Project Thread Supercharged Supra

[cribbj]

My 1UZ engine for the Supra swap has been being "built" for the last year and a half, and I just retrieved it from the builder this week, and it's now sitting on an engine stand in my garage.

Unfortunately he put all the old covers and pulleys back on it without cleaning, which made the freshly glass beaded block and heads look like crap, so no, no photos yet. I'll be pulling all this stuff back off to clean it up right and will take photos after. Still need to do a fuel & ignition system too.

My first official act on this motor was to try to take off the harmonic balancer bolt. Two bolts in the flexplate holes, wedged a big screwdriver between them and the engine stand, and a couple of mighty wallops later with a 3 lb mallet and off it came!

I took this as a good omen and retired for the evening. The only casualties were two well bent Grade 8.8 bolts.

 

[Lextreme II]

Nice..... Make sure take some really nice pictures.... I love seeing engine pictures.

 

[cribbj]

David, I'd be embarrased to take photos of it at the moment - no way would anyone guess there's a $10K motor under all the corroded, rusty, dirty covers. Another 30 minutes in the bead blaster, along with $5 in spray paint would have had this thing looking fantastic. I can't believe the guy let it out of his shop this way, but oh well......

This engine has forged, coated Wiseco's at 10:1 on stock rods with ARP hardware and Clevite mains & rod bearings. Up top, the heads are street ported, and it has Manley (I think) stainless valves, new springs & retainers, held down by more ARP and Cometic head gaskets, but the cams are stock. Also in the heads, we went with harder beryllium seats and silicon bronze guides, as the motor was being built for LPG as the primary fuel, and there's precious little lubricity in LPG.

Here's some pics of the heads & block during assembly:

 

[Lextreme II]

Yeah.... build motors are expensive especially Lexus. Nice work. You will be running Richwood supplied supercharger right? Like Rod's its just absolutely beautiful.

 

[cribbj]

Some of the bits that went into it; David, I'm sure you'll recognise some of them as I bought them from you!:

 

[JustenGT8]

Can't wait to see the dyno curve of this Cribby. Love to see confirmation that ported heads and modded manifold can shift the peak ho rpm up even with stock cams.

 

[cribbj]

Justen, my plan is to break the motor in on a local engine dyno, either with gasoline or LPG, but without the supercharger, and only a carb and standalone ignition. Keep it simple for the breakin, I say.

I learnt a very expensive lesson three years ago about breaking in a brand new built motor with an untuned EMS.

After we're broken in, in NA trim, on will go the SC and EMS, then the fun will begin.

 

[JustenGT8]

Sounds like a sensible plan Cribbj. What ECU again? Just running ignition i assume seeing you are on gas?

 

[Lextreme II]

John,

Your car should be Supracharged.

 

[cribbj]

Justen, I currently have the PnP AEM running the 2JZ-GTE in my Supra, and I had planned on reusing it initially, possibly with the Prins ECU driving the LPG injectors. However, I've recently been hearing that new Link with 8 injector and 8 ignition outputs calling my name.....

I've been against the AEM's waste spark ignition for the 2JZ-GTE since the beginning, only because I'm hard headed about some things. Other people are making big power from the 2JZ with the AEM and the HKS DLI box, so it's plenty capable; I just don't think it's "correct" to fire an ignition on the exhaust stroke......

I had an opportunity to visit Performance Motorsports & BoostLogic in Austin last week and took these photos of Chris Johnson's gorgeous quicksilver Supra getting prepped for dyno shootouts. This has a built 3.4 liter stroker 2JZ with a 91mm turbo. IIRC, he made well over 1400 RWHP with it on the dyno, and this same motor was in the BoostLogic Supra racecar, and with a 2?? shot of nitrous at launch, caused the car to do a wheel stand. Once they got the wheel stands under control, it ran 7.9?'s. Interestingly, Titan's car runs a 350 shot of nitrous all the way down the strip, while this car runs a 2?? shot only at launch to spool the turbo, and it still eats Titan's lunch.

Chris runs this motor with the AEM, and the stock coil packs with the HKS DLI. Plugs are gapped at 0.012" and there's no misfiring, even at 44 psi boost.......

When it was in the racecar, they ran 6 x MSD coils, but still with the AEM and HKS DLI, and it worked fine.

The pics don't do that turbo justice - it has to be seen in person to be believed. That is one serious 2JZ.

In spite of success stories like this, I still don't think it's right to fire ignition coils on the exhaust stroke ;-).

