3S-GTE rebuild.... *Finished!*

[vvega]

aircon ??
oh god please no

v

[GT4 20]

good work, looking very nice indeed, when you planning to have the beast on the dyno?

Will be a while as I'll need a good 5k to ensure everything is bedded in properly.

aircon ??
oh god please no

v

'fraid so. This is my everyday driver after all
Gary

[Al]

We arent all masochists like you vvega.

[fivebob]

Then you'll also need some adjustable cam sprockets

You mean like these?

I bit lacking in adjustability but acceptable for the job at hand I suppose.

Now perhaps you'll bee so good as to answer the more important of the two questions I posed

BTW what ECU are you planning on using, and please don't say the stock one... I'd hate to see all this good work turn into a pile of junk.

[GT4 20]

BTW what ECU are you planning on using, and please don't say the stock one... I'd hate to see all this good work turn into a pile of junk.

OEM ECU to start with until the motor is fully run in. Then I'm planning on an Apexi FC.
Gary

[Adydas]

i still didnt know you could get a PowerFC for the 3sgte unless it was in a MR2.

[GT4 20]

i still didnt know you could get a PowerFC for the 3sgte unless it was in a MR2.

It's an ST205 specific unit modded by Power Engineering in Japan.
Gary

[GT4 20]

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

[Dell'Orto]

Argh, how could you leave it when its so close??? That'd drive me mental!

[no_8wire]

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

...Domt rub it in!...

[GT4 20]

Argh, how could you leave it when its so close??? That'd drive me mental!

Have to go to work tonight
Gary

[GT4 20]

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...


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 the 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 advanced to 14 degrees. 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

[Santa'sBoostinSleigh]

top work
you should be a novel writer

[Adydas]

Nice Work gary, SO when can i expect you to come over to help me

[vvega]

check your resister pack for teh fuel pump is plugged in
when you start them they run the pump on 12v for a little bit then switch down to 10v at low rpm and idle

if its unplugged you will get the 12v shart but when it tries to switch down you get no volts and the fuel pump swtichess off

just an problem i had

v

[2LTR Rona]

Very nice work

I know what you mean about a workshop too, even if I do have to travel 300 odd Km's to get there, so much easier

[GT4 20]

check your resister pack for teh fuel pump is plugged in
when you start them they run the pump on 12v for a little bit then switch down to 10v at low rpm and idle

if its unplugged you will get the 12v shart but when it tries to switch down you get no volts and the fuel pump swtichess off

just an problem i had

v

Fuel pump is running continuously. It was purely an idle issue. Cr@p idle meant poor vacuum which confused the hell out of the ECU.
Gary

[solberg Fan]

Well done. I take my hat off to you.
I look forward to seeing you drive it at pukekohe some day soon! (you will be going when its all run it?)

[RunningRich]

Good stuff.

Out of interest why split the transfer off the gearbox? It can be a pain I know to get on but splitting it isn't necessary.

The worst gearbox change I ever did was 2-1/2 hours to *mount* a gearbox on an engine over in Aussie. We were fitting a custom twin plate clutch and clearances were so close it just wouldn't go on. What a bastard.

[fivebob]

Nice job, but this statement scares the hell out of me.

So the ignition was advance by 14 degrees in total

This is why you need an aftermarket ECU, so you don't have to do silly things like advance your base timing.

If you had any idea about the timing curve on the stock ECU you'd realise that it puts you over 50° advance in some places and that extra timing is very dangerous around 6000rpm, where the Gen III has a drastic change in volumetric efficiency. Might be alright of you keep it below 5000rpm and 7psi boost, but given the stock knock control algorithm chances are you may still be getting knock and not know it.