Michigan 1UZ - MkIII Supra swap

The 1UZFE EGR Delete Kit is available for sale here.
MIke, on that side right behind the ALT. there is a two bolt sorta diamond shaped metal cap. I dont know what its for but good chance that that is were the leak is coming from.

I think I remember seeing that cap when I installed everything. I'll take a look at it as soon as I head back up. Thanks for the tip :)
 
Winter is almost over, so time to start Phase II of the project which has now been changed to doing a suspension rebuild instead of adding forced induction. FI is being moved to Phase III. In that regard, I will be placing an order for the track series Megan Racing coilovers which will help to provide a much stiffer ride than the current 196k+ mile struts on the car and they will help re-level the car since the Megan coilovers are height adjustable which will address the problem of the front now sitting higher due to the lighter engine. I also called David over at Shaftmasters here in Michigan today where I ordered a balanced, 1-pc Aluminum drive shaft for the MkIII Supra. Shaftmasters has received excellent reviews on Supramania and they also have a great price and warranty on their products. It also helps they are just located across the state so if I have any issues I can just drive over there. I’ll also spoke with Jeff Watson today down at Champion Toyota to order the two front lower ball joints and will be ordering new bushings from either Suspension Techniques or Energy Suspension to replace the well used bushings on the ST sway-bars I picked up used from Dr. Jonez before installing the sways on the car in the next couple of days. I am looking forward to providing more pictures as the parts arrive and get installed as well as new videos and parts reviews. Stay tuned and return to this thread or my build site often for new updates as we enter Phase II of the project!
 
For those around the Chicago and St. Louis area interested in seeing the car, I am trying to plan a last minute trip, barring weather and budget changes, to St. Louis for this weekend. Will be leaving Michigan around 7PM EDT on Friday, March 13 and arriving in the St. Louis area sometime after 2AM local if all goes well. Will be staying until Sunday, March 15, and then head back to Michigan starting around 12PM central. Shoot me a PM if interested and we can stop somewhere along this route: http://tinyurl.com/d6jua4
 
The new balljoints and Megan Racing track-series coilovers were installed this past week. I started the installation on Wednesday after work and finally wrapped it up earlier today having put a little bit of time into the project each day between other commitments. I had to go out and purchase a balljoint fork since I did not have one on my toolbox here at the garage but otherwise I had all other tools required.

The rear struts provided a bit of difficulty slipping them into the bottom mounts on each of the suspension arms. There is what appears to be a steel insert on the bottom mounts and insert on the driver’s side suspension mount liked to catch the coilover and move it towards the inside or outside of the mounting point. Otherwise everything else went smoothly and I did not have to remove the front inner wheel well covers or the windshield wiper cleaner reservoir although the front passenger side A-arm bolt nearly became stuck behind the reservoir so for future recommendation it is a good idea to remove the reservoir which only adds a couple of extra minutes to the over all job.

Following are pictures from before the suspension upgrade and still with the 7M-GTE installed, then a picture of the Supra before the suspension upgrade and with the 1UZ-FE installed, then finally with the coilovers installed and adjusted for ride height and underbody parts clearance. I have not yet installed the Suspension Techniques anti-sway bars since I still required new end-links, new bushings for the front bar and will most likely have new mounting tabs welded to the rear suspension arms to avoid the known issue of the stock tabs break off.

Drive shaft and wheel gap photos
 
Mike, definitly have the read Sway bar taps beefed up or new heavier duty ones welded on. I broke one of mine the first week of having the bars on the car. Also, watch the front swaybar to frame mounts. I haven't heard of this happening to anyone else and neither has suspension technics, but I broke one not to long ago. The metal strap that cups around the bushing holding the bar to the frame broke... I probably just had a bad / weak part cause like I said it hasn't seemed to happen to anyone else...
 
The couple of leaks I have been dealing with over the past year, the power steering fluid leak up at the pump and the coolant leak at the front water bridge, have both been fixed.

