Project "Endless Challenge" 4l80E, dry sumped 500 wedge

[Tubbed440]

Received a package via Fed Ex today.  It's my transmission controller for the 4L80.    I got it from here:  http://www.powertraincontrolsolutions.com/



More to come later. 

[conv340]

Cool, good people. I got one too. To try to make my NAG1 work.

[Mentally Challenged]

Looking good, Challenger will be awsome 

[Tubbed440]

Well, I have been busy over the past couple of months, just have not had the time to mess with the car much, but here is a little progress. I'm going to cut and paste from another board that I have been keeping my build current on.

Well, there is now a comercially available bell housing for Big block mopars to a GM 4L80E.   I have the first one at this point.  I worked with Ross McCombs at Quicktime to get this application sorted - and it looks like we have a winner.



Here's the trans before it goes into surgery.





Here's what it looks like prepped for the new bell housing.  It takes a little time and work, but the neater of a job you do, the better the end product.



In securing the bell to the pump, you'll need a 70mm long (I think that's what they are) set of bolts to get it all fitted up.  You'll also need to use some silicone around the bolts to help seal it up, and I also used some TH350 pump washers on the bolts.  I should have some pics of that process up before too long.  Those who run the JW bell know what I'm talking about for sure. 





The headers in the pics are TTI's on Victor heads - this clears rather well.  You may have to do some tweeking of the right hand header collector to get good clearance for the trans pan, but a good exhaust guy could make the pipe fit there with no modifications.









You'll also have to purchase a flywheel for this application from Quicktime - just bolts right up.

[Tubbed440]

ANother cut and paste.  I started on this mold about two months ago.  LOL

Starting working on the die for the intake runners a couple months ago.  This is just 1/2 of the completed project.  Even after I make the form, I'll have to make another die to fit inside to complete the process. I'll have to hand blend and polish this some too.  If I would have taken a little more time machining it, I wouldn't have to polish it.





Well, that mold half in the picture above is machined wrong.  The draft angle is 5 degrees instead of 10.  Not sure how I messed that up, but I did.  At this point, the only thing keeping me from putting the engine in the car and fitting the trans is this damn intake.  I have to use the engine as a welding jig.  So, hopefully, before the end of December, I can have this done and the engine/trans in the car.  I don't think I'll be hearing it run by Christmas as I had planned.

Ok, so I flipped the old mold half over and machined on the other side to help save material.  I need to make the insert for the mold that will hold the sheet metal in place so it can be pressed in and "die formed".  I hope this works, if it doesn't I'll have to back up and punt.

[Tubbed440]

A quick view of the mold in CAD.    Whether or not it will work remains to be seen.  Shown in two colors so it would be easier to see the different halves.

[Tubbed440]

Another one with the center die.

[Tubbed440]

Another cut and paste.   This is actually from yesterday.


 So, I finished the mold today.  I'll start on the inner die tomorrow morning - and should have it done by the evening.

I did some hand blending in a hurry.  I'll probably go back and do some more as this is kinda "eh".  It's slick to the touch, but not all the radii are blended like I want.  It will work either way - it'll just look prettier.

[ntstlgl1970]

Is the mold so you can make something out of fiberglass or CF? I shouldn't be at work today - turkey hangover....

[Tubbed440]

Is the mold so you can make something out of fiberglass or CF? I shouldn't be at work today - turkey hangover....

Intake runners out of sheet aluminum.  See next post. 

The first inner die I made, I screwed up the radius on the part and made it too large.  More progress below.

[Tubbed440]

So, today I decided to make another inner die.  This one turned out decent, but it still needs a little massaging.  I'll go into detail further down.

Here, you can see the left die is full of FAIL.  Check the ultra huge radii.  The one on the right is the one that I just finished about an hour ago.


Here's a couple more shots of the entire assembly so you can get an idea of how this works.







Now, it's time for the WIN!!1!!1!1  in this thread.  This is my first test run piece.  I need to adjust my measurements a little when I cut the aluminum - the ends are butting and causing it to buckle a little, but that's not to big of a deal. 





Here you can see the deformation of the mouth in the runner.  Removing some material in the seam will cure this for sure.



Note the tooling marks on the runner.  This means that I need to go inside the mold and lower some "high" spots.


Overall, for this to be the first runner, I'm pretty pleased.  I knew that there was going to be a couple "practice runs" before I started, but I had no idea it would be this good.  Hell, I'm just tickled that it WORKED!!!! 

Nice radii here on the runner.  That's what I was shooting for.

[Tubbed440]

Well, made a couple of adjustments and made the second runner.  Takes about 20 minutes from cutting the sheet to a formed runner.  I could probably do it faster but I was taking pics during this one so I could share the process.

First, cut the sheet and sketch it out. 


Second, use the torch to put a layer of smut on the sheet.


The smut is used for a guide in annealing the sheet.  Basically, I am burning the smut off with the torch now.


Annealing the sheet makes it softer and easier to form.  Now, time to let it cool.


So the next series of pics shows how to first form the sheet to the inner die.









I'm using a rubber mallet to form this sheet around the inner die without causing cosmetic damage.

[Tubbed440]

Now onto the fun part.  Pressing the material into the mold using the die and 20 ton press.









Here it is fitted into the intake runner adapter. 



Looks right at home, eh?



The reason the runners are so long is due to to the fact that I designed this mold to make an adjustable runner so I would not have to make 4 or 5 different molds for different intake port openings.  I plan on making a couple more for the Mopar community, as others have expressed interest in something like this.   I plan on cutting them to length and welding them up tomorrow.

[ntstlgl1970]

It will be cool once it's all welded up, the fitup looks really nice! Are you going to do a sheet metal plenum like wilson and others build?

[Tubbed440]

It will be cool once it's all welded up, the fitup looks really nice! Are you going to do a sheet metal plenum like wilson and others build?

Yes, that's the plan.  I think there is a 3D model of it earlier in the thread.  I'll be mounting a throttle body to the front of the intake, and this all sits nicely under a stock Rallye hood.