Blew up my V8, Starting Over

[gamefreakgc]

Are they ever going to give you your engine back?

 

[gamefreakgc]

Any update? Super curious how it all turns out.

 

[Canada22]

Just finished reading this thread, seriously would love an update!

 

[scribb]

Quick Update

Okay. I'm back. Serious delays. Long waits. Long stories. But getting traction again.

Here's the deal:

When the cams came back from Kelford, the intake cams didn't fit! We'd waited a couple of months for the new street cams to ship, and when they arrived, the exhaust cams fit right in, but the intake cams were off--the machining for the oil passages was off and the snout was too short. (Kiel's explanation is below the pics.) Doh!

The good news is, Kelford offered to make it right and custom ground replacements. But we had to ship them back and then wait for the new ones. The engine is now being assembled. The tranny is also back, rebuilt and beefed up--exactly how, I'll have to circle back and update, because I forgot the details.

The bad news is I can't get up to Modesto to pick it up for a couple of weeks, and I still have a few related projects to finish, like replacing the drive shafts and wheel bearings while I have the truck in pieces. So, I'm targeting the last week of September to have the motor stuffed back in, and then I'll arrange with the tuner to install the ECU and harness.

From Kiel at Kelford about the cams.
(If you wind up buying Kelford cams, you can thank me for taking the R&D hit. :frusty

It appears we were somewhat mislead with the R&D parts we got to commission these cams for all of the UZ VVTi’s, but we have confirmed the 1UZ and 3UZ are compatible definitely now. There could still be a variant of the 2UZ that they work with but we haven’t found it yet if it exists.

The 2UZ VVTi has a different snout to the 1UZ and 3UZ VVTi where the phaser goes on. They’re painfully similar but the nose of the 2UZ is shorter with slightly different machining for the oil passages, otherwise the cams are identical. It does appear to be something the raw castings we had made can be machined to but it won’t be until our next stock run of them which will be some time now unfortunately.

For what it’s worth the thrust surfaces in the heads are ever so slightly different too.

My apologies again for the delays mate, we are working to get them back to Nick as fast as we can, without rushing.

 

[scribb]

Picking up the motor next week

The motor is built, and the transmission upgraded. Going to pick them up at Yota1 next week.

In a rush now to get everything wrapped up:

-Sent the fuel injectors to South Bay Fuel Injectors in NY to be cleaned.
-Finished the jig for welding up the headers and cats and dropped it off at Johnny Franklin's in San Rafael. They'll make a Y-tube for me when the truck is ready.
-Been spending my evenings after work getting rid of all the rust on the undercarriage. It wasn't bad, but lots of surface rust on welds and seams. Treated with Corroseal and repainted.
-Cleaned up the wiring harness. Will need to replace a few connectors.
-Finished a Satoshi grill mod.
-Cleaned the intake plenum.

The only thing left before reassembling and installing the motor is possibly replacing the front axles and bearings since I have the front end all apart.

I've got a couple of business trips that are going mess up my weekends for a few weeks. I'm hoping I can get the motor back in and off to the tuner's in Sac before I take off.

 

[Ed_C]

Don't think you mentioned it before, but what rods and pistons are you using?

 

[gamefreakgc]

The motor is built, and the transmission upgraded. Going to pick them up at Yota1 next week.

In a rush now to get everything wrapped up:

-Sent the fuel injectors to South Bay Fuel Injectors in NY to be cleaned.
-Finished the jig for welding up the headers and cats and dropped it off at Johnny Franklin's in San Rafael. They'll make a Y-tube for me when the truck is ready.
-Been spending my evenings after work getting rid of all the rust on the undercarriage. It wasn't bad, but lots of surface rust on welds and seams. Treated with Corroseal and repainted.
-Cleaned up the wiring harness. Will need to replace a few connectors.
-Finished a Satoshi grill mod.
-Cleaned the intake plenum.

The only thing left before reassembling and installing the motor is possibly replacing the front axles and bearings since I have the front end all apart.

I've got a couple of business trips that are going mess up my weekends for a few weeks. I'm hoping I can get the motor back in and off to the tuner's in Sac before I take off.

When you get it up to Sac for a tune and if you get the final dyno numbers hit me up. I'd be very interested in seeing what kind of power the V8 can make, I can meet you there and watch the magic unfold. I'm serious though, your project is very intriguing and a trail-blazer for sure.

 

[scribb]

Don't think you mentioned it before, but what rods and pistons are you using?

Eagle. Forged rods. The pistons were custom dished for 9.5:1 compression, I believe, but I can verify after I get the final lowdown from Yota1.

 

[scribb]

When you get it up to Sac for a tune and if you get the final dyno numbers hit me up. I'd be very interested in seeing what kind of power the V8 can make, I can meet you there and watch the magic unfold. I'm serious though, your project is very intriguing and a trail-blazer for sure.

Trail-blazing is overrated.

It will definitely be dyno'd when it's tuned. The timing is going to be a bit touch and go. The shop is saying anywhere from one to two weeks, based on their current backlog. So it may be a moving target. But I'll know more once I get the motor back in and ready to send the truck off.

I'm sure I could get a lot more horses out of it with boost, but I chose to go the N/A route. I'm hoping to see near 400, with cams, ported heads, higher compression, exhaust, etc. But we'll see.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Trail-blazing is overrated.

It will definitely be dyno'd when it's tuned. The timing is going to be a bit touch and go. The shop is saying anywhere from one to two weeks, based on their current backlog. So it may be a moving target. But I'll know more once I get the motor back in and ready to send the truck off.

