Gen III 3S-GTE WRC build - Finished! Options

[shin]

wow.. your motor's gone a long way... seems like it's almost time for it to go home

[Bigmeanbulldog55]

Looks nice, but you couldn't use the 3sge valve cover? With the dip for the intercooler, the stock 3sgte cover looks weird without the intercooler there. You can't tell me you aren't out for looks either, because I seen all the parts your making pretty.

[GT4WRC]

Looks nice, but you couldn't use the 3sge valve cover? With the dip for the intercooler, the stock 3sgte cover looks weird without the intercooler there. You can't tell me you aren't out for looks either, because I seen all the parts your making pretty.

Breather holes are in different places on the n/a cover - one which would foul on a bracket on the gearbox end. Plus there aren't the holes and cut outs to fit the cambelt cooling duct (the one which feeds from the bonnet duct). Fare easeir to use the turbo cover
Gary

[GT4WRC]

Quite a productive couple of days.

Turbo and manifold were fitted. Sticking with the stock items for the time being.


Note the WRC extras such as the antilag attachments...


Lightweight Fidanza flywheel was bolted on...


... followed by the Xtreme clutch kit...


Found the adjustable cam wheels I'd put somewhere 'safe' :roll:


Cams were set up last night as per the HKS spec sheet...






With that done, the cam cover could be bolted into place...


Next, the transfer case was split from the gearbox to allow it all to be bolted up to the motor...


With that done, the rest of the wiring loom was attached along with any other brackets etc...


And with the alternator, PAS and aircon drive belts on, next step is to put the complete unit back where it came from


Gary

[CelicaZR]

Yay... your nearing there man.
Can't wait to see it in the car,
and of course some videos
as well

[shin]

wooot.. great progress gary... bet ya excited to start that beast up lol

[GT4WRC]

After nearly 8 weeks, it was time to put the motor/box back in.

Reverse of removal, simply lowered the car onto the engine....


... allowing the gearbox and cambelt end mounts to be attached - the engine then being held it place.





Then it was 'simply' a case of putting everything back together...






Planty of room with the larger Koyo rad and Kenlow fans...


Once the 'top half' was finished, the underside was pieced back together...


... and rear diff and gearbox were filled with new oil...


At this stage, all that remains to do is fill up the cooling system, WAI, bleed the brakes, fit the wheels and plug in the loom under the dash. Then it'll be the real acid test - turning the key. Until then, the car will sit like this until the morning...


Having access to a fully kitted out workshop is such a bonus
Gary

[Akimbo]

beautiful

[Bigmeanbulldog55]

You excited? I see your using the top mount, I didn't catch that in my you last post replying to me. I haven't been able to read very well past week, lasik surgury and all. I'm looking forward to seeing it all done and run.

[gt_driFFter]

There will be no excuses for you not having video's once this thing is back on the road. Which, from the looks of things, is gonna be VERY soon!

One of the nicest GT4's I've ever laid eyes upon, congrats on getting it back together!

-Josh

[Agent21]

Call me supersitious. Call me crazy. I know the lock system would stop the car BUT, I NEVER leave a car on a lift over night.

[SlowCelica94]

First off, congrats and nice work.

How does you anti-lag system work? Is that 3 fuel injectors in the manifold? jk, I know how good for turbos that is.

Keep up the good work

[GT4WRC]

Turned up the next morning ready to go. Topped up the fluids - plain water in the cooling system (no glycol for the first 1000kms)


Water Wetter was added to the WAI along with sufficient water...


... and Valvoline SAE 30 API SF/CC 'Running In Oil'.

OE plugs were removed from the original fans and soldered to the new Kenlow fans and connected...


Now the time to turn the key. Fuel pump had been left disconnected following the earlier swap to an uprated aftermarket pump.


Engine was then cranked over until the oil warning light on the dash was extinguished. It was then tried a couple more times just to make sure before the pump was reconnected. Then all was ready...
http://www.220gti.co.nz/images/IMG_2168.JPG

Key was turned and the engine actually fired up pretty quickly and wasn't too bad on idle. It was left to get up to temp - but it was soon evident that there was a water leak. Switched off and further investigation revealed that the OE coolant spring clamps were no long doing what they were supposed to. With hindsight, these should have been swapped to jubilee clamps during the rebuild!
So, after much hassle, the coolant pipe clamps were swapped and teh system pressure tested to ensure all was as it should be.

