The BrokeEF SC400 build thread
12-20-18, 06:41 AM
#46
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Its a miracle, I was able to get into the garage for a bit last night! So my main issue I have been having is tacking the more complicated passenger side tubing. I just cant hold it and get a tack reliably with the TIG one handed. Since I have to hold it with my other hand I cant add filler either, so its been very frustrating. I decided to set up the MIG for stainless so I can more easily tack things into place.
The other day I stopped at Airgas to see how much a tank of tri-mix was, and to grab some stainless wire. Turns out that tri-mix is SUPER expensive, way too cost prohibitive to justify for what I needed. So I grabbed the wire, and tried using 100% argon from the TIG. It welds kind of weird, almost like it doesn't have good gas coverage. I tried running the regulator up and down and it didn't seem to change at all so I just ran with it.
Once I had that "figured out" I grabbed the offending pieces and got them cleaned up. Now that brings up problem #2, which I have not solved yet, which is the tubing being out of round. Its pretty common especially when you are cutting a bend. This was the joining of a 90 and a 180 that had both been cut down so basically they were both oval and in opposite planes. Got the first tack on and then tried to get them closed up on the opposite side, which made it all go out of alignment (not that I realized at the time). Anyway I got it tacked up and put it on the car.
As you can see its off center from the driver side tube. It also turns out that I probably need more angle on that tube for it to merge together. So its not really the end of the world that they didn't align down the center. Overall I am kind of "meh" on the setup if I am honest. I think I will like it better when they are cut down to actually merge together, but last night I was really pretty unhappy with it. Not really sure what else I could do that I would like better though.
So that is where it will probably stay until after Christmas. If I get any time to get out to the garage it will pretty much only be to stare at it and contemplate my options. The SS MIG tack idea works-ish, but I think I will use it as a last resort rather than a first option. I also will probably bite the bullet and buy a tubing swage kit so I can re-round the ends of everything. That will really come into play on the aluminum. Anyway, stay tuned for what may end up being a totally different setup in the next update
Sean
The other day I stopped at Airgas to see how much a tank of tri-mix was, and to grab some stainless wire. Turns out that tri-mix is SUPER expensive, way too cost prohibitive to justify for what I needed. So I grabbed the wire, and tried using 100% argon from the TIG. It welds kind of weird, almost like it doesn't have good gas coverage. I tried running the regulator up and down and it didn't seem to change at all so I just ran with it.
Once I had that "figured out" I grabbed the offending pieces and got them cleaned up. Now that brings up problem #2, which I have not solved yet, which is the tubing being out of round. Its pretty common especially when you are cutting a bend. This was the joining of a 90 and a 180 that had both been cut down so basically they were both oval and in opposite planes. Got the first tack on and then tried to get them closed up on the opposite side, which made it all go out of alignment (not that I realized at the time). Anyway I got it tacked up and put it on the car.
As you can see its off center from the driver side tube. It also turns out that I probably need more angle on that tube for it to merge together. So its not really the end of the world that they didn't align down the center. Overall I am kind of "meh" on the setup if I am honest. I think I will like it better when they are cut down to actually merge together, but last night I was really pretty unhappy with it. Not really sure what else I could do that I would like better though.
So that is where it will probably stay until after Christmas. If I get any time to get out to the garage it will pretty much only be to stare at it and contemplate my options. The SS MIG tack idea works-ish, but I think I will use it as a last resort rather than a first option. I also will probably bite the bullet and buy a tubing swage kit so I can re-round the ends of everything. That will really come into play on the aluminum. Anyway, stay tuned for what may end up being a totally different setup in the next update
Sean
01-02-19, 02:01 PM
#47
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Had another nice long weekend, and no family **** every single day, so you think I would have made some massive progress. Well you would be wrong 
I had a couple other things I had to work on, and generally just didn't feel like doing much all weekend. After being sick as **** on Saturday, I was able to get out to the garage on Sunday. I spent some time cleaning up a bit. Then I put a new blade in the band saw, and dialed it in a bit more (though I think it still needs work). Once that was done I got to work cutting up material for the turbo support.
I also clearly spent some time making it a bit nicer. This is just regular 4130 chromolly, 1" 0.83 wall, and 1-1/8" 0.53 wall. I was looking for a nice fit with the 1" inside the 1-1/8", but with the ability to move freely.
Mission accomplished! It took forever doing it all by hand though. I did 120 grit, then 220 grit, then 400 grit, then scotchbrite outside and in. I also cut all of it with a tubing cutter since the saw wasn't quite square. After I had the main pieces cut up I had to notch one, which I ended up doing by hand with a file. It came out pretty good.
