Time to get serious (supercharged SC400)

The 1UZFE EGR Delete Kit is available for sale here.

kc95sc400

New Member
Messages
524
Location
Charlotte, NC
Short history:

Bolted a Vortech V-9 F trim supercharger on my 95 SC400 in late 2007. Since then have made a ton of modifications, slowly improving power as well as 1/8 and ¼ mile times. Mid 2011 I finally (after several hundred track runs on a high mileage mostly stock V8) did some damage to the motor. Didn’t kill it but had low compression on 2 cyls. Built myself a mild motor. Never ran it until this last Saturday. Running a little slower than before I built the motor but I blame this mostly on my driving, it has been along time. Also last year I wrecked my 95. Bought a 96 and transferred as many parts as possible over.

Modification list: (not in any particular order)

Vortech Supercharger V-9 F trim
Water Methanol injection
Reversed intake manifold
Electric cooling fans
Very large aluminum radiator
Ross pistons 8.5 to 1 CR
The “thick” factory rods
ARP head studs
Cometic head gaskets
ACL bearings
Block and heads resurfaced
Intake and heads ported (gasket matched)
Adaptronic e420c ECU
Bosch idle control valve
3bar GM map sensor (no MAF)
ABS / TRAC delte
Suprastick transmission controller
Built transmission
PI Dragon convertor
Supra Torsen LSD (stock gear ration)
Supra Illumina adjustable shocks / swift lower springs
ALL poly bushings
Solid front diff mounts
Reinforced rear subframe mounts
IMF headers
2.5 inch exhaust
x-pipe
1 AEM and 1 Innovative wideband
CarPC

Well, that’s the short list, LOL. I’m sure I’m forgetting something.

Anyway, planned upgrades:

Crower springs and titanium retainers
Kelford cams 207-a
Vortech V2 Si trim

The cams aren’t super aggressive over stock so probably won’t be a huge increase there. The springs and retainers should do the engine allot of good and allow me to up the rev limit a little. Still can’t go too crazy without converting to either shim under bucket or shimless lifters.

The new supercharger should be capable of HUGE gains over my current setup.

Specs to compare:

V-9 F-trim

Max impeller speed = 52000 rpm
Max boost = 13.5psi
Max flow = 750 cfm
Max horsepower = 550
Peak efficiency = 76%

V-2 Si trim

Max impeller speed = 52000 rpm
Max boost = 22psi
Max flow 1150 cfm
Max horsepower = 775
Peak efficiency = 78%

Going to be bad ass! LOL. About 35% more flow and more efficient and capable of much higher boost levels.

So I'm not really sure what my motor can handle. I figure I will start with about 10psi, which is what I was making at the track the other night, and work my way up from there. I plan to run a 2.62 diameter pulley and spin the motor to about 6800rpm. This will = 51389 rpm supercharger speed. In theory this will give me about the max boost the thing will make. I plan on using some sort of air valve (possibly an electronic BOV or a wastegate setup) controlled by my ECU to limit the boost. I'm going to try a regular solenoid activated air / water valve to start. Any ideas welcom. This will give me more boost at lower RPM's yet keep the boost from going higher than I want.

For reference later, I ran twice last Saturday. Felt awesome but only managed a best of about 8.2 @ 87mph (1/8 mile). At that MPH I should have been running 7.9's but as I said, I'm out of practice. Mostly wasn't pushing enough on the launch, Most of my time was lost in the 60ft I think.

My previous best with the other motor in the other car was a 7.703 @ 88.xxx mph, I plan to crush that number. Goal is to approach 7.0 if not into the 6's. This would give me a car that can do high 10's in the 1/4 mile.

Guessing about 400rwhp now, looking for somewhere between 500-600. I think it is capable of it.

It's going to be a bit before I get my supercharger. The order just went in to Vortech today. Brand new unit. I have the springs and retainers and waiting on the cams to show up. Will probably go ahead and get those in as soon as possible after I get them.

Stay tuned!

Some pictures of current setup:
 

Attachments

  • 1.jpg
    1.jpg
    196.1 KB · Views: 34
  • IMG_3540.jpg
    IMG_3540.jpg
    189.3 KB · Views: 38
  • 101.jpg
    101.jpg
    195.3 KB · Views: 42
So some parts I have:

I have a V2 S trim I bought and do not intend to use. I MIGHT bolt it on when I do the cams as the current unit will need to come off anyway and the Si trim should swap right out when I get it. This V2 S trim will be up for sale in a couple of weeks if anyone is interested, LMK.

New intake piping. The new supercharger outlet size is 2.75 inch compared to the current units 2.5 inch.

Crower springs and titanium retainers.

2.62 inch Vortech pulley.

A new license plate frame.

Also have valve cover gaskets, ignition caps / rotors and cam seals. These are for the cam swap.

New water meth injection hose.

