Project Thread Supercharged Supra

[Zuffen]

I'd like to do simillar but I only have 3mm of clearance between the supercharger and the vehicle's body so I need to be able to slide the top plate and charger in then bolt them down.

Hard work but that's what modified vehicles are.

I think Justen has the hardest packaging task I've ever seen.

 

[cribbj]

3mm of clearance? Sounds like you need to be an ex-gynecologist to be able to work on your engine!

http://www.lextreme.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12684

 

[Zuffen]

I won't try and Gyno jokes this is a "nice" Forum.

Things ARE tight in there.

To top it off the top of the radiator is 1370mm from the flor and I'm only 165omm tall, or is that short?

 

[Cobber]

That's vertically challenged.

Anyhow looking good John, full dyno run in full trim next or straight into the car?

 

[cribbj]

Andy, we'll dyno first to see what it'll do, then into the car for driveability tuning.

Pretty sure we'll be waiting for cooler weather before we test; or to put it another way, it probably won't be finished before the cooler weather arrives.

 

[inferno14u]

Andy, we'll dyno first to see what it'll do, then into the car for driveability tuning.

Pretty sure we'll be waiting for cooler weather before we test; or to put it another way, it probably won't be finished before the cooler weather arrives.

That is months away though...its only "cool" between November and March. I can't wait to see this beast in person.

 

[cribbj]

That is months away though...its only "cool" between November and March. I can't wait to see this beast in person.

Welcome to Lextreme; it's good to have another Houstonian! So true about Houston weather, and you can't even count on it being cool in those months. There's been more than one Christmas Day that we've had our A/C on.....

Where is I.E. (in your location)?

 

[inferno14u]

Welcome to Lextreme; it's good to have another Houstonian! So true about Houston weather, and you can't even count on it being cool in those months. There's been more than one Christmas Day that we've had our A/C on.....

Where is I.E. (in your location)?

The I.E. is Inland Empire...Southern California. I grew up there and try to get back there as often as possible although it isn't nearly as often as I would like. I am planning lots of fun things with my SC400 but its going to take a while but it'll be worth the wait.

 

[Cobber]

This thread is 65 pages long Christmas is soon.....
That

It's going to be good to see the full package on the dyno and see the results of this meticulous build.

 

[cribbj]

Then finally, the pièce de résistance, the carputer. Ever since PC's came out, I've wanted to put one in a car. I can remember plotting & planning one of these in an old Porsche I had back in the 80's. Luckily, I didn't do it then, because the systems are sooooo much better now. The software guru & I started configuring this over a year ago, and it has a 1.6 GHz, Dual Core Atom processor with the nVidia ION chipset, 4GB of RAM, and a 60GB Intel SSD, so it's quite snappy, even with Win7. To this we added a dual DIN 7" Lilliput touch screen which had the transflective mod done, so its brightness and useability are fine in direct sunlight. Centrafuse 3.0 is the software front end for everything, and it's very intuitive. The feature set that we designed (and built) was:

No moving components (ie no disk drives or CD/DVD drives). Everything is solid state.
Full access to AEM computer for tuning/monitoring/digital gauges & logging
MP3 Music from SDD or USB Flash Disk
HD AM/FM Radio
XM Satellite Radio
GPS Navigation
WiFi
Mobile G3/G4 Broadband
Hands Free Cell via Bluetooth (Ready, but I don’t own a cell phone)
Remote A/V Inputs & Outputs, USB & Ethernet (all located in center console)

The main system unit is located under the driver’s seat, so the only component that shows is the touchscreen. Sorry for the fingerprints, but it’s a touchscreen!



Booting up and launching Centrafuse:



Genesis’ “Land of Confusion” playing. There’s some great bass in this tune!



Now the only problem left is to figure out how to raise & lower the Supra's antenna when the HD radio is playing!

I'll take some more pics showing the rest of the features as we get the bugs worked out and the different antennas connected, but my preliminary impressions are that the system is just awesome. Makes me want to spend time just sitting in the car playing with it, and listening to music!

 

[cribbj]

Once the sound deadening was put in, it was time for a new interior. I liked the look of the black ultra suede with black leather that we put in the son's black Supra, but the wife wanted to add her 2c worth, so I wound up with black perforated leather on the seats, and black perforated suede on the headliner. The perforations on the seats help them breathe and stay cooler in the summer, and the suede on the headliner is great for absorbing sound. We also put a layer of Cascade under the headliner to help with the dampening:







Next we relocated the batteries, and prepared the car for its carputer and a new sound system. A set of Boston Acoustics full range speakers were installed front & rear, along with one of their 8" subwoofers, mounted in a dedicated sub box, which also has a compartment for the two new Odyssey PC935 batteries. I was a bit worried about the Odyssey's producing gas inside the car, but I contacted the manufacturer and they advised they're completely sealed, and will not gas at all under charge. Mounting the sub in this old sub location also meant I could keep the spare tire, which is always an issue when doing sound systems in Supras.

Need a new hatch carpet now, and a cover to protect the battery terminals, but you get the idea:
(Those are 1/0 cables, and they run to the same locations the OEM cables did. We also took the opportunity to improve the engine to chassis grounding, to ensure everything had a good clean earth. Funny, the car starts a lot better now!)



Then an ARC Audio digital, 5 channel (4x80 + 1x200 watt) amp replaced the puny Toyota amp under the passenger seat (sorry, no photo, but it's no larger than the stock amp).

 

[cribbj]

This thread is 65 pages long Christmas is soon.....

It's going to be good to see the full package on the dyno and see the results of this meticulous build.

I know, this build has kinda dragged on hasn't it? Turboandrew and I first started discussing putting the Lexus V8's in our Supras back in late 2003 or early 2004. He was about a year ahead of me (and maybe still is!) but I was hooked on the idea of another liter of displacement, and having an all aluminum engine.

