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Smudge's supercharged V8 build

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Just now, sentinal187 said:

Sounds like you have got a noisy weekend planned!? Who is doing the mapping?

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Wouldn't hold your breath just yet...

We've stumbled on yet another issue which is testing our patience, again <_<

I may be on the road at 5am at this rate to pick up a part to give us some hope for tomorrow.

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Wouldn't hold your breath just yet...
We've stumbled on yet another issue which is testing our patience, again <_> I may be on the road at 5am at this rate to pick up a part to give us some hope for tomorrow.
Ah, good luck

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Yet another frustrating day in the life of the GTV86 🤦‍♂️

We found late last night that the timing belt wasn't tight enough for some reason. There was so much slack that you could spin the water pump by hand with the belt in place. So we assumed there must be an issue with the timing belt kit and I was on the road at 7.30am to pick a new one up from Birmingham (the only place I could find one in stock available to pick up on a Saturday).

Turns out, the idler and tensioner pulley were fine and the belt is correct. So just 10miles outside Birmingham I turned round to come home again 🙄

After much deliberation, we believe that the water pump itself isn't quite right. When comparing ours to Google images and other 1UZ owners, it just doesn't match. So once again, I'll be on the road early hours of tomorrow morning to fetch a brand new OEM replacement all the way up in Ipswich 😴 I pray that this solves our issue otherwise I'm completely stumped and just about ready to set this sodding thing on fire.

On a lighter note, I installed the rear 5x114.3 hubs today so the 86 is now fully Jap fitment! 🎉 and I had a seat in the car for the first time in about 2.5 years so we could bleed the clutch. Felt very odd sitting inside my own car.

Let's hope Monday morning we have some good news concerning the timing belt mystery...🤞

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43 minutes ago, Luke said:

That sounds like car hell. Why the long drive to get parts, are you working to a hard deadline?

Sounds like a self imposed deadline... 🤔 But understandably  motivating to go to these lengths now it's so close to completion!

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5 hours ago, Lauren said:

That's a shame. You'd think a waterpump is a water pump really, so hard to see how it could be different, but I hope you get it sorted. 

You'd think so. But there are different part numbers throughout the generations of the UZ engine series. So hopefully we've got a later UZ water pump somehow and there's some tiny difference between them.

We can see visual differences so it's a positive sign. Fingers crossed for tomorrow morning. 

5 hours ago, Luke said:

That sounds like car hell. Why the long drive to get parts, are you working to a hard deadline?

I'm just sick of waiting for things to be done tbh. Plus there are at least 2 other 1UZ swaps into an 86/BRZ happening now and I'll be damned if mine isn't the 1st to be complete after 3 years of aggravation!

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Water pump doesn't change anything, so it appears we have a fucked engine.

Only thing we can possibly think of is that the heads have been skimmed WAY too much, causing the cams to sit down too low and therefore make the belt slack.

2 options:

1. Source some replacement heads and pray that the block hasn't also been skimmed to death

2. Source a completely new engine/donor car to transplant into the 86.

I'm thinking option 2 is the best, albeit the more expensive and time consuming, as at least then we'll know the engine is in decent shape rather than guessing what state it's in.

Really beginning to lose all motivation for this. Just 1 thing after another.

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1 minute ago, smudge said:

Water pump doesn't change anything, so it appears we have a fucked engine.

Only thing we can possibly think of is that the heads have been skimmed WAY too much, causing the cams to sit down too low and therefore make the belt slack.

2 options:

1. Source some replacement heads and pray that the block hasn't also been skimmed to death

2. Source a completely new engine/donor car to transplant into the 86.

I'm thinking option 2 is the best, albeit the more expensive and time consuming, as at least then we'll know the engine is in decent shape rather than guessing what state it's in.

Really beginning to lose all motivation for this. Just 1 thing after another.

Just go option 2, you'll find a decent engine and just soldier on with it, be well worth it in the end. 

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40 minutes ago, Mark@Abbey M/S said:

can you just make a larger diameter tensioner to take up the slack?

There isn't a larger tensioner from what we can find. We could always stick a large diameter idler pulley on, but my thinking is that we shouldn't have to make compromises for something which shouldn't be an issue.

