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So, after spending a summer looking across the U.S. for a sc300 2jzgte build for sale I finally pulled the trigger on one in Texas (I live in Colorado). Its a gorgeous 99 silver sc300 with blk interior. Certainly one of the nicest/ mint sc's I have ever seen.
Went down to Texas to pick it up and haul it back home.
For a while I was the proud owner of two sc's . The black one is a 93 sc400. It was my first car and its the car that made me fall in love with Lexus sc. I happily sold the car to a good friend so I still get the chance to see it occasionally.
Shortly after owning the car through I began to notice a slight knocking noise This only occurred however when the car was warmed up. One day I noticed oil leaking from the VVTI pulley cap. Oil was spewing out and the car lost a lot of oil but luckily I was close to home and had 5 quarts of oil in the trunk. The knocking was beginning to get worse and worse. I suspected it was a loose rod cap so I did a few tests to check. I also did an injector test and suspected that the knocking was coming from the 6th cylinder. I replaced the spark plugs and put the car in the garage for the night. The next morning I started up the car and the engine ran like a motor boat. It sounded like it was running on half the cylinders. White smoke that smelled like fuel was flowing out the exhaust. I took the car home and scanned a code for a 6th cylinder misfire . I was suspecting that the bearing in the 6th cylinder sized to the crank and was causing the engine to run like crap. I took the oil pan off and found this.
Just as I suspected the bearing was spun in the 6th cylinder but when I took the cap off I realized that it did NOT spin a bearing. The bearing however was not in perfect shape though or the journal.
I took off the cap on the 5th cylinder and the bearing was in ok shape but the journal was not
So after trying to figure out why it was running so poorly I found a loose injector wire (6th cylinder) that I suspect was the problem.
But the crank and bearings were not in the best shape, so I decided to pull the motor and do a bottom end rebuild.
Right now I am currently looking into all the parts I'm going to need for the rebuild. Does any one know what bearing clearances are recommended for boosted 2jz's? Any input about rebuilding would be helpful.
Some parts have arrived. I got a machined crankshaft with 20 off the mains and 10 off the rods. I went with some king racing bearings as I hear these are the real deal. Does anyone know if measuring the clearances with plasti gage will be sufficient or will I need to use precision measuring tools to measure clearances before I put it back together?
could have something to do with that intake manifold, check to see how its put together. typically the gte intake does not fit on a ge, the runners don't line up that well.. even if its welded.
could have something to do with that intake manifold, check to see how its put together. typically the gte intake does not fit on a ge, the runners don't line up that well.. even if its welded.
Yes the previous owner cut and rewelded all the lower runners to get the intake to fit. The intake and throttle body was from a VVTI TT.
Unless your goal is 700+, the stock Toyota bearings and clearances are fine.
Second-guessing on bearing clearance = low oil pressure.
Im thinking far enough down the road I would like to have the car 700 plus. Thats if I find the money to do so. Im thinking the next steps are standalone, r154, fuel rail, 1000cc injectors, fuel pump and possibly E85.
Pretty clean car I must say. I didn't even notice it was a tt IM. I thought it was after market when I first glanced at the engine bay shot lol. 700 can be very achievable with the setup you plan on running. Patience is everything. GL
Update: So I opened up the bottom end and took out all the old bearings and crank. It looks like no bearing spun but most of them suffered a lack of oiling. I was going to inspect the oil pump to see of it is still good but ill just get a new one based on the lack of oil in most of the bearings.
I spent about 5 hours cleaning and prepping the new bearings and crankshaft making sure they were spotless before I put them in. I put in all the main bearings and new crank. When I torqued down all the main caps however the crank would not move by hand I didn't force it to turn but the crank was seized. I took all the caps off and tried putting one on at a time. I was able to get Caps 3,4,5,6 on and have the crank move freely. When I would torque down the 1st ,2nd, and 7th cap however the crank would seize. Im taking the crankshaft tomorrow to get it inspected to see if its within tolerance. If it checks out then I will probably have to get the block line honed which would require the head to come off which I didnt want to do.