The power steering leak was coming from the o-ring located on the bracket on top of the pump (where the remote reservoir hose attaches). When I pulled the bracket I found the o-ring to be hard and brittle. Replaced with a new o-ring, dried the area as best I could and reassembled the bracket. It has been two days now and I have not observed any leaking from that spot. I was able to get under the car and clean up some of the residual power steering fluid left on the bottom of the pump, alternator and steering rack. Hopefully no other leaks from the pump exist and cleaning these areas should allow me to spot any right away.

As for the front coolant bridge. I had replaced the o-ring on the module which goes to the thermostat but it appears that when I installed it, the o-ring did not slip all the way into place and became pinched, eventually rupturing and causing some of the leaking down the side of the engine as well as into the valley (will be a big clean-up job for the underbody of the car, especially around the adapter plate and bell housing of the transmission where much of the coolant ran down out of the valley). This time I cleaned up both the module and the hole where it press fits into since there was corrosion evident on both and also applied water pump/coolant rated silicone RTV to the area where the ring would seat on the module.

Last, the o-ring on the hard line which press fits into the back of the water pump housing was finally replaced. This was a known bad gasket. It had torn during the original installation and I did not have a spare at the time, only some handy silicone gasket maker. This area was cleaned, a new o-ring fitted, and again some water pump/coolant rated silicone RTV was used on the area.

Although this work has finally solved the leaks, it seems to have generated a new problem. After reassembly of the lower and upper intake manifolds and all other supporting components and wire connections, I now have what almost seems like a miss but not quite. The exhaust note sounds different, with the note change seeming to originate from the passenger side of the engine, possibly even at the cylinder by the firewall.

I thought at first it might be the spark plug wires and when I checked, the first wire I pulled left its electrode on the spark plug. The internal wires practically disintegrated into grey powder! Upon replacing the wires with a new set, the problem still exists. Next I am going to start pulling plugs on the passenger side. I already pulled the plug which had the faulty spark plug wire and it appeared to be ok, but this is closest to the front of the engine and the new note does not seem to be coming from the front.

Power seems to be nearly the same with roll off happening maybe slightly lower in the rpm range than before but it could just be in my head and the different exhaust note playing games with what I feel, acceleration-wise.

Would an injector not firing, or firing too long produce this result? How about a plug not firing? I thought at first it was an exhaust leak up near the manifold but there are no significant leaks around the area (can feel a small amount of leakage around the exit of the manifold where it joins the exhaust pipe) and this new condition only started happening after removing the LIM and UIM. I have also pulled the codes from the ECU but the three existing codes are ones which have always existed (27, 29, 42), nothing new found here which would help diagnose the problem.

I have been over the manifolds and all wiring and hose connections to them and have not found any issues yet which is why I am bringing this to the forum to get some input from others who may have suggestions I have not checked yet.
 
Well, looks like I was too quick to judge that there was a noticeable reduction in power. This morning when I got in the car to drive it to work it really did not have much power at all. Just kind of chugged along. Reminds me of when the spark plugs went bad in a previous car I had so I'll be checking those first once I'm out of work today and done with stuff around the house tonight.
 
Further troubleshooting results. Replaced the plugs this evening. At least one of the plugs was definitely bad. It's gap was way out and it appears the seal around the body had lost its integrity. I'll post pictures of them tomorrow.

By the sound of it, I am not sure replacing the plugs fixed the issue. Idle and exhaust note still seems off. Checked all connections once again around the intake manifolds and everything appears to be connected. Also checked that all fuel injectors were firing by feeling the bodies of the ones I could reach and for the ones I couldn't reach, listening to them through a screwdriver touched to them.

Unplugged the AFM and there was no change in idle or sound. Unplugged the TPS and the car died. Unplugged the cold start injector and there was no change in idle or sound. While unplugging the cold start injector harness I did feel what felt like cool air moving past my fingers. Thinking of pulling the LIM and UIM tomorrow and using some non-hardening sealant on the gasket surfaces plus the metal gaskets and reassembling to see if this fixes anything.
 
Best way to test for leaks is to go around the engine bay/manifolds with a hose. One end in your ear and the other end poking around, listening for that rushing air sound.

