Re-Installing My Supercharger

[iniazy]

OEM Toyota engine oil cooler installed, along with URD thermostat kit. Still need to top off the coolant.

Before:

After:

I tried to get the cooler alone off, without changing the whole filter sub-assymbly, but it just wouldn't budge. And I didn't have enough leverage to hold the assembly tight enough. Didn't want to risk cracking it by overtightening it on a vice. So I replaced the entire filter sub-assembly. Got a bit messy with leaked oil, but nothing good ol break cleaner couldn't clean off.

Next step: transmission oil cooler.

Question: which transmission oil OEM cooler is the egress (cold) side? Driver or passanger side?

 

[Torspd]

Inlet to radiator is on top. Outlet then is on bottom.

 

[iniazy]

Inlet to radiator is on top. Outlet then is on bottom.

Well I guess the Tacoma has a different radiator than mine. My rad is a down-flow, not side-to-side, so they're both bottom.

 

[Torspd]

Best I can say is follow the lines coming out of the transmission. Compare it to the picture I am about to post.

 

[Torspd]

Maybe this will help. Compliments of 1GRracer.

 

[iniazy]

This is perfect! Thanks.

 

[iniazy]

Installed the transmission cooler successfully. I forgot to take pictures. Now between my grill and the radiator is sooo stuffed with stuff. Now that is cooling things down.

I will attempt to configure my MAP-ECU with MAF-elemination mode.

 

[Torspd]

And the real tuning fun begins!

 

[iniazy]

MAF elimination is working great! Once you have a working basemap, it is easier to tune than MAF intercept, results are more direct and evident.

I think this mode is necessary for my setup because my MAF sensor is pre-supercharger, not post. So the reading is not accurate from the MAF. I checked several factory-boosted applications, and all of them have the MAF in the charge air section, not before it.

 

[Torspd]

How much time did it take for you to create the base map?

 

[iniazy]

How much time did it take for you to create the base map?

I used a 2JZ base map originally, then I took my logs to see how much fuel is going at sample locations of the map to understand what it should look like at that area. Then I modified the 2JZ map to reflect those fuel levels and smoothened out the map all around. At first the car would start and then immediately stall, so I enriched the map at low RPM until I got it to idle. And from there it is just gradual tuning. The engine only visits a select set of zones in the fuel table, so the rest of the zones would be just guess work to make the graph look smooth. I would say I've reached a very decent tune right now, works great, and collectively it took me about 9 hours. Three sessions, three hours each.

 

[Torspd]

You always impress me. :top:

 

[iniazy]

I'll upload the most recent iteration of the map file here or anywhere once I get to my personal laptop. I'm on my work laptop now.

Most important is to make sure any higher zone should not have a smaller value than a lower zone. Meaning if there are two adjacent zones, one at 2200 RPM and one at 2400 RPM, the 2400 zone should always have a higher value than the 2200 RPM. Likewise in Pressure, a zone at 5 PSI should always have a higher value than a zone at 3 PSI. So the transitions would be smooth and avoid confusing the factory ECU and fuel trims.

 

[iniazy]

I think I might be losing my Rotrex Supercharger. Yesterday morning and this morning when I start up the car I heared a strong frequent knocking noise from the Supercharger unit. It only happens for a minute and then becomes smooth again. I checked the Rotrex oil and found that it was bubbling when the knocking was happening. I'm worried it is on its way out.

I'll change the oil and filter today just in case the problem is from that.

I abused it several times when I installed the kit the first time. I didn't have the right tools to remove the pulley, so I tried to remove it with a bad technique and spun the pulley counter-clockwise several times, which is a big NO in Rotrex instructions.

Also didn't do the oil priming properly, I didn't have an air compressor. I only let the oil through the inlet until it was leaking, then tightened it and cranked the engine. The Rotrex would make loud noises at first until it is fully primed and then becomes smooth.

I don't know if any of that has shortened its life, but it has been running fine since, until very recently. It's run almost 15,000 Km since it was first installed.

 

[Torspd]

Hopefully Gadget will chime in. It is a gut sinking feeling when I have similarly damaged my own components. At least it was something that stayed in the back of my mind. Which made it easy to find the problem.

 

[Toyota Tech]

Just read this entire thread for the first time... VERY interesting haha. You are also extremely persistant iniazy, props on that!

