Single Turbo 1UZ MKII Supra Project

MKII_Supra · Feb 3, 2012

I have been slowing down on the updates. I purchased a 1UZ auto bell housing and the W58-1Uz trans adapter, so hopefully they will be here by mid-next week. Then I can really get going on fabbing everything, and judge my shifter/driveshaft options.

While I have been waiting for more parts to arrive, I have been working on getting the engine bay prepped. Starting with the passenger fender, I located all the holes I was not going to use (pretty much every single one). I quickly knocked down the paint to clean metal around the holes, and used a cone shaped die grinder bit to remove all paint from inside the bolt holes.

I have alot of undercoating to clean off things as well.

Once they were down to clean bare metal, I gathered a fire extinguisher and spray bottle of water for safety, and prepared to weld all the holes. Due to the amount of undercoating on the opposite side of the fender well, I had my father keep an eye on things while I was welding. He was at the ready with a squirt bottle. The undercoating tended to flare up (very small however) on occasion, and needed to be extinguished by simply patting it out with gloves on.

Once the welds were finished, they were slowly and carefully knocked down with a 60 grit sanding disk on a pneumatic sander:

The areas were cleaned and prepped to remove any residues and sanding particulate, and given a few coats of etching primer to cover the bare metal:

To note, I didn't feel confident enough to weld in the upper holes that are covered by the square boxing at the top of the fenders. I was afraid that if there was a flare up on the back side, I wouldn't be able to put it out it time to stop damage/death. I think they will fill in fine with some fibergalss filler.

Next on the list is to remove this monstrosity. I tried to make a larger opening for a CAI when I was very young, and obviously did a poor job. It seems like a somewhat flat patch piece should weld in easily, and be good practice for when I actually get over to the battery tray area.

Thanks,

-Mike

MKII_Supra · Feb 4, 2012

I cleaned all the undercoating off the frame rail and inner fender on the passenger side, and began to lay out how I was going to cut out a patch panel for the big hole.

I will most likely weld in a patch for the 3" IC pipe hole I previously used, but will wait until I know what I am going to do for my new pipes.

I cut out the hole as I designated it, and following Seamus' advice I ground down the paint on the edges of both sides of the cuts.

Using a piece of paper and a crayon, I rub-transfered the hole to create a template, and cut it out of some steel sheet stock the same thickness as the original metal. There was some slight patina on both sides of the new metal, so I skimmed over the entire surface.

Once the shape was modified to fit and allow a small gap for weld to fill in, I sprayed both sides with a few light coats of etching primer, and then cleaned the edges to bare metal.

I slowly worked my way around placing tacks to secure the new panel. I used super strong hard drive magnets from an old PC to hold the pannel flush with the original material at each tack.

I continued to slowly work my way around the panel, spacing my tacks as to not overheat and warp the sections. I welded the panel in fully until it passed the "light not passing through the other side" test.

I started to knock down the welds with a 60 grit Roloc disk, constantly moving to not gouge any of the metal. Here is an intermediate phase:

After grinding, I sprayed a few coats of etching primer on the engine bay side to any bare metal. I cleaned the welds on the reverse side with a wire wheel as best I could, then sprayed the bare areas with some etching primer. I followed the inner fender side up with a few heavy coats of satin black Rustoleum.

A tiny bit of spot filler on a few indentations and a few coats of primer later, I couldn't be happier with my first real "bodywork" project:

I can't believe how straight and flush it is. It may have taken me all this morning to do it, but the 5 hours where well worth it.

Moving on, I removed this beast the best I could. The spot welds on the back side were easily visible on the clean paint, but the rusted side was much to muddled to find all the spots. Since there was so much cancer, it simply broke off with a few tugs after removing the spot welds I could find.

The area left behind is riddled with problems. I stabbed my way around the section to find where the cancer was minimal and where it needs replacing.

I am not sure how I am going to tackle this yet. I unfortunately do not have the convenience to remove the fenders or front bumper due to my body kit. It is obvious that the metal has to be removed all the way to the radiator support, so I may just have to remove the old seam sealer and lip with spot welds, and weld the new metal directly to the radiator support. I also have to dig in deeper to see how sturdy the frame rail is at the radiator support, and the lower radiator support itself.

Thanks,

-Mike

XR8tt · Feb 4, 2012

Cut out rusted area.. Treat with rust remover..
Weld in sections like you've done on CAI ...
I went through this when I bought the Celica..
Down left hand side was rusted bad.. Must have parked that side near the
ocean ??Lol..
Weld and hammer new section into place after making cardboard template like you've done.. You'll be surprised how easy it is and nice it comes out.. I found using slightly thicker weld in sections made it easier
to mig weld.. The angle grinder and sanding disks get a work out !!!
WHY do people bog over rust only making repairs 10 times harder !!!
Thread with Por15 http://www.por15.com/
to prevent it comeing back..