That slight groove is where the tubing cutter wandered. Next up I tacked the 1" piece into the maven billet mount.
I partly welded up the larger notched piece and test it all in the car really quickly.
The general idea is that it will go over a post on the car. I didn't have everything I needed for that on hand (I have it all now), so that was where I left that project. I then moved on to fixing the crossover tubing. This was more involved than it looks, and took a good bit of time. The driver side tubing was pretty good, but was slightly off square. I had to take it off the car, cut off one tack and then carefully open up the gap so could take off some material with a grinder. When I went t tack it back together, the welder was being a pain in the ***. Long story short it was starting the arc, but then nothing. I kept turning it up and it would only start an arc at low power (not enough to get a puddle). Eventually I got that fixed somehow, and got it tacked back together. It looks pretty much the same as it did, so no pic.
I then moved over to the passenger side and cut everything apart. Some of those tacks didn't want to let go! It sure didn't help that those two ends were so out of round with each other. Anyway, got it all cleaned up and tacked the 90 back on the end all squared up.
Once that was taken care of I moved onto the 180 bend and cut more off to make it just a bit past a 90. I wasn't exactly thrilled with this when I cut it.
Outside
Inside
I went ahead anyway though, and tried to get it notched to fit into the other pipe. I say tried, because I failed. I have 0 experience trying to notch tubing together, and probably jumped in too fast before thinking it though enough. I didn't totally screw the pooch, but eventually because I wasn't thinking it through I took off too much from the sides and it was too late by the time I figured it out. Not the end of the world, I ordered up a new 90 today and will probably go straight up on the next attempt. That should make my life a bit easier, along with a couple other ides I have.
So after abandoning yet another project, I moved over to the intercooler. Long story short I figured out where and how to mount it, and had no material to make it happen. I got the material I needed last night, but damn I need to stock up! I tried to press on and start on the intercooler piping. That quickly exposed a flaw in my original simple plan for routing. I was going to start at the TB since that is more fixed than the not yet mounted intercooler. I cut a piece of tubing and placed it in the coupler, and got curious about the clearance to the radiator. I popped that back in only to find out that the piping would be right across the upper radiator hose. Glad I thought to put that back in before I screwed myself.
No bother, I put a hole in the car in pretty much the only place the piping could run and started getting an idea. I wanted to weld some aluminum, so I changed everything back over, and got a piece cut up that will eventually connect to the intercooler.
That little lip is VERY thin, and I will probably take it off the other pieces before I weld them. Its not pretty, but its stuck together so I am happy for now
Anyway, that was pretty much all she wrote. Without having things locked in (STILL) I cant do a whole lot more. Step one this weekend will be to get the turbo mount 100%, then probably do the intercooler mount 100%. Like I said, I have everything I need for both of those now. Then we will see which tubing I feel like working on first. Sorry its not a more exciting update, it really should have been. Stay tuned for some actual progress soon (I hope)!
Sean
I had a couple other things I had to work on, and generally just didn't feel like doing much all weekend. After being sick as **** on Saturday, I was able to get out to the garage on Sunday. I spent some time cleaning up a bit. Then I put a new blade in the band saw, and dialed it in a bit more (though I think it still needs work). Once that was done I got to work cutting up material for the turbo support.I also clearly spent some time making it a bit nicer. This is just regular 4130 chromolly, 1" 0.83 wall, and 1-1/8" 0.53 wall. I was looking for a nice fit with the 1" inside the 1-1/8", but with the ability to move freely.
Mission accomplished! It took forever doing it all by hand though. I did 120 grit, then 220 grit, then 400 grit, then scotchbrite outside and in. I also cut all of it with a tubing cutter since the saw wasn't quite square. After I had the main pieces cut up I had to notch one, which I ended up doing by hand with a file. It came out pretty good.
That slight groove is where the tubing cutter wandered. Next up I tacked the 1" piece into the maven billet mount.
I partly welded up the larger notched piece and test it all in the car really quickly.
The general idea is that it will go over a post on the car. I didn't have everything I needed for that on hand (I have it all now), so that was where I left that project. I then moved on to fixing the crossover tubing. This was more involved than it looks, and took a good bit of time. The driver side tubing was pretty good, but was slightly off square. I had to take it off the car, cut off one tack and then carefully open up the gap so could take off some material with a grinder. When I went t tack it back together, the welder was being a pain in the ***. Long story short it was starting the arc, but then nothing. I kept turning it up and it would only start an arc at low power (not enough to get a puddle). Eventually I got that fixed somehow, and got it tacked back together. It looks pretty much the same as it did, so no pic.
