I wonder also if you can find a metal dust cap for that AC nipple and maybe ceramic coat the little bugger? Probably overkill but just trying to get creative.

Nick

 

I will have to look to see if I can find a metal AC nipple cap; still haven't tried bending it yet been focused on a few other things.

Got the rear end up and in. This came out of my old gs300; already had the KAAZ LSD in it with 3.76 gears, made sure to loctite all the bolts with blue, axle bolts torqued to 61ft lbs, rear diff bolts were 105 ft lbs and the front main ears were 108ft lbs. Pretty tight. Once everything was tight we measured up for the drive-shaft. Did three measurements, pretty much landing on 50-3/16" so thats what I ran with. Just ordered up the 3.5" driftmotion all aluminum with their chromoly front yolk, aluminum shaft and 1PC aluminum rear to my diff with 1350 rebuildable u-joints. Threw another speed sensor adapter in there and my order came out to $1100 shipped so this is one expensive driveshaft. Should be good for 1200hp.






Next, I rotated the front waste-gate so it would point upward to see how possible it would be to run backward; and I think this may be the ticket. The waste gate tubing for 46mm's are 1.75"; but I think I could even do a 1.5" coming past the turbo if i really had to; face the rear waste-gate upwards as well and I can connect them together and easily recirculate into the down pipe. I really don't think I can fit both a down pipe and the waste gate dump down the rear.






Doing this means I wouldn't have to touch the turbo clocking, and the current position would actually be pretty prime for intercooler piping, and also eliminates my front AC line issue and only leads me to have to deal with the rear AC nipple. Going to order that 1/4" mica 12"x10" sheet and try to bend that nipple upward without damaging my AC system. I think if that is possible, my issues should be solved.

 

Looks like a good compromise!

Nick

 

Went out there and rotated the rear to get a better visual of what I want to do. It's over 100 degrees out now so I'm done for the day, but these give a better idea of having both wastegates connected inline with eachother and just side feed it into the downpipe. I also tried to take a straight down photo to get an idea of downpipe spacing; and i think I can do a 3" here. I ordered the 1/4" sheet of mica, and realized they also had a flexible corrugated that was a bit thinner but cheaper; so I may have to place a second order if that turns out easier to mount. or use.






And here is a quick paint sketch getting my ideas out. I want a single pipe between the wastegates with a v-band connecting to the downpipe. The down-pipe will definitely need a flex or two.

 

Minor updates, Test fit the fuel return system through the ethanol sensor, into a 3/8" earl's vapor-guard hose and looking how it will line up with the OEM hardline return. I ended up trimming the hose and I think it will work pretty well here.




Next I installed the slave cylinder, and took a picture of the clutch from underneath and the fuel feed line i still need to remove. I really need to drain gas out of the car, because any time i tilt it the feed line pours out even with the cap removed.




Talked with my welder, he's going to stop by tomorrow and get his eyes on my project so he can come up with a game-plan for the downpipe and wastegate pipes. He's pretty dang busy but said he would try to fit me in, and we agreed on me dropping the car off on the 28th, which gives me two weeks to get the intercooler setup on; exhaust on, and heater core hoses/fuel lines on, A/C and power steering pumps, radiator and whatever else I can get done by that time. I bet the car will be done by the time I get home on the 2nd as he's pretty damn motivated and builds race car parts for GTI's. Our ball-park figure is ~ $1500 parts and labor.

 

This is such an awesome build! Hopefully Ill be able to see it at one of our PNW meets!

 

Hey Joe,
We are with you on this one. Hope all goes great. I would give anything to be there to help and I know there are others that would love to see this project come to a finish. Good luck to you. Don't forget to take care of your body, you only have one.
Bill

 

Yeah reached 107° in my town today; i woke up late and having my first day without a formidable plan in place left me kind of relaxed, so probably better off I didn't do too much.

I got some important thinking done, planning of my fuel lines and how I'll tackle them which needs to be done soon to not have to deal with leaking fuel any more. Ordered the McMaster mica sheet in 1/4", and I also ordered some DEI products for heat protection. Mainly they have high temperature bendable heat shield pads with eyelets; insulated with fiberglass i think and welded on the seams. I plan to attach one of these to each of my turbo header pipes that are giving me grief. Then I ordered two different products, the heat screen (typically what people wrap their brake masters or clutch masters with); and also floor & tunnel shield, which is an aluminum outer, fiberglass middle and high temp adhesive backside. I figure with a combination of all of this; we'll protect that dang A/C nipple if its the last one I got.





I also have DEI exhaust wrap which I will probably do the downpipe and wastegate pipe with, which will help there as well.