I've currently got a problem where the right side runs lean and the left side runs normal. Can't figure it out. Its going to an EFI place tomorrow to be sorted out.
 
Best way to test for leaks is to go around the engine bay/manifolds with a hose. One end in your ear and the other end poking around, listening for that rushing air sound.

I've currently got a problem where the right side runs lean and the left side runs normal. Can't figure it out. Its going to an EFI place tomorrow to be sorted out.

Thanks for the tip Peewee! I tried this before tearing stuff down and only heard the fuel lines and ticking from the injectors.

Another update, tore down the LIM and UIM again today and triple checked everything. Good news is I didn't leave any shop towels in the intake runners or openings in the heads, lol. Bad news is after reassembling everything, the car is still chugging and low on power.

Tomorrow I will be checking compression on all cylinders and also taking off the dizzies to take a peak to see if they're corroded or broken. I'm getting spark and fuel so not sure what the problem is still. Codes still remain at 27, 29, and 42 which are non-issues.
 
Mike, where are you at in MI? I wish I would have thought about it before hand cause Im in Ohio right now but am probably heading back to florida tonight or tomorrow. Im not to far from MI and we could have gotton together. Oh well.......
 
Mike, where are you at in MI? I wish I would have thought about it before hand cause Im in Ohio right now but am probably heading back to florida tonight or tomorrow. Im not to far from MI and we could have gotton together. Oh well.......

I'm over in Kalamazoo. Yeah if we would have known we could have set something up :)
 
Ok, checked compression and in doing so checked the coloration on the plugs as well. Found something interesting. As seen in the picture album in the following link, plugs 2, 3, 5, and 8 are showing they have been run extremely hot while the others remain normal coloration. 2, 8 and 3, 5 are on opposite banks but on the same dizzy. Correlation?

http://picasaweb.google.com/1uzsupra/Spark?feat=directlink (Picture names will tell location and cylinder numbering for the plugs and dizzy)

Cylinder pressures in PSI on cold engine. All plugs are out and the throttle plate is in WOT position (btw, cylinder pressure held in key off position):

1 - 170
2 - 170
3 - 175
4 - 165
5 - 177
6 - 165
7 - 175
8 - 175
 
Further test results reveal that it may be a faulty ignition coil. I measured the resistance of both ignition coils as well as the two cam sensors and the crank sensor. Here are the results:

Passenger side = LH
Driver side = RH

LH Coil primary - 0.5
LH Coil secondary - 11.90k
RH Coil primary - 0.7
RH coil secondary - 3.47k

LH cam sensor - 1082
RH cam sensor - 1091
Crank sensor - 1085

I am headed to the parts store to pick up a couple of ignition coils tonight and will be installing them along with the new dizzies and rotors with the hopes this will finally cure the issue I have been having since the beginning of the week with the rough idle and lack of power. Will keep everyone updated.
 
Good news! After swapping out both distributor caps and rotors, plus replacing both ignition coils, the car is running even better than it was before this problem appeared one week ago. Not a minute too late either as there is a car show at GVSU tomorrow (4/18) which I had preregistered to attend.
 
Sounds like the coils were the problem.

I've had one intermittently die on me (one on the top of the motor).
I reckon its due to the extra heat its exposed to compared to the one on the side.
 
Dyno videos and dyno sheet from this weekend. Sorry, they were not set up for torque readings when they had me on the dyno. We had to specifically request this but they failed to inform us of this when we paid, they were more into doing speed/HP readings instead. Enjoy!

First Run http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqUDoEs_200

Second Run http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGfkgqMgSCg

Third Run http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqbch3RFuFk

All runs from front view http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7xitUXIUUo

Dyno sheet http://picasaweb.google.com/1uzsupra/DynoRuns?feat=directlink
 
Looking pretty good Mike.

However, I would be searching for different dyno facility if i were you as they are not very familiar with there software and dyno from the sounds of it.... Dyno's only read torque and then calculate horsepower from it and rpm or speed. It only takes one click of the mouse to print a torque plot...
 


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