Built on the floor: My '02 non VVTI jdm --> USDM GTE swap NOW WITH A PIC OR TWO!
08-02-11, 01:51 PM
#31
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Just a little update.
The car has been at Speedfab here in Jacksonville for just about 2 weeks now. I needed the charge piping and exhaust fabricated. I had all the pipes, and everything was squared away except a flange for the wastegate, and a 45 degree bend for the turbo outlet. Mix up on my end caused that snafu. BUT, it seems to me like sweet time is being taken on the car. Maybe I'm just impatient, but the work needed to be done was not too entirely difficult. And for the money, the work better be outstanding. So far i'm pleased, just ready to have the car back.
At this time, the downpipe and the rest of the exhaust has been completed. An entire 3" exhaust all the way with just a resonator inline. Welds look AMAZING, as this guy has been doing it for just about 40 years. We are STILL waiting on him to weld up a flange to the manifold for the wastegate, which has been talked about since last Thursday. Also the day he told me "it would be done this week". Eh. Anyway, Intercooler piping was about 65% done last time I saw her, and we will be installing a larger intercooler than the one I had previously decided to use. That means notching out the crash bar in order to make it fit.
So as we stand, he is welding up the flange today, and the piping still needs to get finished. Once that is done, they can fit the larger intercooler and from there it's just a 3" intake tube and done. I see it being done this week, but I was also told last week it would be finished. So who knows. I'll keep everyone posted when I hear anything.
Until then, here are a few more pics to stare at...
The car has been at Speedfab here in Jacksonville for just about 2 weeks now. I needed the charge piping and exhaust fabricated. I had all the pipes, and everything was squared away except a flange for the wastegate, and a 45 degree bend for the turbo outlet. Mix up on my end caused that snafu. BUT, it seems to me like sweet time is being taken on the car. Maybe I'm just impatient, but the work needed to be done was not too entirely difficult. And for the money, the work better be outstanding. So far i'm pleased, just ready to have the car back.
At this time, the downpipe and the rest of the exhaust has been completed. An entire 3" exhaust all the way with just a resonator inline. Welds look AMAZING, as this guy has been doing it for just about 40 years. We are STILL waiting on him to weld up a flange to the manifold for the wastegate, which has been talked about since last Thursday. Also the day he told me "it would be done this week". Eh. Anyway, Intercooler piping was about 65% done last time I saw her, and we will be installing a larger intercooler than the one I had previously decided to use. That means notching out the crash bar in order to make it fit.
So as we stand, he is welding up the flange today, and the piping still needs to get finished. Once that is done, they can fit the larger intercooler and from there it's just a 3" intake tube and done. I see it being done this week, but I was also told last week it would be finished. So who knows. I'll keep everyone posted when I hear anything.
Until then, here are a few more pics to stare at...
08-25-11, 07:31 PM
#33
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Well, it's been a few weeks since my last update on the build, and I'm proud to say that as of now, I have only very minor issues to address and she is running great, albeit Oprah rich.
I have loaded up a base map into MAPecu for USDM supra TT on 550cc injectors, and have tuned for idle at present. I ran into a few issues getting to this point, with most of it being a simple wiring mistake that took the form of larger problems.
When I first brought her home from the exhaust fabricator, not only was I a little upset at the BOV placement, she was only running on 4cyl. We had determined that a faulty injector driver in the ECU was the most likely culprit after running multiple tests. After acquiring another ECU from a 94TT 6spd supra, plugging it in, and having made no difference...I was at wits end. I bought a noid light set, and started from the beginning of the fuel and ignition system. Injectors showed a pulse on BOTH ecu's, so that right there showed me just how good my earlier diagnosis had been. Turns out the "fabricators" who worked on the car used the wrong noid light when testing my injectors at their shop.
From there, I changed plugs and confirmed they did indeed have fuel spraying at them. I switched coil packs 1 and 2 back to 5 and 6 to see if I could get 5 and 6 to fire. No dice. Wasn't coil packs. Then I traced out the coil pack harness I had made and discovered I had placed coils 5 and 6 backwards on the ignitor harness. Go me. But easy fix. Fired right up and ran amazing.
We have since only been left with a fuel leak from a very poorly designed and thought out modified stock fuel pump hanger that I purchased from a member here on the boards. This will be replaced with a CNC unit purchased from a different member. I am still trying to get my clutch pedal adjusted to where it needs to be, and my mapecu is not reading a correct AFR compared to the gauge nor is there a TPS input signal although wiring is correct. Neither of the last two actually effect the MAPecu tuning much as the wiring for those two things is totally optional.
