TheTyrants 1zz Turbo - and not turbo now!

[thetyrant]

Ok thought it was about time i started a thread now that im well on the way with this one

Basically i bought a used SP240 kit complete with a Link G4+ Storm, AEM wideband, EP baffled sump and various other bits and bobs all from a car Rogue bought in for breaking, i took a day to have a long  ride down to Roque HQ to remove the kit myself so i could inspect it and see exactly how it all fitted on, once home i set a plan to do this in 3 stages as below.

1st Stage - ECU etc: I needed to install the Link G4+ Ecu & Aem Wideband unit along with the complete Engine loom they were both hardwired into, wasnt too bad a job just bit fiddly getting everything swapped over and routed around the engine bay, the Link Ecu is setup to run in tandem with the stock ecu which still powers the dashboard instruments but all the engine control (fuel, ignition, VVT etc etc) is controlled by the Link which is a nice piece of kit

Once i had all that fitted i tweaked the map for stock injectors (kit came with larger injectors but after testing they proved fit only for the bin) and she fired right up and idled nicely  , although wideband was showing very lean so i tweaked the ecu back to get wideband reading as it should, car then smelled very rich! and wasnt running as nicely as before, i suspected the wideband had an issue reporting incorrect AFR so i dug out my spare standalone WB and popped that in tailpipe to compare readings with what the AEM was inputing into the Link Ecu, sure enough it showed we were  silly rich!.... i disconnected the AEM WB and used mine to get some miles on check everything else was ok and do some basic map tweaks, also i had a strange pulsing noise at idle which after a few days hunting around i tracked back to poorly setup IAC settings on Link map, changed that and noise was gone.

I needed to sort out the WB before moving forward as its hardwired into Ecu and makes logging and tuning much easier, it can also be used for closedloop fueling at idle/cruise like oem ecu does so handy to have, i suspected the AEM widebands sensor was faulty as it was totally covered in soot when i removed from turbo car exhaust however after swapping it for a good spare sensor i had we still had the rich afr issue & WB reporting lean!....next was to check over all the wiring and found the AEM control unit hadnt been wired in correctly with the earth feed from sensor to ecu left unattached so it was earthing through the exhaust!  anyone who knows widebands knows they are very sensitive to where all the earth points attach and they affect the readings massively, i attached the earth to ecu with the others and straight away the AFR readings on the Link came inline with my spare WB unit so job done.
What is worrying is that the map that came on Ecu was setup for closed loop fueling, this means the Ecu takes reading from WB at idle and cruise and adjusts fuelling to suit rather than relying just on map numbers, this means the car i took turbo kit from was running stupid rich at idle/cruise due to the earth not being connected, must of drunk fuel like a V8 and explained the soooted up exhaust and i would imagine engine not in best health with all the fuel pouring through it!

2nd Stage: Fuelling upgrade... i needed larger Injectors before turbo went on so i fitted some and mapped car in N/a form to make sure all is well before fitting turbo, i opted for a new set of the proven VXR 470cc Bosch injectors which with some trimming to body and harness adapters drop right in for cheap quality upgrade, bit of fiddling about trimming and hassle getting correct adaptors but all sorted fairly easy really, ive spent the last few weeks going over the map to get everything tiptop before i think about adding boost, all done now so onto next stage!

3rd Stage - Fit the Turbo kit  Now im happy with car running on Link ecu and VXR injectors in n/a form its time to fit the turbo kit so yesterday i set about stripping everything off i needed and made a start bolting the turbo kit on car, i still need to sort the pipework and few other jobs but the manifold and turbo are all fitted as is the first part of exhaust and WB sensor.
Im now waiting on some new heatshield sleeving for cooling pipework then i can connect it into cooling system, while im waiting ive plenty to do including sort oil feed & drain to turbo including removing/drilling sump (sold the EP sump), fit Intercooler and pipework and sort air filter etc mounting so will keep me busy for a few nights.

Once the kit is up and running i have a few upgrades i would like to do as follows, the kit came with the SP240 air to air intercooler (larger version of TTE ic i beleive) which is not going to be suitable for my needs as will suffer from heatsoak when im doing sprint events im sure,  plan is to upgrade to water to air chargecooler to improve on this.
Clutch im sure wont be happy with extra grunt so that is planned in to upgrade as well and maybe first job after its all up and running.
Exhaust i think will need to be addressed as well, kit came with a 2.5" system including sports cat and single carbon fibre silencer (motorbike style) which i think will be too noisy for me, we will see though as could be ok due to turbo and cat in system which do absorb noise to a degree.

I will keep this thread updated with progress but below is picture of how it sits as of last night.