I then moved over to the passenger side and cut everything apart. Some of those tacks didn't want to let go! It sure didn't help that those two ends were so out of round with each other. Anyway, got it all cleaned up and tacked the 90 back on the end all squared up.
Once that was taken care of I moved onto the 180 bend and cut more off to make it just a bit past a 90. I wasn't exactly thrilled with this when I cut it.
Outside
Inside
I went ahead anyway though, and tried to get it notched to fit into the other pipe. I say tried, because I failed. I have 0 experience trying to notch tubing together, and probably jumped in too fast before thinking it though enough. I didn't totally screw the pooch, but eventually because I wasn't thinking it through I took off too much from the sides and it was too late by the time I figured it out. Not the end of the world, I ordered up a new 90 today and will probably go straight up on the next attempt. That should make my life a bit easier, along with a couple other ides I have.
So after abandoning yet another project, I moved over to the intercooler. Long story short I figured out where and how to mount it, and had no material to make it happen. I got the material I needed last night, but damn I need to stock up! I tried to press on and start on the intercooler piping. That quickly exposed a flaw in my original simple plan for routing. I was going to start at the TB since that is more fixed than the not yet mounted intercooler. I cut a piece of tubing and placed it in the coupler, and got curious about the clearance to the radiator. I popped that back in only to find out that the piping would be right across the upper radiator hose. Glad I thought to put that back in before I screwed myself.
No bother, I put a hole in the car in pretty much the only place the piping could run and started getting an idea. I wanted to weld some aluminum, so I changed everything back over, and got a piece cut up that will eventually connect to the intercooler.
That little lip is VERY thin, and I will probably take it off the other pieces before I weld them. Its not pretty, but its stuck together so I am happy for now
Anyway, that was pretty much all she wrote. Without having things locked in (STILL) I cant do a whole lot more. Step one this weekend will be to get the turbo mount 100%, then probably do the intercooler mount 100%. Like I said, I have everything I need for both of those now. Then we will see which tubing I feel like working on first. Sorry its not a more exciting update, it really should have been. Stay tuned for some actual progress soon (I hope)!
Sean
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LEXXIUM (01-02-19)
01-03-19, 08:56 AM
#48
Pole Position
Nice work and props for doing all of this yourself!
01-06-19, 06:22 PM
#50
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Well now that the Bears game is over, I may as well carry on the disappointment this Sunday I got a good amount done actually, but because I am waiting on material and tools I couldn't work on the larger parts. Anyway how about some pics!
First up I made a plate that will be bolted to the frame rail, and will support the turbo.
You will see more of this later, but its the main part of the turbo support fixtured to be welded.
Tacked up, and bolted to the frame rail.
Here I am welding up the turbo drain support.
Here is a test fit with everything tacked up
The piece on the car, and the piece off the turbo mount are both 1" O.D. and the other piece has a 1.09" I.D. so that it can move in two axis while also supporting the bulk of the weight.
Here are some pics of it mainly finished. Yes, I know my welds suck, I need to get a lot more hood time for sure!
Once that was done I shot myself in the foot. I already had a 45 degree bend tacked onto the flange, and it was damn near perfect. BUT because I am OCD I decided that I wanted to eliminate a weld joint, so I ordered up another 45 bend so I could leave the straight on it. So I cut off the nice fitting 45, trimmed down one side of the new one and tacked it in place. Now I have the long piece I wanted, and needed to figure out where to cut it. I came up with a semi clever idea that started with taping the 2.5-3" transition into place. Then I put my laser straight edge up on the cowl and lined it up with the edge of the transition.
That allowed me to swing the crossover piece out of the way and place the turbo back in.
This whole scheme worked pretty well actually. The problem came in when I realized that the 45 was not pointing straight at the crossover anymore.
Now, this is honestly probably a combination of things. One being the turbo position moved once I made the mount. I should have locked that in from the start, but being that everything is only tacked I figured I could adjust if needed. The other being that this 45 seems to be a bit over bent. Probably only a degree or two, but enough. I wont bore you all with the details. I have an solution that I started, but I am not sure if I am going to stick with it or go another route yet.
This is where I ended up for the weekend, kinda looking like something.
I really cant wait to get the intercooler mounted and start on the intercooler piping. Most of what I am waiting for pertains to that project. I am also pretty sick of working on the hot side as well, but I want it to be nice so I am taking my time and being picky about everything. Stay tuned!
Sean
I got a good amount done actually, but because I am waiting on material and tools I couldn't work on the larger parts. Anyway how about some pics!First up I made a plate that will be bolted to the frame rail, and will support the turbo.
You will see more of this later, but its the main part of the turbo support fixtured to be welded.
