Polishing a shiny turd

Not the update I wanted to share but at 12:30am two nights ago, she couldn't make it home on her own 4 wheels. I had been testing her around town for the day. The first evening we sprung a huge leak off the evac pipe when I forgot to clamp it. Forgetful. When the actual test drive happened, my brother and I had noticed some transmission slipping. Wasn't exactly sure it was the transmission or ECU causing the slow shifts. I guess one too many times I tried blipping the skinny pedal on turns with low rpm. The rpm tach shot up but not holding the power. After just cruising it started lugging and forward momentum was lost. I've heard of others with the same issue. Overheating, requiring rebuild (of what? Torque converter? Valvebody?).. at this point I don't want to spend my holiday in the garage so I'll tow her to the transmission shop tomorrow.

So lesson of the day: too much power can be a bad thing 🤭

She was pulling hard

You can see the slipping here. Felt fast but RPM was skipping

Engine running smooth after the headgasket replacement and s/c install

Leaking? This was before the hose popped off. Gaskets would be burning off but so would any fluid if it was leaking

And she piggy backed it all the way home


Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone reading this update.

Been a minute or two. I had my transmission replaced with a junkyard unit and swapped in a heavy duty torque converter at this time. She pulls very hard. I can imagine rolling on smaller tires. It could be very competitive against current model vehicles. Obviously I'm not racing, but the 1GR-FE engine is no slouch. I suppose this could be a informal install post of my supercharger.

Magnuson S/C
2.7 Smoothflow Pulley
URD Ucon
URD exhaust cam gear
NST Aluminum water pump pulley
Roush tensioner
VW idler belt wrap
CSF radiator
170° thermostat
Flex-a-lite electric fan w/ Derale PWM fan controller
Aluminum S/C coolant reservoir
Ripp coilpacks
Denso VKH22 spark plugs
IST timing chain kit
Felpro head gasket/head bolts


While I'll try to recall everything I slapped on the engine, I tried to keep it reliable. Sometimes keeping it reliable isn't simple in application. A little more work and more days put in to perfect the things we love.

First off, started by tearing most of it down to replace the headgasket and timing chain. It seemed like it had been completed once already to replace the headgasket or timing chain. Better sooner than later because I had an ugly cover leak. Oil and dirt seemed to be collecting all over the timing cover/ps pump/block. Pics were after some cleaning with engine brite..



Nothing a little TLC won't do.. some sharp pokey objects and brushes until the arms about to fall off



A factory service manual will help loads. While I'm sure anyone can remove and reinstall, Engine building requires some experience whether it's a class to educate or someone more knowledgeable to guide you. I mention this because a FSM will tell you to remove basically everything (service techs bill by the hour). Fortunate to have had previous builds under the belt and friends to bounce ideas off of. Remember that planning and building a list ahead of time will save headaches.







Not the most conventional way to clean a head but I didn't opt for the full valve job because I'll build another motor later for higher hp. You can see the carbon scale. Removed most of that with a diluted simple green/purple power. This stuff will etch aluminum if left too long so be mindful. Machine shops will use this in a hot tank with a similar lye solution to dissolve buildup, but the solution is able to eat metal as well. It's very effective but you'll also have to complete a valve job. Make sure to resurface the cylinder head mating surface!




To be continued..

Pulling my motor in '05

After breaking my back enough times, climbing in and out of the bay, I think the best way to work on this in the future is unbolting the trans and pulling the whole motor. Then you can get at all angles and proper torque all the bits. Doesn't exactly work with the engine in the bay. Sometimes you're limited by space. Remember to tag, bag and label everything.

Now that the mostly everything was cleaned. The fun part :cough: was to attempt to assemble everything




Clean cover with new oil pump rotors and clean block




Fancy TRD 450cc injectors




To be continued

While you're slapping everything back together, some torque values to remember:

Crankshaft / harmonic balancer 185 ft-lbs
Cylinder head bolts, ¹• 27 ft-lb, then ²• 180°
Camshaft caps 80in-lbs
Timing cover 20+ bolts vary but about 15-18 ft lbs

Too many darn bolts and when you're using Permatex 90 minute gasket maker, you should let it set 60 minutes before attaching and lining up the crankshaft collar to fit the oil pump.
Then start bolting things down, quickly.




Then you're able to torque the crankshaft pulley to 185 ft-lbs.


Before most of the peripheral items are back on, the engine looks so clean without all the clutter




And you can start to see all the clutter build up




I like the OEM look though. Gives it a little bit of character without going TuRD.

All running and buttoned up


When I first started it up, need new videos!

Adapt

2017


2018


2019


2021
l

Total Chaos strut tower gussets and Marlin Crawler HD cam tabs in. I started seeing a huge crack in my LCA mount. I've heard of it happening to others and the LCA completely hanging off. Luckily we caught it before. Install time was about 4 hours prep (tearing apart the front) and 18 hours doing both installs. We had a lot of issues with putting everything back

Tips: weld slowly as there's lots of room for shrinkage/deformity and let it cool for proper amount of time. Use both of the washers plus the sleeve in the spacing for each bushing when passing through the UCA bolt. It will help minimize the variance later. Just some things we noted for next time.

Impressions: much stiffer in the front end now. No funny noises and if you can fit it on your fabrication budget, it's worth it to improve durability. I can see this mod upping the vehicles value if done right. Hoping for no more cracks!.



Upper




Lower




Back on

Only constant is change..

Current
Fab new bumper by Billy Drake Jr. and Pride Customs
2% the radiator frame
Order macho nachos

To-do
Mount/wire LP4 lights
Rebuild front coilovers
Mount bypass hoops and shocks
DMZ engine mount reinforcements
934 cv axles

Unsprung weight, the silent addition.

It's been a year since I jumped to 39s from 37s. The unsprung weight rocketed, from 70 to 89lbs. A whopping 19 lbs. They say that 1lb of weight is about 1/10 of a second slower in acceleration. I was starting to feel the weight. This wasn't an issue on 37s but with the taller rotating mass has been killing it. So why don't I go back? Because we've gone too far!

I hope to continue driving on the 39s with supporting mods like an front e locker (when money permits) and upgraded the axles to the 934 hubs and 300m axles. And in the rear, ford 9" with the 3/4 link setup. In the meantime, doing what I can to improve little by little. Jumping to forged wheels helped me drop 4 lbs in each corner! This is crazy when it seems like industry standard for a cast formed wheel is at least 25lbs each. The Titan T-AK1 are 20.4lbs each! They use anti slip tire bead seating for low PSI. And did I already mention they're forged and stronger than cast?

There's also a 10-15% increase in fuel economy so far. I'm just gaining back lost mpg so nothing new but just to keep in mind your next hot wheel set up.



Titan T-AK1 17x8.5 -8