TRIPLE INTRO & COOLING (F)

01

Removing the hood lets a lot more light into the engine bay and allows different angles of attack on multiple projects. Cory Schuette works alongside Gary and is a diagnostic electronics support expert. Cory knows his way around all things automotive and helped us make good time on all of these projects.

02

We drained the coolant, disconnected the battery, and pulled the tired stock rad from behind the shroud and fan, which saves having to reach in blindly and awkwardly wrenching off the fan.

03

Teardown is fun, but reassembly can be a pain if you’re not organized. Gary’s military training kicks in with bagged and labeled parts!

04 The OE fan shroud won’t be needed and needs to be removed to clear the Torqstorm blower setup.

05 We’re using Cold Case Radiators 21-inch C10 radiator (Part #GMT556A21) with dual electric fan setup as well as its fan controller kit. This system will offer excellent engine cooling with an oversized two-row system, which is much more efficient than a traditional four-row.

06 A quick test-fit of the new core tells us that the original rubber isolators will work, as will the upper holding clamps.

07 The dual 12-inch fans can be mounted with provided self-drilling screws or by drilling for the provided rivets for a cleaner look. The total thickness of the radiator and fan will leave plenty of room for the new accessory drive.

08 LEFT. Gary replaces the stock clamps on the new radiator and clamps things in place behind the Vintage air condenser. (Part 2 of this series.)

09 Cold Case provides part numbers for the larger (4x4) hose set to accommodate the extra airflow of the 1.75-inch ports and will be selling its own custom hoses by the time this article hits the stands.

10 Cooling fan relays and circuit is provided by an auxiliary fuse box Gary has mounted on the passenger side of the core support.

FUEL

11 Holley, anticipating the popularity of these trucks and EFI and LS swaps, offers a complete replacement fuel system with a choice of either in-tank or external fuel delivery. Gary chose the Sniper EFI tank (Part #29-156). The tank itself is powdercoated for durability and comes with a 255LPH internal pump, sender, straps, gaskets and clamps to install in an ’82-’87 C10 truck. If Gary was staying N/A, this pump serves up to 550 hp and would offer plenty of fuel. However, with the upcoming Torq-storm blower, numbers will be closer to 650 flywheel, so Gary called Ethan at Holley Tech Support, who advised a 340 LPH pump upgrade (Part #19-342) that will support 700 hp.

12 The original tank is unbolted and discarded, but the mounting straps will be cleaned up and reused.

13 The larger capacity 340LPH pump is the same physical size and replaces the 255 LPH pump that comes in the Sniper kit.

14 Gary carefully measured, installed and clamped the new pump in place (complete with dirt sock) before installing into the new tank body.

15 Provided hardware secures both the pump hat and the fuel level sending unit.

16 Cory installs and clamps the new vapor guard hose to the tank before installation.

17 A transmission jack comes in handy to install the new tank assembly, and it gets a fender cover for padding on the bottom side to keep the tank pretty.

18 Send and return lines are routed inside the frame rail, away from anything that moves or gets hot.

19 The provided feed-line filter gets installed on the frame rail with an oversized Adel clamp, paying attention to flow direction.

SNIPER

20 Removing the Holley 600 CFM carb is simple. Reselling it in horsetrades, swap meets or internet auctions will help buy back some of the parts costs.

21 The Torqstorm charger needs a blow-through setup for induction. Gary had a choice to make: either purchase a blow-through carb or convert to a TBI setup that can adapt to forced induction. There’s quite a difference in cost between the two, but the TBI setup will yield much better driveability, has self-learning capabilities and can be converted back to NA status easily. Besides, the ability to tune air and fuel precisely at boost can make the difference between along engine life and broken parts. Research led us to the Holley Super-sniper 550-519 4 injector kit, which comes complete with the throttle body unit, ECU, wiring, sensors and handheld controller. Gary had the option of shiny, black or gold colors; he opted for black. The Sniper EFI comes with everything needed to install, including a manual. Online tech support is fantastic with Holley Performance with dozens of videos, tech support phone lines and a forum at Holley.com.

22 Installation is straightforward, and configuring cables and connections is by the numbers using the manual.

23 The throttle and Tv/trans cable are installed with a Holley bracket (Part #1953) made for a DEMON carb that fits nicely on the mounting flange of the TB.

24 Sniper comes with all necessary sensors, including coolant temp and “no-weld” 02 exhaust sensor and bung.

25 Delivery and return fuel lines are routed up the rear of the bellhousing and to the Sniper EFI body. For N/A application, the Sniper is internally regulated. We’ll add an external regulator for the boosted application in Part 2 of this series.