Tacked up, and bolted to the frame rail.
Here I am welding up the turbo drain support.
Here is a test fit with everything tacked up
The piece on the car, and the piece off the turbo mount are both 1" O.D. and the other piece has a 1.09" I.D. so that it can move in two axis while also supporting the bulk of the weight.
Here are some pics of it mainly finished. Yes, I know my welds suck, I need to get a lot more hood time for sure!
Once that was done I shot myself in the foot. I already had a 45 degree bend tacked onto the flange, and it was damn near perfect. BUT because I am OCD I decided that I wanted to eliminate a weld joint, so I ordered up another 45 bend so I could leave the straight on it. So I cut off the nice fitting 45, trimmed down one side of the new one and tacked it in place. Now I have the long piece I wanted, and needed to figure out where to cut it. I came up with a semi clever idea that started with taping the 2.5-3" transition into place. Then I put my laser straight edge up on the cowl and lined it up with the edge of the transition.
That allowed me to swing the crossover piece out of the way and place the turbo back in.
This whole scheme worked pretty well actually. The problem came in when I realized that the 45 was not pointing straight at the crossover anymore.
Now, this is honestly probably a combination of things. One being the turbo position moved once I made the mount. I should have locked that in from the start, but being that everything is only tacked I figured I could adjust if needed. The other being that this 45 seems to be a bit over bent. Probably only a degree or two, but enough. I wont bore you all with the details. I have an solution that I started, but I am not sure if I am going to stick with it or go another route yet.
This is where I ended up for the weekend, kinda looking like something.
I really cant wait to get the intercooler mounted and start on the intercooler piping. Most of what I am waiting for pertains to that project. I am also pretty sick of working on the hot side as well, but I want it to be nice so I am taking my time and being picky about everything. Stay tuned!
Sean
01-14-19, 10:26 AM
#53
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Its update time! What a damn weekend, it was one step forward and two back. My main goal for the weekend was to tie in the passenger side to the driverside of the crossover. I also was trying to get the crossover 100% tacked up so I could move on to something else. Things started out well enough, I test cut a piece of tubing for the merge.
Not perfect, but I could massage it a bit for sure. Then I tried to cut that into a 90 so I would have one piece to come from what I have into the driver side. It was slightly off center so I was trying to roll that into my shape. Eventually I went too far, well at least I thought too far, and got pissed off. I chucked the piece, which then actually ****ed it up, and just sat there pissed off for a bit staring at the car. I am not one to get mad too often, but for whatever reason that just did it.
Anyway, I stared at it for a while and decided the turbo was the root of all of these issues. It came out, and I made a new mount for it.
Cleared with the hood shut, so I left it at that height
I actually put a break in the plate, which I had to cut off. We can blame that on being dumb, or in a hurry, or both. Regardless the new one is nicer. Sturdier, and now has that sleeve at the base to reduce the friction and have it not sitting on a weld.
As you can see, the turbo is sitting much more how I had planned now.
It did move it further forward than I thought, but more on that later.
That was all I got done Saturday, not very productive at all.
Sunday I got back after it with a new game plan. I essentially worked from the turbo out now that I had it locked in 100% I had to square up the elbow that was already on the flange, and then went right into the transition. I got the fit up pretty decent
Then I just worked my way out. I ended up redoing every single piece. Cut the spot welds, clean up the tubing, I changed out some pieces, re-tacked everything together. Ill just dump some pics here of all of that.
That piece was not wanting to line up with the next piece very well. I checked it and sure enough it wasn't square. No worries, I have a well set up cheap *** band saw, and plenty of patience (that day anyway)
Thats better
The last couple pieces were really a pain in the ***. I didn't think I would have to redo the piece in the v-band, but I did. I only have a couple pics of all of that BS.
Fit up was OK
All done! Well kinda.
What I didn't take any pics of was working out the passenger side. I had to extend it out some, and clean up the angles. I was in a rush at the end so it is actually a little off at the end right now. I will fix that later though, but for now here are some pics of the mock up for the merge.
I need to get another 90 after screwing up my last one. I am also going to add in some v-bands to make it all a bit more modular. What I didn't grab a picture of is everything is in the same plane now. It was meant to be before, but was off slightly. Overall I am much happier with how its going now, just sucks I had to spend two days redoing everything but that's life.
I think next I am going to work on getting the intercooler mounted, and the intercooler piping. I want to change it up some, and I want to be sure I wont need any more material before I order that single 90 (again). I also got an ABS delete kit, but I may pull the motor before I put that in. Depends on if I can get the downpipe done with it in place still or not. Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks as always for following along!