So I went ahead and took the rest of the engine apart. I took the block to one of the best machine shops in the area. Before they were going to line hone it they measured the block and found it to be perfectly strait. The only other thing that could have kept the crank seized is the bearings. I took the bearings into the machine shop and they put it all together and the crank was spinning perfectly I have no idea what would have kept the crank from not spinning but anyways the bottom end all checks out. The forged pistons looked like they had seem better days. The machinist said the block will have to be bored an additional .10 over and also decked which means new pistons. For my horsepower goals a forged piston seems like an overkill but it is really the only thing they offer on the market. Those forged pistons are expensive but it seems like it is my only option right now.
Just wondering if the cylinders have no scoring why the need to bore or were there ? If it has to be rebored , you might as well go with the next more common piston upsize of .20 (86.5mm) pistons . For the 2JZ the more common sizes will be 86mm , 86.5mm (.20) or 87mm (.40) . Easier to find different piston brands you can choose from with those sizes. They are off the shelf.
Just wondering if the cylinders have no scoring why the need to bore or were there ? If it has to be rebored , you might as well go with the next more common piston upsize of .20 (86.5mm) pistons . For the 2JZ the more common sizes will be 86mm , 86.5mm (.20) or 87mm (.40) . Easier to find different piston brands you can choose from with those sizes. They are off the shelf.
Ya the cylinder walls have about .10 of damage that needs to be bored out. So a .40 bore and 87mm piston is probably what I will go with the cylinder walls were previously bored .20 over.
So as an update I went ahead and and decided to rebuild the whole engine. I took the block and head to the best machine shop in town. Here are some of the things I had done:
Block
Hot tanked block/ crank
Decked
Bored block to .40 over
Wiseco Forged Pistons
New crank
King race bearings
Reconditioned rods
New Pin bushings
new core plugs
Head
Full valve job
Set valve stem height
milled head
I had Lees Machine shop assemble the block and they did a great job. Stared assembling the block and this is where I'm at up to this point. Im currently looking into engine management cause I'm thinking the current Unichip piggyback just won't do.
The engine building is coming along slowly. I find I don't have much free time these days but the engine is almost assembled and back together. I am ordering a really nice aftermarket oil cooler with a thermostat from drift motion so I'm waiting to instal that. Cant wait till she is finally back together and I get to start her up again.
Got the engine back together with all the new parts like the drift motion oil cooler and Defi gauges. Heres how it looks currently.
The car runs and sounds great! Im being extremely cautious to check oil and fluid levels doing the engine break in process. Soon I will be able to rev it up and see what Ive been missing.
Its been a while since I have posted. I haven't been driving the car a whole lot but I have made a few major upgrades. I got some new rubber all the way around (Extreme Contact DWS06) Definitely grips the road a lot better then my previous Falken tires. Also got a an AEM v2 and wiring harness from Dezod. I had Underpressure Performance do the install on it and they did a great job. I need to hook up an iac valve to the AEM to get the idle right. The car just stalls once it warms up. Other then that I need to fix an exhaust leak and then it is ready to turn the boost up
12-02-16, 06:06 PM
SC300 99 2JZ NA-T Build
. The black one is a 93 sc400. It was my first car and its the car that made me fall in love with Lexus sc. I happily sold the car to a good friend so I still get the chance to see it occasionally.
This only occurred however when the car was warmed up. One day I noticed oil leaking from the VVTI pulley cap. Oil was spewing out and the car lost a lot of oil but luckily I was close to home and had 5 quarts of oil in the trunk. The knocking was beginning to get worse and worse. I suspected it was a loose rod cap so I did a few tests to check. I also did an injector test and suspected that the knocking was coming from the 6th cylinder. I replaced the spark plugs and put the car in the garage for the night. The next morning I started up the car and the engine ran like a motor boat. It sounded like it was running on half the cylinders. White smoke that smelled like fuel was flowing out the exhaust. I took the car home and scanned a code for a 6th cylinder misfire 
. I was suspecting that the bearing in the 6th cylinder sized to the crank and was causing the engine to run like crap. I took the oil pan off and found this.
I found a loose injector wire (6th cylinder) that I suspect was the problem.
which I didnt want to do.
I have no idea what would have kept the crank from not spinning but anyways the bottom end all checks out. The forged pistons looked like they had seem better days. The machinist said the block will have to be bored an additional .10 over and also decked which means new pistons. For my horsepower goals a forged piston seems like an overkill but it is really the only thing they offer on the market. Those forged pistons are expensive but it seems like it is my only option right now.
