TurboClunker (a.k.a. cheap-ass slaps a turbo on his LX)

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That's a tradeoff I'd make for something that nice, dang!
 
I found an ARP set of studs that would work for our heads, M10 1.5 x 1.25, that are .25" shorter so I was just going to order them with their 17mm 12 point nuts vs our 22mm flanged nuts so that everything would clear until I saw that ARP price tag. I mean seriously! How can a pack of 16 studs and 16 nuts cost $260. Highway robbery. If anyone is looking later it is part #400-8038.
 
Went on another test drive up the hill with my wife watching the coolant temp via torque app. Driving rather aggressively up I-70 to the top of Floyd Hill, temperature spiked at 221* with it generally hanging out around 210*-215*. It quickly settled in at 195* on the way back down the hill. AC was running and it's mid-90's today. Is this hot enough to be a problem? I never monitored my temps before the turbo install, so I don't know how that compares to "normal" for my truck.

I think underhood temps are probably getting pretty gonzo, and Ryan's comment about the intercooler acting as an "interheater" with no air is probably correct. I've still got a laundry list of little items to complete: get the intercooler ventilated, turn my cardboard manifold heatshield into aluminum, wrap and paint the exhaust and probably put some sort of cowl area extraction in place. That can only help. It's an old truck and I haven't done any cooling system maintenance since it's been in my possession, so there's a good chance it needs to be flushed out at a minimum as well, but right now I'm thinking address the underhood temps and ventilation first and see what that does. My buddy with the turbo Tundra installed a 170* thermostat, but it seems to me that wouldn't do much good since the thermostat is already open prior to and during any shenanigans. What is the temp rating of the stock 1fz-fe thermostat?
 
Stock 1FZ thermostat is 180 degree well close, whatever the C to F conversion is. There was a TRD 160 degree thermostat for the 4.7L that fit, but like you said really that is not the solution. If you haven't done any cooling system work, I would bet the fan clutch is your culprit and it is cheap and easy to try. 4 bolts to pull it off, a few bolts to crack it open, drain it, add new fluid, throw it back in and you're off and running.
 
If you're going to drain and refill your fan clutch try using 15000 or higher CST oil. You can get it at any hobby shop. Lots of threads about this improvement for cooling. IIRC I'm using 30,000
 
Pulling hard on a hill pulling a trailer in high temps I have only seen my motor get to 221 degrees no higher. Usually runs 195 to 215 when pushing it hard in the summer.
 
Stock 1FZ thermostat is 180 degree well close, whatever the C to F conversion is. There was a TRD 160 degree thermostat for the 4.7L that fit, but like you said really that is not the solution. If you haven't done any cooling system work, I would bet the fan clutch is your culprit and it is cheap and easy to try. 4 bolts to pull it off, a few bolts to crack it open, drain it, add new fluid, throw it back in and you're off and running.

Agreed, address the cooling system first.
 
The fan clutch fluid is a very important piece of the puzzle so do some homework before deciding which viscosity is good for your environment.
 
What about adding the electric fan in front of the radiator like @Dave 2000 ?

I notice my GX 470 (prado) is equipped with both a mechanical fan at the front of the block and an electric fan in front of the radiator - evidently Toyota thought it was an idea whose time had come.
 
What about adding the electric fan in front of the radiator like @Dave 2000 ?

I notice my GX 470 (prado) is equipped with both a mechanical fan at the front of the block and an electric fan in front of the radiator - evidently Toyota thought it was an idea whose time had come.

The front electric pusher fans are primarily for the A/C condense and does NOTHING to cool the engine. Mechanical fans are not really that outdated but the space constraints usually rules which kind of fans the manufacturers go with.
 
The electric fan will assist cooling, how much depends on a lot of factors, size, rpm, distance from condenser, sealing between condenser and radiator being present......blah blah but, to say it will do NOTHING is wrong. This debate went on for ages on another thread but some could not see the wood for the trees, it got rather silly TBH.

regards

Dave
 
Went on a camping trip this weekend and coolant temps were a little more reasonable just by switching off the AC and taking it a little easy on the big hills. I still plan to replace my fan clutch fluid, but I broke a water pump stud and gave up. The acura airbox works freaking great. Any time I'm moving around 50mph of faster, IAT's are just a few degrees above outdoor ambient temp. However, I think I'm going to scrap the acura intake anyway, despite how well it's working.

After poking around under the hood, I think we've come up with a game plan for venting the intercooler with a duct from the front of the truck. It will require making a new air box for a flat panel filter--the acura air box just takes up too much space in front of and below the intercooler. Some speed holes or louvers in the hood to let the air through will look a lot better than a scoop, and the cooling should be pretty good at speed :)

No idea when any of this is going to happen because frankly I'm sick of working on the truck and I also beat the crap out of myself dicking around on a bike, so my body isn't quite up to the task of wrenching right now.
 
