Wade Pat2

6 hours ago, Srikumar said:

Wonderful. Look forward to seeing the manual LC in action. What is the gear ratio of the manual vs the automatic?

Auto Gear Ratios:

2.95:1

1.53:1

1:1

0.765:1

Manual:

4.08:1

2.29:1

1.49:1

1:1

.881:1

Feel like it has been forever, because it has. As all projects do It just keeps growing and seems to never be ready to get back in the sand. Will be back this season for sure.

**completed

-RTA- passed !

-Exhaust finished!

-Auto trans just kept giving trouble under boost so swapped for manual. Not my preference in sand but I had to think long term and reliability.

**Up Next

-Currently wiring offroad lights into ECU so I can control them with Bluetooth display.

-Finish tuning with Manual transmission 

-front diff bushings

-newbie drive!

Just quick note for those following :

Stock 

Dynoed @ 200 wheel HP 

Toyota spec 235 brake HP at engine 

 15% driveline loss

Supercharged- 

Dynoed @ 330 wheel HP

Estimated 390 brake HP 

Total gain-

130 whp and 190bhp over stock.

End of the day it's all just numbers that sound good really :). Torque curve and gain is more importnatn  and as Gaurav has mentioned before, when that extra torque come in makes all the difference.

Overall the SC has made the LC more fun to drive but I'm not convinced the extra power and heat make it valuable in the sand. Luckily my only intention with adding it was to because I like projects and turning wrenches :).

Will keep fine tuning and testing for now. Plan for first temp drop to have it in the sand then to fully push it over cooler months. 

Only future upgrades planned -

-Pass rta renewal ( not sure yet how)

-Transmission upgraded valve body 

-Slightly lighter and more free flowing muffler without being loud. 

5 hours ago, Zed said:

We have to test it in Iftar Bowl from the middle straight-up instead of from the sides to see if the 300hp is enough or need to boost more  

Would be easier to strip interior and loose all the extra weight then to make more power I think . 

You know me, I'm good on newbie and fewbie rides. Only put all this work and hp into it as a project. Could blow tomorrow for all i know.

Still ready to try just need short easy ride to make sure kinks all worked out first.

On 4/10/2022 at 5:00 AM, Gaurav said:

That's indeed very conservatively boosted to less than half a bar unlike hooligans here touch 2-3 bars and shorten the engine's usable life to max 1-2 years. Good decision.

Now the next big challenge for you and your tuner is to use the perfectly tuned maps for off-road use to make this beast a real climber than a dragster. Faya climb in Sharjah or Y60 hill in Quaa will be your best friend for the next few drives. I would love to see this LC100 climbing Faya from the right side (most difficult).

My limited experience with Cayenne Turbo (450 hp) in dunes wasn't great as the turbo kicks in at the wrong times in spite of having a twin-turbo that supposes to fill the turbo lag. Second, with the Range Rover supercharged (510 hp) experienced the same results as those cars were tuned for road and not for off-road use and I didn't intend to tinker with the tuning for my daily driver.

Good luck and lots of prayer for stock internals and other ancillary parts.

Finally back in Dubai from leave. Still have small issue I need to fix with Sub tank fuel pump but that is really all. Its a lot of new untested parts to bring in the the summer heat. Dont want to ruin a whole ride for everyone with a broken car. Will try to find a way to test it off the road but close to road just incase. Want to gain some confidence in the car before putting alot of pressure on it. 

Small update to above performance. As I fine tune ECU and also upgraded exhaust the HP is now 330+ hp to wheels at 5k rpm and 365 wheel torque at 4k rpm. 

48 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

Congrats buddy, sounds sweet.

That's a very big gain from 235 to 400, what other magic you did under the hood?

How much boost? Engine internal or any other parts upgrade to withstand 400?

Just under 7 psi max boost from the TRD supercharger. It was ported and polished in US along with rebuild and rotor recoating to be as efficient as possible and make less heat. Methanol injection  from 4 psi up to keep it from knocking and Temps down. Bigger fuel pump and injectors to keep up with fuel demands. Much larger intake piping and performance filter so SC can breath. Maxxecu used for engine management is tuned conservatively on timing and fuel delivery to "hopefully " withstand the heat. 

