I wanted to make sure that everything was done and I was happy with the engine before I posted because man, oh man, have I had some hassles getting this far. I could tell you stories for hours (and I probably will) about what it took to get me this far but here I am.
Final Result.
230 rwkw
880+ rwnm
Eaton M90 is pushing out 11.5 psi
Water Injection system fitted (water/methonal capable)
Much more to tell but for now, here are some pics and a few vids I took along the way.
In this video (above), you can here the chattering (loud isn't it?) that you get when you don't preload the exhaust cam gear. It was suggested that it might be the stiffer valve springs causing the tapping. I drove it this way (including dyno runs a plenty) for over 6,000 kms! My local mechanic fixed it in 3 hours (the blower had to come off) after it was suggested that that's what it had to be. It was and now the engine is as smooth and quiet as a stock engine. The headaches and cost that caused me was unbelievable. I drove from Adelaide to Sydney to have it seen to under warranty but they gave it back the same. Sad story but with a good ending.
In this dyno room we achieved 230rwkw and over 880rwnm with 11.5psi and water injection. The sounds are ok but to hear this car revving out to redline live is something else.
If anyone in Adelaide wants to get together, I'll be glad to talk for hours about it. I have heaps of photos and so much to tell you guys but let's start by my taking a few questions...lol
Yes, it's awesome to drive! Smoke at will (at last) and it feels really strong. Please don't ask how much it cost. The answer will always be about 3 times more than it should have. However, putting that aside, it's a great car and a pleasure to drive in all conditions. I'll get some better shots up soon and some more vids including one so you can hear the chattering of the cam gears is gone.
Any opinions on how much engine horsepower might be with 230rwkw? Did I get to 430hp (even though I had to push it to 11.5psi and use water injection to do it...sigh)? Here's the way I would begin to look at it judging from the answers I've been getting lately. Firstly, no one agrees but...
It's accepted there is a loss through the drive train. That loss varies from 15% - 30% depending on who I ask (and it's ALWAYS different...lol). Let's take 25% as an optimistic value.
230 reaches the wheels so I would divide 230 by 75 and multiply by 100 = 306 fwkw. 306 kw = 410hp. So...
If you think there is a 25% loss through the drive line that lowers the power at the flywheel down to 306 fwkw or 380 fwhp.
If you think there is only a 20% loss through the drive line that lowers the power at the flywheel down to 287 fwkw or 380hp
If you think there could be up to a 30% loss of power through the drive line that ups the flywheel power to about 328kw or 439hp.
I have no idea and I suppose the only way to even speculate is from experience of which I have little. I hope you all agree it's a 30% loss...but I'd settle for the 25%...hoping that 20% is not popular. But, it growls and covers real estate like we gulp air at the end of a running race and that was my main goal...that and plenty of throttle based wheel spin (I'm a thrasher and proud of it, what can I say) . I'd naturally like more power but at some point I'll begin to sacrifice it's other prized behavioral attributes such as drive-ability under all conditions.
I'd like to thank a few members from this forum who offered me new blocks and assistance when needed. I have struck a lot of bad luck with this build. The first engine didn't last more than 4k and the second caused me too many unnecessary headaches as well. Back and forth from Sydney to Canberra and even Adelaide (twice!!) and back before I sorted it out locally. Unfortunately, I can not recommend any of the workshops I used for this exercise except a really cool machinist guy in Canberra who machined 3 pulleys from scratch for me. Some of the dyno guys weren't patronising and of course my local mechanic Adam who is excellent at everything he does (Ferrari, Lambo, BMW background).
However in the end it was decided that the first engine failed due to a head gasket leak (block wasn't prepared correctly) that caused an overheating event that scored the bores and sent metal through the engine. The engine got to about 3/4 on the temp gauge once but that's it, so...whatever. Metal head gaskets need a perfect machined surface to sit on. The first engine didn't have it's block surfaced which caused the head gasket to leak...etc. Again, I checked coolant levels religiously every morning so it's a mystery to me as to when this overheating even happened.
Anyway, this engine is producing closer to the advertised 430hp even though I had to pump another 2psi out of the blower and fit a water injection system (ready for methonal mix and a dual map ecu). I also had that neat 10 inch "X-Pipe" that is doing the rounds in a PDF (I believe from this site?). It sounds excellent and added some mid range. I call it a "party pipe" the two exhausts come together and travel in a large 10" long 5 inch (squashed down to 2.5") all together before separating again for the last run to the rear muffler. I want it to be louder but the authorities would probably enjoy 1 less decibel. The CDA air filter lost 3 rwkw over the K&N but gained 10 lb/ft torque in the midrange. I chose the torque advantage - plus it looks cool. However for the $600 odd bucks it cost I would NOT recommend one to anyone looking for more power.
I'm not sure what to make of this disaster of a conversion but I now have a car that is stunning to drive and (as long as I don't think about the tripled original cost estimate) it does put a smile on my face and the faces of those who see under the hood for the first time (my favourite part!). The pull you get from this car is substantial and the last thing I think about when it slams into second gear is the cost because I'm concentrating on the rapidly approaching horizon and thinking I should probably back off now.
Thanks everyone for your support during this hellish last 4 months. I think there's a lesson in this for everyone. Draw your own conclusions but don't forget to take into account how naive I was when starting this project. I knew practically nothing about the 1UZ. Now, I can speak on them with some authority I think and for anyone contemplating having an engine professionally built I'd say - do it yourself, you will probably do now worse and would probably be able to follow a engine manual at least. Seriously, I am going to hand build my next engine so when it breaks I can blame myself which is much easier to get over than the emotions I feel about how much money was wasted on this engine. Money that could have been spent in other areas. I may be a fool but I do get to drive a supercharged V8 to the shops.