Car was then restarted, ran for a short time and then cut out. Restarting wasn't an issue, but it just wouldn't idle - holding the revs up with the throttle open helped, but something was amiss...

As it would still run with throttle open, we drove car up the road to get a WOF and see if it'll sort itself out. No such luck. Ran even worse when you start to come onto boost. So after passing the WOF, get car back to workshop for further investigation.
Only fault code which shows up is 54 - WAI system which is cleared. Then, Air Control Valve shows problem up on the diagnostic tool which is then cleared. Still no idle. TPS is checked and found to be out so is altered to correct factory setting, but still won't idle. Checked to ensure all the plugs are attached and no obvious vac pipes etc left off.
By this time, motor is cold and when re-started, it seems to run fine. However, as soon as the temp starts to rise, the idle goes to pot once again. Ignition is spot on and good flow of fuel. Diagnostic sensor shows the 'mixture' reading as alternating between rich and lean. No more fault codes are coming up on either the diagnostic tool or the dashboard. At this stage it's getting late, so it's left until the next morning...



Tried restarting the car first thing this morning, but now it just didn't want to idle. So first thing was to whip the top cam cover off to ensure that the adjustable wheels hadn't moved. All good there. Next stop was the plugs. Pulled these out and they were all as black as a lump of soot. Hmmmm.
Put some new plugs in, fired it up and while it did run better, it still wouldn't idle - all seemed better when the revs were above around 2k. So we disconnected the map sensor and connected a vacuum pump and set it to 15mmHg and cranked the motor over. And it ran fine making us point the finger at a vacuum idle issue, possible cam related.
Rather than alter the cam timing which we knew was set up exactly as per HKS spec sheet (Inlet - 110 deg duration / Exhaust - 103 deg duration), it was decided to try altering the TPS again (previously set to factory setting). Doing this yielded an immediate result, the engine running much smoother, but still not happy under 1000rpm. So the ignition was advance by 14 degrees in total. With this done, the engine was much happier. However, blipping the throttle caused issues when the revs dropped usually resulting in a stall. To help prevent this, the throttle stop was altered to keep idle at 1000rpm.
Everything was put back together and the car taken for a spin round the block. Back to the workshop for a check of fluid levels before going out for a decent road test. No leaks were evident.
I'm pleased to say that there were no issues whatsoever. Car was extremely smooth all the way up to 5k and despite keeping away from full throttle openings, the motor felt very strong and eager to unleash a lot of torque - especially when the cams started to come into action.
It has been a very frustrating and tiresome period trying to get it running, but all is now well. Another 920kms to go before an oil change and then another 4k before the boost can be turned up. In the meantime, sensible driving and a trip to the dyno shortly to check that the fuelling is as it should be.
Gary

[lagos]

that was a fun read!

did you figure out the real cause of the idle issue?

[GT4WRC]

It'll more than likely be a combination of the cams and the 'newness' of the engime. ECU will be optimised for different cams - the HKS exhaust cam, at 103 deg, is quite different to the OE spec.
Gary

[playr158]

very VERY nice gary!

i can't wait to see the dyno numbers...this has got to be the #1 FASTEST and biggest build so far....very impressed...
hurry up and go on a long trip and rid of those 920kms!

man wat i would do to ride in that car

[jgreening]

It'll more than likely be a combination of the cams and the 'newness' of the engime. ECU will be optimised for different cams - the HKS exhaust cam, at 103 deg, is quite different to the OE spec.
Gary

For what its worth, some guys with high power applications on the mr2 board found that the hks specs on the cams were not ideal. You may want to try a search on the mr2 board to look at their findings.

[Bigmeanbulldog55]

Good deal man. You going to try and fix the idoil problem or just leave it idiol at 1k? I'd like to see a video of this thing.

[lagos]

It'll more than likely be a combination of the cams and the 'newness' of the engime. ECU will be optimised for different cams - the HKS exhaust cam, at 103 deg, is quite different to the OE spec.
Gary

keep us updated on how you solve the idle issue. i am considering cams for my car, and getting a good idle has been one of my concerns.

any way you can post some videos of the car for us?

[CheesyLobster]

wooot congrats! gets get some videos of it running/dyno results!