98 TRD 3.4L Turbo , Methanol , LT

Installed reverse/work lights into the tailgate....









Afterwards I sale them in with black silicon.

I was hoping the t3 housing plus the ceramic bearing and light billet wheel would help as far as lag. Plus if I eventually push 8-12 psi I was super hoping to be okay with what I got. Thing was 600 bucks (ouch).

definitely, I am going to swap out my charge pipes from this 3 inch to the two and a half inch since this seems like your recommendation.

my IC has 3 inch inlet and outlet (24x12x3).should I use reducers to fit the 2.5 inch charge pipes?I bought my IC off eBay and I am going to spray it lightly flat black. Dual purposes for that, I don't want it to be seen and I also read it slightly decreases temps and was done in a study with temp probes between non painted and straight aluminum.

I will look into getting a 4 PSI spring. CX kit comes with 8. was hoping with my meth kit the 8 would be ok.all I bought from Cx was the header kit, BB turbo, charge pipes. plus I got a military discount.

it looks like I am still needing new SS v bands (times 5), header gaskets from Toyota (just gaskets or sealant too?), and SS rods to weld my exhaust, plus some major practice first on my new welder!

like most of us I am NOT made of money but I also want to do it right the first time.

1) what about the wastegate gasket? Mine came with one and so did the CX kit. should I use one of these or get something else?

2) and I am still not exactly sure where to tap into the vacuum lines and coolant lines? My guess on the vacuum is somewhere on the throttle body. boost controller goes in between the turbo and wastegate. I have an electronic vacuum gauge and don't know where to run that off. other than that I am still at a loss.

3) and I don't know where to run the oil catch can. my guess is off the PVC vent? and I don't know where it should return to or does it vent into the atmosphere? some specifics or illustrations would be super.

 

Yeah I used reducers for my IC since my turbo outlet is 2". Your lag won't be outrageous, but it will be there. What are you confused about regarding vacuum lines? The current pre-TB hoses will have to be connected to a post filter/pre turbo pipe with a nipple or two (you can always tee them together) OR you can connect them to the charge pipes somewhere with a check valve. The 3/8" hose on the very top of your intake manifold that feeds to the right (I think your 98 is set up the same as my 96) also needs to have a check valve.
With the PCV, you have the choice of connecting a catch can to it and venting it back to the intake manifold, or you can keep it hooked up exactly how it was from the dealership, but with the addition of a check valve. That one has to be a heavy duty brass one though, since hot oil vapor will be going through it. DO NOT use any gaskets from CX, they all suck majorly. Use true toyota exhaust gaskets and use stove gasket cement for all other connection points. I've never used it, but Chris swears by it. I didn't have any issues with the permanex copper exhaust gasket maker either. I used some sheet metal SS 2.5" Vband gaskets that I got from ebay and caked a nice layer of that permanex Cu gasket maker on both sides and those ones never leaked on me. Results may vary
What part of CO are you in?

 

There are only a few vacuum hoses on your intake pipe that you have to be aware of.

The one that goes to your EVAP system (if you have one) can just be disconnected; stick a filter on the end (I think its just a vent)

The one that routs down through your intake manifold is for your gas pressure regulator. I used some tubing to rout that up to the PCV fitting post TB.

The PCV fitting you will rout to your catch can.

Make sure your PCV is not gumbed up and rattles when you shake it before the next step: There is a rather large pipe that runs from the back of your stock input tube to your driver side vent cover. Take that off and use a single way check valve to allow air only to flow INTO the crank case and cap it with a filter.

Your brake booster (connected to the side of the manifold on driver side) should be ok; you have a check valve on that already; however if you want to be safe (not sure what the stock check valve is rated to) you can put an inline check valve on that too).

 

today I removed the stock rear bumper, trailer hitch since I never use it (going to cut it up and mount it higher and tucked better than the oem location), spare tire (will relocate), and spare tire mount system. removing almost 200 pounds from the bed actually made my truck handle considerably better and a little faster (At least with the stock springs), definitely noticeable. I also cut the bed from behind the rear tires all the way around to the tailgate, primered, cut and painted the rearfenders. much more ground clearance and it looks way cooler. took a couple pics with the lights on.

Before cutting....



During....





After....



I I am going to have to super analyze these vacuum lines. maybe I should take a picture and show you what I think is the proper routing. This would be most helpful that way I'm not playing a guessing game.

 

Sweet. Like Chris said, there are only a few lines you have to worry about. It won't be that hard to figure out. You can start by buying a couple nylon check valves. I'll try to get a peek of my engine at lunch today so I can assist you a little better. And where in co are you bro? I'm in thornton and work in aurora maybe we can meet up.
EDIT: hey dude, is your MAF a solid piece or the flange type? If it's the solid type then you may have to keep a significant section of the charge pipes 3" to make sure the readings are right. At least 6" to a foot before it.

 

I'm sure my maf is some sort of black plastic housing.....is it one piece, not sure, will have to look. So hopefully this weekend I can buy the Toyota header gaskets, check valves, stove high temp sealant, and sealant for my oil pan. That should get me close besides any reducers or modification to my charge pipe system. I will most likely start the intercooler mount first. I need some aluminum L channel to mount it. Is Home Depot the best for that?

