that is a clean rig, how do you like that motor? I have an '86 with the turbo and a normal gauge cluster. it is pretty worn out though ,25% cyl. leakage, I am thinking of rebuilding it or swap in some thing else, V6. what do you have for gears/tires? what are you getting for fuel economy? have you ever hooked that truck up to a gas anyliser, if so what kinda emissions is it putting out? mine has the auto with 4.27 gearing with 30" and I am getting around 15mpg. please hit me back
micahoward5555@hotmail.com

 

I really like the turbo motor, it seems a lot faster than the old green 4Runner most of the time. You can tell the auto sucks a bit of power from the engine, but once it's spooled up it cruises right along. My motor is somewhat built and not stock. I also live at 9500', so that creates some differance in milage and power. I'm running 35's with 5.29 gears (although I kind of wish I had 5.71 gears). I don't have any kind of emissions testing, so I have no idea where it stands in that area. As for the mileage, I have not done any numbers since the SAS. It pretty much just get's driven around town lately, also being that it's winter I spend a lot of time warming up the turbo before driving it. I'll have to get some highway number's the next time I go on a trip.

 

I've been super busy lately and have not had much of a chance to update this. I'm still working on it a bunch, but I have not had much time to hang out on the internet downloading picture's, etc...

A while back there was a thread about whether or not it's normal for a turbo to glow red at night; we pretty much decided this is normal to a certain extent, but it did worry me. I did not have any gauges, so I did not know how hot the turbo was getting or what kind of boost I was running. I decided to get some nice gauges to keep track of what's going on, this really was not in the budget but I figure that it's an investment. Gauges are alot cheaper than a new turbo, engine, or transmission.

Going with the super cool Turbo 4Runner theme, I got all digital gauges.

First, I went with AEM's adjustable boost controller gauge. It was pretty close to the price of getting a standard boost gauge and manual controller. I also got an Autometer Cobalt EGT and Trans temp. gauge. I really wanted a wideband A/F ratio gauge, but it was not in the budget. That will have to be added at a later time.

I decided to mount all the gauges in the passenger side of the dash. The dash was cracked to begin with, so it was not like I was tearing up a pristine dash pad.

AEM true boost set-up





Dash out of truck, and gauges mounted up





In the truck

 

:drool

I wanted to do something like that but settled for an A pillar pod. I like it. I still need to get the senders hooked up, but my trans - DS issue is first.

 

Looks bitchin, Hey how much did you pay for that boost controller/gauge? I've never seen one like that. I have the same cobalt gauges you have and need to save up for my EGT gauge still. I was wondering how far into your exhaust housing the probe sticks in. I will have to look, but I found a place that sold me my cobalt wideband for alot cheaper than I could find anywhere else and I love it.

 

I thought about using an A-pillar pod but I thought it might cut down on visablity, I also didn't like the idea of super bright gauges at eye level. The digital gauges dim a little with the lights but they are still pretty bright.

Thanks! I think the AEM boost controller/gauge was around $300, I got it from Summit racing. The EGT probe sticks about 2/3 of the way in the exhaust housing. When I first installed it I was getting some weird readings and the thing would drop to zero. I'm not sure if it was vibration or air passing over the cable. I only had plastic loom around the wiring, so I switched that to some heavy vacumn hose and I don't have issues any more.

If you think of the place that had the wideband meter let me know, I plan on getting one in the future.

 

I like the way it looks with the gauges integrated into the dash that way!! It looks like a Trick race setup or something!! Nice Job!
But I have Two questions. 1. Is that center gauge cluster setup, with the compass and camber gauges stock? I would LOVE to find one of those!!!!
2. I haven't investigated it yet, but was there much to worry about interfering with/cutting into behind the dash when you made the cutouts for your new gauges?
Thanks,
Grant

 

looks good, iv been debating that same type set up. i have the A-pillar cluster with volt meter and oil pressure gauge..and really dont like it there lol the only problem im having is that this is the first rig iv had with a flawless uncracked dash and i cant bring my self to drill into it lol

 

Wow, so jealous. You gotta stop before I go insane

 

The center gauge is stock SR5, you can pick one up on Ebay or Craigslist, etc. There are cut outs under the dash to bolt it up, all you have to do is wire the lights.

I did have to trim a little bit of the support behind the dash pad (but not much). That's why I mounted them so high in the dash, to keep the amount of triming down. There's just a bunch of wasted space behind the pad and the heater tubes are nowhere near touching.

I understand that! You could always try to pick up another dash pad at the junkyard that has only a crack or two, and use that.

 

Thanks!

 

I got a few more things done, both of them were pretty high on the list for reliablity. First, I was having issues with some of my heater hoses leaking. Most of them were for the rear heater, including the one's right under the driveshaft. I thought about ordering all new one's from Toyota, but that would not be cheap. Instead I went to Carquest and told them what I needed, they really tried to find what I needed but I could tell that their computer system sucked and they really had no idea what they were ordering.

