Coming Back to Life

Back from the Ramintra Header shop. They came out pretty good . . . .not exactly 'equal length', but they are stepped from 1 5/8" up to 1 3/4" and then into the slip-on Edelbrock merge collectors. I can't wait to hear it! The race car is now on to the electrician to wire the AEM ECU.

 

Here is a photo of the current state of construction. I am in the final assembly phase. Not too much left after Khun George did an excellent job on the wiring.

 

Final Assembly Photos. I may test next week.

 

New supercharged 1UZ V8 assembled and ready to start and tune:

 

New 1UZ V8 Starts! Hear it run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exeCuuxA1k8

 

Some new pics:



Details, details, details
High
Tech air filter - designed to strain birds and large debris out of the high speed intake air column.

Looks good -- won't start, I got dem ol' new car blues!

Cutting edge air filtration technology pioneered by my friend John, a.k.a. 'The High Road Skulker'. It also doubles as handy track-side food strainer. Helpful hint: tell your wife prior to borrowing kitchen appliances lest she sees photos on your web page. Yes Dear, I'll take that trash out right now.

 

Why do cam position sensors fail? We worked late several nights before we discovered this little problem.

 

Well . . . all is good in Thailand. My race truck is completely sorted now, and only needs a strip tune to get it ready for the dyno. I like to race a few week-ends with a somewhat 'rich' strip tune before I go on the dyno to be sure the mechanicals are tip top. I will strip tune soon. The problems I have been chasing were electrical in nature: some wiring was done 'correctly', but was not plugged into the AEM ECU in the right holes. In a 'free rev' at the shop, the little motor made 6.5 pounds of boost at 6500 . . . through a lot of piping and a large intercooler. I am fine with that. I plan to program the PCS to shift at 7000 for the fast brackets, and 5500 for the slower brackets. We will see what it does under a load. I was trying to secure an AEM Twin Fire CDI to boost the spark -- but they have been unavailable for many months now while AEM 'redesigns' the product. I will wait to dyno it until I have the CDI, however. Remember, my project is not to see how much horsepower I can make from this engine combination: I am a bracket racer, and what is important to me is reliability, tunability, and repeatability. I need ONLY to 'run (and accurately predict) my number' in back-to-back-to-back quarter mile passes. I was doing that just fine with my old turbo 1.5JZ . . . but the lure of an uncorked all-aluminum V-8 was just too much to resist! Wish me luck.




I went to Los Angeles, California for a week, and when I got back, I went to Northern Italy for the following 10 days, for a total of three (racing) week-ends out of Thailand. I purchased an MSD DIS-4 Plus (CDI) while in The States, and have had my guys install it while I was gone. In two weeks I will be back at it at the track for test and tune . . . . I hope! When the MSD DIS-4 was installed the engine started right up . . . there are no problems with the motor running.

 

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Too bad I wasn't ready for the King of Truck last night. But . . . I am very close to completion. There have been some transmission parts-matching issues. Here's what it looks like now:

 

Where have I been? Waiting on parts!

In case you have been wondering where I have been for the last few months since I last posted something about my supercharged, 1UZ drag Familia truck project . . . . . I have been waiting on parts. My research, and the experience of 1UZ racers in Australia and The States led me to understand that the standard 1UZ HEAD BOLTS were were good for only one re-use, and no more (especially in a high performance application like mine). So, what to do? Since my "bottom end" was already installed (and in very good condition), I elected to purchase a set of standard size 1UZ HEAD STUDS . . . . and since I had to have the heads off anyway, I had the "humps" in the combustion chambers machined off and the chambers polished - the best way to lower compression on a 1UZ. I decided that the composite HEAD GASKETS available locally were not of sufficient quality, so I opted for a pair of very high quality Cometic steel HEAD GASKETS in the thinner (proper) thickness. All well and good. BUT! It has taken over four months to receive the (very expensive!) parts! I am only now able to re-assemble the motor. Go to my web blog for all the photos of the 1UZ build-up: http://drjeffbangkok.squarespace.com/racing-projects-blog/

Yep, I will be racing soon . . . . now that I have these ARP standard head studs from Lextreme. Soon. I hope soon.Strong, but very expensive, head studs for the 1UZ. The standard head bolts cannot (should not) be used more than once, and certainly not more than once in a performance application like mine.

This is how the right and left side Cometic head gasket arrived.
Looks good through the bubble wrap. These gaskets along with the standard head studs and 60 ft.lbs. of torque should work fine with my combination.


The cylinder heads are back from the machine shop after having the "humps" removed from the cylinder head chambers. This is the right way to lower compression on these 1UZ motors . . . as well as eliminate a source of detonation. The pent roof design, and some remaining squish around the cylinder, still allows good turbulence for fuel and air mixture.
The workmanship on the machining is "pretty good" -- which is as good as I can get them in Thailand. I went the extra mile and had them sanded and polished, in case I want to race on E85 some day (with it's low tolerance for pre-ignition). The valve seats will need to be redone.

 

Finally! Supercharged 1UZ ready for the dyno!

[video=youtube;Fmp4udeDTLw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmp4udeDTLw[/video]

 

El race truck con twice pipes.

[video=youtube;88x8r2a2R5s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88x8r2a2R5s[/video]

 

http://drjeffbangkok.squarespace.com/racing-projects-blog/

 

[video=youtube;88x8r2a2R5s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88x8r2a2R5s[/video]

 

[video=youtube;awql4Wnj1Ms]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=awql4Wnj1Ms[/video]

New short block installed, buttoned up, and the first strip "test & tune" session in progress.