The "Hurry Up and Wait" build

[thedave925]

^^^ lol
I set the cam timing, started her up for the 5th time, fiddled with the loose cps while shooting the crank with a timing gun, and when I was happy I blipped the throttle cam.
Stood back as the tap tap tap of RK began and then the cartoon effect of a character slide-stopping, it was over in 1-1.5 sec.
Standing there absorbing what happened, I got really hot and my shoulders tensed up.
Then I muttered "Thats it. I can just about walk off a cliff and end up with a better outcome."
I put my tools away, locked the supra, turned on the Comp to type post 97. Fooled around thinking, typed another post and decided it was best to go do something.
Thats how I handled it.
I'm still irked, but its buried deep beyond the machine mentality that there was a failure, it can be fixed, and this is not a point to give up.
My bad dreams along the way consisted of my car ripped apart, I die or never come back for some reason, and NO ONE I personally know would be able to finish my project.
But life isn't a dream and both could change with enough effort, there is no turning back. This car will be done.

I think its an oil pump failure. How could the engine not see oil pressure after that many minutes in operation?
I did modify the pump in that I had shimmed what I was sure was the relief spring behind that side bolt outside the gear housing of the oil pump.

I'm suspicious of debris in the pressure oil galley that runs the length of the block.

Or that I hooked up the lines out of the filter adapter wrong.

And I'm sure the engine ran as long as it did since I primed the turbo with a 1/2 quart of 30wt oil.

I still haven't had a chance to really work on removing it. I'm supposed to be in Sac in 4.5hrs, and have work tomorrow to probably 4pm.

I'm anxious to have this done. And your right Kenny, I'm up beat because there's no use in being down about it.
She's been my joy/pride for 5 years, and I intend to continue along past this hard time.

In other news, the 944 has too much going on with it to catch up in maintenance.
I'll be removing its new 3" exhaust for resale at discount, stripping the audio equipment out, and giving it to the state since there is a buyout program for cars older than 89 here.
Even after tip top shape, I couldn't get 5k for it, so why put in that much time and 2.5k more trying to get to that point.
I'll feel better unloading it

Its still unbelievable that the engine could live so long without oil... I can't wait to see where I F'd up

 

[Zumtizzle]

Dave. I have the Mocal oil t-stat waiting for you.

When you get it all figured out let me know!

 

[thedave925]

Zummtizzle,
I'll look at my oiling system for space saving benefits. That mocal already has the edge on having -10 male fittings, eliminating that many more points of joint leakage. I'm seriously considering it.
Thank you for the offer,
-Dave
ps I just ordered a NEW oil pump to throw at the machinist when I drop off the block

 

[dubsupra209]

Zummtizzle,
I'll look at my oiling system for space saving benefits. That mocal already has the edge on having -10 male fittings, eliminating that many more points of joint leakage. I'm seriously considering it.
Thank you for the offer,
-Dave
ps I just ordered a NEW oil pump to throw at the machinist when I drop off the block

dave i can vouch for zumm hes good guy and reasonably priced....you missed a sick meet today dave

 

[thedave925]

Dub,
Zummtizzle is great to do business with, and I hope his build is going well (did I let that outta the bag???)
His open-mindedness and generosity is unique.
And yes, another meet missed due to priorities.
Honestly, I MUST have my car done in the next few weeks, I might have a new job that involves commuting.

Today:
I will continue with removing the long block, today's clear cool whether inspiring work to be done.

I took a picture. Here's the story:

It was option 3 from post 101, I hooked up the filter or adapter on the wrong side.
I never was positive which side was pressure on the canton filter adapter...

You can see in the picture the left fitting below the adapter has an obvious miniscus of oil level sitting in the line, and the right side is very dry.
I thought the right side was pressure, its the side that the banjo bolt feeds.
Expensive way to find out the banjo bolt is a return and not the oil feed.

The rest of my oiling system did see oil and pressure, right up to the one way diaphragm valve built into the oem toyota filter.
This means the oil pump first sends oil to the filter via the little hole below the banjo fitting in the block, after which the filtered oil enters the pressure galley through the banjo, and then out to the mains and up to the cams.
I really did think the threaded hole was the pressurized side...dammit.

Other news:
It was raining moderately yesterday, and I was determined to maintain progress.
With everything disconnected in preparation to removing the long block assembly, I first put the front wheels on some 4x4 blocks to raise the nose up.
Reason behind that is, the legs of the cherry picker don't fit under the lower a-arms when the engine is in.

