So, I was going to make a post as a fait accompli, however, on day 3 or so now of work it has become so difficult and ridiculous I figured that I would just drag it out and post as it happens...
Preface: Bought '96 a few months ago. Found low miles (125k) as little rust as possible. Didn't care about triple locked (I want ARBs eventually) or anything fancy, just wanted a solid base that hadn't been wheeled hard (so I could later!).
Love the Cruiser. Makes me feel like an idiot for being such a Bronco fan for all these years. In fact, I canceled my order for a brand new one (but that's a story for another time). Love the cruiser... but it's quite anemic in the mountains. Needs more power. If I can buy a forced induction vehicle I always have. Love turbos. Wits End turbo kit seems delayed indefinitely and I only have a good solid two months to complete the upgrade....
So I bought the only supercharger kit I could find.
Before buying it I installed a wideband AFR, an EGT, and a boost gauge. Put 1000 miles or so on the gauges to have a good baseline idea of how the engine behaves. Also new plugs, compression test, timing adjustment, water temp gauge mod, etc.... so far so good.
Got the rotrex kit off cruiserparts.net. It's expensive! But this is my one hobby currently and it seems like quite a complete kit, including air/water intercooler. Before I purchased it I looked for any threads or reviews of it here. Couldn't find any (I'm sure someone will point out dozens now). Looks like an Aussie based kit judging by the sketchy pics on the website. Figured I'd have fun figuring out how to install it....
Got the kit a few weeks ago. Four boxes. One with the intercooler heat exchanger. Another box with assorted parts, brackets, and hoses. One with the supercharger itself. Final box had hardware and the SMT-8 piggyback computer (which upon further research seems like the company is defunct and I'm not sure I'm going to use it).
Zero instructions... OK I thought, this would be a fun challenge...
I stared at the kit for three weeks and the first problem I noticed was there seemed to be no room for the intercooler's heat exchanger and oil cooler (for the centrifugal supercharger). I can't figure out if their pic is of a Cruiser with no A/C or what. Too stubborn to call them and ask.
Day 1 goal was to install supercharger bracket with pulley, and leave supercharger hanging. Was hoping to keep the vehicle drivable while slowly building up and installing components.
Problem one, OEM data plate with VIN is right where bracket for supercharger goes. Tried to make a hole in it, had to grind it off as the 'rivets' messed up the fitment of the bracket...
Eventually got the bracket installed.... which helped me realize what those funny spacers were for. The fan/clutch assembly. Cool
A bit of cussing and fan/shroud jiggling later and bracket was installed. Seems to run fine even if the finish is horrible on the bracket and already peeling....
At least it seemed fine. Visually inspected and ran it for five minutes then decided to pick up the kids from school five minutes away. There is a certain stop sign on an incline leading to a right turn (up a hill turning right) that I had noticed a strange subtle sound on since I got the Cruiser (only could hear it when I had the radio off). Hadn't worried about it much as everything seemed OK, and I figured eventually I'd discover what it was.... well now I know. Apparently the fan has been gently kissing the shroud before on this climbing right turn. Now with the spacer in, there was a sickening "thwack thwack thwack" and I knew I was in trouble. Stopped car and inspected the damage which was about what I expected. After doing the post mortem seems the fan interfered with the shroud and broke, flinging a piece of blade down into the radiator. Towed home....
Funny thing is about ignorance.... you don't know what you don't know, which makes it hard to search for things in a forum. One quick search for "supercharger fan interferance" and I was enlightened. Only one day for toyota dealer to get parts thankfully. This morning I picked up the shrouded fan to install, as recommended for supercharged 80s (Toyota part 16361-65010), new radiator, new shroud (I cracked it while removing it), coolant, and possibly most important new motor mounts. Funny enough the motor mounts were on my list of things to do but way down at the bottom. I had noticed a good bit of play in the transmission while going over bumps. Guess I should've completed all required maintenance first... or maybe not because I might have never discovered the fan change was needed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ stay tuned for more...