Tonight i've been researching whether to use a seam sealer or butyl tape around my fiberglass center console after I screw it in. Wanting something that keeps the heat and fumes out, but also adheres to both the painted metal and painted fiberglass while retaining a flexible seal over time. 3M has a urethane seam sealer in black that is ~ $37; whereas home depot has a roll of butyl tape for $5.25 but I know just how sticky and messy that stuff can get (Same stuff that holds the plastic to your doors behind the panels). My new TT throttle cable comes in tomorrow as well, I didn't wanna bother using my old one as its a decade old, why not go new right? I'll probably save the throttle cable for when I do the brake pedal which will probably not be tomorrow haha

Tomorrow I will start removing the front bumper, hopefully that comes off easily. my next major moves that need to happen are essentially for the welder; remove front bumper, install inter-cooler kit and install the PHR 4" exhaust with HKS 3" midpipe. I may have to temporarily tie this up in the front to prevent it from dragging before he finishes it. I also think I may want to have him convert my HKS midpipe to a v-band off the downpipe side, to make installation/removal easier I think. I also need to bolt the accessories to the motor for transport and finish the fuel lines. Lastly I think my heater lines must be done so the welder can take all those hoses into consideration when forming the down-pipe. So thats my goal for the next two weeks!

Talked with Aaron @ driftmotion and he said i gotta drive the trans easy for 500 miles while going through the gears, just like I'm breaking in my clutch (gotta do that anyways right) then I have to change the fluid with more MT-90. Feeling like with how things are currently going, my final tune might not be until october; but I think having Mark @ Panic come over and help with first start, and potentially paying them to do a drive-able tune that I can start breaking in everything would be the money ticket that could be possible by mid September near or after when I go back to work.

Fuel pump still has to be done, and also the fuel pump wiring/relays, gotta figure a way to get my dash removed still; the steering wheel is tilted too far up/forward currently haha. Anyways I will post another update tomorrow. Thanks y'all for the kind thoughts, and yeah I will definitely go to the supra nationals next year and hopefully some north west lexus owners events. Next summer will be awesome!

 

This thing is lookin REAL good! It's so exciting to start seeing it come together. I hope you're stoked!

 

Super stoked! But this heat is absolutely taking it out of me haha. I'm dreaming of mid-80's right now instead of 103-110. This weekend should cool down to the 80s and make working outside more doable.

Picked up some sheet metal screws, which now that I am home I think they may be too long for my center console; also picked up some seam sealer and a silicone, I figure between them I will find something I like to seal the fiberglass shifter piece in.

Also picked up some metric flare wrenches to help with the fuel feed line. I figured this was a smart forethought into trying, cause once you mess em up they're hard to come apart. Got my TT throttle cable now as well.

As far as work today, I started taking the front bumper off, had to lower the car to break the front lug nuts loose and jacked it back up. Probably only have 25/50 of the dang screws for the bumper removed haha, this thing is tedious. I also got the rear main stud and bolt on for the A/C pump; so that's semi bolted in and at least gets it away from sitting on the sway bar. Had to do some house work, landscaper came over which is when I ran and did some errands and that really might be it for today with how hot it is! Still waiting on my welder to come by,

It's supposed to be 10 degrees cooler tomorrow and 20 degrees cooler friday/saturday. So I will get a lot more done this weekend.

 

So welder came by and in his words "I don't see any problems". Once you can visualize the project, know your talents and equipment it just starts falling into line and this guy definitely rolls that way. He thinks he could run 3.5 or 4" downpipe, the flange is a 3" v-band and I gave him my old housing to measure and think from, along with my old down pipe.

I threw up the idea "I have an HKS mid-pipe but its three inch, but if you wanted to just make me a down pipe + mid pipe in all v-band that works too"

This may be what we do, He said he wanted to do a short 3" out of the turbo expanding to a larger 3.5 or 4", and will run a flex section in the down pipe and he would like to do one on the wastegate pipe too. So we may essentially run a full 4" with only the transition being right after the turbo like its supposed to neck up.

He asked about BOV placement and I originally was thinking in the engine bay next to the battery but we will have to see how things turn out. I almost have the bumper off and once the intercooler gets bolted up and piping starting to go on we'll have a better understanding of where things can go.

 

Having a good fab guy on a project like this that you can count on is priceless. I think it would be well worth the effort to go 4" as guys always pick up power with the larger diameter exhaust. You're in the homestretch now, man!

 

No doubt his confidence brought some relief to my mind; its also nice to have high confidence in someones work and being comfortable paying and letting them do some art and magic. It's checking a huge step off my build and I'll be on vacation getting my toes in the sand during! Haha.