To be completely finished with this swap will most likely take me a good bit of time. When installing the non VVTI gte and using an OBD1 supra ecu wired into the is300 chassis has caused me to lose a few functions inside the car. None of which is a HUGE deal, but I would like to eventually find a way to bring these back if possible. What was lost only consists of the following:
Stock water temp gauge
mpg gauge
outside temp. reading.
Traction control
A/c on/off controls
The a/c is a problem that can be solved very quickly once we actually decided to tackle it. The wires for the compressor are tucked into my ECU box under the hood, and ready for us to run as soon as we get the time to trace the wiring from the stock switch. My trac light flashes about every 2 seconds while the car is running, but I will most likely just remove the bulb. I'm not a huge fan of traction control anyways, and I am going to look into just removing the entire system wiring from the chassis if possible. My fuel gauge low level light has started blinking consistently whether the tank is full or empty as of about a week ago. Not quite sure what that is all about, but something that I'm sure is not such a huge deal. Gauge still reads accurately, so no worries of getting stranded right now by running out of gas.
The car sounds absolutely amazing with a 3" straight pipe exhaust. A little loud inside the cabin, and the drone can start to wear on you every so often at the right rpm. From outside the car as she rolls through the neighborhood, it really isn't as loud as you think it is when driving it. People barely seem to even notice the car cruising past. I have also yet to open her up either. I've only seen 4lbs of boost and my afr's creeped into the upper 12's and I let out. Never attempted it again. But I will tell you that this little 61mm is a fun little joker to drive on. Seems like it's always waiting to spool. I'm still wondering how my 225's are going to handle 10psi until I swap transmissions. Time shall tell. Hoping to have it tuned within a week and videos up shortly there after. Here are some pictures I have taken recently on my phone, and I will have a photo shoot set up once I can get her cleaned up and detailed. If anyone has any questions about the swap, please feel free to ask. I'll help with what I can. Enjoy the pics! Vids very soon!
I have loaded up a base map into MAPecu for USDM supra TT on 550cc injectors, and have tuned for idle at present. I ran into a few issues getting to this point, with most of it being a simple wiring mistake that took the form of larger problems.
When I first brought her home from the exhaust fabricator, not only was I a little upset at the BOV placement, she was only running on 4cyl. We had determined that a faulty injector driver in the ECU was the most likely culprit after running multiple tests. After acquiring another ECU from a 94TT 6spd supra, plugging it in, and having made no difference...I was at wits end. I bought a noid light set, and started from the beginning of the fuel and ignition system. Injectors showed a pulse on BOTH ecu's, so that right there showed me just how good my earlier diagnosis had been. Turns out the "fabricators" who worked on the car used the wrong noid light when testing my injectors at their shop.
From there, I changed plugs and confirmed they did indeed have fuel spraying at them. I switched coil packs 1 and 2 back to 5 and 6 to see if I could get 5 and 6 to fire. No dice. Wasn't coil packs. Then I traced out the coil pack harness I had made and discovered I had placed coils 5 and 6 backwards on the ignitor harness. Go me. But easy fix. Fired right up and ran amazing.
We have since only been left with a fuel leak from a very poorly designed and thought out modified stock fuel pump hanger that I purchased from a member here on the boards. This will be replaced with a CNC unit purchased from a different member. I am still trying to get my clutch pedal adjusted to where it needs to be, and my mapecu is not reading a correct AFR compared to the gauge nor is there a TPS input signal although wiring is correct. Neither of the last two actually effect the MAPecu tuning much as the wiring for those two things is totally optional.
To be completely finished with this swap will most likely take me a good bit of time. When installing the non VVTI gte and using an OBD1 supra ecu wired into the is300 chassis has caused me to lose a few functions inside the car. None of which is a HUGE deal, but I would like to eventually find a way to bring these back if possible. What was lost only consists of the following:
Stock water temp gauge
mpg gauge
outside temp. reading.
Traction control
A/c on/off controls
The a/c is a problem that can be solved very quickly once we actually decided to tackle it. The wires for the compressor are tucked into my ECU box under the hood, and ready for us to run as soon as we get the time to trace the wiring from the stock switch. My trac light flashes about every 2 seconds while the car is running, but I will most likely just remove the bulb. I'm not a huge fan of traction control anyways, and I am going to look into just removing the entire system wiring from the chassis if possible. My fuel gauge low level light has started blinking consistently whether the tank is full or empty as of about a week ago. Not quite sure what that is all about, but something that I'm sure is not such a huge deal. Gauge still reads accurately, so no worries of getting stranded right now by running out of gas.