Preface: Bought '96 a few months ago. Found low miles (125k) as little rust as possible. Didn't care about triple locked (I want ARBs eventually) or anything fancy, just wanted a solid base that hadn't been wheeled hard (so I could later!).
Love the Cruiser. Makes me feel like an idiot for being such a Bronco fan for all these years. In fact, I canceled my order for a brand new one (but that's a story for another time). Love the cruiser... but it's quite anemic in the mountains. Needs more power. If I can buy a forced induction vehicle I always have. Love turbos. Wits End turbo kit seems delayed indefinitely and I only have a good solid two months to complete the upgrade....
So I bought the only supercharger kit I could find.
Before buying it I installed a wideband AFR, an EGT, and a boost gauge. Put 1000 miles or so on the gauges to have a good baseline idea of how the engine behaves. Also new plugs, compression test, timing adjustment, water temp gauge mod, etc.... so far so good.
Got the rotrex kit off cruiserparts.net. It's expensive! But this is my one hobby currently and it seems like quite a complete kit, including air/water intercooler. Before I purchased it I looked for any threads or reviews of it here. Couldn't find any (I'm sure someone will point out dozens now). Looks like an Aussie based kit judging by the sketchy pics on the website. Figured I'd have fun figuring out how to install it....
Got the kit a few weeks ago. Four boxes. One with the intercooler heat exchanger. Another box with assorted parts, brackets, and hoses. One with the supercharger itself. Final box had hardware and the SMT-8 piggyback computer (which upon further research seems like the company is defunct and I'm not sure I'm going to use it).
Zero instructions... OK I thought, this would be a fun challenge...
I stared at the kit for three weeks and the first problem I noticed was there seemed to be no room for the intercooler's heat exchanger and oil cooler (for the centrifugal supercharger). I can't figure out if their pic is of a Cruiser with no A/C or what. Too stubborn to call them and ask.
Day 1 goal was to install supercharger bracket with pulley, and leave supercharger hanging. Was hoping to keep the vehicle drivable while slowly building up and installing components.
Problem one, OEM data plate with VIN is right where bracket for supercharger goes. Tried to make a hole in it, had to grind it off as the 'rivets' messed up the fitment of the bracket...
Eventually got the bracket installed.... which helped me realize what those funny spacers were for. The fan/clutch assembly. Cool
A bit of cussing and fan/shroud jiggling later and bracket was installed. Seems to run fine even if the finish is horrible on the bracket and already peeling....
At least it seemed fine. Visually inspected and ran it for five minutes then decided to pick up the kids from school five minutes away. There is a certain stop sign on an incline leading to a right turn (up a hill turning right) that I had noticed a strange subtle sound on since I got the Cruiser (only could hear it when I had the radio off). Hadn't worried about it much as everything seemed OK, and I figured eventually I'd discover what it was.... well now I know. Apparently the fan has been gently kissing the shroud before on this climbing right turn. Now with the spacer in, there was a sickening "thwack thwack thwack" and I knew I was in trouble. Stopped car and inspected the damage which was about what I expected. After doing the post mortem seems the fan interfered with the shroud and broke, flinging a piece of blade down into the radiator. Towed home....
Funny thing is about ignorance.... you don't know what you don't know, which makes it hard to search for things in a forum. One quick search for "supercharger fan interferance" and I was enlightened. Only one day for toyota dealer to get parts thankfully. This morning I picked up the shrouded fan to install, as recommended for supercharged 80s (Toyota part 16361-65010), new radiator, new shroud (I cracked it while removing it), coolant, and possibly most important new motor mounts. Funny enough the motor mounts were on my list of things to do but way down at the bottom. I had noticed a good bit of play in the transmission while going over bumps. Guess I should've completed all required maintenance first... or maybe not because I might have never discovered the fan change was needed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ stay tuned for more...
