on the lugs.
3. Offset.  The front wheels have a positive offset of 12mm, the rears 17mm.  This means that if I were to not use a spacer the tires would rub on the frame.
4. Hub size.  The diameter of the S10 hub is 70.3mm.  Way larger than the opening in the wheel.  This was going to be the show stopper.

Handling the first 3 was easy: I went to http://motorsport-tech.com and ordered some custom wheel adapters that converted 5x4.75 to 5x120, with a custom width of 19mm for the front and 28mm for the rears, and converted to hub-centric.  

For the hub size issue, the solution presented itself in the way of the S10 Blazer spindles.  The factory 10 pickup spindles look like this:

This means the rotor/hub assembly looks like this:

The wheel opening is smaller than the hub and prevents mounting (even with the spacer).  I was able to locate some S10 Blazer spindles on eBay and they look like this:

This allows the hub to bolt-on and allows the snout of the hub to be shorter. The spacer/adapter handles the rest (notice how much shorter the blazer hub is than the pickup rotor/hub assembly (above)).

Below is the spacer for the fronts:

Below is the spacer for the rears:

A year later...

It has been a year since my last post.  A lot has happened since then.  The truck runs with the supercharger.  I took it to my friend Jeremy Formato at Fasterproms and put it on the dyno.  Maximum power was 602 to the rear wheels on pump gas.  We expect a bit more as the supercharger belt was not tight enough.  I am using the LSX concepts race drive and I had not done the post-install adjustment.  I still have some more work to do.  The 4:10 gears are a bit steep and I may put 3:42 back in.  Jeremy hooked me up with an E85 sensor and I will be installing that shortly.  Video of dyno pull is below:

C6 Z06 Brakes upgrade

While I am waiting for some other parts, I went ahead and installed the brake upgrade.  I spoke with Tobin at Kore3 and he was able to hook me up with the right brackets to mount the C6 Z06 calipers for the fronts.  The rears were able to bolt right up.

When I started the project, I didn't think I would be able to use the 6-piston calipers, so I went with the 4-piston C5 Z06 calipers.  They looked good and stopped great, but I figured now would be the time to step it up a notch.

What I started with

Where we are now

Rears:

If I do decide to take this to Sebring, at least I know I will not have to worry about brakes.

Power Steering Reservoir

I worked on the power steering reservoir relocation this week.  I am using a Power Steering Technologies (PST) remote reservoir.  It has a built in filter as well as an auxiliary input for the hydroboost unit.

The problem is the size.  It is 3.5 inches in diameter and 8 inches high.  I didn't have a good place to put it unless I wanted it sticking out of the hood.  I decided to mount it right next to the hydroboost unit.

I went to the local junkyard and picked up a bracket off of a 99 Tahoe that mounts the distribution block to the master cylinder.  I cleaned it up, welded a piece of steel to the end of it, flipped it upside down and backward and it fits perfect.

Another shot of the bracket and reservoir below:

A little trick I learned from my karting friends is a clever way to separate lines.  Take a piece of 1/4" fuel line and run a zip tie through it.  Then loop it around both hoses and zip it.  The fuel line acts as an insulator and the zip tie provides the binding.  No rubbing, no chafing.  A couple of shots of that as well are below:

Feb 2018 - Making progress

Work has been keeping me very busy, but I have been able to make progress.  The cylinder heads have been updated with Inconel exhaust valves, Brian Tooley Racing valve springs, and titanium retainers.  The camshaft is a BTR LS3 supercharger cam (231/248 .618/.596).  While I was at it, I installed ARP head studs...just to be sure.

A problem that I ran into was the power steering reservoir relocation.  The factory location would be right in the way of the throttle body and I needed to come up with a solution.  I went to Bad Iron Machine and used their mill to mill out the top of the accessory bracket and a die grinder to smooth out some of the rough spots.

This enabled me to run the return line through the top of the bracket.  I decided to run steel braided hose throughout for this so I needed to put a fitting on the pump.  The inlet is 5/8" and I was able to find a #10 to 5/8 compression fitting and installed that.

In an earlier post, I showed a very long power steering high pressure line.  It had an unnatural bend in it and it just didn't look right.  I took this opportunity to make it shorter

The bad news is that I forgot that I am running a hydroboost system and the hose will actually be about 2 feet longer and run to the input of the hyrdoboost module.  Another lesson learned.

I have everything mocked up and it appears to fit just right.

Here is a shot of the front of the engine.  I have tons of hose remaining to cut.  Bonus shot of the fuel regulator included.

What's all this then?

It has been a year and half since my last post.  Phase 2 is beginning...

LSA supercharger

The nose is off the car.  I have pulled the heads off along with the brake booster and wiring harness.  I am replacing the vacuum power brakes with a hydroboost unit.  The wiring is being sent to current performance for an upgrade so that it will fit on the LSA.  The engine is getting a new camshaft and valve springs.

More to come...

It's Alive

Had to rig up the MAF since I ordered the wrong harness, but I was able to push out the LS376/525 tune and it runs the best is has so far.