Eric76 said: Sounds like a lot of what you're looking into - minus the sidepipes - was accomplished by a guy named Andrew Distad. He converted is '74 into a 1,HP twin Whipple supercharged Vette. And if you're not sure about making these changes to your '77, now you don't have to. He's selling this car in January at auction. ...

That car looks an awful lot like "Merlin", which was built by a fellow out in the state of Washington. I have forgotten his name but he supposedly dropped $200k+ over 3 years having the car built. If you dig back far enough in this forum you will find a couple of threads on it. I last saw it listed on eBay with a starting bid price of $70k I think and the auction closed without any bids. Then it disappeared from his website. If that car really is "Merlin" I'm surprised to see it turn up in Minnesota.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Here's a previous thread on "Merlin": '"Project Insane Asylum" is completed.' Looks like after Mr. Kamis let go of the beast it has changed hands at least a couple of times.

I don't know that he ever put it on a dyno or the track to see just what it had. But just reading the specs he had published on his website (now gone) it sounded like it could be a SERIOUS (spelled CRAZY SCARY) runner!

|UPDATED|10/4/2004 10:47:47 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

alright. after inspecting the Banks engines, and discussing thoroughly with a mechanical genius that I work with, and the sergeant that used to build corvettes...I've decided...I'm gonna go with the banks twin turbo. now, all that's left is to decide...what sort of horsepower to run? the sergeant says I could run 1200 horsepower and still keep the car nice enough for car shows. like that 74 corvette, linked earlier in this thread, that's running 1200 HP with a twin turbo, and is street legal. I'd do that. but I want some opinions from people here. is around 1200 HP gonna keep the car nice enough for show? what kind of quarter mile time would I be running? and what kind of reinforcements will I need? putting a cage under the frame is not a problem. however, I refuse to put those retarded-looking crossbars on in the doorways (see project camaro at bankspower.com) I refuse. other than that, whatever works. so...opinions. start shooting!

also, I have no place to upload pictures of my corvette, so it seems I won't be able to post any on C3VR until the online C3 show.

the biggest problem you will have with 1200 hp is getting the car to hook up without putting in a 4 link rear end.

Well I would definitly get on the phone with banks to talk to there guy and also buy a book called "maximum boost" By Corky Bell. This book will give you a good grasp of what is involved with turbo charging a car.) The guy at banks (I cant remember his name)was very helpful to spend over an hour ironing out details about the engine and their kits with me. If you go on montys site you can hear what the turbo engine sounds like. You can still have side pipes too, just route your exhaust from the turbo to the side pipes, but you dont need to buy the headers that usually go along with them, at least hooker side pipes do. If you want to maximize your sound quality... dont use any kind of baffle or muffler since a turbo already does a job of muffling. It will sound very different and in my opinon awsome. From what Banks told me, there kit will not be best for anything above 1000hp. He explained that the exhaust manifold they use is very efficent and compact design but will get out flowed around 1000 hp. The banks sales guy and me both looked over Monty's car and he pointed out that the headers he had to fabricate himself will work better than theirs but he may have cracking problems in the future he said. I think near a grand hp is More than enough HP for your 3200 pound car. I didnt get the price on the entire crate motor assembly from banks since I was just interested in the manifolds, turbos, wastegates. Those cost $5000. If you look at the amount of money monty spent on his car, he has some price lists and they add up to over $50,000!!

Also about the cage for the vette.. I think monty got away with not using one on his car all he did was put the double belt harness bar behind his seat. He doesn't mention anything about renforcing the frame. Your vettes frame in a non rusty state is a very sturdy piece since it did have to withstand the bigblocks of the past vettes and the frame never changed since then. The cage is required safety equipment if you want to be allowed to go down a real drag strip. monty never will be allowed to run any faster than 12's because of the lack of the proper safety equipment. You need to contact your local dragstrip and see what equipment you need to be allowed to go into the low 10's or high nines with that kind of power.

|UPDATED|10/4/2004 3:38:10 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Also Ben have you ever checked out Dragvette.com? What do you think of the kit he offers that puts half shaft loops on and turns a stock IFS on our vetts into a 4 link suspension?

Somehow, what comes to my immediate attention, is...the dragvette kit isn't sturdy enough for the times I'll be running. I plugged some numbers into a desktop dyno, and I'll be quartering in roughly 8.6 seconds @ 157 mph. I dunno if the dragvette kit can handle it...if it can, I'd love to use it. $250 vs...

http://www.vbandp.com/detail.aspx?ID=474

Sidepipes with the twin turbos...I need to figure out if they're gonna overheat my rear tires. If sidepipes don't work out (and I'd kinda really like em to), I'll just run 3" pipes straight back from the manifolds, no mufflers or anything.

reinforcing...prolly a 4 point cage under the frame, and the safety harnesses, if I get get away with just that. I figure I'll just settle with 1000 HP off the banks twin turbo...but the numbers...8.6 quarter...I dunno if the track regulations out here will make me have more. we'll see. right now, I just need opinions on the exhaust and the suspension.

oh yeah, one last thing...the color of the car, I don't really know exactly what it'd be called...the top half is red, the bottom half is darker red, and there's gold trim seperating the two. I can't upload a pictures otherwise I'd show, but I can send emails.

You can use both kits actually. The vette brake and products kits are really intended for the IRS to be a real IRS. The problem with a vette's stock rear suspension is the fact that it is a IRS and will not transmit that kind power to the pavement with out serious wheel hop and traction issues also halfshaft breakage. Hence the drag vette kit comes to play that basiclly links both wheels to each other and makes the halfshafts parallel to the ground. He describes it as turning the rear into a 4 link. You still need to see if the diff can take such abuse in stock form. I have no idea if it can. You might want to contact "Van steel" about this, they sell products that strengthen the driveline of c3 vettes.
I dont think your tires will be melted by exhaust side pipes since it points the gasses out sideways on most pipes if seen. Also the turbo absorbs alot of heat out of the actual exhaust and converts it to power. With sidepipes, people who have them say, you just gotta watch out from them burning the crap out of you legs when you exit the car.

Yea I would love to see your baby. My email is Tumarr@hotmail.com. I'll send you a reply with a picture of mine also. From what you describe your paint is probably a custom job. since there was no two tone jobs available in 77.

8 second quarter mile times is for the ideal conditions. That doesn't account for driver reaction time, traction losses and other forces of nature. my guess in the real world, you will be well into the 10's and occasionally crack high nines. but I am not really experianced in drag racing and never actually competed, just a few fun runs down the strip. I am conservative with the guesses because the veteran dragsters always are.