1uz fe vvti good or not

[alfablack]

Hi Chaps

i am picking a 1uzfe vvti engine up to go into a classic reliant

is this a good choice y/n
can i improve its performance easily
it will get a standalone ecu and itb's do i need to do anything inside the engine
porting head skim changing components. ?
i have read loads of posts but know find i have confused myself totally
it may end up with a supercharger but i prefer n/a don't like turbo cars so it will never go that way

any help or abuse as long as it is practical is most welcome

 

[cribbj]

Alfa, the older model 1UZ (without VVTi) is the one we have the most experience with here, and is the easier of the two to setup.

Having said that, the new model with VVTi "should" be able to be setup without VVTi activation and then just do that later.

JustenGT8 has tried this, IIRC, but has run into snags, however he could clarify whether the engine can be run safely without VVTi control?

Most of us think the VVTI lump is still a non-interference engine, but it would be really good if Justen could confirm or dispel that belief?

 

[alfablack]

Hi Cribb

the ecu i will be using
Programmable RPM-based output (VTEC etc.)
� 3D PWM output

so hopefully that might work
if the engine is safe or non interference how have they managed to increase c/r ?

does anyone do cams
and would the standard pistons rev to 8000

 

[George_R]

Y
at least by better flowing intake & heads, using COP instead of distributor, increased CR

 

[alfablack]

George

thanks and that Volga looks awsome i really like the lines good colour to

 

[Zuffen]

Shaving the heads to up CR. will result in altering the cam timing. When you lower the heads the 20thou (or whatever you remove) makes the cam belt rotate the pulley on the right bank and 3 times as far on the left bank.

Kelford in NZ make cams for all UZ's.

I assume this is going in a Scimiter and at 300FWHP the VVT-i should be plenty good in stock form.

 

[JustenGT8]

It's totally an interference engine...my box of bent valves is all the proof you need

It'll run fine with no VVTi actuation...can sound a bit rattly though.

 

[Zuffen]

I'll add if it were my engine I"d be running it standard.

You will spend good money on a stand alone ECU then more money of dyno tuning to get it to run half as well as the factory.

Plus the factory ECU will run the VVT-i giving you a wider spread of torque.

 

[alfablack]

AHAH
thats were i might get a leg up

i have just aqquired a sun ram 12 rolling road
just gotto get some plotter and control software

i do see were you are comming regards cost the ecu will set me
£500 that will run the vvti
throttle bodies £800

and a clean up job on the heads with arp studs and a good exhaust manifold should get me what i need. with cost of gaskets cam belt and water pump

would like a set of cams but the cost is prohibitive ?

got my engine today and started stripping all the bits it wont need looks very big in standard trim

 

[gloverman]

Whats your power goal?

 

[alfablack]

Hi
not sure what power i am looking for
but somewhere up near 400 flywheel hp would be nice
how realistic that would be i am not sure

 

[gloverman]

One 1uz VVti that I dynoed made 219rwkw(293rwhp) on a hub dyno. This engine was totally stock internally with nice headers and a slightly bigger manual throttle body. This is a pretty good starting point. From memory best power and torque was around the 5500 mark but I was running it to around 7K. This was burning NZ 98 octane fuel.

We have been doing far more 3uz lately which go really well but make more torque than the 1uz with similar HP figures. Todays vehicle going on the dyno has big wheels so the measured figure will be unimpressive.

I have another supercharged 4 litre VVti to dyno again in the next few weeks to will be interesting to see how the new setup will come up. We removed a crap stock manifold supercharger setup on totally stock ECU setup and fitted custom manifold with intercooler and aftermarket ECU over top of stock ECU which is running the box. It will be setup soon with full aftermarket for motor and box once the ECT arrives and i've iron out some of the bugs.

At present the early motor is easiest to get power out of as more have been done. Did a hiace van the other day with early engine on stock bottom end , slight head work , cams and two turbos and it rolled out just under 500rwhp. Even doing these I still prefer the VVti options for drivability and torque.

 

[alfablack]

Hi Gloverman

you gey quite a bit of interesting machinery in then

what do you think this would yield vvti engine cop
head work / compression hike / itb / good headers / stand alone ecu /

cams ? would like a set but very expensive not sure if its worth the hassle as not in the uk would have to look overseas ?

thats about it not sure if i would need anymore as its going in a vehicle that would be less than 900kg

 

[George_R]

A standalone "alone" gives healthy improvement in car's feel (and sometimes in actual performance), especially when combined with manual transmission.
I think however that with vvti's 5-speed auto transmission and tiny improvements in engine hardware it's not worth the extra price it takes

 

[alfablack]

Hi George

would never use an auto box if i did'nt have to.

transmission is tremec t5 5 speed from a tvr using the auto bellhousing and a 15mm plate.
just ordered my flywheel today and made a bush for the end of the crank

will get the heads on a flowbench and see what we can do don't want to loose low down grunt but with itb inlet tract will be short unless i can get some curved trumpets like the ls boys use

but i would expect good improvements with what i have in mind or do you realy need a set of cams in these engines ?

 

[JustenGT8]

Hi George

would never use an auto box if i did'nt have to.

transmission is tremec t5 5 speed from a tvr using the auto bellhousing and a 15mm plate.
just ordered my flywheel today and made a bush for the end of the crank

will get the heads on a flowbench and see what we can do don't want to loose low down grunt but with itb inlet tract will be short unless i can get some curved trumpets like the ls boys use

but i would expect good improvements with what i have in mind or do you realy need a set of cams in these engines ?

The heads are already very good so you won't see worthwhile gains from porting.....unless you are going for a 10K rpm screamer?

Supertech do well priced 1mm oversize valves which are worthwile i think.

Cams are needed if you want to be in the 400hp at the fly range n/a

 

[gloverman]

I suspect with the headwork , ECU , ITBs and good headers in a 900KG car the result will be shitloads of fun. I suspect nice trumpets are going to be a must , seen plenty of ITB's which make less power unit trumpets are fitted. A number on a dyno printout is less important to the way the vehicle drives. Get the whole package correct and you will have a good setup.

Setting up the VVti correctly makes good gains and is influenced by header design. Lasts nights dyno was doing a 3uz with stock headers and the difference to the last 3uz with better headers was quite amazing.

I would agree with Justin on cams being required for a true 400hp.

 

[alfablack]

Hi

While its out it would be remiss of me not to look at the heads will mail supertech. but would fitting 1mm bigger valves mess with low speed velocity ?

and be detrimentle to low down torque.

also no one in the uk does cams so they would need to come from Nz or aus ?

who would you talk to for cams

 

[alfablack]

found someone in the uk with a set of cam blanks prepared to grind to whatever i require

but they are for the non vvti engine
can you convert ? will have to look through some old post me thinks

 

[JustenGT8]

Nope, no hope of using non VVTi in VVTi heads, totally different. You can mod the 2uz cams to fit and delete the VVTi at the same time, or you have to get the VVTi cams welded and ground....which works but not an option I'm keen on.