Bought an old BTF U4 buggy

Progress, slow but progress. Bezels are 10g and it really stiffened up the hood. Lunchtime and then I think I'll play like Joe Biden and take an afternoon nap 😴 🤣

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Haven't updated in a while but been busy working on this POS. Progress has been slower than I wanted but I had a heart attack earlier in the year and took a bit of time off working on the buggy. Been wheeling and slowing working on it. I have been taking pictures as I go and I'll update as time permits.

The more I unfucked the more fuckery I found that needed unfucking. So I decided to take it 100% part and start with all new shit. New motor, new trans, new fuel system, new everything 😂

Another Friday night in the off-road garage working on cool shit. Putting together a badass LS 408ci stroker for the BTF Ultra4 buggy.

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What cool stuff are you working on tonight?
 
A little more progress. The coil mounts that came with the BTR valve covers placed the coils too high for the chassis and positioned the wires poorly. Hacked out some custom mounts that keep the coils low and keep the wires off the headers. Used the old coils temporarily until the new OEM coils arrive. Trying to get everything mocked up and checked for fitment.

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-24AN hose overkill much 😂 When BTR built they used -24 lines all the way back to the custom radiator. Looked at changing it to -20 or -16 but the cost and amount of work was prohibitive, was cheaper to just replace the hose olds. Needed three 90s and one 45 for the top water pump outlet. They don't make -24AN fittings anymore but I was able to find 90s on eBay that were new old stock. I'll reuse the old 45 on the water pump outlet.
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Next up alternator and PS mounts along with idlers.
 
Power steering pump, alternator, idlers done and everything fits and clears.

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Did not like the previous PS bracket as it only supported the pump on the head side. Ordered a kit from ICT Billet that sandwiches the PS pump for much better support. The PSC CBR pump housing is slightly larger than a standard TC pump so had to machine the brackets a bit and it fits like a glove.

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Again ICT Billet alternator bracket for the iron LS block. Has a guide to drill the missing 3rd hole on iron blocks. The brackets support the alternator on both sides. Power Master 180A alternator. Also used their manual tensioner setup. Really impressed with the ICT Billet stuff, quality at a fair price.

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Steam lines are mocked up with the exception of plumbing into the water pump. Been putting off drilling and taping into a $1100 water pump, kinda my nervous 😂
 
Joe_U4 said:
Power steering pump, alternator, idlers done and everything fits and clears.

View attachment 445318View attachment 445319

Did not like the previous PS bracket as it only supported the pump on the head side. Ordered a kit from ICT Billet that sandwiches the PS pump for much better support. The PSC CBR pump housing is slightly larger than a standard TC pump so had to machine the brackets a bit and it fits like a glove.

View attachment 445320View attachment 445321

Again ICT Billet alternator bracket for the iron LS block. Has a guide to drill the missing 3rd hole on iron blocks. The brackets support the alternator on both sides. Power Master 180A alternator. Also used their manual tensioner setup. Really impressed with the ICT Billet stuff, quality at a fair price.

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Steam lines are mocked up with the exception of plumbing into the water pump. Been putting off drilling and taping into a $1100 water pump, kinda my nervous 😂
Click to expand...
Motion race works recommends tying into the upper radiator hose, tapping the pump can lead to cavitation

motionraceworks.com

Why Your LS Engine Needs a Steam Vent Kit: 5 Facts About 4 Corner LS C

Why Your Turbo Supercharged or Naturally Aspirated LS Engine needs Steam Vent Kit: 5 Facts About 4 Corner LS Coolant Crossover Steam Kits 1.Early LS engines came with 4 corner versions, Later Model engines only had the front two ports used as the intakes did not allow for routing under the...
motionraceworks.com motionraceworks.com

You could also weld a port to the radiator


Also make sure you run a pressurized style coolant resi and tie the bottom port to the lower radiator hose hose or heater core return so the steam vent system works correctly to auto bleed the system

Factory the steam port runs to the top of the overflow which is pressurized and then another port on top of the resi goes to the cool end of the radiator. The lower port on the resi y’s into the return line for the heater core (on gen 3 and 4 motors or into the lower radiator hose on gen 5 as shown in diagram). There is no radiator cap on the radiator, the resi has the pressure relief. This allows it to bleed steam to the top of the resi which forces coolant back into the radiator eliminating air pockets