Only other thing holding it together is Toyota engineering from 23 years ago, alot of preventive maintenance, and some prayers.

If a rod bends, will rebuild and bolt everything back on I guess. My projects don't seem to ever finish just grow. Haha

Pretty much done working through the big issues. Running great now. Will see how it does the next few weeks in the heat and fine tune anything that pops up. Hoping to get back in the sand with it on a newbie drive right after EID. Nice torque curve from low rpm all the way to a safely set Rev limit. Video is loud with all the dyno fans but Supercharge can easily out scream them haha.

I'm not to happy I couldn't keep stock  intake and filter but SC just wouldn't pull any air with all the bends and filter. Had to go with dry performance filter. Stock intake 233 whp - custom intake 303 whp

Around 400 hp at crank now up from 235hp stock. Over 300 wtqe at 3k rpm so should be a little quicker even though she is still a fat tank of a car.

3 hours ago, Gaurav said:

Super nice to see such clean job, looking fwd to see it in action soon.

Thanks Gaurav. I appreciate the compliment. Most of the work before was done by me. For this part I decided to trust a new garage . My only job this time was to pay and then do my best not to annoy them with messages of how it was going all day.

I hope to have it back in the desert soon. As you know I spent lots of time and money to have it almost as reliable as new for my previous drives. With the addition of so many new parts, hoses, fuel lines, belts, and tuning It may be a little while before I am confident to bring it out.  It will see the sand again but I will go through everything like before to minimize the risk as much as possible for messing up a drive with break down . 

Getting closer. Doing first checks. Closed loop idle on standalone ECU looks good.

Hoping to see full tune on dyno Monday. And need to change bright yellow intake elbow haha

Calling the project. Transformation from old, fat and slow to old, fat, and kinda slow. ,😂😂

Little more progress. As all projects go, it's turning out twice as big as predicted, much higher cost, and plenty of unforseen problems.

Have to remember the journey is more rewarding then the destination at the end of the day.  Biggest downside so far is I had to turn over much of the work to a shop since the original US spec control module wouldn't work on my 99 GCC spec. This is over my knowledge level so they get to do the work and I get to pay and try to not stand over there shoulder being a bother. Haha

Been stuck in US since November but finally back just in time for nice weather. Parts made it through checked luggage and customs :). 

WI'll start adding parts next week. So far only had time to add gauges to A pillar. Came out pretty good with some left over  paint and heat gun. AFR and WM injection gauges for pending Supercharger install. Start of a long project!

Trying to keep stock look as much as possible. Gauges messed it up but have to have them. 

5 hours ago, Zed said:

Actually i've kinda accepted it, I'm looking for a broken LC200 V8 5.7L that I can get cheap & fix to use as my next offroad carriage 😅 Once I get that, the LC100 will be kept in parking and Dubizzle until someone who appreciates classics will come for it 😁🙏🏻

Congrats on intermediate!

 200 to beat on would be fun. I think it's very impressive to take LC100 to intermediate.

10 hours ago, ShereenMK said:

The main five reasons that i backed off from selling cruiser for a jeep. Thanks @Gaurav😉

All of this is true except for spare money. I use all the extra money on upgrading and replacing things on my LC. 😂

28 minutes ago, Zed said:

You improved the back-end exhaust by replacing new muffler, might as well improve the front-end by replacing the manifold gaskets. Mine was rusty too there 😅:

 

Haha really don't want to. When they leak I will for sure.

Couple more boring additions I wanted to add. Had a chance to replace stock exhaust with new OEM. It was the only thing with rust on the car but it's nice and shiny now. New prop shafts, new engine and transmount. Few bushing here and there. The worst job was roof supports. Found some rattles and decided to remove headliner. All 3 cross supports seam sealer had hardened and broken up. Leaving roof and supports metal to metal.

Decided to finally go to the rental shop and do that part myself. Turned out well but not fun. 

Up next will be timing belt kit ,water pump and radiator flush before the SC goes on in January. It seems I just got back to Dubai and I'm leaving again for Christmas holiday. 