Floyd hill is a fairly serious hill, 220 is hot but you still have some wiggle room. Did you have overdrive on? What is your timing set at? Maybe backing the timing off a little may help it not run so hot. Overdrive will also make it run warm. Are you keeping an eye on your transmission temps as well? Also, having your intercooler and intake tubing right above the exaust manifold and turbo like that is heating the intercooler and thus the intake charge a lot. Basically you are getting nice cool air into the air filter box. Then it goes into the turbo and gets heated up, but then it goes into the intercooler that is mounted almost on top of the 800 degree turbo to get heated up even more, then it exits the intercooler and snakes around the turbo some more where the intake charge gets really hot. I would either move the intercooler to the other side of the motor, or in the front and figure out a bumper later. You are probably loosing like 50hp at least because of this. A turbo blanket is probably not really helping much. Keep the intake piping away from the turbo and exaust manifold as much as you can. Another option could be putting the intercooler in the front fender some how and making a scoop on the side of the fender but that is probably too much fab to be worth it. I would probably remove the front grill and have a intercooler that fits between the headlights but hangs no lower than the top of the turn signals. Then I would just mount a toyota emblem on the intercooler and ditch the grill all together or make a nice looking grill out of mesh of some sort. That would give room for a bumper and winch still if you did that.
 
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Yes, I think OD was on.

I know the intercooler is totally worthless in it's current configuration, but it is actually quite a bit forward and to the passenger side of the turbo and exhaust. Not on top of anything at all. That's why I put it there. Keep in mind, a lot of manufacturers put the intercooler right on top of the engine, so this location is a lot better than that in terms of heat transfer.

Once the IC is vented, I'm going to put hood ventilation near the cowl directly over the downpipe area, and that should let a lot of the turbo and exhaust heat out. The charge pipe resting near the turbine housing is not ideal and I have a plan to kink it away from the turbo, but in reality, the air moving through that pipe is only in there for a milisecond so the pipe being warm shouldn't affect the charge temperature too much. Once I get the intercooler ventilated, I think it will be a non-issue, but I will still probably tweak it a little bit.

I still have a lot of heat-related stuff to tackle:
paint and wrap exhaust
manifold heat shields
intercooler and air box will also probably get aluminum heat shields (since it's cheap and easy)
venting hood
And of course, getting some damn air moving through the intercooler

I have a lot of odds and ends to finish up that I have just haven't had the motivation for. Once I get around to all of them, I don't think temperature will be an issue, but since the truck has 310k miles and unknown history, fan clutch refurb is still on the list :D
 
Are you still considering doing an air inlet through the passenger side turn signal? I am sending my truck off to paint tomorrow and trying to decide if I should have them open that area up a little bit or if I should think about something different. Your guy looks like he does some badass work and I don't really have another lead on that kind of job so I would just think about something else.
 
I really need to do some specific temperature testing, but my top mounted intercooler off of my supercharger cools the intake charge a ton if the truck is moving at all. So far my accuracy only goes as far as the hand test but pre intercooler, the pipe is too hot to touch (guessing 130°), and if I have been pushing the truck pretty hard then jump out and put a hand on the cooler I find if barely above ambient, maybe 100° on a 85° day. I will try to get some accurate data here but my point is that I believe your IC setup will work great once it gets some airflow. Totally awesome project, and I hope to do the same and lose the supercharger someday.
 
Are you still considering doing an air inlet through the passenger side turn signal? I am sending my truck off to paint tomorrow and trying to decide if I should have them open that area up a little bit or if I should think about something different. Your guy looks like he does some badass work and I don't really have another lead on that kind of job so I would just think about something else.

I'm still thinking the lower apron below the turn signal, but we haven't committed to anything yet. I guess the blinker would give me more bumper options. Just gotta figure out how to make the corner lights blink to indicate turns.

As he describes it, the process is pretty simple... just whittle out a foam shape and wrap in carbon/composite (I'm probably skipping some steps, lol). So if we make a mold, it should be easy enough to make another blinker duct :) However, if you're doing any body work to make the opening bigger, then our body work would have to match, so that would make it a little more challenging to reproduce a duct for you. I'm not opposed to trimming the hole to try to match yours , but it probably won't be exact.
 
I was just thinking about cutting a hole in the area behind the turn signal, so I could route it through there, I am already cutting a 3.75" hole there for an intercooler pipe so I will probably just make another cut and see if you guys do anything :-) Thanks!

I'm still thinking the lower apron below the turn signal, but we haven't committed to anything yet. I guess the blinker would give me more bumper options. Just gotta figure out how to make the corner lights blink to indicate turns.

As he describes it, the process is pretty simple... just whittle out a foam shape and wrap in carbon/composite (I'm probably skipping some steps, lol). So if we make a mold, it should be easy enough to make another blinker duct :) However, if you're doing any body work to make the opening bigger, then our body work would have to match, so that would make it a little more challenging to reproduce a duct for you. I'm not opposed to trimming the hole to try to match yours , but it probably won't be exact.
 
I have a lot of odds and ends to finish up that I have just haven't had the motivation for. Once I get around to all of them, I don't think temperature will be an issue, but since the truck has 310k miles and unknown history, fan clutch refurb is still on the list :D

im in this boat as well, got the oil to mix up some 15k cst from hobby town just need to get some flare nut wrenchs so i dont screw up the nuts and some will power to do it :P
 

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