Cams came in yesterday, bought from a guy on CL for a heck of a deal, still in the plastic!

OTW:

New supercharger. Vortech V-2 SQ Si trim. This was ordered direct from Vortech Monday and will take up to two weeks for them to build it and send it out to me.

Ordered a few of these - http://www.siliconeintakes.com/produ...045c780e17edcc
Will use these for the idle air hose connection and possibly a bypass valve and or boost control valve.

Have one of these OTW - http://www.ebay.com/itm/300625215478...84.m1439.l2649
This in theory can be used (controlled by my ECU) a boost control and a bypass valve. Not sure how well it will work yet.
 

Attachments

  • photo.jpg
    photo.jpg
    197 KB · Views: 20
  • photo3.jpg
    photo3.jpg
    193.3 KB · Views: 17
  • photo4.jpg
    photo4.jpg
    187.8 KB · Views: 18
Couple of notes:

I could really use some ideas on fitting a wastegate to the intake piping. The valve mentioned above might work but I think something closer to being designed for the purpose I intend would work better.

I am thinking about adding or upping the size of my water meth injection nozzles as I don't think I am spraying enough up top as it is. IAT temps climb pretty good towards redline.

Any thoughts, ideas or anything else please post!
 
The "best" ECU is the one your chosen tuner is most comfortable and the most experienced with.

You can have the best ECU and a dud tuner and you go nowhere. You can also have the best tuner with an ECU he's never seen and get poor results.

This is probably the hardest decision in the whole build but the one that probably gets the least attention.
 
Hey KC95, Great build. The car looks great. How difficult was it to flip the intake around?
I assume that was easier to run the piping.

Everything looks great.
I think your goal of 500RWHP is very obtainable. I had a stock rod failure right at 500 to the wheels. I was running an early 1UZ sc400 stock rod.
It just twisted a little at the small end. It was suck a small twist we actually put it back in with a rebuild, and after getting them in we noticed the piston sat funny.
Took it back apart, and i think 3 had a funny twist.
They didn't fail, but I think 500 might be weak point for them.
Think I was running 17psi with an auto when i had it happen.
bent1uzrod2ek7.jpg

this is the photo of the bad rod.
If you notice the bronze bushing in the small end has twisted. the oil hole should be straight up.
We think this is what caused the problem. the bushing moved, and closed off the oil hole. the rod grabbed the pin, and torqued the rod.
Hope that helps.
Good luck
:)
 
Hey KC95, Great build. The car looks great. How difficult was it to flip the intake around?
I assume that was easier to run the piping.

Everything looks great.
I think your goal of 500RWHP is very obtainable. I had a stock rod failure right at 500 to the wheels. I was running an early 1UZ sc400 stock rod.
It just twisted a little at the small end. It was suck a small twist we actually put it back in with a rebuild, and after getting them in we noticed the piston sat funny.
Took it back apart, and i think 3 had a funny twist.
They didn't fail, but I think 500 might be weak point for them.
Think I was running 17psi with an auto when i had it happen.
bent1uzrod2ek7.jpg

this is the photo of the bad rod.
If you notice the bronze bushing in the small end has twisted. the oil hole should be straight up.
We think this is what caused the problem. the bushing moved, and closed off the oil hole. the rod grabbed the pin, and torqued the rod.
Hope that helps.
Good luck
:)

LOL, don't scare me!

I have been thinking that our engine builds are very similar except for the rods. I am kicking myself now for not doing it before. I have had (knock on wood) tremendous luck thus far. I did finally injure my original motor but only after several hundred runs down the track and years of daily driving, never did really find anything wrong with it but had low compression on 2 cyls. Still ran half way decent. Turned out that motor had the skinny rods too. This one, I'm about 99% sure, has the thicker rods.

The block / everything else survived? Do think it was just from the sheer power being made or the amount of boost pressure or detonation?

Flipping the intake wasn't too hard. From memory, had to get a Camry throttle cable for it's slight extra length. I have the trans cable just pinched wide open, it won't reach the throttle body. I had to notch out a small section of the throttle body to clear the fuel rail where the feed line bolts to it.

The idle control valve setup was a bit complicated. The hose comes off the intake, goes into what should be the where the EGR pipe bolts to, comes back out where the EGR valve should bolt to, runs through a Bosch idle valve then back into the intake where the stock idle valve would be.
 
For my flipped intake manifold I just ran a longer coolant hose under the upper plenum, extended the wiring, and put the vac line to the port under the tb. Stock iacv. And just looped the egr into the iacv coolant lines.
 
Hey KC95, Great build. The car looks great. How difficult was it to flip the intake around?
I assume that was easier to run the piping.