 

[stevechumo]

Cribbj,

Break it in at low boost using untuned fuel system with a hi flow hi-pressure fuel pump and a FMU, perhaps at 5 psi. You'll be safe for sure. Come on! You already waited for more than a year. While the engine is outside, it'll be a lot quicker if you build a supercharger or turbo system. Can't wait to see it roaring. :firedevil:

 

[JustenGT8]

Yeah not a big fan of wasted spark myself either but can live with it. If you were running autronic i could send you my maps and you'd be away straight up . Gas injectors sound interesting...has the technology finally got to an easily streetable and tuneable stage? They run massive pressures don't they? I'm guessing the 'gas' pump is hell expensive?

 

[cribbj]

Steve, thanks but my 2JZ-GTE was broken in the first time by a well meaning tuner with an untuned EMS; it was waaaay rich, and the damage was done in 5-10 minutes. Rings didn't seat. I drove the motor for 500 miles but it smoked like a bonfire the whole time and the rings never did seat. Out of the car it came, and back to the builder, who stripped it, rehoned it, put in new rings and bearings for the bottom end (the rod bearings looked 5 years old due to "silent" detonation from all the oil it was burning). So that $10K motor wound up costing me around $13K due to being broken in with an untuned fuel system. No way am I going to chance that again.

Justen, LPG in vapor injection form is a low pressure system, so low in fact that in freezing weather, depending on how much butane there is in the gas, there may not be enough pressure in the tank to start the motor! You're thinking of the liquid LPG injection systems which run at much higher pressures. Those systems are starting to become available, but are still not in the mainstream due to their complexity and cost.

I think the Dutch company Prins have the most advanced vapor injection system on the market, and it's quality stuff with Japanese Keihin injectors that have the look & feel of "real" injectors. I have some injectors from an Italian LPG manufacturer and there's no comparison. I believe our Dutch member Striker runs the Prins system on one of his cars, and he may chime in about its benefits.

I became Internet "friends" with one of the Prins reps who is also a hotrodder, and who put this system on his supercharged Cobra Mustang. With just a bit of tuning, he made "more" power on the dyno with LPG than he did with 93 octane gasoline. There's certainly a lot to like about a fuel that is already completely gaseous going into the motor, so it burns completely, and cleanly, and has roughly 105 octane.

 

[JustenGT8]

Yeah i have liked the thought of a gas system but it was the liquid LPG system that caught my attention. I have only seen mixer rings setups locally which i rate along side pushrods Gas octane has gotta help a non IC SC setup for sure.

With the liquid LPG you also get a huge temp drop with the change of state from liquid to gas...i guess the low pressure setup don't get this too? Price is definitely a winner in Oz with LPG less than half the price of the 98 octane i have to run.

 

[turboandrew]

John, will you make a custom top plate for your SC intake for the carb? Or just an adapter for the hole in your existing top plate?

I did not know Chris had a quicksilver Supra these days -looks very nice.

I hear you about the Link; I am very temped to jump on that one.

 

[cribbj]

Andrew, I'll probably use the old top plate that came with the manifold for the M112 Eaton, and just make an adaptor for that.

Andrew (Richwood) had made the M112 top plate to fit the Aussie M112's which evidently are a lot smaller than the Cobra pulloffs we have in the US, so it didn't fit my M112. Have gone with an Opcon charger now, which is shorter lengthwise as well as heightwise.

I'll try to get some pics of both chargers, side by side. The differences in size is amazing.

I'm still undecided whether to break this puppy in on gas or gasoline..... At least with gas I don't have to worry about washing cylinder walls and glazing rings, but I do have to be concerned about burning valves.

How is your project doing?

 

[turboandrew]

IMO, I would grab an off the shelf holly carb and just fire it off. I assume you'll have something to fire ignition coils?

My project is in hibernation. Too many other things in life going on, but I will be back...

 

[cribbj]

I may just go ahead and wire in the EMS and have it run the ignition only. I think I can figure out how to get that done, timed and sparking OK without damaging the motor. It's just the fueling that worries me.

An off the shelf Holley is probably the least painful way to go for a liquid fuel breakin. I don't even know that it would need a 4bbl in NA trim.....

I could probably do the same thing with an Impco 225 or 450 mixer assembly, but the builder's dyno isn't set up for gas fuel. Guess I'd have to bring my own BBQ bottle. We could dyno the motor, then have a BBQ --- Yeehaa! ;-)

 

[Toysrme]

Holy cow that is a gigantic turbo.

 

[cribbj]

Yeah, that thing reminded me more of a gas turbine inlet than a turbocharger!

I don't know what they'll do for packaging if bigger turbos become available. There's just no more room between the motor and the shock tower, without some beating.