Jerod's Supercharged T[u]RD Build

[gamefreakgc]

Updating this build thread with what has happened over the last week.

Engine blew up right outside my house on a cold start-up. It's parked for now and am currently searching for an engine. I have a lead on a JDM engine with 80,000 miles (128km) that just arrived from Japan on Saturday, and hoping I can swoop in and take it. Will be doing dry and wet compression tests on it later today. Apparently though, I'm not the only one looking for engines. There's a nationwide shortage of decent 5VZ-FE's and all the USDM ones are being sold almost immediately. Same goes with JDM imports.

I've already ordered the performance valve train set from LCE here: https://www.lceperformance.com/High-Performance-Pro-Valve-Train-Kit-5VZ-p/1021501.htm, along with their cylinder head gasket set: https://www.lceperformance.com/Head-Gasket-Set-5VZ-95-04-p/1024058.htm. Also getting some engine stands and M12 x 1.25 bolts so I can work on both engines side by side. I need to pull a TON of parts of the JDM, I'm basically stripping it down to the block and rebuilding it completely. I'm going back and forth about replacing the torque converter with a performance one since I'll have it all apart... but the $600 price tag is making me second guess it.

For those wondering why I didn't do this to my previous, now blown engine, the compression test I did a few months back confirmed what I had already suspected: the engine was failing. With only 120 PSI across the board and one cylinder at 30 PSI, it wasn't worth trying to fix. I was just going to drive it till it blew as it was bleeding power, I noticed a drop in power week to week. Didn't take long.

 

[Speedy]

Did this engine have a bunch of miles on it or something? I'm surprised to read that 5VZFE engines are that hard to come by considering all the vehicles they were put in to. Figured it'd be a $500 purchase at a junk yard. Can you order a replacement short block from some parts place?

 

[128keaton]

Did this engine have a bunch of miles on it or something? I'm surprised to read that 5VZFE engines are that hard to come by considering all the vehicles they were put in to. Figured it'd be a $500 purchase at a junk yard. Can you order a replacement short block from some parts place?

I think it’s just hard trying to find a 5VZE sub 200k or every sub 100k. The youngest 5VZE would be around 16 years old. A lot can happen in 16 years. Every one I find around here at yards are 200k+.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gamefreakgc]

I think it’s just hard trying to find a 5VZE sub 200k or every sub 100k. The youngest 5VZE would be around 16 years old. A lot can happen in 16 years. Every one I find around here at yards are 200k+.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's exactly it. Most used engines you find in CA have over 200k miles (most people commute to work), even 150k miles is hard to find nowadays. Low-mileage engines that have been separated from their host (most low-mileage 4Runners are in good shape) have become increasingly rare. The engine suppliers I spoke with said 5VZ-FE's are flying off the shelves and they cannot keep up with demand, even JDM's are in high demand and being shipped all over the world so less coming in here on the west coast.

 

[Speedy]

I did a quick search for remanufactured 5VZFE and found a couple places with long blocks for about $2k. Not as cheap as a $500 yard engine, but at least it's brand new.

 

[gamefreakgc]

I did a quick search for remanufactured 5VZFE and found a couple places with long blocks for about $2k. Not as cheap as a $500 yard engine, but at least it's brand new.

Yeah, rebuild's are in the 3.5k to 5k range if you want a dressed long block.

Problem is, my current engine is toast. It has low compression across the board, and the heads are most certainly damaged. I'm saving about 2k in costs by going used and doing most of the work myself, although I'm not touching the block, so pistons and all that are staying as they are.

 

[gamefreakgc]

I purchased the 80k engine for $1,200, prices are high in California due to shortage. He performed a wet compression test (had done a wet earlier in the day, then did a dry when I came but I'm assuming the oil was still in the cylinders at that point) and the numbers were in the 210-220 range. Good enough for me. It will be delivered on Saturday and then the real work begins.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Bad news. The RH cylinder head spit out a shim and caused the engine failure. The intake side has 0.030" shim spacers which allowed a shim to pop out and cause it to shatter and pieces scattered into the engine. I found most but there's shards of it everywhere and it marred the cylinder head, causing the valve to be stuck open. Thankfully the valve is intact but it looks bent. The cam lobe on that shim is damaged as well.

I will not be installing the Colt Cams in the next engine, which is a bummer. I am now part of the "don't use shim spacers" crowd as I see what kind of damage it can do if something goes wrong.

 

[LittleCaesar]

That is too bad. By the look of it the engine was in good health...

 

[mtbtim]

Bad news. The RH cylinder head spit out a shim and caused the engine failure. The intake side has 0.030" shim spacers which allowed a shim to pop out and cause it to shatter and pieces scattered into the engine. I found most but there's shards of it everywhere and it marred the cylinder head, causing the valve to be stuck open. Thankfully the valve is intact but it looks bent. The cam lobe on that shim is damaged as well.

I will not be installing the Colt Cams in the next engine, which is a bummer. I am now part of the "don't use shim spacers" crowd as I see what kind of damage it can do if something goes wrong.

I'm a little confused here Jerod. I thought there were shims for all the valves, and when you do a valve adjustment, you just adjust the size of the shim based off the readings you got with your feeler gauge. Was the "Spacer" something placed on top of the shim. So, instead of just buying a shim the correct thickness you needed, you added a spacer to get the needed height that was required?

 

[gamefreakgc]

That is too bad. By the look of it the engine was in good health...

It actually isn't. I had lost compression in cylinder 6 years ago and recently the compression was starting to tank across all cylinders. Plus it has like 5 oil leaks lol.