Sean
Not perfect, but I could massage it a bit for sure. Then I tried to cut that into a 90 so I would have one piece to come from what I have into the driver side. It was slightly off center so I was trying to roll that into my shape. Eventually I went too far, well at least I thought too far, and got pissed off. I chucked the piece, which then actually ****ed it up, and just sat there pissed off for a bit staring at the car. I am not one to get mad too often, but for whatever reason that just did it.
Anyway, I stared at it for a while and decided the turbo was the root of all of these issues. It came out, and I made a new mount for it.
Cleared with the hood shut, so I left it at that height
I actually put a break in the plate, which I had to cut off. We can blame that on being dumb, or in a hurry, or both. Regardless the new one is nicer. Sturdier, and now has that sleeve at the base to reduce the friction and have it not sitting on a weld.
As you can see, the turbo is sitting much more how I had planned now.
It did move it further forward than I thought, but more on that later.
That was all I got done Saturday, not very productive at all.
Sunday I got back after it with a new game plan. I essentially worked from the turbo out now that I had it locked in 100% I had to square up the elbow that was already on the flange, and then went right into the transition. I got the fit up pretty decent
Then I just worked my way out. I ended up redoing every single piece. Cut the spot welds, clean up the tubing, I changed out some pieces, re-tacked everything together. Ill just dump some pics here of all of that.
That piece was not wanting to line up with the next piece very well. I checked it and sure enough it wasn't square. No worries, I have a well set up cheap *** band saw, and plenty of patience (that day anyway)
Thats better
The last couple pieces were really a pain in the ***. I didn't think I would have to redo the piece in the v-band, but I did. I only have a couple pics of all of that BS.
Fit up was OK
All done! Well kinda.
What I didn't take any pics of was working out the passenger side. I had to extend it out some, and clean up the angles. I was in a rush at the end so it is actually a little off at the end right now. I will fix that later though, but for now here are some pics of the mock up for the merge.
I need to get another 90 after screwing up my last one. I am also going to add in some v-bands to make it all a bit more modular. What I didn't grab a picture of is everything is in the same plane now. It was meant to be before, but was off slightly. Overall I am much happier with how its going now, just sucks I had to spend two days redoing everything but that's life.
I think next I am going to work on getting the intercooler mounted, and the intercooler piping. I want to change it up some, and I want to be sure I wont need any more material before I order that single 90 (again). I also got an ABS delete kit, but I may pull the motor before I put that in. Depends on if I can get the downpipe done with it in place still or not. Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks as always for following along!
Sean
01-16-19, 05:22 PM
#54
Time for round two of boring updates on my car. I will go over my general plans with the car at the end of this post as well.
I kind of jumped ahead in the last post, but I found a few pics that fill in what happened. I got the car slapped back together for a local SC meet, and had a few things left to iron out. Here is a shot when I took it for a drive after getting it back in one piece.
You can see the wood ashtray still, head unit and LXCC are off (still had wiring problems), and a lot of lights on the dash on. I never connected the air bag when I did the IS wheel, and I changed the tail lights to all LED so I had a lamp out light. The stalk was also not installed right, so the high beams were kinda stuck on. I was able to move it to get the light to go off to take the pic, but it came right back on after. Still went to the meet anyway just to get out in my car again, and see the local SC guys.
After that, I got her back home and torn down again to fix the miscellaneous issues I had. Some time with a multi meter got the head unit mostly sorted out, but I actually still need to find a different constant 12v since the LXCC isn't retaining its memory. I then got the stalk installed properly so that everything works the way it should, and got the steering wheel on straight (it was off 1 tooth). I ended up removing the inflator from the airbag, so the light is still on until I pull the bulb out. My biggest problem was lighting though, and not just the LED bulbs. I changed the rear bulbs to regular incandescent bulbs which got rid of my dash light, and made the signals blink a little slower. I had a bad HID balast which was blowing fuses, and making me thing my problem was bigger. After I diagnosed and replaced the balast I figured out that my front marker lights never come on. I still haven't sorted that out, but I have some ideas to test out. That doesn't explain why my turn signals are still fast, but I can live with that for now.
All of those little issues came from messing with all of that wiring at one time, so it was a little expected. What wasn't expected was the car starting to run rough. It wasn't too bad that day, but the more I drove it the worse it got. With the mile long service history I assumed they had done a normal tune up at some point, but I ordered up new filters (oil, air, and fuel), plugs, wires, caps, and rotors. As it turned out, they had never done any of that!
Original 1992 plug wires!
New caps, rotors, and plugs installed. Wires are only half on because I thought I might have to take everything apart again...