4U2QUIK · Feb 4, 2012

for the rust use rust mort. It stopps the rust dead in it's tracks.

MKII_Supra · Feb 7, 2012

Thanks everyone.

I received my bellhousing and crank trigger setup, and was happy to begin sorting them out.

A bit of oddness on the crank setup:

No instructions were given for the crank trigger I purchased from lextreme.com. Needless to say, it is a very high quality two piece set to mimic the original wheels' concavity toward the VR sensor. I made sure my car was set to TDC by both the crank pulley (And timing cover marks) and the crank timing gear and the inner casting mark.

Quickly slipping on the OEM trigger, note how it does not center any of the teeth directly over the VR sensor. Also note, that the VR sensor is indeed supposed to be located in the hole as pictured. It is just the way these motors are.

I installed the lower spacer over the crank woodruff, and slid over the trigger wheel on top. I have marked on the wheel as I have seen others install and modify their wheels on lextreme.com.

Note that once the alignment holes are centered on each other, the trigger wheel teeth do not seem to center perfectly over the sensor when the crank is at TDC.

I found this strange, and found a few posts on lextreme.com about a similar setup and his issues with alignment. The original discussion can be found here:

http://www.lextreme.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7200&page=8

Cribbj claims that a sloppy timing belt allows the crank trigger to be slightly advanced, as mine seems to be:

He goes on to explain that once he tightens the slack in his tensioning setup for the timing belt, the crank wheel now sits correctly where it should in relation to TDC:

My only question is, what does the timing tension have to do with you personally aligning your crank pulley to TDC? The timing belt shouldn't have any influence on you simply aligning both the TDC indentations on the motor since you are adjusting the crank's position.

Am I missing something here? Is there indeed supposed to be about 5 degrees of advance for any reason? I have to rotate my trigger wheel to the following position to have the teeth correctly oriented over the VR sensor at TDC:

Note how the holes do not line up. Hmm...

I hope it is just me being an idot about something simple.

Thanks,

-Mike

4U2QUIK · Feb 7, 2012

I always thought the slot was so you could put a screw thru the hole and into the slot so you could rotate the teeth to where you need them. Or at least that's the impression I got.

MKII_Supra · Feb 7, 2012

That is what I thought also, but was just curious as to how Cribbj's crank key and the VR tooth are perfectly 90 degrees apart.

The material is very thin where the trigger wheel wraps the crank pulley. I think I will rotate it to where I want it, and drill a few new holes in the outer material to tap and set screws in.

-Mike

MKII_Supra · Feb 15, 2012

Ok, it’s been a bit since I have posted updates. I was hoping to receive my transmission adapter and update the fitment last week, but alas I am still waiting for it. I have kept plenty busy however with lots of smaller projects.

I committed to the location of the trigger wheel teeth in relation to the crank sensor. I decided to keep the tooth perfectly aligned over the sensor, and adjust using Megasquirt if there is any offset needed. I aligned the two wheel halves to their correct orientation, and used perfectly toleranced screws to keep the wheels concentric before drilling new fastening holes.

Holes were drilled in an area where there was enough material (in an even pattern for balance), and tapped for small set bolts.

Thread locker was used to hold the bolts in place. The ends of the bolts protruded from the wheel backing, which need to be removed for correct fitment.

The ends were carefully ground down smooth.

The final position of the sensor and wheel at top dead center:

With the crank sensor finished, I still needed something to do while I waited for more parts to arrive. The original brake booster looked like it could use a good cosmetic refreshening. The entire booster was knocked down with scuff pads to remove corrosion and prep the surface.

The entire unit was then sprayed with self-etching metal primer, and sanded down smooth to 400 grit.

Finally, the booster received two coats of gloss black, and two coats of clear for an enduring shine.

To continue to clean and prep the engine bay, I needed to reach the frame rails in their entirety. I decided the easiest thing to do would be to remove the entire front subframe.

Seeing the dirty and dated condition of all the front subframe pieces, I thought it be best to indulge my OCD and replace all old rubbers with poly units, and clean all the metal parts back to new. New suspension bits such as ball joints and tie rods are also on their way.

All the metal components where cleaned to bare metal bones, and followed by etching primer and gloss black enamel.

A few people have asked for better pictures of the engine/cross member clearances with PeeWee’s mounts, and thought bolting my naked cross member to the engine would be the best way to do so.

Note the OEM oil pressure sensor is rubbing the motor perch with no pigtail. A 90 degree adapter would be required to use the bulky 5M unit if wanting to retain the OEM cluster pressure gauge. (I will be using my Autometer unit and feeding the turbo)

Who says the 1UZ wasn’t made to fit in the MA61? 

