Topic: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

I've decided to put together a build thread on the "Supra Carlo". We are in the end stages of completing the drivetrain swap, it currently runs and moves under it's own power, so I figured now's as good a time as ever to show everyone what we've managed to ruin. Hopefully some of you will be able to come to Thompson this August and see it for yourselves.

October, 2019 : Coming off of our IOE at the '19 Du Lac Chargogagog etc, we decided that the only way we are going to achieve a class win, or another IOE is to drastically upgrade our program. We started kicking around ideas about mid engine swapping it's original 3.1 V6 (after seeing the TwinPala, on Hot Rod Garage). We talked about needing a better transmission, the 4T60 and 4T65E transmission that came in literally every FWD GM are known for being the weakest point of the whole care, handling notwithstanding. Then, just as the Monte had fallen into our laps, team Cap, Brian was bequeathed a Saturn Vue, ecotec with a manual trans. the subframe had rotted clean off the body, so it was worthless to the previous owner, but exactly what we wanted. No sooner did this happen, did yet ANOTHER car fall into our laps, this time an '05 Cobalt SS. It needed a fuel pump to run, we haggled it down from 800, to 500 dollars if they kept the wheels, perfect. Now we had two engines, two transmissions, and two cars worth of junk parts we could sell back. ...May the destruction begin.

https://i.imgur.com/XmaxiUj.jpg
The Cobalt donor victim where we found it.

https://i.imgur.com/Zx9Z1iB.jpg
The Saturn came with some.... interesting spare parts.

https://i.imgur.com/xn6w4Bn.jpg
Our Lemony fleet at the time of conception.

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Later that October,2019: So, we tore into the cobalt. We had to give the wheels back so we needed to get the drivetrain and any parts we needed off of it, so that we could scrap the shell and downsize the number of hoopties taking up real estate at Brian's boss's shop. Boy oh boy is this car hammered.

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Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

December, 2019 We let a month lapse without any real work done, y'know holidays and such. Now it was time to evict the GM 3.1 and see about mocking up the Cobalt's subframe to see where everything fell, and what kind of McGyvering we would need to do.

Somehow, some way, through decades of badge engineering over in GM the Cobalt and Monte subframes have the same exact rear pick up points, the hubs and all sat near perfectly centered in the wheel wells, we were shocked. The original plan was that we were going to cut off the front uprights of the Monte's subframe, and weld them onto the cobalt's. Once we had everything sliced, diced, and mocked up we decided to go another route. We got some heavy wall tubing and angle iron to box everything in and make it "stronk, like bull".

While we had Jesse doing his thing with the fabrication, Brian, Jared, Drew, and I got down and dirty working on the donor drivetrain, bringing it up to snuff. We found that we were moments from disaster with the engine. The upper timing chain guide bolt had walked itself out and into the lower valley of the timing cover. YIKES. Found that the driver's transaxle support bearing had a monumental amount of play and that the leaking axle seal probably had something to do with the missing shim from the bearing preload stack.

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Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

January, 2020 Time to get this S-show on the road, and get the engine stuffed into the car for more mock up. We weighed both drivetrains to see what we were saving, not bad it turns out, over a hundred pounds taken off the nose, and a healthy boost in power. Found some mice had taken residence in the old PCM box, and gassed out the shop with the scent of mouse piss, that was fun. The Ecotec LSJ clears with room to spare, and sits further back near the firewall, NICE.

- https://i.imgur.com/LpxEiHF.jpg

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Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

February/March, 2020: This is about the last time we really had everyone together, pre COVID. from here on out the work is sporadic. We got the pedals fabricated, and situated, shifter mounted, wiring gutted, firewall clearance and plated, junkyard Impala rear subframe for disc brakes, motor mounts, and revised fuel filler neck.