Final Result.
230 rwkw
880+ rwnm
Eaton M90 is pushing out 11.5 psi
Water Injection system fitted (water/methonal capable)
Much more to tell but for now, here are some pics and a few vids I took along the way.
In this video (above), you can here the chattering (loud isn't it?) that you get when you don't preload the exhaust cam gear. It was suggested that it might be the stiffer valve springs causing the tapping. I drove it this way (including dyno runs a plenty) for over 6,000 kms! My local mechanic fixed it in 3 hours (the blower had to come off) after it was suggested that that's what it had to be. It was and now the engine is as smooth and quiet as a stock engine. The headaches and cost that caused me was unbelievable. I drove from Adelaide to Sydney to have it seen to under warranty but they gave it back the same. Sad story but with a good ending.
In this dyno room we achieved 230rwkw and over 880rwnm with 11.5psi and water injection. The sounds are ok but to hear this car revving out to redline live is something else.
If anyone in Adelaide wants to get together, I'll be glad to talk for hours about it. I have heaps of photos and so much to tell you guys but let's start by my taking a few questions...lol
Yes, it's awesome to drive! Smoke at will (at last) and it feels really strong. Please don't ask how much it cost. The answer will always be about 3 times more than it should have. However, putting that aside, it's a great car and a pleasure to drive in all conditions. I'll get some better shots up soon and some more vids including one so you can hear the chattering of the cam gears is gone.
Any opinions on how much engine horsepower might be with 230rwkw? Did I get to 430hp (even though I had to push it to 11.5psi and use water injection to do it...sigh)? Here's the way I would begin to look at it judging from the answers I've been getting lately. Firstly, no one agrees but...
It's accepted there is a loss through the drive train. That loss varies from 15% - 30% depending on who I ask (and it's ALWAYS different...lol). Let's take 25% as an optimistic value.
230 reaches the wheels so I would divide 230 by 75 and multiply by 100 = 306 fwkw. 306 kw = 410hp. So...
If you think there is a 25% loss through the drive line that lowers the power at the flywheel down to 306 fwkw or 380 fwhp.
If you think there is only a 20% loss through the drive line that lowers the power at the flywheel down to 287 fwkw or 380hp
If you think there could be up to a 30% loss of power through the drive line that ups the flywheel power to about 328kw or 439hp.
I have no idea and I suppose the only way to even speculate is from experience of which I have little. I hope you all agree it's a 30% loss...but I'd settle for the 25%...hoping that 20% is not popular. But, it growls and covers real estate like we gulp air at the end of a running race and that was my main goal...that and plenty of throttle based wheel spin (I'm a thrasher and proud of it, what can I say) . I'd naturally like more power but at some point I'll begin to sacrifice it's other prized behavioral attributes such as drive-ability under all conditions.
I'd like to thank a few members from this forum who offered me new blocks and assistance when needed. I have struck a lot of bad luck with this build. The first engine didn't last more than 4k and the second caused me too many unnecessary headaches as well. Back and forth from Sydney to Canberra and even Adelaide (twice!!) and back before I sorted it out locally. Unfortunately, I can not recommend any of the workshops I used for this exercise except a really cool machinist guy in Canberra who machined 3 pulleys from scratch for me. Some of the dyno guys weren't patronising and of course my local mechanic Adam who is excellent at everything he does (Ferrari, Lambo, BMW background).
However in the end it was decided that the first engine failed due to a head gasket leak (block wasn't prepared correctly) that caused an overheating event that scored the bores and sent metal through the engine. The engine got to about 3/4 on the temp gauge once but that's it, so...whatever. Metal head gaskets need a perfect machined surface to sit on. The first engine didn't have it's block surfaced which caused the head gasket to leak...etc. Again, I checked coolant levels religiously every morning so it's a mystery to me as to when this overheating even happened.
Anyway, this engine is producing closer to the advertised 430hp even though I had to pump another 2psi out of the blower and fit a water injection system (ready for methonal mix and a dual map ecu). I also had that neat 10 inch "X-Pipe" that is doing the rounds in a PDF (I believe from this site?). It sounds excellent and added some mid range. I call it a "party pipe" the two exhausts come together and travel in a large 10" long 5 inch (squashed down to 2.5") all together before separating again for the last run to the rear muffler. I want it to be louder but the authorities would probably enjoy 1 less decibel. The CDA air filter lost 3 rwkw over the K&N but gained 10 lb/ft torque in the midrange. I chose the torque advantage - plus it looks cool. However for the $600 odd bucks it cost I would NOT recommend one to anyone looking for more power.
I'm not sure what to make of this disaster of a conversion but I now have a car that is stunning to drive and (as long as I don't think about the tripled original cost estimate) it does put a smile on my face and the faces of those who see under the hood for the first time (my favourite part!). The pull you get from this car is substantial and the last thing I think about when it slams into second gear is the cost because I'm concentrating on the rapidly approaching horizon and thinking I should probably back off now.
Thanks everyone for your support during this hellish last 4 months. I think there's a lesson in this for everyone. Draw your own conclusions but don't forget to take into account how naive I was when starting this project. I knew practically nothing about the 1UZ. Now, I can speak on them with some authority I think and for anyone contemplating having an engine professionally built I'd say - do it yourself, you will probably do now worse and would probably be able to follow a engine manual at least. Seriously, I am going to hand build my next engine so when it breaks I can blame myself which is much easier to get over than the emotions I feel about how much money was wasted on this engine. Money that could have been spent in other areas. I may be a fool but I do get to drive a supercharged V8 to the shops.