Hi Angela, sorry just found out we will  have to miss this one. Please remove me from the drive so someone else can be in. See you on the next one. @Foxtrot Oscar

Any input for guys like me with older vehicle. I have spent crazy amount keeping it in the best condition possible for on and off road. Every insurance I called will only offer 3rd party. Anyone know of a "declared value" insurance company or maybe a direct to recovery agency insurance just for mechanic/recovery. 

3 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

I love your patience and sensible approach in analyzing things into right perspective and set your limits and goals.

Congrats for SC and its wise to stick to Stage 1 to maximize engine usable life of 99 model, unless you rebuilt whole engine and upgraded internals too.

Btw, ref to self recovering issue per last drive, I noticed you made a choice of Michelin which is good tire for road and sand as they are super light but they aren't good for self-recovery. If you really wish to have good self recovery capabilities then AT tires goes much before the diff-lock choice.

Thanks for the feedback Gaurav. I chose the new Michelin ltx force which seemed slightly less aggressive/AT as the Geolanders. I'm not sure what Michelin may have changed but to be honest they feel a little heavy and have a little more sound on the road then I expected. If I had to do it again I would go with Geolanders but I'm sure these will last awhile. 

My LC has stock rear diff lock and front locker is TJM air locker. Installed a year or so ago to replace weak front diff.

Definitely wanting to have Toyota supercharger set at stock tuning for reliability. 

@Zed hey Zed. Yea I made a deal with Marco through Facebook, been watching it for months. Few things aligned and I made him an offer. Guess he was tired of sitting on it. Spoke to the guy who built the kit and I think I got a decent deal in today's market.

I think the one you qouted above is on Ebay for 12k right now. Crazy!

I doubt I will be climbing anything bigger than Fewbie sized dunes honestly. Will be awhile before it gets here. Should be early Jan when I fly back to Dubai from leave.  First level map is at stock TRD supercharger numbers and I plan to stay there.

Like I said, not really needed for me so I plan to enjoy the project coming together along with the cool sound  . Will share plenty pics once it's here. I may install myself but not sure yet.

For the next addition on my project LC I may have gone off the rails. For someone who likes wrenching and rebuilding more than driving it might make since but this mod really isn't necessary or for offroad as much as "I always wanted one". For driving I will likely not even go past Fewbie or do much hill climbs but I will surely have an engine that makes cool sounds. 🤣

If anyone finds me face down in the desert just know it was my wife and I deserved it. 

Stay tuned for updates , long wait until I get back to US, then first obstacle is how I get it on the plane with me back to Dubai!

It's Toyota so I will still consider it "stock"

#fully rebuilt, trd, ported, polished, heat coated, mapped unichip, etc...

On 7/18/2021 at 7:00 AM, Srikumar said:

If you have both the front and rear lockers, try them separately and let us know which one is more effective. Ofcourse it depends on the circumstances, but since the front wheel has steering input as well I have a hunch that the front locker would be more effective than a rear locker during self recovery. But I could be wrong.

Hi Sri, sorry for the delayed reply. Few observations on lockers in sand compared to mud and rock crawling which I have done alot of. If I could only chose one it would be rear for sure. Front does have steering input but it's almost impossible to steer with a front locker engaged once throttle is applied. This removes most of the side to side steering technique when throttle  since the locker wants the steering to return to center as both tires pull. In mud you go straight so lockers are great. In rocks you go slowwww and are only in low range so again both lockers are great.

I think front holds value in some situations but wouldn't install front for sand. I installed mine for two reasons. First the front diff on 99 LC 100 is very weak 2 pinion instead of typical 4. This locker drastically strengthens the front diff internals. Second , I will export it home one day and install charge in Dubai is less than half the cost at a US shop for same locker.

Hopefully I get a chance to test it in more stuck situations and can report back more. So far outside of slight crest each time I have been stuck the heavy LC was "stuck" and locker didnt help much expect to sink like a rock.

As my knowledge grows I hope to utilize them more so refusals don't become stucks.

@Foxtrot Oscar it was a great drive. I learned alot as 2nd lead. I was impressed with everyone's driving on the night technical. Thanks for the nose dive lesson!

Confirmed