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Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

April/May, 2020 : Everything is starting to come together now. Front brakes, converted from an 07 Cobalt SS, the Impala rears, park brake is situated, shifter is installed and functions, wired up a rudimentary stand alone and fired the engine for the first time in the Monte. We played around with some auxiliary cooling solutions too. We traded the ZZP intercooler we got with the cobalt to Florida Man Donnie himself, in exchange for an OE style heat exchanger that will fit with our radiator in the front of the car. Oh, and we ran some fuel lines, then got the brake booster installed.


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Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

June, 2020- Present day : Now with August just 2 months away, it was time to begin the sprint to the finish. Armed with masks, wrenches, and misguided motivation we started banging out the final pieces. Time to replace all the rubber suspension components, steering parts, wheel bearings, axles, Jared made us a new shim of the output bearing and took all the play out of it. We picked up a bargain set of 18x8.5 Subaru STi wheels, Jesse and Brian got the car running and driving, Jared again came through with some machined parts and lowered the rear struts two inches. Things we still have to do, install the new belts, change supercharger oil, belt tensioner, plumb brakes, get the cobalt electric P/S column in the car, relocate the battery to the trunk with the new battery box, replumb the fire suppression lines/ relocated bottle to Pass side. fit and finish aux oil cooler, and the usual minutia of prepping a Lemons car to race a month before it has to.

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Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

guardrail028 wrote:

The Saturn came with some.... interesting spare parts.
https://i.imgur.com/Zx9Z1iB.jpg

I hope you got a stiff discount on the Saturn, and the seller didn't dick around too much and try to give you the shaft.

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Looks like somebody  has gotten serious about racing.

"get up and get your grandma outta here"

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Ecotec Everything!!

Apocalyptic Racing - Occupy Pit Lane racing
Racing the "Toylet" Toyota Celica powered by Chevrolet Ecotec.
24x Loser with the Celica. 16x loser in other fine machines
Overall winner Gingerman 2019

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Brett85p wrote:

Ecotec Everything!!

No, seriously. I'm surprised more people aren't doing it. Cheap, readily available, modern, moderately reliable, and there's an aftermarket. The 5spd that came attached to it is probably what is going to go boom first. We planned on changing the clutch for a fresh stock unit, but we said "whats the point if the thing is probably going to become a grenade on Saturday afternoon." We have the spare 2.4 and Mu3 trans from the saturn if things go very wrong.

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Mr.Yuck wrote:

Looks like somebody  has gotten serious about racing.

As "serious" as we're ever going to get lol. We wounded the 4T60 trans in the 3.1 so we were all but married To a drivetrain swap, it sort of snowballed after that.

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Been doing it for past five years L61 then LE5 in 1978 Celica, win B and A in that car. Same LE5 drivetrain now going into 1983 Datsun 280zx. Both engines were moderate milage junkyard finds with nothing done but timing chain and water pumps.

Miata Ecotec swaps are becoming popular.

Apocalyptic Racing - Occupy Pit Lane racing
Racing the "Toylet" Toyota Celica powered by Chevrolet Ecotec.
24x Loser with the Celica. 16x loser in other fine machines
Overall winner Gingerman 2019

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

RandolphCarter wrote:
guardrail028 wrote:

I hope you got a stiff discount on the Saturn, and the seller didn't dick around too much and try to give you the shaft.

He drove a really hard bargain. Basically shot it at us.

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Brett85p wrote:

Been doing it for past five years L61 then LE5 in 1978 Celica, win B and A in that car. Same LE5 drivetrain now going into 1983 Datsun 280zx. Both engines were moderate milage junkyard finds with nothing done but timing chain and water pumps.

Miata Ecotec swaps are becoming popular.

Ours is "high" mileage about 193k on the clock if I remember. Did the same chain and water pump, we almost got sauced by that damn upper guide bolt though. Luckily O'reileys had that nifty dowel bolt thing the same day we were changing it.

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

guardrail028 wrote:
Mr.Yuck wrote:

Looks like somebody  has gotten serious about racing.

As "serious" as we're ever going to get lol. We wounded the 4T60 trans in the 3.1 so we were all but married To a drivetrain swap, it sort of snowballed after that.

be careful or you'll end up in that other "cheap" racing league.

