Turbo Charging A Tundra!

You could be our guinea pig for the smoothboost controller. You put on the small party pulley and then the controller opens and closes the bypass valve as needed to control to your boost pressure that you set with a dial. I think @helidave was looking into it. I emailed them before and they will gladly make one if one of their existing controllers doesn’t fit it sounded like.

 

Well, today is the day. Truck is headed off 93 miles via flatbed this morning so the engine swap can get underway.

Plans:
- engine swap with the XAT Racing basic build + BC springs and retainers
- Replace every external part not included with the long block, except alternator and power steering pump.
- Bypass the AEM water/methanol for a while.
- Have the turbo shipped off to Precision for inspection and rebuild (if required) since we have some downtime.
- EDIT: add Lexus coils during install

The inspection and rebuild is due to my OCD. Despite the nastiness coming out of the oil pan (documented pages back around January 16th), it is still free spinning, but I refuse to have a new motor and then a failed turbo causing more downtime. Just proactively dealing with the potential issues now during the engine swap.

I was going to do the Lexus coils but I'll wait for a 25% off sale. I'm def watching the continued success of them, though.

 

Maybe I'm holding off on the Lexus coils. The price swing between Lexus branded vs supplier branded is rather dramatic. Just waiting on a response from another member before making the final decision.

I absolutely just purchased the Lexus coils. lol

 

Glad to hear you are having the turbo inspected. Cheap insurance for sure.

 

With this fancy engine are you gonna push more than 3psi finally?

 

Sir. Don't be jealous that my 3 performs just as well as your 7.

To answer your question, maybe. lol I tried it once or twice, but then the alcohol got me in trouble. I'm hopeful now that I'm dry, that maybe it'll be more willing to let me fool around a bit.

Seriously, I'll probably be around 9-10psi (10-11psi for a SC).

 

My 4.5s dragy says otherwise

 

That one cuts deep. I thought we were playing lol

 

Hahahaha

 

I just heard from ECS, trucks just been unloaded! I should be heading up there in the next week or so to DYNO the Stage 1 on the 2016 TRD Pro. I'll go over everything with them then. Maybe you can make it down too? Meet the guys and see the truck on the DYNO?

 

Was there a question in there?

Hit me up with a day/time and I'll be there if I can be. Glad to hear the truck made it safely. Watching it leave on a flatbed was oddly emotional. lol

 

Not 15-20?

 

lol. damn it. i was just having this entire conversation in a separate chat. let me copy/paste so everyone can understand and manage their expectations.

Private chat question: What options did you go with and did you lower the compression?

Response: I went with the XAT Racing baseline "built long block" option with the BC valves upgrade, stock sizing. (https://xatracing.com/XAT-3UR-full-build.html)

Negative on compression changes. The Manley's come in at 10.00:1 vs the slightly higher stock compression. That should be everything I need/want, especially with them being able to set the ring gaps appropriately for up to 15lbs of boost and the BC rods that come with the build. They didn't seem to think a street vehicle would need more than that.

Based on the math, 10psi should be about 600WHP. 650WHP (~11.5-12psi) is right up to the edge of the transmission limitations (from what WAT was saying). I need to be realistic since it's still just a DD/tow rig. That reality, plus the fact I wasn't fighting detonation or any other performance related issues (per the logs, anyways) says I should be in a good spot for work, play and reliability, with play being the least of my priorities.

To continue the scale, the 15lbs of boost would run me to about 750WHP, which is just over the XAT claim of 800+ HP for their engine. I think fastlane was running closer to 16-19psi on his engine build, which I think is essentially the same as what I went with.

I did add the XAT billet fuel rails, though. Just because. lol

 

It's all good. Was just piling it on with the others. Keep it within the builds margins...I have no idea what that means.

 

Another thing to note, is that a restrictive exhaust on a turbo based system slows down the building of boost pressure. In other words, the more restrictive the exhaust the longer it takes for your boost PSI reach its peak

We were seeing drops of 2-3 tenths in the 1/4 on turbo buicks just by throwing on a test pipe to by-pass the CATs and mufflers (if they were restrictive also)... Plus the sound of an open exhaust w/20 PSI of boost coming on

First video I found w/a quick search... (just the exhaust no boost sound though)

https://youtu.be/ACeu270zrhM

 

Oh! Yeah, no. That game is over and done. @snivilous is a meanie and I'm still in the nurses office after he beat me and my pew pew'ter up on the playground. he has single handedly made my increase my goal to 4.49s.

 

On the one hand I think you should send that bitch to the stratosphere and lower the compression and run as much boost as pump gas can handle (probably 18-20psi). Flip side is, as you said the trans will shit its brains out quickly and that's probably in the 1000hp range. It's kind of funny to compare the Tundra setup to my 2JZ since it's nearly half the displacement at double the boost and similar power, but where as that engine is knock limited the Tundra is trans limited. Kind of sad and ironic that the big engine that can make a lot of horsetorques is mated to something that can't handle the horsetorques.

 

Oh how I would love to send this thing full rip after I get it back. Maybe someday when there is a better transmission option that is sort of affordable. Maybe.

Did I mention tow/camping season is quickly approaching? I need to stay focused on actually having a truck I can drive. lol

 

All this racing talk is making me itchy to get back home and get to upping the boost.

 

tell the family it's been nice but that you've got a bunch of strangers waiting on you, so you need to cut the trip short.

 

How are you guys controlling boost anyway?

 

A few quick videos we took while installing the kit on the 2016 TRD Pro. One of the hot side piping clearances, BEFORE any heat wrapping. We know the heat wrapping makes it look super tight, but it is actually not so and with the wrapping on top, it's even better.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9gNnoyIkyN4

We also created a video for the vacuum routing to the wastegate and the rest of the connections. This should really help clear things up! Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/2J_GPAsdeh4

 

Your timing is impeccable... I just uploaded those videos a few minutes ago!!

 

We are doing a 500 mile portion as I type today and then the final 200 mile tomorrow.

 

safe travels and enjoy!

 

Fun facts, was driving this morning and it was 0* outside. IAT’s were at 7* doing 70mph. Coolant was at 188* and trans was at 163*.

 

I just ordered the Improved Racing 145 thermostat. I was running a 160. I noticed running the Dex3 when it was below 110deg F it had confused shifting 3-4. Once above that it was fine. I never had that issue with Toyota WS when it was cold. My ambient temps have been 44-50 deg F. The Dex3 is pretty thick at the cooler temp. Just a FYI if considering a different fluid.
The temps with 160 thermostat were 160-185F driving around. Doing WOT pulls it would get up to 200F (TC) but come back down to 185F. I'll see how the 145 t-stat does. Although I'm not towing...

 

You sneaky bastard! What is this "single turbo" clarification all about in these video titles? HHHHHMMMmmmmmm?

 

Purely because we would constantly be asked and with the battery, fuse box, ABS, master cyl, etc... It would be very tough to get a turbo into the other side and make it a twin!