And so I learned that trying to chock wheels with wood on wet wood doesn't work lol
I raised the back end and then the jack started rolling with the car down the drive way.
So down again I let the back end of the car to rest the rear hand-braked wheels stop the slide.
And so the car sits, 3 feet lower on my driveway than it started lol
This does give me room for the cherry picker to not be half in my garage trying to lift the engine, if you can imagine the difficulty cement control cracks represent to loaded casters, and the low threshold of the garage door opening limiting how high one can raise the picker boom.
My girlfriend didn't like the excitement though hehehe
And thus is another example of why having help on hand can prevent disaster (to all you stubborn people out there, including myself )

PS, since my oil pump was doing its job, I don't need this new oil pump thats coming in.
Unfortunately, partsgeek dot com doesn't do canceling orders, only returns after emailing for a RMA #.
Thought you should know that about that site

-Dave

 

[thedave925]

Yesterday's News:
I stopped by the machine shop and spoke with the block guy.
Basically the plan is to polish the crank and replace the bearings.
He likes Kings, knowing they're a middle hardness bearing compared to the harder ACLs and softer OEM.
He recently built a blown BBC that did 10.2s on Pinks, so I can't discount his choice, being an domestic engine building legend round these parts.

I expect my engine back sometime next week.

And I did take a short cut pointed out to me by Poodles a while back:

I didn't want to remove just the engine for fear of having to deal with the clutch while in the car.

The TSRM says for removing just the engine and not the long block (block and trans together), one must undo the throw out bearing, unbolt the pressure plate, slide things back onto the trans input shaft, commence block pulling.

Poodle's short cut:
When you remove the trans inpection plates, just remove the clutch fork pin and fork, leave the pressure plate in place, carry on undoing trans bell bolts and remove engine.

The issue with the TSRM's method is that undoing the throwout bearing is difficult because of the wave washer and split ring securing things together in as small a space as it is.
Add in that most split ring pliers don't fit that space, the awkward positioning and lighting to do the job, and its really just a bear to do in car.
So plus one to Poodles for that time saving tip!

-Dave

 

[thedave925]

I forgot details of bearing health:

No bearings spun.
2 were debris-marred, most lightly scuffed.
Deduction is with the assembly lube worn away (Joe Gibbs assembly lube), things heated up, clearances tightened to zero, and a running engine stopped.
The crank is to get a light polish, bearing replaced anyways, and short block back to me soon.

 

[thedave925]

Top end health:
The tension of the timing belt caused the cam journals at the cam seal caps to get worn by the lubeless cams.
Some material was scored/swapped, and the shop doesn't think its worth the time to hone/bore 6 thousands (a lot) the whole head to keep up with making the cam seal journal smooth again.
They had me bring over my second head, it's apparently faster to machine and trade parts over.

The first head the parts started on, we're trying to decide which route to go, but the round filing receptacle is not on the table, the head guy wants to save the head.
There's welding the head, bore/line hone, machining for a custom bearing shell, not much else...

Trouble with welding is the whole head has to be pre-heated to prevent localized warpage during welding.
It seems the least trouble of the other options, but not worth the fubar chance when I'm asking for a 2 week turnaround.

Either way, $$$ makes things happen. I'll be happy when it runs/sees oil pressure this time around

 

[thedave925]

A further update.
The head has had material added to the previously corroded water jacket outlets on the deck side.
The head guy has also began to work this head, the intake ports were slightly massaged when I checked in today.
I didn't take any pictures, the lighting is crap in the evening.

WARNING: COMPUTER JARGON AHEAD
If it makes your head hurt, save yourself the trouble and stop reading now and dismiss the rest as nonsense

I built a new computer a couple days ago, it's been running very well so far.
i750 not OC'd
ati 6850
4gb
1TB

My biggest surprise with this system is how much cooler and quieter it runs.
My past rig was a gigabyte p35 and e2160 (dual core, not core duo) that I OC'd to 3.2Ghz and 1066 on the OEM heatsink/fan, 42-44*C the norm. I use Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste exclusively.
Previously, I couldn't sleep with it on but this new setup, the low whir of the hard disk is barely surpassed by the stock heatsink.
Can't even hear the 6850. I haven't tested the gaming capability, but I'm hardly home anyways.
I got the mildy powerful setup for a measure of future proof.
Kept Vista home 64 bit for the new rig while the older one got windows 7.