[Gaz2405]

Great, looking forward to this build thread!

Seems to be a resurgence of 1zz Turbo's at the moment.

[thetyrant]

Its been a long time coming but im getting started now ... got the oil dropped at lunchtime and new gasket made for oil drain connection to turbo, hopefully get sump off tonight so i can get that drilled out and dash fitting for oil return on, im on home straight then as rest is simple stuff

Im sure there is a market for complete turbo kits for these cars now over here, its so expensive to import them from usa and UK kits that are out there like the Mallian etc are not complete and lot of money for what you get, manifold looks awful on it for instance!



 

[Bugster_MR2]

Im sure there is a market for complete turbo kits for these cars now over here, its so expensive to import them from usa and UK kits that are out there like the Mallian etc are not complete and lot of money for what you get, manifold looks awful on it for instance!



 

Agreed! There must be a market for a good quality turbo kit which provides around the same amount of power as the TTE. I would also believe it will make approval much easier in a lot of other european countries, if one can compare it with the TTE that has the TÜV-documents.

[s12vea]

Good progress so far won't be long till you're boosting around smiling from ear to ear.

[thetyrant]

Not quite as much progress as i hoped tonight but got a few nasty jobs done, also an easy job fitting new gasket to turbo drain pipe at turbo end, next i got the sump off which was a mission!....then cleaned it and the block up another mission! lol

Did some measuring and drilled the hole in sump for oil return, i forgot to bring the big 19mm drill home from work so just did a smaller pilot hole to check i had everything in right place, once this is done i will give sump a good wash out and final clean before refitting with new sealant

Pics below...

Sump off and basic clean up.



Engine with no sump and flange all cleaned ready for sump to go back on, quite a bit of carbon build up in some areas but its 14 years old and 103k miles so not bad i guess, it has full service history from Toyota before i bought it as well and more frequent oil changes since, shows more regular changes wouldnt hurt keep things cleaner in there but all main parts are in good shape and pickup was immaculate so all good..



Sump with pilot hole drilled



More to come soon

[Hawkes41]

Looking good so far! Will be watching closely!

[pistol pete]

looking good buddy!

[thetyrant]

Not a huge amount of progress this week so far despite putting in the hours, as always the small jobs take longer than you think when your double checking and cleaning everything as you go.

I have finally got the sump and return connector sorted and refitted that last night as well as hooking up oil drain from turbo, also routed oil feed pipe underneath to the filter house ready to hook into oil pressure port, first though i wanted to fit intercooler and piping as that dictates where oil feed pipe sits.

Ive ran into a snag though as the IC outlet end is fouled by the coolant hard pipe coming up from under car!, i think a gentle massage should give me clearance i just hope it doesnt snap and at 9.30pm last night i didnt want to tackle it so that is tonights job, if it does then i will reroute it with some extra flexi hose in there to make more space but would rather not add more joins if i dont need to and also means draining all the coolant which im hoping to avoid, so we will see later.

Also have the turbo coolant feed pipes in there new heatproof sleeves all ready to go on, new Ramair air filter arrived and worked out where its going but had to order a new piece of alloy pipe to get to its new position which is under the rear light rather than behind it, new pipe should be here today so i can get that finished off then we are pretty close to fire up, this weekend hopefully!

[thetyrant]

Late one last night sorting out more plumbing on the install , IC and all pipework is now fitted and with some tweaking i was able to make clearance for the IC outlet pipework as mentioned in above post, if im honest im not 100% happy with it as still very close to coolant pipework but its functional and shouldnt cause any issues, plus i have to keep telling myself the air/air IC is temporary anyhow but being a perfectionist makes it difficult when im not totally happy! but i think ive got to a useable compromise for now as all pipework fits and is has clearance from the hot bits!

Also got the intake pipework finished and new air filter mounted, just need to tweak the support bracket a touch and add another rubber support where it comes through the diagonal part of frame for good measure, its always tricky making sure everything is supported enough but have enough wobble room to allow for engine movement etc and not put stress on any parts, but im happy enough with it all now and just need to make/fit some heatsheilds to separate it from exhaust area and that's it all done, pics below.

[Gaz2405]

I ended using the same position for the air filter, mixture of hard pipes and various silicone elbows to make it work.

Ended up using off cuts of silicone to stop it vibrating through the Cross members into the arch and seems OK.

[thetyrant]

I ended using the same position for the air filter, mixture of hard pipes and various silicone elbows to make it work.

Ended up using off cuts of silicone to stop it vibrating through the Cross members into the arch and seems OK.

