96 5vz xcab 4x4 TACO TURBO BUILD

I actually have two cats (Cali emissions 4Runner), so I don't know if my first cat is in the same location as yours or not. I'm guessing my first cat will have to be deleted, but I think I'll be able to keep the second one for inspection purposes.

 

Yeah mine is right behind the engine.

 

Hey dude how long did it take for CX to ship your headers? And how long did it take for you to get them?

It's already been 4 days and shipping status is N/A

 

Probably haven't made it from China yet, lol.

 

Got them quick. I called and ordered them on the phone and even got the cheaper ebay price. Ask for Ace; he's the only one competent there.

 

Lol really. When are you getting your kit?

 

There is finally info this morning. Can't wait. I'll probably get started on my exhaust in the mean time

 

Not sure. I've got the money in my Paypal account, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I need to make the final push and buy little ankle biter crap, like fabbing up the intake and such. Lately big purchases like washing machines and driers haven't helped either.

 

Yeah it sucks not being able to buy everything at once comfortably. Have you measured out exactly where you can put the intercooler? I'm guessing your ride has the same non-existent room as mine being a 96 and all. If you decide to mount yours like mine, I can send you the exact measurements and you can just cut the pipes to length. It would save a lot of time.

Actually come to think of it I took my radiator skid plate off to mount the IC and I doubt you'd want to do that. I plan on getting an ebay bull/push bar to protect everything down there without having to restrict the air coming in contact with the IC.

 

I'm actually going to skip the intercooler, and plumb the turbo outlet straight to the throttlebody. I've got a water/meth kit I can put on there if I need to drop IATs.

 

Oh ok that's good. Make sure you put the nozzle far enough away from the intake manifold to ensure the meth is being evenly distributed between the 6 intake channels. I've heard of guys getting failures on the outer pistons because the majority of meth was being sucked into the middle four/two from the nozzle being too close.

 

Yeah, I'm debating whether to inject pre-turbo or not. From what I understand, injecting pre-turbo has the effect of moving the compressor map to the right, meaning that it would help a smaller turbo to be more efficient. I think my turbo is a little bit on the small side, so I may see some benefit from that.

 

Hmm... I haven't looked much into pre-turbo injection. Couldn't hurt cooling it down that's for sure.

 

The build might have to be put on hold for a few more weeks. I installed the power steering cooler and instead of topping the reservoir off with dex ATF, I pored the rest of my Lucas PS stop-leak in there (really thick stuff, but it says you can add a whole bottle WTF?) and my rack didn't work for the whole day. I'm thinking it was too thick and seized the rack up. When I got home from work I completely drained the entire system out and filled it with straight ATF. The fluid has bubbles in it now and it buzzes when I turn the wheel but still kinda works... Maybe I have to drive it and let it bleed itself. Being able to safely turn is a higher priority than speed so bear with me guys

EDIT: fixed it. It was air bubbles in the rack. Build back on schedule.

 

My headers came in today and boy are they purtty...


I took my bumper off to install my PS cooler and noticed that I can bolt the front radiator guard on upside down. This makes a nice little pocket for my intercooler to fit in

 

I got my exhaust mapped out. Just welded a V-band flange to the high-flow cat so I can clamp the exhaust straight to the downpipe (the muffler and straight pipe aren't welded, I just stuck it together for the picture).

 

I bet you guys can't tell which weld bead is from CX and which one I did LOL.
It was already pretty dark when I started. I'll probably go over it tomorrow.



I'll weld the second o2 sensor bung in the straight pipe probably tomorrow.

 

Not too bad for a Harbor Freight arc welder... a tig is much easier to do exhaust with.
Everything but the muffler is welded because I have to wait until the headers and downpipe are hooked up to get an idea of exactly where to put it.

 

So I was really thinking... Do I pay $100 for a shop to weld my oil return bung in or do I attempt to do it myself. Ah what the heck.


NO LEAKS!!!!! Took me literally 7 minutes to weld it and it turned out great! $100 saved!

 

Hooked up the glowshift wideband AFR gauge last night. The sensor isn't screwed in though.