If you've been a doubting Thomas of the new operating system, don't be. It's much more streamlined and responsive, albeit lighter on resources too.
And I'm not hardly OCing that setup anymore. It navigates the net and youtubes all day on oem settings (1.8ghz, 2gb @ 800mhz).
Obviously I bumped it back up for when I need to view large PDFs, it now sits at 2.4 or 3ghz, can't remember lol
Intel's EIS or whatever acronym it is, (enhanced intelligent stepping TECHNIQUE?) throttles the clock multiplier up and down as needed for adding power when needed while staying somewhat power efficient.

The new processors integrated the northbridge (responsible for directing info between the memory, CPU, and peripherals) for shortening the distance info has to travel before being partitioned out to where its being sent, a means of efficiency.
QPI is the new measure of bandwidth of data output on these new chips. So the i7 series has most bandwidth, while the newest additions called i3s, are equipped with adequate QPI.

I've been in the computer game for a few years, cutting my teeth on 486 (remember cyrix?), pentiums, amd k6-2s, when ram was still pc66, 16mb ram was the norm, and hard drives at 512mb were huge.
Technology moves so fast that 6 months of ignorance means hours of studying up. Who remembers the 5 1/4 floppy? lol You can't hardly BUY 3.5" discs just anywhere these days...

I waited a couple years to build a new comp and had to invest a few days of learning before making any purchases. I think I did well, hurray to success.

Hmm Can't believe how much time flies just to write this much, collecting my thoughts and all.
1015pm and I still have to drop off mail so I don't forget tomorrow and go grocery shopping before I call it a day.
If one gets up at 6am, does one feel accomplished by 10am? Today wasn't my day :]

 

[dubsupra209]

hurry up already you need to bring your ass to a meat!!!! lol

 

[thedave925]

Meet? yes i know it, this is dragging out WAY WAY WAY too long. What can I do, get mad about it? I haven't driven my supra for 1.5 years, it sickens me. Suprastroker88 however has let me run up against redline a few times, keeping the fire going ya dig.
I need to paint my supra, that bugs me still.

Does anyone know if the support bracketry in the front bumper cover is the same for all years??? All the little metal pieces on mine are bent/gone so the cover flops at the edges and wouldn't look good with a lip that swings on plastic

 

[dubsupra209]

come on dave we need updates....you haven't been on cencal in a while also...

 

[thedave925]

I know! You can really blame it on the machine shop, they STILL aren't done. The head guy picked up more tools for porting the head yesterday, since flap wheels wear out and all. But I'm really tired of waiting for my car...

 

[thedave925]

I've been tossing the idea around the last month or two about figuring out how to make the oil pump (AUX shaft) pulley a few teeth less for a higher oil pressure.
Anyone have an idea what other makes use similar pulleys I can modify?
I just might visit a CNC to cut me a one-off...

 

[dubsupra209]

you can just shimm the pump with washers i did to mine. It raises the oil psi. Or you can get the modded oil pump from Driftmotion its has teflon coating and is shimmed i if i remember right

 

[thedave925]

I've already shimmed my pump, and dropped the pickup down.

I'd think a better solution would be to spin the AUX shaft faster by one method or another.

The higher the pressure, the more the oil on the bearings can maintain the film effect under load.
The ports on the crank and connecting rods are placed so that the oil film is refreshed just as the load point comes to pass, pushing a fresh wave of oil ahead to absorb the load, and keeping that critical film there throughout rotation before renewal.

Its pretty cool the stock gte rods have piston squirters incorporated to cool the pistons, in addition to the ports in the gte block.

Obviously oil is pretty important. It can't hurt to have more of it.

The rhetoric that the 7m is a high flow low pressure system is deceptive. Why do the JZs (and many other engines) have higher base pressure?
Hell, they were designing engines in the 80s to run on 4 quarts when there was another oil crunch.
I'll concede that my '94 silverado has 20psi at warm idle, and an oil restrictor at 40ish (maybe its due to the oil cooler circuit I spied during the last oil change?), but still, think about the connecting rods sharing crank journals and that the engine has 200k.
Ever wonder why Ford's oil pressure gauge just has a high and low with a broad 'normal' region? I've settled on the conclusion that its to infer comfort with loose build tolerances, together with the idea that as the motor is used, it can be a bar indicating life remaining lol
Whatever the case, I'd prefer an oiling system that wasn't so low.

I can see the lower pressure at idle as a method of reducing resistance to the assembly to maintain fuel efficiency as an excuse.
So why then are smogged cars tagged as high polluters? Because the average supra is not in tip top shape and raises the average to that point.

Excuse my rambling.

