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Cliff notes - 1999 sc300, Golden Peal White
- port & polished 2jzge vvti head
- planned for a vortech supercharger
- got 2jzgte non vvti instead
- new plans for single turbo E85, 5 speed.
Hello club lexus, i'm a new member and i couldnt find an introduction thread so i guess ill just start in build. (if thats a good idea?)
A little background of myself, im a former owner of an s13 like many z30 owners i have noticed. i purchased a 1999 sc300 just plainly to drive like a civil human being, Its been about 8 months of no drifting, slamming, speeding. The car has 245,000 miles and change, and unsurprisingly yet surprisingly i need to replace a compromised 2jz head gasket.
On my list of things to do, well, change it.
then i had the "i minus well do this... then this... and that.." thing.
Now its just become something of a build.
I will be catering to the vvti 2jzge's limits and not pushing them so its not expected to be a highway bully. So this will be an under ~300whp build.
The 98+ sc300s are the weird young siblings.
returnless fuel, vvti, weaker rods, ect.
I dont want to convert much with fuel than more than whats needed.
I would like to come back to somewhat stock easily to pass CA emissions. (im tired of going around it, if you know what i mean.)
PLANS
I will need to take off the head to get the gasket, so while its out and getting inspected i told the shop to just do a full head job. I believe i was quoted 1000 or so, but whatever ill pay to play.
ill just be using the factory GTE head gasket, im not entirely sure if its necessary but i already ordered it.
ARP headstuds
miscellaneous gaksets/Orings/hoses.
koyorad OE replacement. (not sure if i needed it but oh well.)
OEM waterpump. (not sure if i needed it but oh well.)
I think that would be it upon return of the reworked head.
Next i will be looking to buy a mild vortech supercharger to test fit for fabricating brackets.
Yeah no NA-T here, sorry.
Its not a choice to be different or get unique points, its just that its easy to apply without changing a lot specific to 98+ SCs
Please remember i dont want any trouble with smog, been on the other side.. not fun.
i understand im kind of traveling in uncharted waters for supercharged SCs but it shouldnt be too different than supercharged is300s.
ill be keeping the stock exhaust because its nice on freeway drives so i guess ill be a "sleeper" not sure if that will count, superchargers are audible.
to tune with, i think is300 guys are having good luck with greddy e-manage ultimate for a piggyback, i might try that. They seem to run well 50-50 chance with aem FIC-6. i think that part will be what will get me in the end but we'll see.
I guess just stay tuned, if you're not interested maybe just check back in a few months to check on my mediocre build.
thanks for looking and i think i enjoy this forum a bit more than zilvia or nicoclub, its not as cluttered and the members seem to be more mature.
but yeah this is just my hello & sorry if i wrote a little too much.
Thanks, & i got it for 4000. In L.A thats considered cheap for a 99. Under the circumstances, i supposed the price was right. It ran smooth and nothing out of the ordinary initially, so i guess its just my luck that the head gasket blew on me although it had higher mileage. Add another 1200 to get it 100% working and thats the range for 98+ sc300.
But I wonder if I'm going to see a little turbo instead of a super charger soon.
Thanks, & NA-T isnt completely out of the picture but i think it takes a little more effort to do that instead of a centrifugal. I think the cost is what deters people away but im just paying for the simplicity, not the figures.
Thanks, & i got it for 4000. In L.A thats considered cheap for a 99. Under the circumstances, i supposed the price was right. It ran smooth and nothing out of the ordinary initially, so i guess its just my luck that the head gasket blew on me although it had higher mileage. Add another 1200 to get it 100% working and thats the range for 98+ sc300.
$4k for a 1999 SC300 is a good buy . The guy who was in my place yesterday told me he paid $7k for his two months ago.
Its been a while like a month and some days since i had my car running but i got through everything just fine. The actual time that i had my hands on the car was about 4 days altogether (2 days disassembly 3hrs+3hrs, 2 days assembly 3hrs+5hrs) The majority of the time i was waiting for the cylinder head to be finished. I also ran into an issue as you will see.
Here are some pictures:
Cylinder head upon return (Fully dressed, this thing is soooo heavy.)