Notice no radiator cap needed gen 5 motor (lt1) shown

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I learned this because I used a traditional rad cap/ overflow with tube going to the bottom of the resi and it would bleed steam out of the steam line into the rad and out of the bottle but not return coolant leading to running temps around 240 after about 3 miles. I thought it was the e fan but I had a $350 derale that weighted 2# so I doubt it was the fan
 
Considered all the options and tried to read enough to become semi LS intelligent 😂 The only viable options are weld a bung on the top of the radiator (rear high mount) or tap the water pump at the outlet to the radiator. Both way should do the same thing and relieve any air bubbles to the top of the radiator. I'd like to add a surge tank and plumb the steam port there but it's not really feasible without redoing the entire cooling system. Not to mention -24AN hose is ZERO fun to work with 🤬
 
Steam port just below filler neck on return side of radiator in this pic could be done with a fitting an air pocket after the blade of the water pump could still cavitate
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It also looks like the a fittings on that pump are screw in probably orb style male to -24an

www.lmperformance.com

Holley Radiator Hose Fitting 1.5in Hose to #16 ORB #FB401

Holley Radiator Hose Fitting 1.5in Hose to #16 ORB #FB401
www.lmperformance.com

There’s a reason nobody makes a fittings for coolant (-24). A 19psi system doesn’t need fittings rated at 5000 psi. Silicone hoses with proper rolled lips on the aluminum bits and t bolt clamps are the gold standard
 
Engine is done and goes to the dyno Tuesday. Taking it to 3V Performance in Denver.

408ci
10.5:1 CR
AFR Enforcer 64cc Heads CNC ported
BTR 553/553 107LS Camshaft
BTR Shaft rockers
FAST LSXR 102 Intake
FAST 102mm TB
60lb/hr injectors

Any guess as to what it makes?

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AI says...

AI Overview
For your naturally aspirated 408 cubic inch LS engine, with the components listed, a realistic estimated horsepower range is
575–625 horsepower at the crank, with torque numbers likely exceeding 550 ft-lbs. The precise output will depend on the specific CNC porting on the AFR heads and the final tuning.
 
Joe_U4 said:
Engine is done and goes to the dyno Tuesday. Taking it to 3V Performance in Denver.

408ci
10.5:1 CR
AFR Enforcer 64cc Heads CNC ported
BTR 553/553 107LS Camshaft
BTR Shaft rockers
FAST LSXR 102 Intake
FAST 102mm TB
60lb/hr injectors

Any guess as to what it makes?

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Click to expand...
625 crank HP
650 TQ
Buddy of mine recently dynoed a very similar build.
That's gonna be so bad ass man
 
ghost said:
AI says...

AI Overview
For your naturally aspirated 408 cubic inch LS engine, with the components listed, a realistic estimated horsepower range is
575–625 horsepower at the crank, with torque numbers likely exceeding 550 ft-lbs. The precise output will depend on the specific CNC porting on the AFR heads and the final tuning.
Click to expand...
Who is this Al guy? Does he know about 4 liter timing marks too? :laughing:
 
The numbers are in - 563hp & 569tq. Ended up changing the cam to a 218/228 110 .587/.602 It makes a ton of power down low which was the objective. Would have liked to seen a little more power but would have had to gone to a much larger cam and sacrificed some bottom end power. Overall can't complain 👍
 
Moving the alternator to the pass head would give you a better wrap everywhere, but might be harder to implement in your case.

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Bebop said:
Moving the alternator to the pass head would give you a better wrap everywhere, but might be harder to implement in your case.

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Ideally I'd like to drop the PS pump to the ALT position and move the ALT to the pass but unfortunately options are limited by the chassis. Might ditch the pass side tensioner all together and do something like this:

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The WP is electric and the pulley is just an idler. That would give the PS max wrap and provide decent wrap on the crank. Would need to convert the idler to a manual tensioner which shouldn't be too difficult 🤔
 
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Joe_U4 said:
Ideally I'd like to drop the PS pump to the ALT position and move the ALT to the pass but unfortunately options are limited by the chassis. Might ditch the pass side tensioner all together and do something like this:

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The WP is electric and the pulley is just an idler. That would give the PS max wrap and provide decent wrap on the crank. Would need to convert the idler to a manual tensioner which shouldn't be too difficult 🤔

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That looks good, you don’t need much wrap on the big pulley since it’s not actually driving anything
 
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