Thank for your kind words, it is almost like losing a family member. I hope we managed to put out the fire before it did any serious damage.
If I were to buy a replacement 1UZ-FE should I consider a VVTi engine or stick to the good ole 1992 with thick rods?
/Mike

 

You could always use the rods out of that engine and swap them into the VVTI. Maybe you can salvage the rods?

But to be honest I would just grab another 1uz non-vvti. They can be found for so cheap. You wouldn't have to change your computer.

I'm a bit wary of FMU's from what I read. Maybe on your next build just don't use an FMU and use the FIC to control your fuel. Or go standalone. Either way don't give up!

Maybe your supercharger can be salvaged too?

 

It didn't burn for very long, it was intensive though. It seems it's just a lot of dust, i'll know more in a few hours. And yeah I'm inclined to do as you suggest, just go for another non-VVTI 1UZ-FE and stop being cheap and buy a stand-alone or a F-IC8.
Thx Clean and i'll keep you posted
/Mike

 

I was thinking of buying one more engine and a wire loom and all the damaged details. I am emailing with a salvage yard in Florida, we'll see if they can find the parts. I would be grateful if you guys could provide me with a few contact details (email addresses) for salvage yards in US that might have SC400 parts.
I power washed the car and found the culprit, it was (as we guessed) a fuel line that jumped out and gasoline vaporized on the exhaust manifold or the cats.
Here are some pictures:








I spoke to a friend of mine who has an auto workshop and he agreed that I can have the car there for as long as it takes, i am planning on taking out the engine and do a thorough check, do a wire tuck, paint the engine bay, change motor mounts, change headers to the aftermarket ones that I have.
I must admit I got pretty sad, but it didn't looked that bad, it can be fixed.
/Mike

 

Yeah Mike it doesn't look as bad as you think, honestly I doubt you damaged the engine itself, if that was the case there would be nothing left of the plastic covers. the fact that they are just a little warped means you probably got it in time, although I would guess you are going to need another wire harness but I wouldn't give up on the motor just yet. just strip all the unecessart plastics off and look underneath the aluminum will be pitted or dull if it actually started to warp or damage. you can also take the valve covers off and put a straight edge on the top especially on the drivers side to see how much the top has warped, which is usually a decent indication of how much the head itself has warped on the other side.

It probably didn't get that in the important places though, please consider ripping off all that fuel stuff and put the factory back on, I have seen about 3 na-t projects go up in flames not including yours because of a fuel line due to a fuel pressure regulator install, which is not necessary the stock one is a 1:1 unit and you do not need a 14:1 under any circumstances that I can think of even. the factory stuff is all quality hose fittings which cannot leak witht he proper washers, but when using hose clamps like those and increasing fuel pressure you are just asking for it if you put that stuff back on the car again without full length lines with proper -an threaded fittings. just my .02c man I really feel bad I didn;t say anything about it before but I hate those things but was keeping my opinion out of it earlier due to my inexperience with the 1uz factory ecu setup with a supercharger.

 

I don't think the engine itself is damaged, I was thinking of buying the whole engine just for the damaged details, such as TPS, IAC, fuel canister, all the covers and so on. If I were to order these separately I think it would be more expensive. The thing is that I really do not know how easy it is to find used SC400 parts in US and the shipping costs and import fees are just horendous.
It burned for aproximately 5, maybe 10 minutes or so before we put the fire out, but it was intense. Imagine all that fuel under tremendous pressure, it was like an explosion. In the same building where i work are the headquarters of swedish customs and border patrol, some really well trained guys, in the same league as fire fighters or policemen and they jumped to help, but neither of us succeeded in putting the fire out until one of my colleagues came and put the hose of the extinguisher between the hood and the front left beam and emptied the extinguisher. That killed the fire instantly.
/Mike

 

You might be right then whole motor might save you some and you can part the rest. Didn't even think about that.

 

I found a dealer in UK who has a few Soarers, this is the list of parts that i ordered:
1 x charcoal canister
1 x VSV for EGR
1 x VSV for fuel pressure
1 x EGR vacuum modulator
1 x diagnostic connector DLC1 (if not included in wire loom)
1 x brake fluid reservoir
1 x driver door side protection moulding, drivers side, including clips
1 x LH Timing engine cover
1 x RH Timing engine cover
1 x LH Wire engine cover
1 x RH Wire engine cover
1 x engine under cover front small with air intake holes
1 x engine under cover back bigger
1 x LH fender liner (wheel well splash guard)
1 x RH fender liner (wheel well splash guard)
1 x LH fender splash shield
1 x RH fender splash shield
1 x fuse box with plastic cover
1 x hood insulator
1 x hood lock plastic cover (between radiator and front bumper)
2 x plastic details front see attached picture
1 x relay box plastic cover
1 x throttle valve + 1 x throttle position sensor
1 x upper high tension cover
1 x engine wire harness

This is all i could see before i remove the engine.
It totaled the amount of 485 £ or 500 euros, which in my opinion is pretty humane.
We'll see if the parts are as promised.
/Mike

 

I was doing some research and ordering all my supercharger parts (evil laugh) haha.