The shop has me a fresh head thats been better ported.
The rotating assembly has been waiting for the head.
The timing plate gasket needs to be provided.

And I need to double triple check I got things right this time before I run it.

I haven't touched anything related to my personal supra all these months since I pulled my engine again.

The gauge wiring needs to be finished; I'd lengthened it too much to reach the steering wheel.
The gauges need to be mounted.
Another permacool 1070 oil thermostat needs to be purchased. I know Sumeet has a mocal thermostat with my name on it. I may consider it as I continue thinking about redoing some instancing in my oil circuit, namely incorporating another isolation valve above the tee off towards the accusump. Maybe. Logic must proceed action if money/time is to be well spent.

My life has taken a new turn in the last few months.
I moved out, pay for a rented room with garage access while living with my girlfriend. I pay for our groceries and utilities while she pays for her rent. I'm generous... for the right reasons. She owns 2 businesses, so I'm seeing if she can out run her overhead and save up, which is beginning to happen as her customer bases grows.
My rented room is more an office and place for all my car crap.
And I'm doing automotive repair on the side, along with my official plumbing, and any other side jobs I can snag along the way, which pays for my expenditure and provides a bit for that overhead involved with running any operation that needs to be invested in to perpetuate and eventually grow.

Sunday the 13th, I will be attending the Santa Rosa meet, hosted(?) by Zankoku Performance.
I'm excited to go, as both a car enthusiast (I like anything fast) and as a learning experience, and perhaps to put my name out there.

Too bad MY supra won't be up in time, but it looks like a buddy is going to take his ride, which has been on an unintentional fast track to power. Get excited, there will be pics!!

And to those who do read my posts from time to time, I do apologize for not updating more often, but as life goes, so must one spend more time gathering dollars than anything else.


Motivational:

One plays the cards handed to him on the path of ease,
but creates the favorable deck on the path of hardship.

 

[IJ.]

I'd be concerned with cavitation at high rpm's Dave, I always had 35>40 hot idle in my 7M.

 

[thedave925]

That's great pressure!
I don't understand the cavitation concept within an oil pump. I do see it in a water pump design.

 

[thedave925]

While I didn't take any photos of the car meet at santa rosa, hosted by Ace G of Zankoku Performance, I did have a lot of fun and meet several people.
SupraStroker88 had a camera of sorts with him, capturing the event.

A line of Datsun/Nissan Zs generational statement rides were lined up in front of the shop roller door, hard to miss and surrounded by the crowd, varying of late teens to mid 40s as depicted by the G35s and 350z.
I FAILED to start the ageless debate of why the 350z is a Z car when it doesn't have an I6; thats not what I was there for, but I always get a great kick out of that one

Of note, I spied and talked with a fresh swapped LS3/73' 240z owner.
This is important because I'm in the middle of starting an LS1/260z swap for a client and wanted to know the work arounds.
We didn't discuss future upgrades, as he felt the LS3 was plenty for drifting (the usual of wide stretched cheapo tires, cambered and barely tucked beneath the fender).
But that bay was very roomy upfront, considering the crank pulley sat 1/4" above the subframe, and the ceramic coated exhaust manifolds made their way back tucked neatly out of sight once on plane with the oil pan.

Anyone remember the old early mid 80's Pulsar or 200sx? One kid picked one up for $300, needing only a minor repair to be turn key once more. And under the hood was a cute lil I4 with a Garret turbo, and FFIM that came oem, an upgraded intercooler conveniently tucked beneath the radiator support, which itself was moved into the bay for space. That radiator and intercooler were both around 12"x12"x1.5".

There was also a fresh 2j/Mk3 Supra swap, the owner by the name of Jeff. Nice kid, did things right, and has a very presentable car as Mk3 Supras usually come these days.
A custom down pipe heat wrapped and with 2 added 02 bungs at a distance approximate to 14" after the turbine housing speaks of the care put into this swap.

As Ace G himself began the prize drawing for those who had purchased raffle tickets, I made my way out, my attention span growing short considering the drawing dusk and 2+ hour venture back home.

I haven't attended many meets, but I had lots of fun, between the transit there, the group mingling, and the relaxing ride back, all done in my recently acquired '94 chevy 1500. I recorded ~18mpg round trip.

 

[juncboi]

Dave, great work so far. I'm getting ready to start my build also. I hope to start the major stuff towards the fall season this year. In the meantime, I'll work on things like the gauge lights. Actually, a new friend will come work on them this coming Monday in Sacramento. Two new friends to be exact. I'll see if Sumeet has time to stop by also.