I'm sure I could get a lot more horses out of it with boost, but I chose to go the N/A route. I'm hoping to see near 400, with cams, ported heads, higher compression, exhaust, etc. But we'll see.

High compression pistons pretty much gives the same result as boost anyway! I can't remember, where did you get your heads ported? I've got 3 sets of 5VZ-FE heads in my backyard so thinking about getting them ported for when I plan on putting my Colt cams back in.

What do you plan to do for gas though? 91 octane just doesn't cut it, not even for me. My rig was a ping monster this summer with those heat waves.

 

[scribb]

High compression pistons pretty much gives the same result as boost anyway! I can't remember, where did you get your heads ported? I've got 3 sets of 5VZ-FE heads in my backyard so thinking about getting them ported for when I plan on putting my Colt cams back in.

What do you plan to do for gas though? 91 octane just doesn't cut it, not even for me. My rig was a ping monster this summer with those heat waves.

Nick at Yota1 did the porting on the heads. I went and toured his shop and it's legit. They do a lot more of the 2jz than 2uz motors, but he knows what he's doing. He builds a lot of racing motors and races himself.

I'm debating meth injection.The best argument for it seems to be as an insurance policy against detonation as opposed to more power. Nick and the tuner didn't seem to think it would be necessary to do much beyond 91, but if it looks like I need to bring the temps down I've seen some good kits on summit for a few hundred bucks. Compared to the cost of the engine, that's pretty cheap.

 

[scribb]

Anyone know about the viability of dropping the engine and tranny in as a unit? It looks tight. I'm thinking if I take off the front wheels and drop the front end, and then jack it up as the tranny clears the cross member, it might work.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Nick at Yota1 did the porting on the heads. I went and toured his shop and it's legit. They do a lot more of the 2jz than 2uz motors, but he knows what he's doing. He builds a lot of racing motors and races himself.

I'm debating meth injection.The best argument for it seems to be as an insurance policy against detonation as opposed to more power. Nick and the tuner didn't seem to think it would be necessary to do much beyond 91, but if it looks like I need to bring the temps down I've seen some good kits on summit for a few hundred bucks. Compared to the cost of the engine, that's pretty cheap.

I just contacted him about what he would charge for porting a set of 5VZ-FE heads. I think I'll wait and see how yours turns out and if it's a real beast I'll get a set done, he charges $650 for a stage 1 port. Stage 3 would be oversized valves, increasing displacement a little and lowering compression, I think that's overkill for me.

It doesn't take much meth to cool things down and raise octane. I run a single 225cc/min nozzle and only at 6 PSI or higher of boost. I think that's roughly a ~3.8gph nozzle equivalent. System is simple to setup once you find a mounting point for the pump and doesn't use much fluid at all unless you are really flogging it. And you'd have no boost.

 

[JaredC1]

This thread has been super interesting, even though a lot of it is over my noob head.

One question though, the OP mentioned that if he changed compression then supercharging later wouldn't be an option, at least that's how I understood the lingo. If I'm understanding correctly, then my question is why?

 

[gamefreakgc]

This thread has been super interesting, even though a lot of it is over my noob head.

One question though, the OP mentioned that if he changed compression then supercharging later wouldn't be an option, at least that's how I understood the lingo. If I'm understanding correctly, then my question is why?

Supercharging/turbocharging raises the compression ratio by adding compressed air before the piston compresses it, so the final compression ratio is even higher than stock. If you tried it with high-compression pistons that are already higher than stock, you run the risk of building up so much heat that the air/fuel mixture can ignite itself, called pre-detonation. That can destroy the engine in a matter of seconds if it's bad enough.

Toyotas take to boost fairly well but normally if you are building a boosted engine, you actually put in lower compression pistons to allow for more boost with a lower risk of pre-detonation.

 

[scribb]

Man, the last mile is killing me. Every time I think I'm nearing the end, I discover some part that is missing or needs to be replaced--and of course, it's a part that no one, not even the dealership, has on site.

The latest culprits are the flexplate bolts that somehow disappeared, and the exhaust manifold studs/nuts, which I didn't realize needed to be new. Both come with strong recommendations from many corners to use OEM, but I haven't found any dealership, shop, or online store that can get them to me overnight. I ordered them from San Francisco Toyota, which seems to have pretty reasonable dealer pricing on parts (cough, cough, Marin Toyota), and I'm pleading with the parts manager to try and get them before the weekend.

I have a hoist reserved and time carved out to drop the motor in, which I could do without those parts, but installing exhaust studs and a flexplate under the truck doesn't sound ideal. Here's hoping for some good luck.

Oh yeah--and more than $400 in OEM fluids between the tranny, coolant, transfer case and break-in oil. Damn.

 

[t4r.shadow.fox]

But dang it's all purrrrdy. I just got my V8 and she's got some miles, all you're doing is making me drool... And my money bladder is already crying [emoji23]. Excited to see your results.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[scribb]

But dang it's all purrrrdy. I just got my V8 and she's got some miles, all you're doing is making me drool... And my money bladder is already crying [emoji23].

Just think what you have to look forward to as a fun project in the future. :frusty:

 

[gamefreakgc]

Does your V8 have an adjustable cam gear? If yes I'm jealous. Or is that the VVT-I variant?

And you are correct, you don't want to be putting the exhaust studs in when the engine is in the bay. So much easier with it already out.

 

[Ed_C]

Does your V8 have an adjustable cam gear? If yes I'm jealous. Or is that the VVT-I variant.

Appears to be the vvti version; you can see that damn injection system valve assembly in the second picture by the rear coolant crossover/coolant hose fittings. [MENTION=312370]scribb[/MENTION] I'm assuming you'll be installing bypass plates and the electronic bypass module for the air injection too?