I think the pulley's you chose were way too small.

"3.5lbs as current with the 3.75" pulley."
http://www.lextreme.com/forums/showt...=12160&page=13

This was an LS400 vortech v2 build.

"As far as pullies go, I am running a 3.4" pulley at 7psi on a procharger. Every .1" increase nets me 1psi of boost. That 2.4" should put out 17psi!!! I don't know if the vortech varies at all."
http://www.lextreme.com/forums/archi...p/t-12160.html

This guy was running a procharger on an sc400.

Personally based on what I've read I'm going to go with a 3.48" pulley with my vortech v3 si. This should give me around 6psi. Unless I'm not understanding something?

Unless you were planning on starting with huge amounts of boost right away, but in that case you would need your injectors installed and a good tune. Might be why you have having so many issues. Just throwing around ideas here. Maybe I'm completely wrong.

 

Hi Clean, I do not think that we can compare the Prochargers with the Vortech, they run different size pulleys and have different gear ratios.
On Vortechs homepage the smallest pulley they sell is 2.87". I bought the smallest one since KC95SC400 ran 11 PSI by using a 2.25" pulley on a Vortech blower.
I also read those threads that you were referring to, I really do not know what to make of it since KC is running 11 PSI with 2.25" pulley. Thermactor (the guy with the Procharger) says that every 0.1" decrease in pulley size equals 1 PSI. That might be true for a Procharger, dunno if it applies to a Vortech. But let's play with that assumption and see:

The difference from the original pulley to the new one is: 3.75" - 2.87"= 0.88--> 8.8 PSI on top of whatever the blower was pushing with 3.75". It might be too much, i don't know, I never found any charts or comparison lists or any info on that.
What i can tell you is that it did little or no difference at all in the way the car behaved after switching to the smaller pulley. Now that might have to do with the fact that i badly need a tuner.
It would be great if anybody could enlighten us in this matter.

Right now I have bigger issues to deal with :-) today I'll probably take the engine out of the car and inspect the damage. I hope I'll be done by lunch time with that, it's my birthday today and I have to be at home just in case any friends come by the house and expect cake and coffee :-)

/mike

 

Happy Birthday!

Thanks for taking the time to respond to that. I realize that you do indeed have bigger issues to deal with!

I know KC was running a different model of vortech that is not similar in size to our V3. I think he's running a smaller blower than requires a smaller pulley to make that much boost.

Let's say the 2.87" Pulley did give you an extra 8.8PSI over the 3.75" which was giving 3.5PSI. You would be running 12.3 PSI on stock injectors which would be impossible for the stock injectors to supply. With your 315CC injectors you would be able to do it, but the stock ECU won't be able to control them properly. Definitely need a piggyback or standalone to control those injectors to get them dialed in right.

I'm going to order the 3.48" pulley on a hunch that it's the right size for 6psi. I'm glad we both have v3's so we can share how much boost we are building on different pulley sizes

For the fishbracket bolts do I need 7/16" x 127mm?

Also for the spacers they need to be 103mm? Thanks man!

Enjoy your birthday engine removal haha! True gearhead.

 

Hi Clean,
I bought the screws at a local hardware store that are specialized in screws, the specs are: 7/16" x 127mm.
The length of the spacers is individual, mine ended up being 106mm long. Start from there and see if it aligns. It is essential that you align the supercharger's pulley with the rest of the pulleys, otherwise you end up making belt salads. Also when you measure for the new serpentine belt, take a rigid wire instead of a cotton thread. Let's say it measures 268cm without you pulling the belt tensioner. You will end up buying a belt that is 265cm long. for example this one: http://www.gatesautocat.com/article/6PK2650 , but then again, it may be different for you depending on the placement of the additional tensioner and version of fish bracket.
Best of luck
/Mike

 

Hi,
Today I got a special "ok-because-it's-your-birthday" permit to work on the kitchen table.
I spent my birthday polishing engine parts with mother's polish after washing them in the bathtub.
That kind of soot that's left after plastic and rubber fire is the worst kind. It doesn't come off with degreaser or clorine or pressure wash, wheel cleaner helps a little.
Anyways, i removed a few parts today and it doesn't look so bad:


I have to clean everything as soon as possible, it rusts / oxidates very fast.

After:

All nice and shiny again

/mike

 

Some more stuff i cleaned up this weekend:





/Mike

 

I measured one more time: 105mm.
/Mike