187

Yeah I was wondering if anyone has adapted a set. It really comes down to the Trans for most of us. It would have been nice if they bolted up stock.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

yeah that would have been nice for sure. I mean you 96-97 guys have the right oil pump so like Khan you could consider swapping a stock gte head on there and intake and twins. it would work just fine but you would have to route everything for the twins that is not there and it takes quite a bit of work/wiring even in TTC mode.

I think I found my problem with my car doing the ticking. I was swapping out my o2 sensor just to eliminate that and switching places with the wideband so its closer to the turbo maybe the ecu would react faster, then I noticed a small crack where the number 6 runner is welded to the flange on the exhaust manifold and there is some soot on the last 2 exhaust studs there on the end of the manifold meaning it does actually leak. It just used to be a hairline crack but now its leaking and I read it happens worse when cold which reflects what I have been feeling, looks like it just happened recently as I don't see a ton of soot there.

looks like I need to tear down the turbo side of the car soon which I haven't done in quite a while, not really looking forward to it. debating getting my old one rewelded or a new manifold. will have to see. hopefully that cures the problem and I can leave my FFIM and huge throttle body on =)

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

^^ For what it's worth to the discussion, yes it is definitely quite a bit of work to route all the USDM twin hardware with the GTE head and intake. It's almost to the point of buying 2/3 of a whole engine part by part (minus the short block). Most people doing this begin with an Aristo GTE engine and convert it from there. Also, in my case I still have to swap in the correct oil pump since I'm on a '93 block. But yes, '96-'97 guys can avoid that step and just focus on tapping the oil pan for the turbo return, setting up the oil feed and other less invasive changes to get up and running.

The USDM twins (and JDM twins) have some great upgrades available but there are more straightforward ways to reach most people's power and delivery goals using a small modern single turbo, the GE head, a FFIM and many of the ignition system changes detailed in this thread unless you're starting with a GTE engine.

187-- As for transmissions, I personally found swapping a reconditioned R154 both cheaper and easier than adapting USDM twins and a full GTE top end conversion as described above. And of course that's not considered a "cheap" swap itself.

187

Yeah I've just been conflicted being that my cars 1 of the 120 and if I take the trans out it would take away from it a little. I don't think I would really use the extra power anyway where I am.

I'm still browsing my area for stock obd1 5 speeds.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

apparently this was the source of my loud knocking noise, or at least I hope it goes away after fixing this.
I can't imagine this not being the problem actually. Its the runner closest to the firewall.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Ali, it's good you caught that! How long had you been living with the noise?

HiPSI

iTrader: (2)

Thats a pretty decent crack! Almost half way around the runner. Do you have a flex pipe on the downpipe to give a little with all the vibrations? I currently do not have one but my car isn't driven that regularly.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

2 months give or take. started hardly noticeable and got louder. luckily for me that is like 600 miles or less (about 2 fillups) as I hardly drive it anymore.
Funny thing is when I had the motor out 2 years ago I noticed a beginning of a hairline crack but it wasn't bad enough to be concerned about and wasn't leaking. totally forgot about it and never fixed it until I was messing with the o2 sensor last week and had an aha moment and then saw the black soot around that area and knew it was leaking decently.

Yeah I would say decent at the least. I don't have a flex pipe and I am 90% sure that is what caused it. I hit lots of things with the bottom of the exhaust too just about every third speed bump and every other entrance to a parking lot here in Denver its like everything is designed assuming you will have an SUV it seems. my car has only been turbo for like 10k, but thats been like 5+ years for me so I could say I don't drive it much but its really about how many times are you going to bottom out and then it will happen. Its not fun to pull all that turbo stuff of either let me tell you I just did it, but at least it will all get new gaskets going back in which is nice every few years to do.

A worthy mention is I have already snapped my downpipe at the turbo before where the v band flange is welded on, again due to no flex pipe. I had to get it rewelded and also spot welded on the inside and it hasn't cracked since, so I guess it just moved up to the next weakest link and I totally thought I was in the free after that but was clearly just on borrowed time.

In short I would highly recommend that flex tube sooner or later. I am going to get it worked into the downpipe when I get everything back together I will take it to the exhaust shop its easier for them to do it after seeing it on the car sometimes.

Luckily I went to the local shop around here that does great work and the guy welded it up for me and didn't even charge me, I don;t think everyone walks in and slaps a t4 turbo manifold on the table everyday even though they do work on hotrods over there.

aznexus

Wow! I'm very glad you found the source of the noise!

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

Me too, I got the exhaust swapped out and everything put back together hopefully correct.
haven't started it yet as thats when all the problems show up and was too tired to mess with it more.
plus its been snowing for like 3 days now, the SC can't even go outside right now.

will let you guys know how it goes. hows everyones mod working out? get rid of those maf's yet?

187

haha I wish. That was a pretty nice crack, was that hissing or anything?

I feel like I'll be getting one of those soon with my horrible down pipe fitment and no flex.

Installed the new FPR which was alot more annoying then need be. The car seemed kind of confused at the afr, so I need to reset the tps again.

I was wondering if anyone can post there tp% at idle so I can have something to reference other than the manual.

aznexus

I'm almost done my R154 swap. Hopefully the Aristo ECU will work fine with the transmission.

187

well the new fpr didn't help. Not really surprised, put the old one back on and I'm back to running okay but with miss fires related to the tps.

So again if anyone has a moment this weekend and has some type of scanner I would really like to know what their tps is reading at idle.

Currently I'm at around 10-11% at idle and am getting miss fires on all cylinders / random miss fires.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

the aristo ecu will work fine with a manual trans, I had that setup for quite a bit actually. eventually you may notice where its pulling a little bit of timing/power when its supposed to be shifting, but most don't notice even and it doesn't do it when you are WOT, only on part throttle to WOT it may hang up for a split sec. everything else works the same as it should though.

Can't help with the tps percentage, I am obd1.

I got my turbo manifold back on and everything hooked up. fired it up and have a leak at the downpipe, so need to mess with that clamp some more. Was literally below freezing so its on the to do list. it did start right up though and sounded healthy which is always a good sign I guess.

187

Good to hear, I'm experiencing similar weather this week. although we did have like 60 degrees Sunday and now were going down to single digits overnight.

I'll throw up a post on SF at work tomorrow. it still seems like all my symptoms point to a vacuum leak, so I might so some more spraying around just to double check if I don't hear from any obd2 guys.