After picking up the hoses the next day, I find that only a couple of the hoses fit and the one's I really need are missing. Also, the total for these hoses was over $100.00 dollars. I call Napa and they say that they don't even list heater hoses and that I would have to pull all the hoses and try to match them up. I decided to sit down and rethink all of this before I got too ahead of myself.

After a bunch of thinking I decided to get rid of the rear heater.

1. There was no way I was going to spend close to $200 (or more) on some heater hoses.

2. I've only used the rear heater once, to see if it worked, so it doesn't seem like I really need it.

3. I really hate how close the rear drive shaft is to the rear hoses and I hate how close the turbo was to the other hoses. If the driveshaft took out one of the hoses on a trail like "Golden Spike" I would REALLY be hating life.

4. For the price I would pay for all the hoses, I can get a Tuffy center console and have a ton of space that is lockable. Plus I really hate the way the cut stock console looks.

Heater hose to driveshaft clearance (I added the sleeve because it was so close)



Hoses next to the turbo



Leaking hose

 

I'm glad I got rid of this stuff, that's aot of stuff that could go wrong when you don't want it to.



New set-up, one hose to replace leaking heater hose and one to bypass the rear heater outlets.

 

While I had the cooling system tore apart, I pulled the radiator and moved the electric fan. With the combination of body/chasis flex and motor mount flex, the fan was contacting one of the pully's when fully flexed out. I moved it an inch over to the passenger side, that should take care of any issues I had.

I also cut apart the motor mount chain on the driver's side and welded it tight. There was some play in it (maybe 1/8 to 1/4), but that created more movement than I liked. Now there is less than 1/16, you can pivot the center link a little but there is no play.

Here is how much clearance there used to be, you can also see where the bolts on the pulley contacted the fan as well.

 

If you still had the green machine you could rob heater hose parts off of that. Just a thought. I have one of the "Stoich" meter's they are great. However, anoying as hell at night. Mount it low. Super bouncy (in my case at least). here's a pic.


and a vid

 

so you hve no heater at all anymore? Not even the front one?

 

Looks Awsome.. I am ready to run some trails with you guys again.

 

Quote:

A while back there was a thread about whether or not it's normal for a turbo to glow red at night; we pretty much decided this is normal to a certain extent, but it did worry me.


Dirtco,

Just a comment on this. I did my Mechanical Engineering internship with Allied Signal Automotive, Turbocharger division (formerly Garrett Turbo).

It is perfectly normal for the turbo to glow red after it has been driven, especially if it has been driven hard. The turbo creates an enormous amount of back pressure on the motor, by design, and is placed as close to the exhaust valves as possible to ensure that the highest temp, highest energy exhaust flow is getting to the turbine.

There are two things that spell an early death for a turbo. Old, dirty oil will kill the bearings very quickly and heat soak-back will cook the oil in the bearings.

The RPM's that turbo's spin is a little mind boggling. While these engines are lucky to see 5k RPM every once in a while, turbo's spin at 50, 60, 70, 80k, RPM, even higher for some models. I working on their GT15 turbo for 1.2 L turbodiesels. 180k RPM max for that little semifloating, one piece journal turbo. You must keep the oil clean and change it frequently, the journals in the average turbo rely on oil to be at it's peak performance. (Ball bearing turbos have their own set of requirements.)

The other thing that kills a turbo over time is heat soak-back. When you turn the engine off the turbine housing is very hot, as you have noticed. The center section of the turbo, where the bearings are, is cooled by the oil flow and coolant flow, if it is a water cooled center (some are air cooled, even worse). When you turn the engine off, all forced flow ceases. The oil quickly drains out of the center section. The coolant stagnates and only moves by natural convection. The heat from the turbine housing soaks into the center section. Without any flow, the residual oil in the housing sees very high temps for a period of time, as the system air cools (tick, tick, tick).

With conventional oil, if it is a little past it's prime, it will cook into crystals in there. Those crystals (coaking) will restrict the passages and damage the bearings.

The best thing you can do is run a full synthetic for your turbo and change it every 3k. You can get away with longer oil changes on a non-turbo motor with synthetic, but not with a turbo. The synthetic is highly resistant to coaking in the center section

Mike

 

The old green 4Runner is long gone, I'm sure it's on it's way to China to be turned into some "high quality steel" It also did not have a rear heater so it would not help either way. Good thought though

I only got rid of the rear heater that is in the center console. The normal front heater is still there and gets nice and toasty.

 

Subscribed.. Let me say I just spent 3 hours going through all this and your build is amazing. I wish I had the mad skills to take on something like this. I won't be using my runner for crazy crawling like that but it is sure inspiring to see you guys go at it. I do enjoy learning stuff here and there.

Thank you