Picking up where I left off - Supercharged Q45

[a1ek5ant3ri]

After moving across the country, I'm finally making moves to get my 1990 Q45 into reliable driving condition. I'll use this thread for the build and to receive input and motivation!

When the injectors started going out, I had the bright idea to switch to top flow injectors (DW 440cc) and add a supercharger (ex-GT500 Eaton M122). I built a custom intake with my buddy and got a quick road tune from a local guy. It has a drive train vibration that a custom driveshaft will hopefully solve. The current SC pulley yields around 8 psi, hopefully 415-460 hp and gratuitous torque with a proper tune. And the hood is intact, except for a section of bracing inside, to maintain Q-ship status.

To Do:
1. Driveshaft. Waiting at my parents' place.
2. Parking brake. OEM pedal unit had to go, I'll look into a hand brake and make it fit.
3. Speedo calibration box
4. Convert the Y-pipe to a proper X-pipe, performance mufflers.
5. Better idler pulley mount??
6. Shift boot, mount the gauges, rework cutout(s).
7. Ship in westward.
8. Find someone with experience to tune it. Any recommendations around SE Ohio or NW Washington appreciated!



Pulley v1 with holes for added lightness. Produced less boost than anticipated.



Pulley v2. I'm glad I made it easily removable.



Blake working his magic.



We tapped in Mike for the bosses.

[3Q Jay]

Very interesting....packaging with your custom plenum looks good. No intercooler?

[a1ek5ant3ri]

Very interesting....packaging with your custom plenum looks good. No intercooler?

There's not a whole lot of room for an intercooler. I might need to add one, but I figured I'd try without first.

[PalmerWMD]

Wow!! How cool is that!!

[a1ek5ant3ri]

I've been thinking more about inter/aftercooling. I would be much more confident with a cooler air temp. Whatever I do, it would be nice for the hood to still shut.
One option is water/methanol injection. It would be the easiest route and would also help cool the supercharger.
Another is to add a heat exchanger at the supercharger outlet, inside the current intake. Not optimal for flow though.
I may have enough headroom to add another layer between the SC and intake with the heat exchanger sandwiched between.

[AZhitman]

LOOOOVE IT!

Believe it or not, it's been done before...

[a1ek5ant3ri]

LOOOOVE IT!

Believe it or not, it's been done before...

I'm going to need more details...

[AZhitman]

That's been a loooong time ago. The pic was taken in 2003, and the car had been off the road for at least 3 years at that point.

I'll ask the owner if he'll pop in and give some backstory.

p.s. It was freakin' FAST.

[Mattyeed]

Any updates? Love this build sounds so mint!

[a1ek5ant3ri]

No physical progress due to distance, but I'm hoping to ship the car out here soon. Anyone know if you need a parking brake to ship a car?

Here's what I've been thinking about:

I picked up a speedometer calibration box so the gages won't get me in trouble. I need to jumper the transmission harness wires to get rid of the "transmission malfunction" message at startup. I don't think it does anything, but it's annoying and so my past attempts to fix it haven't worked.

I don't like the idler for the new belt path. It's static and mounts using bolts for the front cover chain tensioner access. I'd like to find better mounting points and build a more robust tensioner.

I'm going to get a methanol injection kit for it. If it works well, I can tuck a couple bigger tanks away with the gas tank.

I need to add a hand brake or something to give me control over the parking brake.

The exhaust needs some work, convert it from Y to X pipes and some resonators. Replace the factory muffler. I would like to keep the cutout, it's too much fun.

It's going to need new tires, and probably something wider, so I'll be looking for new wheels.

[Mattyeed]

Fair enough, I'm not too sure on that one. I'm thinking of doing a similar set up on mine with meth injection so I'm keen to see how you go with it. Can you close the bonnet currently?

[a1ek5ant3ri]

Yeah. I notched the center rib of the hood for the bigger pulley, but with the smaller one, I think it would fit without it.

[HG50]

Dude this is awesome. Cant wait till I see some driving videos. You have an IG with more q45 stuff?