While installing the cap on the passenger side, I dropped one of the bolts that hold it on. There was no way to be sure, but I was fairly positive it went down into the timing covers. I searched all around, probed with a magnet, and was not able to find it at all. I was then left to debate the best course of action. Order all the parts to do a timing belt and water pump, and start tear down? Start tear down and order those parts only if I end up getting that far? Throw caution to the wind and hope that it either didn't get into the timing cover, or that if it did it somehow wouldn't get pulled into the belt a trash my motor? After a few days of thinking about this, I ended up ordering a borescope camera and found the offending bolt.
It WAS in the timing cover, and down far enough where I needed something to curve around to be able to get at it. The camera came with a magnet attachment which I promptly threw on and went back in.
What a relief! It does need a timing belt and water pump, but not so bad that I need to do it right now. I am glad I didn't have to spend the time and money tearing everything apart to get that bolt back! I will probably finish up the tune up tonight since I have been busy the last few days and haven't had time to work on it.
In other exciting news, while all of the tune up drama was happening I got some more cool parts!
These things are so damn nice! I plan to send my lights in to have him install the lenses along with some other things. I didn't want to risk not being able to get the clear lenses later on, so I bought these now just to be safe. The plan is to send them out over winter to get all done up. In the meantime I just have to deal with my dated (IMO) looking stock lights.
So now that we are caught up with what I have been doing with my car in the year I have owned it, lets talk about the plans for it. There still are a handful of more maintenance type things it needs, like a AC compressor (works but leaks), heater valve actuator, new tints, etc. That is all pretty boring though, just like this post has been so far. What you see coming up first is likely the finishing of the stereo which will also include relocating the battery to the trunk. I already have some LS400 calipers, and a new rebuild kit from Lexus so those will get torn down and powder coated before reassembly and installation. Thing will start to get fund when I do the complete suspension with pretty much anything Figs makes, as well as some coil overs (haven't decided who's yet). Then will come the REALLY fun stuff, like fuel, stand alone, custom turbo kit, built trans, rear end and so on.
I plan to build a turbo kit for the 1UZ, and retain all of the creature comforts like power steering, AC, and so on. I will probably get rid of the stock traction control since any of the stand alone's I am thinking about can do a much better job with it anyway. I know there has been a few guys to do this, but not very many. I want to do Hot Rod's drag week with it once it has boost. So more or less it will be a high HP drag car that I can cruise around in comfortably. For anyone wondering, this will not be my first time doing any of this. Here is the last car I built with a buddy (his car, my fabrication)
https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-raci...ld-thread.html
That starts after we had already finished and run the first turbo kit. This car will be harder in many ways, mostly just because of space. It is already tight in there, and wanting to keep a lot of things makes it that much harder. If it was easy, everyone would do it though
That is all for now. I should have some better pics of everything this weekend. We are having another SC meet, and I will be able to stick around longer this time so I can grab some better shots of my car and the others that will be there.
Thanks for following along, a LOT more to come!
Sean
I kind of jumped ahead in the last post, but I found a few pics that fill in what happened. I got the car slapped back together for a local SC meet, and had a few things left to iron out. Here is a shot when I took it for a drive after getting it back in one piece.
You can see the wood ashtray still, head unit and LXCC are off (still had wiring problems), and a lot of lights on the dash on. I never connected the air bag when I did the IS wheel, and I changed the tail lights to all LED so I had a lamp out light. The stalk was also not installed right, so the high beams were kinda stuck on. I was able to move it to get the light to go off to take the pic, but it came right back on after. Still went to the meet anyway just to get out in my car again, and see the local SC guys.
After that, I got her back home and torn down again to fix the miscellaneous issues I had. Some time with a multi meter got the head unit mostly sorted out, but I actually still need to find a different constant 12v since the LXCC isn't retaining its memory. I then got the stalk installed properly so that everything works the way it should, and got the steering wheel on straight (it was off 1 tooth). I ended up removing the inflator from the airbag, so the light is still on until I pull the bulb out. My biggest problem was lighting though, and not just the LED bulbs. I changed the rear bulbs to regular incandescent bulbs which got rid of my dash light, and made the signals blink a little slower. I had a bad HID balast which was blowing fuses, and making me thing my problem was bigger. After I diagnosed and replaced the balast I figured out that my front marker lights never come on. I still haven't sorted that out, but I have some ideas to test out. That doesn't explain why my turn signals are still fast, but I can live with that for now.
All of those little issues came from messing with all of that wiring at one time, so it was a little expected. What wasn't expected was the car starting to run rough. It wasn't too bad that day, but the more I drove it the worse it got. With the mile long service history I assumed they had done a normal tune up at some point, but I ordered up new filters (oil, air, and fuel), plugs, wires, caps, and rotors. As it turned out, they had never done any of that!