I also wanted to get the radiator installed, so I could start to determine just how I was going to route my piping once I settle the motor in with the transmission. I went ahead and order a universal Griffin two-row aluminum radiator:

Once determining the position that I wanted the radiator to be in, it was evident that the new filler neck position was going to slightly interfere with the radiator support.

A radiused clearance notch was drawn onto the top of the support to indicate the relief that needed to be removed.

A random plastic object was used as a guide for the plasma cutter.

The new notch clears the radiator cap just fine. Don’t worry, a legit Griffin radiator cap will be here tomorrow.

Since the area I cut also included a support for the radiator panel, I found it to be a bit too flimsy for my liking. I quickly made a small support bracket to mate the radiator panel to the radiator support.

It was then primed and spot welded in place. I opted for rivets on the radiator support section.

A lip was then welded to match the original edge on the radiator panel. An in-between shot:

Upper and lower radiator mounts where then fabbed to secure the radiator in place.

The steering rack looked a bit nasty, so it received a full makeover and inspection/seal check.

With all the wiring tucked out of the bay, the only thing I wanted to show was the main fuse for the entire car. For the Painless harness, this covers all the electronics besides the starter from the battery. I had lots of issued with the itsy bitsy fuse holder they provided. (Current designed for older low amperage muscle cars) I decided to mount a beefy audio fuse holder.

-Mike

MKII_Supra · Feb 15, 2012

I decided to go ahead and start the fab work I can without the engine in the car. I haven't finalized the location for the turbo yet, but was able to begin routing the manifolds and crossover pipe.

By suggestion from some of the peeps on Lextreme.com, I sourced a pair of Tundra manifolds. The units I purchased were the 05-06 semi-log style units. I wanted the early full-log style manifolds, but was unable to find any for sale. These manifolds have nice beefy flanges, and are routed a bit friendlier for a turbo setup.

(New manifolds in center)

There are EGR tubes that run the length of the flanges. They draw exhaust gasses from ports above the exhaust exits on the 2UZ heads, which are not on the 1UZ heads.

The driver's side (reversed passenger) manifold allows much more clearance from the oil filter, and exits in a more favorable location. Also, the original LS400 dipstick can be installed without having to modify any of the primaries.

The passenger side (flipped driver) manifold still needs to be modified to clear the alternator, but is much better than the LS400 units.

The merge location was removed on the passenger side, and after some trim work it was reattached to clear the alternator. I also removed the EGR tube while I was chopping things apart.

Keep in mind, I am an untrained welder taught by only my guess and check experience. I am really starting to understand how imperative it is to have extremely clean metal to weld.

The driver's side flange was removed, and one of the 2.25" V-Band flanges was welded to the end.

Getting excited about making some intercooler pipes, I made my first transition pieces to the throttle body. I will not know how to route the rest of the intake up-pipe until the engine is mounted with the transmission.

I'm pretty tickled that I think my welding is getting salvageable.

The crossover pipe was cut from a 2.25" J-bend, with a small pie cut to align everything perfectly.

Once welded, the fitment is great. I kept it close to the crank pulley for radiator/sway bar clearance, but gave myself plenty of clearance to reach the crank bolt if needed.

The finished product for the night:

(V-band on the end of the crossover pipe is just hanging out; it is not for that location)

Thanks everyone,

-Mike

cribbj · Feb 15, 2012

Mike, it's the first time I've checked in on your thread in awhile - very nice attention to detail! That ignition looks especially impressive, even though I'm a COP kind of guy

In retrospect, my crank trigger wheel being off should have been the first tipoff to me about the effects of head & block shaving, but it wasn't until much later, after we'd discovered the cams were out too that I realised what was happening, and Rod & I wrote this article to give others a heads up: http://www.lextreme.com/Cam-Timing.html

So seeing that your trigger wheel was initially off also, and/or your timing belt seems a bit loose, I would definitely break out the degree wheel and your dial indicators and check your cams' timing.

The crank trigger can be fixed the way you did it, but you'll need adjustable sprockets on the 2 intake cams to fix the issue up on top.

Keep at it - you've got a gorgeous build going!

4U2QUIK · Feb 15, 2012

you know what's weird? is that the ones I got were more like what you modified those tundra headers to be like. and w/o the egr tubes. I'll have to post some pics when I have time

MKII_Supra · Feb 15, 2012

do you have the pre-2005 Tundra units? Those are what I really wanted, but couldn't find a set for sale.

Cribbj, thanks for the input!

-Mike

XR8tt · Feb 16, 2012

Are you fitting an expansion joint / bellow on the crossover pipe ??
Good work..

MKII_Supra · Feb 17, 2012

No expansion joint in the works. I think there should be enough length and support to allow a bit of expansion/contraction in the system without having to wory about sealing or welds breaking.