You have me thinking of getting a MAP ECU 3, I can't decide between a Haltech, UCON or MAP ECU 3. But with all the success you seem to be having with it you have me very curious, I currently have some driveability issues while cruising but my WOT is almost perfect.

Anyways best of luck with the supercharger noise :X hopefully it just needs some fresh oil but with what you described you undoubtedly shortened the life of your unit at least a little bit unfortunately. In the future if you need compressed air for something.. you mentioned you have an ARB locker in your thread... do you also have air tanks? You could also buy those little cans of compressed air to clean your keyboard with.. should work for something like bleeding the supercharger if you can hook it up right. Another option would have been to bring it to a shop and have it bled then cap it off and install it into your truck. Don't mean to be a downer just trying to be helpful :ahhhhh:

 

[iniazy]

Just read this entire thread for the first time... VERY interesting haha. You are also extremely persistant iniazy, props on that!

You have me thinking of getting a MAP ECU 3, I can't decide between a Haltech, UCON or MAP ECU 3. But with all the success you seem to be having with it you have me very curious, I currently have some driveability issues while cruising but my WOT is almost perfect.

Anyways best of luck with the supercharger noise :X hopefully it just needs some fresh oil but with what you described you undoubtedly shortened the life of your unit at least a little bit unfortunately. In the future if you need compressed air for something.. you mentioned you have an ARB locker in your thread... do you also have air tanks? You could also buy those little cans of compressed air to clean your keyboard with.. should work for something like bleeding the supercharger if you can hook it up right. Another option would have been to bring it to a shop and have it bled then cap it off and install it into your truck. Don't mean to be a downer just trying to be helpful :ahhhhh:

Thanks. Yes, the MAP-ECU is working really great. I don't know how good is the Haltech, but I think it is a bit old-tech. It seemed to work great with my friend's Prado, it does have a built-in MAP sensor. But he had to take direct control of the injectors and ignition, so it was a semi-stand alone. That makes me think it might not have a wideband AFR calibrator. He had to live with a CEL permanently, because the factory ECU was not seeing the injectors or igniters. With my MAP-ECU, everything is running perfect, no CEL, nothing. An MAF elimination mode gives you the stand-alone control level without having to live with the CEL.

If you have a URD setup, I recommend you go for the UCON. It will give you peace of mind, looks great, and takes little space around your factory ECU. With the MAP-ECU you have to deal with all that slack wire, and you will have an extra external unit, the AFR calibrator. However, if you are not using a URD setup, it will depend on where you've got your MAF sensor, as the UCON relies on the MAF signal for tuning, not MAP as in the MAP-ECU. So if you have your MAF pre-supercharger or turbocharger, then you may run into issues, such as turbulence around the MAF sensor or heat soak.

If you are facing problems only in closed loop, but not in open loop, as it seems from your description, then that means you have not got your short term fuel trims zeroed. You need to use an OBDII scanner to monitor your fuel trims and make sure they are as close as possible to zero, while you are in closed loop. If you don't do that, the factory ECU will learn the wrong fuel trims and will cause bad behavior during the transition from closed loop to open loop, like when there is load on the engine (after 3000 RPM approximately) or when you are decelerating. Also you should be having an AFR calibrator, to make sure you keep your engine rich and cool during mild acceleration. This is what killed my previous engine, not controlling my AFR. I still don't know what is your setup, what are you using for tuning?

So all of that I learned after I got the MAP-ECU, so here's another good thing about them. You will learn, and MAP-ECU support is absolutely incredible, they will not leave you stranded.

I will probably buy an air compressor for my home garage. This morning the start up was very smooth and didn't experience the knocking noise of yesterday morning. I haven't changed the oil yet. The thing is, the supercharger efficiency has not been affected at all, it is still blowing well and giving me the right amount of boost throughout the RPM range.

 

[iniazy]

Damn! I have a hole in my timing chain cover, where the idler pulley used to be:



I think what happened is a result of not having a dynamic belt tensioner. The tensioner that came with the kit is solid, you tension then tighten, so there is on room for damping. I'm going to work no that, try to find a dynamic tensioner solution.

I have a spare timing cover from my old engine, I'm going to reuse that. I'll take it to a shop to do it, I don't feel like doing it myself.

 

[Gadget]

Which engine?

 

[iniazy]

Which engine?

This just happened, with my current engine.

I'm getting the spare cover from my old 1GR engine, which I replaced a couple of years ago.