Original 1992 plug wires!
New caps, rotors, and plugs installed. Wires are only half on because I thought I might have to take everything apart again...
While installing the cap on the passenger side, I dropped one of the bolts that hold it on. There was no way to be sure, but I was fairly positive it went down into the timing covers. I searched all around, probed with a magnet, and was not able to find it at all. I was then left to debate the best course of action. Order all the parts to do a timing belt and water pump, and start tear down? Start tear down and order those parts only if I end up getting that far? Throw caution to the wind and hope that it either didn't get into the timing cover, or that if it did it somehow wouldn't get pulled into the belt a trash my motor? After a few days of thinking about this, I ended up ordering a borescope camera and found the offending bolt.
It WAS in the timing cover, and down far enough where I needed something to curve around to be able to get at it. The camera came with a magnet attachment which I promptly threw on and went back in.
What a relief! It does need a timing belt and water pump, but not so bad that I need to do it right now. I am glad I didn't have to spend the time and money tearing everything apart to get that bolt back! I will probably finish up the tune up tonight since I have been busy the last few days and haven't had time to work on it.
In other exciting news, while all of the tune up drama was happening I got some more cool parts!
These things are so damn nice! I plan to send my lights in to have him install the lenses along with some other things. I didn't want to risk not being able to get the clear lenses later on, so I bought these now just to be safe. The plan is to send them out over winter to get all done up. In the meantime I just have to deal with my dated (IMO) looking stock lights.
So now that we are caught up with what I have been doing with my car in the year I have owned it, lets talk about the plans for it. There still are a handful of more maintenance type things it needs, like a AC compressor (works but leaks), heater valve actuator, new tints, etc. That is all pretty boring though, just like this post has been so far
. What you see coming up first is likely the finishing of the stereo which will also include relocating the battery to the trunk. I already have some LS400 calipers, and a new rebuild kit from Lexus so those will get torn down and powder coated before reassembly and installation. Thing will start to get fund when I do the complete suspension with pretty much anything Figs makes, as well as some coil overs (haven't decided who's yet). Then will come the REALLY fun stuff, like fuel, stand alone, custom turbo kit, built trans, rear end and so on.I plan to build a turbo kit for the 1UZ, and retain all of the creature comforts like power steering, AC, and so on. I will probably get rid of the stock traction control since any of the stand alone's I am thinking about can do a much better job with it anyway. I know there has been a few guys to do this, but not very many. I want to do Hot Rod's drag week with it once it has boost. So more or less it will be a high HP drag car that I can cruise around in comfortably. For anyone wondering, this will not be my first time doing any of this. Here is the last car I built with a buddy (his car, my fabrication)
https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-raci...ld-thread.html
That starts after we had already finished and run the first turbo kit. This car will be harder in many ways, mostly just because of space. It is already tight in there, and wanting to keep a lot of things makes it that much harder. If it was easy, everyone would do it though
That is all for now. I should have some better pics of everything this weekend. We are having another SC meet, and I will be able to stick around longer this time so I can grab some better shots of my car and the others that will be there.
Thanks for following along, a LOT more to come!
Sean
I really need those headlight covers
01-21-19, 10:28 AM
#56
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Another weekend, another small amount of work done. Started by figuring out where to mount the intercooler.
Then whipped up some simple mounts.
I need to get the right hardware for them, and put some nutserts into the tops of the frame rails. The metal on top of the rails in that area is at least 2 layers thick, so I want to drill out a larger area for the insert to sit so its only clamping a single layer (if that makes sense). I will probably also add a gusset to each one even though it seems to hold fine as is. For now I just vice gripped it in place and moved onto the piping.
Damn, the garage is getting pretty messy
Speaking of messy, anyone who welds aluminum knows you want that **** clean! So I usually wipe everything down with acetone, including the filler rod. Normally the rod comes away pretty clean or clean. This time I am glad I wiped it off! This was from a brand new tube.
Anyway, I sucked at taking pics this week. Before I started welding I had to cut the ends off of the intercooler so I could weld on the clamshell pieces. I ended up just cutting them off by hand with a hacksaw. I also welded billet tubing ends where there will be silicone couplers (turbo outlet and throttle body). No pics of any of that this week. I did get a picture of one of my fitups though
Passenger side piping (turbo to intercooler)
Driverside piping (intercooler to engine bay)
Front shot with both in place
That was it. Saturday when I was doing this stuff I discovered I am an idiot, and now have to fix a pretty big mistake, but more on that when I get around to fixing it. I also didn't feel like doing anything on Sunday. I did eventually go out there and do a couple things (no pics). I cut the tube coming from the throttle body and tacked on the billet piece. I also cut the tubing coming into the bay on the driverside and marked up the next piece. I need to open up the hole in the sheet metal though since I didn't think about the extra size of the clamshell end pieces. Plan is to have a clamshell clamp somewhere in the engine bay so I can remove that piece easily.