I'm a little confused here Jerod. I thought there were shims for all the valves, and when you do a valve adjustment, you just adjust the size of the shim based off the readings you got with your feeler gauge. Was the "Spacer" something placed on top of the shim. So, instead of just buying a shim the correct thickness you needed, you added a spacer to get the needed height that was required?

Aftermarket cams often come with shim spacers to bring the clearances closer since they are regrinds. These ones had 0.030" for the intake and 0.015" for the exhaust. Unfortunately for me, it allowed the shim to ride too high on the bucket and found a way out.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Waiting on parts is the worst. Had to get one of the crankshaft pulley tools since even with air tools I can't get the thing off. Both crank pulleys are on there pretty tight. One is my fault, since when I did the timing belt a few months ago I didn't think I'd need to take it off again. Wrong.

If anyone is in need of a short block or a LH side head, let me know...

 

[gamefreakgc]

The crankshaft pulley is finally off. My saga here with pics at the end: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...k-pulley-will-not-come-off-sac-need-help.html

This JDM conversion stuff take a while too. I'm probably 10 hours into tearing down my engine, and tearing down the JDM and slowly building it back up. That's not counting my crank bolt headache either. There's way more brackets, oil parts and coolant lines that have to be switched out that I was anticipating. Even the motor mounts are different.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Engine is finally assembled and ready to go! No pics, because I'm exhausted and I don't want to lol. I'm guessing I've put around 16 hours into tearing down the JDM to basically a long block, tearing down my old engine, then moving parts, brackets, oil coolers, injectors, etc. over. Definitely a lot of work. I also had to get a few odd tools like an H8 hex socket for a random coolant plug that I needed to put a pipe outlet in. This is definitely something I'm only doing once.

So right now I'm about 2/3rds done with the engine swap. Next is putting the engine back in and bolting it back on the transmission and the motor mounts. Once's that's done I get do do the methodical check of putting the wiring harness back on and checking, double-checking and triple-checking all my hose routing and wiring.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Engine is in! Huge help from [MENTION=73567]alphyn[/MENTION] who rolled around on the concrete with me trying to line up the engine and transmission. It really is a finesse sort of job and we found having a couple ratchet straps really helped. Reason being is, no matter how great your engine lift or strap points are, this engine, when lifted, likes to tilt backwards. I think it's due to how the crank sits and the extra weight on the back end that makes the front of the oil pan and pulleys point to the sky. All 3 engines I've pulled do the same thing.

Anyway, once it was in the engine bay we put a couple of ratchet straps around the headers on the back side and then to the engine hoist hook. Crank them down and it slowly rotated back in place enough for us to get 1 of 2 engine mount bolts in. After that, it was just a little lifting and pushing until the alignment pins were in and trans bolts torqued down.

Oh and Alphyn, I looked and those trans bolts are supposed to only be torqued to 35 ft lbs. Oops! They must have been on around 100-120 the first time though lol so I'm not worried.

 

[T4RunnerSteve]

Engine is in! Huge help from [MENTION=73567]alphyn[/MENTION] who rolled around on the concrete with me trying to line up the engine and transmission. It really is a finesse sort of job and we found having a couple ratchet straps really helped. Reason being is, no matter how great your engine lift or strap points are, this engine, when lifted, likes to tilt backwards. I think it's due to how the crank sits and the extra weight on the back end that makes the front of the oil pan and pulleys point to the sky. All 3 engines I've pulled do the same thing.

Anyway, once it was in the engine bay we put a couple of ratchet straps around the headers on the back side and then to the engine hoist hook. Crank them down and it slowly rotated back in place enough for us to get 1 of 2 engine mount bolts in. After that, it was just a little lifting and pushing until the alignment pins were in and trans bolts torqued down.

Oh and Alphyn, I looked and those trans bolts are supposed to only be torqued to 35 ft lbs. Oops! They must have been on around 100-120 the first time though lol so I'm not worried.

Hey — how’s it running?? Inquiring minds want to know

 

[gamefreakgc]

Hey — how’s it running?? Inquiring minds want to know ��

As of today, it does not run yet. Between work & holidays with family I have not had much time. Worked on it today though and it's almost there. Just need to pick up some coolant and put on a few miscellaneous hoses and such and I'll fire it up. That first startup is so nerve-wracking though.

 

[T4RunnerSteve]

As of today, it does not run yet. Between work & holidays with family I have not had much time. Worked on it today though and it's almost there. Just need to pick up some coolant and put on a few miscellaneous hoses and such and I'll fire it up. That first startup is so nerve-wracking though.

Crossing fingers it’s the moment you’ve been hoping for: that you got a good one! I had a sticky valve that I freed up with MMO: it quieted it down almost immediately and after two oil changes with Mobil One I don’t use MMO anymore and it sounds great.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Crossing fingers it’s the moment you’ve been hoping for: that you got a good one! I had a sticky valve that I freed up with MMO: it quieted it down almost immediately and after two oil changes with Mobil One I don’t use MMO anymore and it sounds great.

IT LIVES!!!

Cranked it over twice and it fired right up as if it had never stopped running! It's so buttery smooth compared to my last engine, I'm really happy so far. Obviously, I will need to put a few k's on it before I'm in the clear but it's looking great so far on day one.

 

[eddielasvegas]

Woo hoo and congrats!!!


Eddie

IT LIVES!!!

Cranked it over twice and it fired right up as if it had never stopped running! It's so buttery smooth compared to my last engine, I'm really happy so far. Obviously, I will need to put a few k's on it before I'm in the clear but it's looking great so far on day one.