4U2, how long is the lead time on one of your aluminum flywheels? I purchased the Quantum-Auto W58-1UZ adapter on the 1st (2/01/2012) after being told that there was one currently available to be shipped on 2/06/2012, but haven't seen or heard anything anything. It's kind of amazing how when I emailed Jake expressing interest in sending him $330+ of my money, he responded in 15 minutes, but he hasn't responded in days to any of my inquiring about my order.

It really is too bad; I have opened the door to alot of interest in 1UZ swaps through my community. When they ask me who to go to for their transmission adapting issues, I don't think I will be recommending Quantum.

Thanks everyone,

-Mike

cribbj · Feb 17, 2012

Mike, we have a subforum for vendor experiences, good or bad, and there's already a thread on Quantum if you wish to add something to it:

http://www.lextreme.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11656

4U2QUIK · Feb 17, 2012

Quantum has nice products, and I've spoken with jake before and he seems like a cool guy and all but their lead time is usually a month on anything you order, and from what I've heard, their customer support is lacking a lot.

Typically all of my adaptor kits I keep on the shelf as much as possible. But, since the aluminum flywheels are made to order, they take about 4 weeks for now, but I plan on going into production with them sometime next month.

MKII_Supra · Feb 21, 2012

Thanks everyone. A quick teaser of the new progress:

Hopefully I will have alot more updates tonight!

-Mike

JustenGT8 · Feb 21, 2012

Looking good mate.

No power steering pump makes the engine look a lot neater.

JustenGT8 · Feb 21, 2012

and BTW. You can press out the unuse fan pulley.....it's just an interference fit in the alloy housing.

MKII_Supra · Feb 21, 2012

Thanks peeps.

I decided to clean up the 1UZ auto bell housing, and test fit it installed on the engine for the next drop in.

Once the engine was installed again, the bell housing fit without any issues. The intake however does not have enough clearance to allow for the engine to sway a bit:

The dipstick will need to be massaged a bit to allow the pipe to sit further in. I would like at least a half inch clearance to the tower if possible.

Hard to tell, but the bell housing fits the factory tunnel with no issues, avoiding all brake/fuel lines in the process.

After much deliberation, I decided to move the turbo back closer to the engine. (Less distance to the manifolds to create a smaller moment arm for less stress due to the turbo’s weight)

At this orientation, I will need to cut off the upper radiator inlet and have a friend TIG weld a 45 degree elbow to clear the compressor housing (and aim the rad inlet to the motor outlet). The turbo inlet will need to be a sharp turned silicone 90 to a stubby air filter.

Once the final turbo position was decided, I fabricated a couple temporary locating arms to hold the t4 flange in place for fabricating the rest of the manifold up-pipes.

Also while the engine was installed, I noted all the measurements of reference points to the frame rail for finishing the passenger manifold/up-pipe.

After seeing the limited amount of room I had to incorporate a v-band on the passenger manifold and allow for wastegate room, a few pie cut bends were needed to transition to the turbo flange.

Not the most efficient design in the world, but will work fine.

Once the engine was out of the car, the crossover pipes and up-pipes could be finished to the turbo flange.

I am surprised how sturdy the entire system is with the v-bands and pipes, enough to easily hold the weight of the turbo with no issues. I will still be making a few support brackets to take a bit of the turbo weight load off the manifolds and pipes.

Shifting attention, I have been slowly piecing together the updated front suspension. New control arm bushings needed to be greased and pressed into their collars.

After noticing that the collars squeezed the poly bushings enough to increase their length slightly, they may need a bit of trimming to fit to a correct tolerance in the front cross member.

Moog ball joints were installed to replace the tired originals.

The control arms were totally refreshed, ready with new sway bar links and reconditioned steering arms.

I purchased a set of poly engine mounts from Don, which are the 1UZ swap mounts for the MKIII sold by DriftMotion. Comparison to the 5M MA61 stock units reveals that they will not sit on the nice cradle perches of the cross member since the bases are not the same shape. The poly units are also slightly shorter. I reinstalled the engine to test fit the new turbo manifolds and merge pipes, but found it rather difficult to mate with the new poly mounts in place. I was able to finally massage everything together enough to run all four engine mount bolts in, but noticed the engine sat a bit crooked compared to how perfectly it fit with the OEM mounts. I will either need to figure a way to mount the poly mounts in a manner more closely to the OEM units, or not use them and stick with the originals that place the engine perfectly.

Engine is in, but at a slightly different orientation compared to using the OEM engine mount rubbers.

The turbo fit is a tight squeeze to the passenger inner fender. A well placed smack with a heavy pipe and hammer normal to the hot side should clear up a bit more clearance if needed.