I am planning on trying to get the last bit of tubing done to the throttle body during the week. Friday my buddy is coming out to finish up the electrical in my garage, and Saturday I have some **** going on. So not really sure if I will have a weekend update next week. I should have some posts this week with the rest of the coldside piping.
Sean
Then whipped up some simple mounts.
I need to get the right hardware for them, and put some nutserts into the tops of the frame rails. The metal on top of the rails in that area is at least 2 layers thick, so I want to drill out a larger area for the insert to sit so its only clamping a single layer (if that makes sense). I will probably also add a gusset to each one even though it seems to hold fine as is. For now I just vice gripped it in place and moved onto the piping.
Damn, the garage is getting pretty messy
Speaking of messy, anyone who welds aluminum knows you want that **** clean! So I usually wipe everything down with acetone, including the filler rod. Normally the rod comes away pretty clean or clean. This time I am glad I wiped it off! This was from a brand new tube.
Anyway, I sucked at taking pics this week. Before I started welding I had to cut the ends off of the intercooler so I could weld on the clamshell pieces. I ended up just cutting them off by hand with a hacksaw. I also welded billet tubing ends where there will be silicone couplers (turbo outlet and throttle body). No pics of any of that this week. I did get a picture of one of my fitups though
Passenger side piping (turbo to intercooler)
Driverside piping (intercooler to engine bay)
Front shot with both in place
That was it. Saturday when I was doing this stuff I discovered I am an idiot, and now have to fix a pretty big mistake, but more on that when I get around to fixing it. I also didn't feel like doing anything on Sunday. I did eventually go out there and do a couple things (no pics). I cut the tube coming from the throttle body and tacked on the billet piece. I also cut the tubing coming into the bay on the driverside and marked up the next piece. I need to open up the hole in the sheet metal though since I didn't think about the extra size of the clamshell end pieces. Plan is to have a clamshell clamp somewhere in the engine bay so I can remove that piece easily.
I am planning on trying to get the last bit of tubing done to the throttle body during the week. Friday my buddy is coming out to finish up the electrical in my garage, and Saturday I have some **** going on. So not really sure if I will have a weekend update next week. I should have some posts this week with the rest of the coldside piping.
Sean
02-04-19, 12:11 PM
#57
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Its update time! Unfortunately I was pretty busy this weekend so I only got a couple hours out in the garage. The good news is that I did finish the upper intercooler piping. If you remember I damaged my saw at some point so I was getting not square cuts. I have not replaced the stripped bolt yet, but wanted to get something done so I just c-clamped it in place. For some reason I was still not getting very straight cuts. It was in the plain of the blade coming down, so the clamp worked well enough for that axis. Not really sure what was going on, but I was determined to get things done anyway.
The point of that story is to say that I am not 100% thrilled with that upper piece. I am out of the 3" aluminum I am using for the intercooler piping, so to re-do it would mean buying more material. Not so sure I want to do that either, so it may just stay as is until I redo everything
Anyway, on to some pics
That's really about it. Pretty boring I know. I am not quite sure what part I want to tackle next. Whatever it ends up being I hope I get more time to work on it I think this weekend coming up is wide open so I should be able to get something done. THank as always for following along!
Sean
The point of that story is to say that I am not 100% thrilled with that upper piece. I am out of the 3" aluminum I am using for the intercooler piping, so to re-do it would mean buying more material. Not so sure I want to do that either, so it may just stay as is until I redo everything
Anyway, on to some pics
That's really about it. Pretty boring I know. I am not quite sure what part I want to tackle next. Whatever it ends up being I hope I get more time to work on it
I think this weekend coming up is wide open so I should be able to get something done. THank as always for following along!Sean
The following users liked this post:
mrmj2u (12-10-19)
02-04-19, 12:41 PM
#58
Pole Position
It's looking terrific! So far I'm quite impressed with your work while you learn an fab out of your own garage.
02-04-19, 05:07 PM
#59
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
I actually remade a lot of that after this pic because we changed to a larger turbo and a few other things. The car never went back together though so this was the last pic of it complete.
Sean
02-05-19, 06:23 AM
#60
Pole Position
Ah I see, well in that case so much makes sense haha. Regardless I'm still impressed - those are great skills that you've got there.