Anyway, the Supra hasn't exactly been sitting idle, waiting on the motor. The interior was stripped out, and around 150lbs of Cascade Audio sound deadening material added, in all the exposed locations. floorboards, fender wells, hatch, roof, and all the cavities that tend to resonate. It's now nearly as quiet as an LS400! Now when you shut the doors, they have a nice solid "thunk" sound. Not like you just dropped a tin can on the ground as they did before..... Since normally we're all about performance, many here would wonder why I'm adding weight and sound insulation, but I've never been under the illusion that a 3500 lb. Supra could ever be in the "light & nimble" category of cars like Lotus, so my goal has always been to transform it into a GT class car, ie fast, comfortable, and "fairly" quiet. I still want all the "good" noises to come through, like the engine, supercharger, exhaust, etc. but without the road and wind noise.






This was Toyota's idea of sound deadening for the roof. It always sounded like you were sitting inside a steel drum when it was raining:



Here's the new Boston Acoustics full range SX55's going in the front:

 

[stevechumo]

This looks like a complete build. I'm a hardcore in stereo as well. Can't live without a good stereo system, can we? I think John wants to compete with Ryan to see who has the longest thread ever.

 

[cribbj]

Steve, I must admit I've never had a "good enough" stereo that I couldn't live without, but this setup may have changed my whole perspective.

Hadn't thought about competing with Ryan. I figured I was competing for last place in the time it takes to get a project built and on the road! Shoot, I've helped design & build two oil processing plants in the middle of the Sahara in the time this lil ole car project has been dragging.....

Edit: Ryan's got me thoroughly beat, his thread is 70 pages and his first post in it was in August of 2004. My thread is "only" 65 pages, and my first post in the build thread was in 2007 ;-)

 

[cribbj]

Hoping these will be waiting for me when I get home:



This is a full set of "Gilmer type" pulleys (actually HTD type, 8mm pitch) for the 1UZ, minus only the supercharger pulley, which we'll make locally to ensure alignment. After trying to wait patiently for gloverman to get his sets ready, I found this supplier who was already making partial sets for the 1UZ. They were missing only the P/S and A/C, so I sent them samples of both, and voila! The pulley in the top left of the pic is for the P/S, and the one at the top right is for the A/C compressor. Remains to be seen how well they'll fit and work.....

With these, I'm now nearing the point of no more excuses to get this motor back on the dyno. The last major hurdle is to get my milspec harness done.

 

[scotturnot]

Wow, those look nice John! I am interested to see how those work out.

 

[SC400TT]

Wow John, those are beautiful!! I am definitely interested to see how those work. It would be nice to have a set like that.

Ryan

 

[JustenGT8]

Care to pm me a price John? are they underdrive by any chance? i want to slow the PS and alt down for track work.

 

[SC400TT]

This looks like a complete build. I'm a hardcore in stereo as well. Can't live without a good stereo system, can we? I think John wants to compete with Ryan to see who has the longest thread ever.

I wish someone would beat me...Remember, I actually built (2) turbo systems during this time period... I just was not satisfied with the first set up and took it off the road after only 1.5 months, and then I started all over again with Stage II. Don't worry, I will keep it on the road this time. If I decide to upgrade to version III, I will start a new thread...

Steve, I must admit I've never had a "good enough" stereo that I couldn't live without, but this setup may have changed my whole perspective.

Hadn't thought about competing with Ryan. I figured I was competing for last place in the time it takes to get a project built and on the road! Shoot, I've helped design & build two oil processing plants in the middle of the Sahara in the time this lil ole car project has been dragging.....

Edit: Ryan's got me thoroughly beat, his thread is 70 pages and his first post in it was in August of 2004. My thread is "only" 65 pages, and my first post in the build thread was in 2007 ;-)

John, you should see my thread on CL...It is 106 pages long, and it has almost 1600 posts...

On another subject, why don't you consider adding some of the soundproofing like I used? I used two different types...One was a tar based aluminum backed lining that is most excellent in absorbing sound, and the other is a neopprene like substance that is also aluminum backed. The neoprene type is exceptionally light weight.

Ryan

 

[cribbj]

After lots of searching, and talking with people, I contacted this CNC machine shop in NZ called Endevour Engineering, run by a real decent fellow, Allen Green. We corresponded by email beforehand, I told him what I wanted, and he shot me a price. Six weeks later the pulley set is on its way to the USA. Can't ask for anything better than that.

www.endevourengineering.co.nz

This set cost $950 NZD, which is around $675 USD plus freight. In addition, you have to send him your dampner, P/S, and A/C pulleys and he machines them down a bit then puts the Gilmer shells on with a shrink fit.

To avoid problems in the future, I decided to buy a brand new Lexus dampner, rather than taking the chances that one of my 15 to 18 year old dampners would decide to separate under supercharger load, so that was another $300. Plus I bought a new A/C clutch & pulley to ensure no problems on that side, so ka-ching ka-ching, another $450 on top of the pulleys.

Justen, I honestly have to say I have no idea what diameter these pulleys are, or how many teeth, only that the crank has 64 teeth. Whenever I started pressing Allen for technical details, his email replies would simply trickle off. It took me two weeks of emailing just to get the width of belt needed for these pulleys (40mm). He seems to be a great guy, just very busy running his business. I've fired off an email to him early this morning, but it's obviously already the weekend in NZ. Soon as I know, I'll update the info here.

P.S. I think you want oversize P/S and alternator pulleys, don't you? You're worried about overrevving them aren't you? Going smaller would mean they'd be turning faster, not slower. Anyway, I've asked him if he can build either over or undersize.