26 Gary pulled 12v power from the pink wire out of the ignition switch to feed the Sniper. He also installed an auxiliary fuse block on the core support for the ECU relay and cable connections.

27 We used Redline 50/50 with water wetter in the new Coldcase radiator to make sure we keep cool on the initial startup

28 Once plumbed and connected, we can fire the truck, which lit immediately. The setup menu is straightforward and walks you through all the setup prompts.

29 The Sniper doesn’t start “learning” until it hits 160 degrees, so some idle time is necessary to reach operating temps. Once it’s warmed up and in a closed loop mode, Gary will put a few hundred miles on it, check for leaks and make sure everything is happy.

EXHAUST

30 The restrictive factory manifolds were destined for the heap, regardless of the plan, but certainly need to be replaced with a forced induction upgrade.

31 The OE 1 ¾ pipe and ancient Flowmaster mufflers get cut out and reclaimed by nature.

32 Ceramic-coated Flowtech long tube 1 5/8 headers with thick flanges will ridiculously outflow the OE manifolds and are budget friendly, relatively speaking.

33 With aluminum heads, all header bolts get anti-seize! Any dissimilar metal fastener, regardless of the component, should get anti-seize lubricant.

34 Installation is drama-free and looks great! No adjustments needed and all fasteners and gaskets went in with fingertip pressure.

35 Flowmaster offers many options for many vehicles. We opted for its Universal 2.5-inch stainless and mandrelbent exhaust, with some Flowmaster Super 44s thrown in. There’s plenty of choices for routing, as well as straight and V-shaped crossover tubes.

36 After installing a tubular transmission mount that will allow for symmetrical exhaust pipes, Gary and Cory built the exhaust from the collectors back, tacking sections together as they went.

37 The crossover tube was mounted under the transmission mount, which is a good transition point where exhaust pulses are starting to lose some velocity. A 1.25-inch hole saw makes a clean opening on each side.

38 The Sniper ECU only needs one 02 sensor. Ours is going in the driver side just behind the collector using a step drill is used to create the location. It’s important not to place your sensor at the bottom where moisture or fuel could potentially accumulate.

39 Holley provides a gasket and clamp-on bung for installation, or you could opt to weld in a bung.

40 The completed system turns down just ahead of the rear axle, looks great, and will be an awesome enhancement for both the N/A and Forced induction versions of this truck.

DYNO & BASELINE

41 On paper, this engine was advertised at 345 hp/387 tq. Not too shabby for a daily driven street truck, and a solid foundation for power adders. Subtract 20% for driveline losses, and it should make right around 275 RWHP. We can add back a little for the 1 5/8 LT headers and eliminate the mechanical fan, but that’s our target for the day. This initial session is not about tuning. It’s to establish a solid baseline for comparison moving forward. Whatever we get at the wheels, a dyno session is always a good idea to test limits and levels on a drivetrain rather than public roads, so we headed to DBR High Performance in Spring Hill, Tennessee. David Branson has more than proved himself over the years, tuning and assisting with many of my personal builds, countless TV projects and potent Drag Week with TM vehicles, trophy trucks and road race cars. Our Holley Sniper X is settled and happy with a few hundred miles of commuting on the new cooling and exhaust systems, so we picked a cool morning to get our baseline numbers before the Torqstorm power adder gets installed. DBR has a state-ofthe-art eddy current hub-dyno, which ensures no slippage and complete accuracy. Chris connects both hubs and triple checks the installation.

42 Gary connects his TCI controller to lock the converter and gear selection.

43 David Branson fills in the info for the computer before an initial pull. Remember, we’re not tuning here. This is to establish a baseline only for comparison.

44 Since Gary drove his truck to DBR, it’s warm and ready to make a pull—60-degree ambient air temperatures are not a bad thing!

45 With the 4160 locked in at 3rd gear, wheel speed gets well over 120 mph. Driveline components are tested here! It’s better to break on the dyno than out on the street.

46 The first tug nets almost 280 hp and 309 lb-ft.

47 After a 2-minute cool-down, David does another pull and nets less HP and TQ but justifies it with higher IAT’S and general heat-soak effect.

48 Averaged out, our truck made 269.35 hp and 313.5 lb-ft. Gary is very happy with those numbers, which are actually higher than advertised power from this engine. This can be attributed to a much better exhaust, less drag on the engine with an electric fan and the computer controlled EFI system maximizing efficiency. Gary says the truck never felt so good, and there’s an amazing before and after effect from these upgrades, but there’s more on the table! Torqstorm advertises a 50% gain with 8 pounds of boost on its single charger kit, but Gary’s hope is to see 500 hp to the tires, and no loss of driveability or comfort. Watch for Part 2 of this story to see if we meet that goal!!