I dont really have a Before & After pictures since the ports had a ton of build up of oil/dirt prior to getting it cleaned and machined for just a stage 1 mild port and polish job. I just gave the shop the gaskets and told them not to go too crazy on the material and let them know my plans for what i am doing. I was quoted for $1150 and the final was $1153 ( i dont know where the $3 came from)
If anyone is ever wondering about doing a head gasket replacement, remember to screw in the coolant sensors and water neck right after you torque the head studs. ( Dont forget the camshaft position sensor if your have VVT-I... dont be a fool like me and install the intake manifold and find out you didnt do that. )
Ill spare you the picture where everything was put back together since its just a stock 2jzge
however...
I put the hex key too far inside the tensioner so it caught on something and i couldnt pull it out. Its very weird because i was so cautious of putting it in, i must have pushed it in further just so it can fit through the space i had.
But thats okay, you can bend it back and take it out.
But then i broke the head off the bolt of the 12mm for the tensioner.
Yeah i got boned hard on that because the space to get a drill bit inside is just not there.
Harmonic balancer had to come off and that was great..
but it got handled and the car currently runs so smooth you could balance a penny on its side on the spark covers. We were trying to put a dime on it, but its hard to do it even on a table so we just stopped there.
Also, i got a CEL after about 20min of driving around so i had to double check everything but i couldnt find anything. The timing was spot on with a timing light so i was under the impression that the ecu was relearning. So i did a fat burnout at my friends house and it went away.
VERDICT?
If anyone is wondering, the thicker head gasket and ported head combination on a stock VVT-I 2jzge feels more than what people claim. I was not expecting much out of it since i did not install cams or headers or even a BFI intake. It idles normally, but the lower compression and slightly more headflow makes the delivery slightly different, my only analogy i can think of is if someone was pulling a cart with a rope and compare it to a bungie cord (its a little extreme but thats all i can think of)
. The transmission is an auto, but you can just do a pull in 2nd gear @ 25-30mph and from 1500rpm - 3300rpm it just feels stock, but around 3500 to 4000rpm VVTI changes overlap and it makes a big push to redline and it doesnt seem to drop off, thats the bungie cord kind of feel i have in between 3300rpm to 4000.
Clean looking head work, and it's looking good! Hopefully you'll be able to figure out the CEL? Post up once you figure this out? And I can only imagine the looks when folks here that SC? Big smiles!
Clean looking head work, and it's looking good! Hopefully you'll be able to figure out the CEL? Post up once you figure this out? And I can only imagine the looks when folks here that SC? Big smiles!
steve
Thanks! I think the best part was putting the spark plugs in the freshly cleaned head. It just twirls in like butter!
I caught the CEL, I did not plug in the tiny hose that connects to the VSV/vacuum assembly and intake manifold. I drove it out last night and noticed I had no heater, everything is fine now.
I got a raise in pay the last time i posted. However, i had to go to court for "speeding" while taking my grandmother to the grocery store in her CR-V. Yes N.W.A speak the truth of LAPD.
Ive basically saved my money for that court date to pay for a fine, and yes i did need to.
The car after 5 months there were some complications. --] Beginning at 1XXX miles after reinstalling the head, i got revolution clicking from the top half. It ran fine, it just sounded like someone type writing in a room.
i checked valve clearances and many of them were out of adjustment. I just re-shimed the entire head to guarantee no mistakes.
My suggestion is to remind the machine shop to keep track of the shims and to put them back where they were OG machined to be. (although you shouldnt have to) -- After buttoning up, the car wouldn't start anymore. Both crank and camshaft sensor needed to be replaced for reasons unknown. I replaced them and it ran again.
It started to lose power the week after until it slowly normalized. -- The piston rings are wearing out. Probably cause its 250k miles used and im messing with it, or related to the previous complication.
Plan B
I bought another block for less than dirt and stopped myself from putting it together. Its just safer to rebuild.
with nice internals, Im fonder of the idea for higher compression 11:1/11.5:1 to handle sub bar pressure (10-12psi) more reliably.
I think this engine will come out nice even as an NA with cams in conjunction with the ported head. NA sc300 build, a juicy contradiction.
01-05-15, 10:53 PM
Mediocre build