So today I finished taking the front bumper off. There was about 50 screws/bolts/clips i swear, and there is no way I am putting that many back in. I will definitely run the fender to bumper bolts, and all the fender liners. For now the bottom will be open but maybe I can get the replacement z30 trays to help underneath later on. I removed the center duct which goes from the mid-way point up to the top of the condensor, pulled off the side trim pieces and its pretty dang open.







Drove down to Radium Engineering and picked up an 1/8" NPT 90° for their fuel pressure regulator. My link pressure sensor starts to come in contact with the regulator before it snugs up; and while I know I will be running a thread paste; I figure using the 90 degree fitting would make install of the sensor easier for piece of mind. While I was there I picked up some E85 rated submersible fuel hose for my planned fuel pump install eventually.

Mocked up the fuel feed line, the hose I got was a little long, ordered 36" but I could say that 32" would of been perfect; but I think I can deal with the extra length. or even possibly moving the feed to the front of the rail could have eliminated the extra slack; but I already put the fittings on so I want to just try as-is to prevent loosening/re-tightening those ORB o-rings. I also started bolting on the A/C pump more and the power steering pump to figure out the bolts/brackets/spacers I need. I didn't exactly label much but realized I didn't want to re-use my old power steering reservoir so I ordered some more parts from toyota. I think the TT P/S setup will look a lot better, and OEM fitment.

TT P/S reservoir (read from Kahn this bolts up I hope) + bolts
TT P/S hose, reservoir to pump (with clips)
TT union suction nipple + o-ring and bolt

I also ordered some new A/C bracket bolts, a washer i was missing (or unsure of which it is any more), and all that should be here by Tuesday which will allow me to finish my P/S setup next week. This works out as the intercooler kit needs to undo the P/S lines on the cooler.

Really my next two huge things needing to be done are the feed and return fuel lines. I've been putting them off with all the heat we've had, and knowing I will get covered in gasoline. I picked up a set of metric flare wrenches to help and I think that's my goal for tomorrow. Next major hurdles are fitting the intercooler and exhaust, and heater hoses/radiator by end of next week.

 

What a day.

After three 100+ degree days, today only reached 90°F but it has all built up to come crashing down. I feel like someone ran me over, ready for a shower smelling like year old gasoline with swollen hands and an aching neck. I swear I need a shop with a lift.

My goal like I said above, was to do the feed and return fuel lines.. Notice I said "huge things".. I knew what was coming, last night was the calm before the storm. I started this morning around 8, and boy that fuel line is tight. I used a 14mm flare wrench and a 19, and when I got them to crack loose i smacked all my knuckles into the bottom of the car cutting them. Gas poured out into my glove and as I'm trying to loosen it, it gets stuck and the gas starts to melt my glove and burn my skin slightly. This stuff is nasty.

I was able to get the fitting to move 1/4 turn, then it would lock up, and i could then "tighten" it which would loosen back and get tight again after 1/4 turn. I knew which way was loosening, so I went a little hard on it and got it to turn 1/4 turn a time for me, but this was quite difficult. Gas was pouring everywhere, I ended up putting a gas can under my car and allowing it to drain and took a break; it ended up draining about 4-5 gallons of gas before stopping. I figured with how hard of a time I was having, after two hours I had only made it maybe two rotations. Went and picked up a 19mm flare wrench to get a little more leverage and that was the ticket. To my dismay, the reason was the rubber hose was re-creating new threads some how. It blew my mind that I got it apart, and even more-so that it doesn't to have appeared to damage the hardline side as I was able to thread on the radium adapter; and tighten it up onto the flare fine.

I quickly put on the feed hose, tightened it up snug and by this time it was already 4pm, covered in gas and sweat so I said heck with it and threw the return line on and clutch hose too! I had to feel some what accomplished and this was a major "necessity" to go forward with the build. I'm still dreading the fuel pump itself. Oh also the radium fitting off the regulator will work perfect for the pressure sensor. No issues now!

 

Joe, I am going to put you on my Prayer list. I am sitting here thinking about all the times of working on all my cars over the years and having something like this happen to me. I am not going to try and count those times but that is OK because I know it will never happen again since I am so limited on the things I can do. But I do have a friend that helps me out on the hard stuff, (thank you Robert). I know you are limited due to your body which you mentioned but my goodness you are going at it like SUPERMAN. There is nothing in the world like the love of an AUTOMOBILE and you are proving it everyday that you have that love for your 300. I sure hope you used some good lotion on your hands and arms and they are OK. Take real good care of yourself.
Bill