"get up and get your grandma outta here"

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Mr.Yuck wrote:
guardrail028 wrote:
Mr.Yuck wrote:

Looks like somebody  has gotten serious about racing.

As "serious" as we're ever going to get lol. We wounded the 4T60 trans in the 3.1 so we were all but married To a drivetrain swap, it sort of snowballed after that.

be careful or you'll end up in that other "cheap" racing league.

Im sure someone could successfully campaign a W-body in that league, but it sure won't be us. There's only one member of our team with track experience outside of Lemons, and he has his own cheaty ass cars for that.

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Hey, We like the tuna team,
Manny here, I paddocked next to you a few years back and BS Judged at last years race.
This is a great build, Glad to see you'all got some real brakes on there.
Can't wait to see this beast back in action.....August I assume?

Manny

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Mkotzias wrote:

Hey, We like the tuna team,
Manny here, I paddocked next to you a few years back and BS Judged at last years race.
This is a great build, Glad to see you'all got some real brakes on there.
Can't wait to see this beast back in action.....August I assume?

Manny

Howdy! We are planning on Thompson, hopefully nothing changes. Gonna need to shake this thing down real good on friday. These damn brakes better last more than a day haha.

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Ebc, Hawk, and other race compounds will make a huge difference on pad wear. Once the temp hits a certain degree stock pads go away with a vengeance.
Did you leave the rear drums?

Manny

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Mkotzias wrote:

Ebc, Hawk, and other race compounds will make a huge difference on pad wear. Once the temp hits a certain degree stock pads go away with a vengeance.
Did you leave the rear drums?

Manny

We went heavy on the pads. So many people suggested Raybestos ST43s. Brian called them up and they said to get ST45s on the front and 43s on the rear. It was formerly drums, and in the two prior seasons we didnt ever change the shoes. The discs should be a lot lighter and obviously much better at unaccelerating.

22 (edited by guardrail028 2020-07-05 04:08 PM)

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Got a little nearer to being ready to race this weekend. Discussed tire options at length this week, got the battery box in and functional. Applied heat shielding to the firewall around the exhaust. We replaced a worn and leaking axle seal on the passenger side this time. plumbed brake lines and a proportioning valve, bled everything, tested it out in the parking lot stops reaaaaal nice like. We installed some delrin bushing that Jared machined for the rear struts, put the fender liners back in the front fenders.... annnnnnd I think that's about it. We are brake lights, an exhaust, and tires away from being ready for Thompson Speedway in August.


- https://i.imgur.com/aS5tvy8.jpg

- https://i.imgur.com/1JizPjW.jpg

- https://i.imgur.com/oa2wKhG.jpg

link to a video of the car running, driving, and stopping. https://twitter.com/liardraug/status/12 … 612473344/

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

Looks great....
One (minor) thing....even though your battery is in a box,you'll wanna tape the shit out of the positive terminal,as well as the posts on the back of your kill switch....little things,I know,but thats what gits ya at tech....

Good Luck....we're all counting on you...

45+x Loser.....You'd think I would learn......
5x I.O.E  Winner   1 Heroic Fix Winner   1 Org Choice Winner
2x  I Got Screwed Winner    2x Class C Winner
(Still a Class B driver in a Class A car)

Re: We Like the Tuna Here: Supra Carlo build.

BigBird wrote:

Looks great....
One (minor) thing....even though your battery is in a box,you'll wanna tape the shit out of the positive terminal,as well as the posts on the back of your kill switch....little things,I know,but thats what gits ya at tech....

Good Luck....we're all counting on you...

The kill switch we did tape the hell out of. The Batt box is just roughed in place, we plan on siliconing the cables in the side of the box, the idea was to use the supplied grommets but our cables already had terminals on them so I wasn't able to just drill a simple hole. Definitely sealing those off though. As for everyone counting on us... well, no pressure I guess. Lol