98+ 5S-FE picture thread., Might be of interest to you if planning to go EMS. Options

[Syaoran]

So I bought a new 5S-FE engine for a total of $963. It's the newer 5S-FE which comes with various upgrades, some of which include a crank angle sensor, cam angle sensor and 2 coils for a distributorless ignition.

I'll put some pics with descriptions where necessary, and I've found this is the engine to buy and build if you're going the 5S-FE route, be it N/A or F/I, or 5S-GTE. It's more EMS-friendly than the older engines, I'll explain why with the pics.


Even though the newer engine is better in some things, the older ones are better in others. Here are the fuel rails side-by-side.



As you can see, the injectors are the same. However if you look closely, the new 98+ rail is returnless (as it came in the engine I bought, they had 2 and both were the same). It is also smaller, much smaller.


Returnless systems are worse than ones with return because the AFRs are less stable. The return system basically uses the fuel pressure regulator to keep the system feeding fuel to the engine more constantly. Ideally you'd install an adjustable FPR, but in my case that won't be necessary for the time being. The stock FPR I believe runs at 43.5PSI of pressure which is good enough.



Here's one of the more important pics:



That is the crank angle sensor wheel. I consulted with a friend of mine who has experience with these, and he told me it's a 36-2 wheel. It's missing 2 consecutive teeth. The beginning and end of that longer tooth slightly protrude, so you can count 32 separate teeth plus 2 on that longer one, and it's missing another two.

The engine I bought also has this:



That's a cam angle sensor with a single tooth. I'm not sure what the tooth indicates the sensor (camshaft position) but I believe it is either TDC or several degrees BTDC.


Here are the coils:



They're 2, 1 for each 2 spark plugs. They have 4 wires and I believe they are power, ground, signal and spark confirmation. I have to consult a wiring diagram to confirm that.

That's it for now, I'll add more pics as I go through the engine. You can request any pics you'd like.

[Syaoran]

Time to update this thread after a long time of learning.

What I've gathered so far:

5S-FE engines are EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY unbalanced from the factory to be used safely in a turbocharged application that will last a long time. Sure, they'll last you a while boosted at low PSI (because that's how stout these bottom ends are), but it's OBVIOUSLY not intended for high RPM nor high boost applications.

So on the topic of engine balance the final resolution is: If you plan on getting ANY good power out of this engine and plan on using it like that for a long time, you better balance the whole rotating assembly.

Initial Spin: http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj61/ar...zps21870d82.jpg
Final Spin: http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj61/ar...zpsd6bb870d.jpg

The images speak for themselves. Moving on.

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Next up is the internals on your bottom end. The route that I took was forged H-beam rods with hypereutectic pistons (according to the manufacturer they are hypereutectic. They do look a little different from regular stock cast pistons)

The reason for this is because I initially planned to do a 3S-GTE swap to make the fan-dubbed 5S-GTE. All piston manufacturers only make oversized pistons for use with a 5S block and crank and GE head. For that reason I went with 0.020" over pistons so that all I'd have to do when I have the headswap ready is to hone the cylinders and install the new pistons.

Clearances are very important. They dictate how much lubrication your engine parts will get for the most part. Too much oil is bad, but too little oil is worse. I'd make a sexually referenced analogy but you probably know what I'm gonna say about too much lubrication...

Anywho, the rods I purchased came with next to no clearances either on the sides nor the small and big ends. The rods had to get the pin bushing honed for it to be fully floating (our engines are full floating from the factory and it would've been kinda a step back going semi-floating).

The big end was clearanced as well to have a thicker film of oil on the bearings for longevity. The side clearances were done as well as to have enough oil come out of the sides of the rods to be slung up to the cylinder since the new rods have no oil holes in them to cool the pistons.

My numbers are the following:

Rod Bearing Clearance: Two thousandths below the maximum factory clearance. (0.002" below the max)
Rod Side Clearance: Same as above (0.010" of 0.0123" maximum in-spec IIRC)
Rod Bolt Torque: 45ftlbs (ARP2000 3/8")
Main Caps: OEM, 43ftlbs
Piston Ring Clearance: 0.016" 1st ring, 0.018" 2nd ring (Gap should be a little larger than that for FI, more like 0.018 and 0.020 respectively, but I'm not going to worry about that with these pistons which are designed to expand less than stock and less than forged pistons as well)

Installation continues and up next follows doing the ARP 3SGTE headstud mod to clear the 5S-FE camshaft scissor gears/drive gears. It consists of cutting your studs a certain amount which I haven't measured as of today. Once I have the exact number of threads/length I'll post it up for reference.

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The brains of the operation: Megasquirt-III v3.0 with MS3X expansion. Going to be using OEM wasted spark coils, OEM 36-2 trigger wheel with crank position sensor, and OEM camshaft position sensor with 98+ Camry camshaft timing gear with single tooth. I'll have fully sequential injection which means more accurate control of fuel injection, which equals both more power and better fuel economy than our stock fueling method (batch/bank fire).

As for the coils, I want to go coil-on-plug sequential ignition but I really don't think it's necessary at this point in my build so I'll just run what I have and not let it go to waste; that is, the coil packs that came with the 98+ Camry engine. There's two coils, one for each pair of sister cylinders which translates into Wasted Spark Ignition.

For now, I know I really should be doing cams but I wanna see what this engine can do with a more modern brain. I MAY upgrade the cams soon but that's still not decided. I really don't want to go through the process of re-shimming all of the valves.

I can't stress how important is to build this engine properly. It's a really good engine to build upon, but most people embrace the excuse that it's an economy engine and that they shouldn't invest anything to make it faster... the only economy aspect of the long-block is the head, and that can be worked on to flow better; not better than a 3SGTE head, but still better than stock.

You don't need to spend heaps of money to upgrade this engine. You just need the proper guidance in order to make things work. Don't cheap out on things but don't spend so much in one part that you'll be forced to spend less on something of equal or more importance. Why spend $1000 on a turbo (Garrett or similar) when you won't spend $500 to get a set of rods and a couple more $20s to get them working like they should?

Anywho I'll leave you guys with that one for now. More stuff coming soon hopefully.