Yes seems the best place and all i needed to change from pipework that came with kit was the last piece of alloy pipe that filter clamps onto from a 90 to a 45deg, the kit originally had the air filter up behind the rear light but its pretty cramped there and had been rubbing also would have to remove/cut the fresh air feed tube, this filter is slightly bigger as well so felt it better down below like this.

Mountings wise i have alloy pipe rubber mounted just next to filter which is holding it all up nicely, as above i think i will add at least 1 more rubber support just before it comes back out from engine bay which is probably overkill but i like things to be right

All i need to do now is connect the coolant pipes to turbo along with turbo oil feed onto filter housing, sort the breather setup and fit the catch can etc then just go over all pipework to double check everything, once thats done fill her with oil and refit battery then we are good to go!... hopefully have it out start the mapping tomorrow

[thetyrant]

Houston ....we have lift off...and boost in the little toyota

Got everything buttoned up today and started her up an hour or so ago, only had chance for a quick drive after warming it up in garage checking for leaks etc, and as its now dark i want to wait until daylight to get a proper testdrive, it felt good though with a little tickle into boost and only on actuator pressure as I haven't hooked up the boost solenoid yet,  so around 6psi looking at datalog.

Pleasantly surprised that its not mega loud with the small carbon silencer but will wait until I get a proper drive to see what its really like!  I suspect a mid size proper silencer will be needed but we will see.

Happy enough there was no leaks or rattles etc showing that the extra time ive spent going over things has paid off, will get it on ramps tomorrow for proper inspection and check over before I say to much on that though lol

I did run into a headache early on today installing the oil feed into filter housing pressure port, kit came with a t-piece and take off to do this, I took pressure switch out byt when I tried to screw t-piece in its place it did not feel good, on closer inspection appeared wrong size compared to pressure switch which had far more taper, I was lucky the local Hydraulic place was open so took everything up there and was able to pick up the correct fitting, it must of been forced into the engine I took kit off!  all good now hopefully

[s12vea]

Well done!
6psi will be a noticeable but different animal with the boost sol connected.

Good luck for tomorrow

[thetyrant]

Well done!
6psi will be a noticeable but different animal with the boost sol connected.

Good luck for tomorrow

Yes indeed 10psi+ will be a whole different animal but not sure my clutch will thank me   I will test and map on actuator pressure for awhile before I look at any extra boost

[s12vea]

Yep the clutch won't be happy either way tbh

[thetyrant]

OK got 50miles or so on it this morning to make a start on mapping tweaks im just home to let it cool down then i can get it jacked up and check everything over,  there was quite a bit of blue smoke yesterday after first start once it started to warm up which i put down to suspected residual oil in pipework, exhaust and ic etc as it cleared once i took it out for short drive, however it was same again this morning until i got it properly warmed up when there was no smoke i could seen, i only did a couple of miles yesterday so could still be residual oil but we will see how it goes next cold start.

I am thinking its probably the turbo oil seal on its way out which is something i half expected as dont think the car i took kit from was particularity well treated!...it may improve now its got new fresh oil and i warm up/cool down as you should so i will just see how it goes, worst case i will either get a recon turbo or get this one rebuilt as its not an expensive job. I did think about doing it before fitting but as i was told the turbo had not that long ago been done and as bearing feels good and there was no obvious oil on wheels i thought i would take the chance,  not a massive job to sort if it doesnt cure itself though so im not too concerned.

On way home once i had fuelling map about right i did a full throttle 3rd gear pull on section of road ive been using for my Virtual Dyno testing (see other thread about that) so i can compare where things are so far compared to pre-turbo on same section of road.

Ive attached a screenshot and as you can see some decent gains and currently only running 5.5psi peak actuator pressure, its showing that its now around 169hp & 147fltbs at the wheels according to VD, so thats +63hp and +46 lbft over last run i did when car was n/a on that road, i did get some pulls with higher numbers in n/a mode but the one ive used on this overlay was repeatable so think higher number runs must of had tailwind maybe.

So far so good though and car feels fun to drive even now, ive no plans to turn up boost just yet either so will tweak as is for now, clutch seemed to cope ok but we will see how that goes as well, im sure it will need uprating if i go up much more on boost which is another reason not to rush into more boost just yet

[Gaz2405]

Great it's up and going good so far.

Kudos for another self mapper.

My clutch started slipping around 7psi, which is no real Measure as 7psi on one turbo is different to another. But something to go on.

[thetyrant]

Great it's up and going good so far.

Kudos for another self mapper.

My clutch started slipping around 7psi, which is no real Measure as 7psi on one turbo is different to another. But something to go on.

Yes its coming along nicely 

I did another 3rd gear full throttle pull just now when out on another mapping run and sure I felt a tiny bit of clutch slip just as it came on boost, best start thinking about which upgrade to go for!