MAF.....

 

Yeah probably.

 

Doing some research on the v bands also. It seems you can buy just the replacement nut and bolts from vibrant for $8. I am wondering if these would work. It seems the cx and cheaper v bands fail due to the nylon nut melting. Additionally I read you are not to remove them while hot. What about adding another nut so it can lock the first nut down or replacing just the nuts? I am just looking for a better solution than buying $150 in v bands. Home Depot has inexpensive C channel. Looked it up on the web. Picking that up tonight.

 

If you want cheap, use the cx bands and get the a bolt form home depot that matches the thread and use it to lock the two bolts together. But be careful you don't over tighten the band as the bolt will bend and snap pretty easy.

 

The part that wears and strips is the bolt itself, not the nut. If you have the patience to cut, replace and weld a new T bolt to the clamp then have at it. I did do that (double up on the nuts for added protection[hehe that's what she said]) and the screw was still stripped. It will buy you a few more cranks to tighten it, but my guess is it will happen to you like it happened to me. I tightened them down real good at first, then they loosened up with the heat. Then I tightened them down again *when cool* and the heat from driving already screwed up the integrity of the metal and threads, so they stripped.

 

Im using one of the Cx clamps to connect the downpipe to the exhaust and it holds up ok. I would still recommend new clamps but as long as you don't tighten it too much it should be ok

Josh, when you do the crossover pipe, you might want two hands to make sure each side lines up perfectly. You need to be careful; if one side is not aligned properly, the other side won't sit flush.

Also be careful to make sure all v-bands align perfectly. They want to sit flush but its hard when they are hanging. Get the clamps on both sides and tighten them evenly and slowly. Get them tight enough so you can shift them and align them but not so loose that they will fall out of alignment (if that makes sense).

When you are installing the down pipe, you might have a hard brake line in the way. You will have to unbolt the mount and reposition it (I used a self taping bolt). Push it out of the way enough so it has some distance from the down pipe. You don't want your down pipe touching as it can potentially heat up and boil your brake fluids.

 

Sort of like tightening opposing things. (Wheels, etc.) Movinformation across from side to side and align and tighten (slowly, methodically). Gotcha. Good advice. Hard brake line sounds easy, as long as I don't have to bleed the system. Wondering if I should just go with the vibrant v bands. Dunno yet. I'm hooking my welder up this weekend to my breaker box. Hopefully I can run a few stick tacks and beads. Got a box of rods and some scraps to start practicing. Can I weld the ss exhaust with ss rods or should I start learning the tig for that? I would rather do without the gas and I'm not worried about super perfect welds. Plus a gas bottle is like another hundred bucks Out the window.

 

Couldn't help you on the exhaust. I had a shop do mine; worth every hundo I paid (and I paid a lot of hundo's).

 

I did my whole exhaust with like $10 worth of SS arc rods and I couldn't be happier. Sure a graduate in welding and engineering might look at my welds kinda funny but it's just as strong and air tight as any shop could make it.

 

Nice. Sounds like a plan. May put the exhaust on first and run my 3" ss back with a cheap reducer and vband flange off the stock downpipe. That way it will be good to go for the cx downpipe. Just cut off the reducer with the stock stuff, and have to refit minimally. I can start sounding fast first that way. Haha. I would like to meet up soon gio, if you have time in the near future.

At some point I redid my grille and added an electric dual toned horn.... (sounds like a Ferrari's horn, way better than stock)

 

Recommend you get a v-band flange for your exhaust and connect it to your down pipe with a v-band clamp, that way you can disconnect it for maintenance if needed.

Also keep in mind your rear sensor will throw a P0420 code when you get rid of the cat converter on your stock downpipe. You will either need to replace the stock converter with a larger one or get an o2 simulator from URD.

 

Yeah, I just measured and welded everything together before hand so it would be ready to slap on right after the header install.

 

I was going to remount them in the downpipe where it has the 2 bungs welded in from cx. I thought that was where they were supposed to go because one was in front and one behind the cat. I'm not sure though, how should that all go? I have a 3" high flow ss metal core cat with like 200 or 300 cells.....going to use that.

 

That's how they mount. There is a bung for a wideband sensor too. That cat should keep your downstream sensor happy; mine hasn't thrown a code since installing my new exhaust and cat converter.

 

I was advised to get a wideband sensor as well especially for tuning and my methanol injection. I was interested in one that has wide band and is also an electronic boost controller in one unit. additionally I am still unclear as to whether I should pick up an AEM fic and larger injectors at some point. with the methanol injection. I was hoping to stay away from all that if I'm running 8 psi or less. the methanol should keep my AFR at a reasonable level. I was thinking about either one of these for a wideband. Plus they control boost levels and one comes with a map. I'm not sure what or where a map would go. I know it's another sort of maf.....would you use it instead of a maf?

Turbosmart e-Boost2 Electronic Boost Controller - 66mm, black face, black ring

Innovate Motorsports (3882) SCG-1 Solenoid Boost Controller and Air/Fuel Ratio Gauge Kit