Everything looks great.
I think your goal of 500RWHP is very obtainable. I had a stock rod failure right at 500 to the wheels. I was running an early 1UZ sc400 stock rod.
It just twisted a little at the small end. It was suck a small twist we actually put it back in with a rebuild, and after getting them in we noticed the piston sat funny.
Took it back apart, and i think 3 had a funny twist.
They didn't fail, but I think 500 might be weak point for them.
Think I was running 17psi with an auto when i had it happen.
bent1uzrod2ek7.jpg

this is the photo of the bad rod.
If you notice the bronze bushing in the small end has twisted. the oil hole should be straight up.
We think this is what caused the problem. the bushing moved, and closed off the oil hole. the rod grabbed the pin, and torqued the rod.
Hope that helps.
Good luck
:)

That's the common failure and a sign of small detonation events I think. Mine survived 550rwhp for a while but I'm sure the rods or a ring land would have let go eventually. My HG started to leak which kinda saved the rest if the engine ;) still, I soldiered on for another year and even won a Supersprint event :) tough engines.

Dial it back to 450rwhp and it'll pretty well last forever at that hp
 
Well if I manage to pop it, I won't lie, it would be a pretty major inconvienence, but it seems piston / rod combos are not too badly priced these days and I so happen to have a spare motor sitting in my garage.

Heck, I might go ahead and start putting some money into now just in case. At least have a short block ready to go.

On a side note I have a few things otw:

AEM 50-1000 fuel pump
550cc injectors
Godspeed waste gate
Boost controller (manual ball & spring)

I hope to use the waste gate on the intake to control boost. Possibly use it as a bov / bypass valve as well (2 port). Not really sure how it will work out yet.
 
Hey KC, I would agree with Justen.
If someone were asking me I would tell them stock rods for 10-12psi. I think they will live all day long if AFR's are right, and be a pretty fun street car.

They probably can be pushed to about 15psi, but I think that's where the problem may start to show.
I also started noticing that I was spitting out just a little coolant at 14psi. The head bolts were stretching, but it was just starting. I was chasing coolant radiator issues, rather then looking at to bolts.
I upped the boost to 18, and it was a pretty pink fountain of Toyota coolant all over the place. LOL
I have the GS400 MLS head gaskets. They would seal back up after the run, and it confused the heck out of me as to what was causing the problem.
Changed out the stock head-bolts to ARP head-studs, and I've put 20psi to it for a few runs now, and no issue. (Knock on wood)
If you have a goal of 500+ to the wheels, I would look into rods.
I did have a buddy who changed the bushings in the small end of the rod. (Something made by Carrillo maybe. I don't remember.) This was supposed to help that twist issue. that and rod bolts off the LS1.
Why put the money into the stock rod. Put it toward a new set in my opinion.
 
Got the springs, retainers, cams, 550cc injectors and the AEM fuel pump done a couple of days ago.

Took about 15 minutes of tuning to get the car to idle, LOL.

After some tuning and driving around I can say that the car is driving awesome. Haven't really gotten on it yet but it definitely feels more aggressive and sounds a tad bit different.

Only had to shim 3-4 valves as well, everything else was spot on.
 

Attachments

  • photo5.jpg
    photo5.jpg
    179.7 KB · Views: 26
  • photo6.jpg
    photo6.jpg
    203.4 KB · Views: 24
  • photo9.jpg
    photo9.jpg
    193.6 KB · Views: 21
  • photo10.jpg
    photo10.jpg
    193.4 KB · Views: 23
  • photo11.jpg
    photo11.jpg
    184.5 KB · Views: 24
  • photo12.jpg
    photo12.jpg
    199.6 KB · Views: 21
I have been slacking on updates I know.

Have been trying to get a COP setup working and have had nothing but issues, have gone back to the stock ignition setup for now.

Have the NEW Vortech V-2 Si trim bolted on. Haven't been able to drive it due to the ignition issues, will probably get a good test drive out of it tomorrow.

Will try and take a new video soon. It sounds awesome IMO and the wastegate being used as a BOV sounds cool. Haven't had a chance to test the over boost relief part of it yet.

And those are definitely not stock injectors.
 
Hey KC, you gotta update us.

One thing I did want to post if that I used Pauter rods, and they were for the 2UZ 4.7L the bore is larger for the 4.7, and the small end of the rod is larger to make the rod as strong as it can be. It is too large for the 4.0L 1UZ.
You can assemble them, and put the motor together, but when the motor revs since the rod doesn't have enough clearance it will push the crank forward into the oil pump. The oil pump makes clearances, and you will lose oil pressure.

Long story short. A 2UZ 4.7L rod will not work on a 1UZ 4.0L
a 1UZ 4.0L rod will work on a 2UZ 4.7L If the rod manufacture is listing the rod as 4.7 & a 4.0L make sure it’s a 4.0 1uz rod, and not a rod for the 2UZ.
Trust me I made the mistake had to machine the crank, and get a new oil pump. Plus send the rods back to Pauter and have them machine them down to the smaller (Small end) size.
 


Top