I'm losing the plot with this engine, just issue after issue. At least if I source a replacement that I've seen running and working, it's peace of mind despite the extra effort.

40 minutes ago, Kadaver said:

Just go option 2, you'll find a decent engine and just soldier on with it, be well worth it in the end. 

My thoughts exactly. I need to remove any trace of the original engine as it's caused us nothing but problems.

A replacement will be fairly straight forward and leaves us confident that it works and runs.

3 minutes ago, sentinal187 said:

F'ing hell, never ending! Did you ever have or see the engine running? Hang in there will be worth it all in the end, I know easier said than done given the time and money involved.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 

Nope. Was supplied as is, told it came from a working car by the previous garage but as you've probably guessed by now, I don't believe a word they've told me...

Going to view a complete LS400 tonight with what looks to be a good engine. Can make some money back splitting the rest of the car down too.

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So the LS400 that I viewed on Monday night was sweet. Gave the guy a deposit and arranged for a friend to collect it on Wednesday with his trailer.

He then phones me on Tuesday to say he can collect it that day. So I phone the guy selling the car and he tells me it's already gone...clearly a deposit and an agreed deal means fuck all to the prick <_<

So back to square 1. The only other pre 94 car that isn't STUPID money is all the way up in Lincoln, about 3.5hours each way from Surrey.

Luckily, I've managed to source an engine that I've seen working previously that's already out of a car and only about 90mins from me. So I'm picking it up tonight and dropping it off at Carson Performance for them to crack on with the change over.

Saves me a bit of money not buying a whole car, saves Carson a day or so of labour getting it out of the car and also saves me a load of hassle having to split the LS400 to make my money back.

Fingers crossed this is finally, the beginning of the end.....maybe?

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I look forward to the autobiography and feature film produced on all the horrors that have come with this build before its even turned a wheel. I feel for you. 

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1 hour ago, Luke said:

I look forward to the autobiography and feature film produced on all the horrors that have come with this build before its even turned a wheel. I feel for you. 

Just doesn't ever seem to end! 

26 minutes ago, vanko25 said:

Really looking forward to see this running before Christmas! Fingers crossed. 

Cheers, hopefully no more surprises

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So after meeting me at close to midnight to drop the new V8 off, Simon and the team @ Carson Performance already have it stripped down and almost ready to go back into the 86!

I cannot thank him enough for all his efforts and advice over the last 9 months. Nothing is ever too much despite the constant battle of issues we seem to have faced!

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It's taken a while to catch up with carnage involved in your build!  Well done for making it this far!

If you can tolerate the challenges, it will be worth it in the end!  I did a GM V8 conversion to a Commodore a (long) time ago now and it also took years, but damn, it was fun when done!

This conversion does intrigue me, as I have a bit of a thing for V8's!  Don't know a lot about the Lexus one, but the fact it's so light and has potential for fun power figures in NA form does appeal!

Hope your nerves and patience let you make it to the end!

Thumbs up for Carson too - looks like they have looked after you very well after your previous nightmares!

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This shit just doesn't stop :lol:

Removing one of the starter motors, and something snaps. Nevermind, we've got the other one we can use.

Go to remove that, and snaps in exactly the same sodding place! Must be a weak spot in the design but REALLY?!

So another unnecessary and unwanted bill for a new starter motor <_<

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Is there a bin in the workshop that gets a kicking everytime something goes wrong. Because I think I'd well and truly lost my rag by now lol. 

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It's taken Carson Performance just 4 days to completely change the engines over and get the new one ready to fire! Their work and determination has been astounding. Never afraid to overcome and issue and put in the extra effort to get things done right.

Today I helped put the finishing touches to the water pipes, reinstall the supercharger and wiring loom. All ready for us to load the base map into the Motec and push the start button.

Unfortunately after hours of trying, we got stuck with the ECU software. Turns out the map was written for 2017 firmware and mine has 2016 firmware on it <_< such a tiny mistake has halted us at the final hurdle :(

Obviously not getting my Christmas miracle, but here's hoping some good news still to come for 2019.

 

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