More tweaks this afternoon and a good going over with spanners afterwards and all seems ok, found a tiny bit of rub on driveshaft from edge of silicone joiner to turbo but easy sorted that. Also found i hadn't put the clamp back on water feed going to oil filter housing doh!, moved it up out way to get enough clearance to screw in t-piece and never moved it back, lucky it didn't blow off but all sorted now.

Still smokey after its been sat awhile until you get it warmed through, so turbo oil seal im pretty sure is culprit and its seeping past it when not running, will get on sorting that.

[thetyrant]

Going over the data from last mapping session this afternoon there is a tiny bit of clutch slip around 3k when planting foot to floor from 2k, other than that not had an issue but its obviously at its limit!

Did another 3rd gear pull on same road to compare with one this morning, bit richer on fuel and less igniton so was happier to rev it a touch harder, made a little more peak power but mainly just because of the extra revs and at 6400 it was within 1hp of earlier run where i didnt go any higher revs.

[thetyrant]

Took a gamble today and ordered a recon turbo from one of the guys on ebay so will see what turns up, it was cheap at £170 with no exchange needed so at least i get to retain mine which i can get rebuilt at my leisure should i need to, i would say its not silly cheap so there is a chance it will be a decent job.

Will get started stripping this turbo off tonight, 2 rear most bolts are easy to get at but the 2 at engine side are going to be tricky! may have to remove manifold to get access but hopefully not, its no biggy if i do and will see how i go.

Checked with Rogue and the turbo i got with kit was rebuilt in january 2017 so seal hasnt lasted long, it was a track car though so no doubt had some hammer and probably not had proper warm up/cool down which is what kills turbos if not done, also no DV on this setup wont be helping and i may look to plumb in a recirc type, im not a fan of the chav whoosh you get with VTA dv's so must be getting old lol...i do like the turbo chatter/stall noise you get without running a dv though as sounds proper old school lol, just not so good for turbo life!

 

[1979scotte]

I had a few turbos on my SP240 kit generally I bought cheap recon ones which turned out to be a false economy.
Also had issues where the oil return in the sump was too low and was backing up into the turbo.
Hope you have neither of these issues.
Tbh if I was doing it again I'd buy a much newer turbo and have it remapped.

[thetyrant]

I had a few turbos on my SP240 kit generally I bought cheap recon ones which turned out to be a false economy.
Also had issues where the oil return in the sump was too low and was backing up into the turbo.
Hope you have neither of these issues.
Tbh if I was doing it again I'd buy a much newer turbo and have it remapped.

Yes its a gamble i know but they have good feedback and price is sensible enough that they could of fitted a rebuild kit and balanced it so we will see.

Oil return was possibly an issue when it was on previous car as they had used the fitting already in the Elise Parts sump which to me was too low really, ive drilled my stock sump as high as possible as per the TTE instructions so should ok, there is also a small restrictor in oil feed to the turbo to stop it getting too much flow so i think the oil supply/drain side is ok.

This turbo while an old design is ideally sized for my goals, its responsive from what ive seen so far and with goals of 200-220 at crank it flows plenty of air without too much heat at that level, if i was pushing for 240+ then yes upgrading would be good idea, however at this level i dont think there is enough gains from a more modern design to make it worthwhile re-engineerng the rest of kit for it.
 Also problem when getting better flow up top you often suffer low down increasing lag/loosing response, as my car is primarily road and sprint use the response and reliability are more important than making bigger numbers, only thing i would be interested in is more efficient to generate less heat but i think with planned upgrade to a water/air chargecooler i wont have any issues on that front.

[thetyrant]

New Turbo has just arrived workmanship externally at least looks ok with what looks like new shaft and wheels etc so hopefully all is as promised which is basically new internals just outer housings that are reused, time to get the old one off tonight see if this will fit!

[thetyrant]

OK got the turbo off and its obvious why its smoking, puddle of oil in turbine outlet and as you can see below once split the turbine wheel and housing have obviously been leaking for awhile as its well baked on and ive only done 50miles since fitting it.

I wish i had split the turbine housing off before fitting kit as would of seen this and saved doing i twice!, there was a tiny bit visible before splitting but its not until you get it apart you see how bad it was,  never mind its all going back together now

Ive swapped the old turbine housing onto new turbo after giving it a good clean and inspection, saves having to remove the studs and drill out holes on new one, the studs are in the manifold on this kit unlike the Saab that turbo is from where they are in turbo and it bolts up through the manifold.

Ok best get back to it make sure ive got the water pipes on at right angle then i can bolt it on