The car sounds absolutely amazing with a 3" straight pipe exhaust. A little loud inside the cabin, and the drone can start to wear on you every so often at the right rpm. From outside the car as she rolls through the neighborhood, it really isn't as loud as you think it is when driving it. People barely seem to even notice the car cruising past. I have also yet to open her up either. I've only seen 4lbs of boost and my afr's creeped into the upper 12's and I let out. Never attempted it again. But I will tell you that this little 61mm is a fun little joker to drive on. Seems like it's always waiting to spool. I'm still wondering how my 225's are going to handle 10psi until I swap transmissions. Time shall tell. Hoping to have it tuned within a week and videos up shortly there after. Here are some pictures I have taken recently on my phone, and I will have a photo shoot set up once I can get her cleaned up and detailed. If anyone has any questions about the swap, please feel free to ask. I'll help with what I can. Enjoy the pics! Vids very soon!
08-26-11, 05:34 AM
#35
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Only looking to stay around the 400whp mark for now. I'm on the stock IS 5spd with an upgraded clutch. Once the transmission goes, it's r154 time and then I'll start looking for upwards of 500 to 600.
08-26-11, 10:05 AM
#36
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That's a rather interesting BOV placement. I can't say I've ever seen anything quite like it. Is there any functional reason for it? I'm just curious.
Gorgeous looking IS, very nicely done!
Gorgeous looking IS, very nicely done!
08-26-11, 10:45 AM
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Basic story is, I wanted the BOV on the piping either in the bumper somewhere, or wherever else it would fit. Told him to make it work, and keep it clean. There was a look I was going for with this motor and he killed it with that middle finger of a pipe he threw at me.
His story was, "I refuse to put it under the bumper and have the potential for damage to be caused, and if I could have made it fit any other way I would have, but this is all I could do". Needless to say, I threw a huge bull*hit flag on that one, told him I was not happy at all, and he said sorry, nothing I can do. I will not be working with the fabricators again after this, and a few other minor incidents that went on.
Functional reasoning? None. Wanted it done this way? Absolutely not. Does it work as intended? Yes. But with the Tial Q 50mm being so damn large, there really isn't much space to mount it. I will be talking with a few other fabricators to see what they think can be done about it, but that is the only part of this build I am not happy with. If I could weld, this car would have been completed 100% out of my one car garage. The piping was the only thing left in the hands of others. And with all the input I gave them, it still didn't come out exactly the way I had hoped.
His story was, "I refuse to put it under the bumper and have the potential for damage to be caused, and if I could have made it fit any other way I would have, but this is all I could do". Needless to say, I threw a huge bull*hit flag on that one, told him I was not happy at all, and he said sorry, nothing I can do. I will not be working with the fabricators again after this, and a few other minor incidents that went on.
Functional reasoning? None. Wanted it done this way? Absolutely not. Does it work as intended? Yes. But with the Tial Q 50mm being so damn large, there really isn't much space to mount it. I will be talking with a few other fabricators to see what they think can be done about it, but that is the only part of this build I am not happy with. If I could weld, this car would have been completed 100% out of my one car garage. The piping was the only thing left in the hands of others. And with all the input I gave them, it still didn't come out exactly the way I had hoped.
08-26-11, 10:47 AM
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What stings the most is, I had asked to be contacted about any issues that arose, and I wanted to be in the loop about any piping decisions that needed to be made. This is one of those decisions I would have liked to have been a part of. And I honestly feel that it may have been done this way as sort of a practical joke. I was by the shop almost every day, and the car was in there for almost a month. I wanted to know what they were doing to it, and why it was taking as long as it was, and I have a feeling I pissed them off by bothering them. Crappy way to do business if that is the case.
08-26-11, 08:29 PM
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Small, uninteresting videos for you all to pine over, and criticize. Enjoy! 
119_1549.MOV - YouTube
119 1553 - YouTube
2jzgte IS300 drive away through the neighborhood. - YouTube
119_1549.MOV - YouTube
119 1553 - YouTube
2jzgte IS300 drive away through the neighborhood. - YouTube
08-27-11, 07:42 AM
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the bov placement is unacceptable....and its bull**** because there are other places to put the bov...im running the same bov i had my shop suggested to put mine underneath the intake pipe
Last edited by dexlex2002; 08-27-11 at 07:45 AM.
08-27-11, 08:11 AM
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Thanks for the pics man. I'm going to have to look into getting it done. Like I said, I'm fairly sure the guy doing the work did it to be a d*ck. I didn't like his attitude from the jump, and it only got more sarcastic as time went on. Sad part is, they came highly recommended....
