Re-Installing My Supercharger
- Thread starter iniazy
- Start date
Yeah. I contacted the vendor, he said he's never had that happen to a customer before. Man, just as I started having fun with the newly found power!
I think I put too much tension on the belt, and with that extra pulley putting more force and torque on the idler pulley mount. When I did the supercharger installation the first time several years ago, with the old engine (the timing cover donor), it lasted me a long time, about six months and 15,000 KMs; the belt was not as tight as it is now.
My old timing chain cover, covered in baked engine oil:
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Engine almost ready. Timing cover and valvetrain covers are in place, just to put things back together, intake manifold, belts, SC bracket and SC, and we'll be good to go. Hopefully tomorrow I'll start enjoying it again.
BTW, I complained earlier of the power being not to my expectations, now after having it tuned properly with MAF elimination mode, it is really getting close to my expectations. I suspect when winter comes and the air gets denser and colder, it will exceed my expectations. I will put it on the Dyno then, to see how much power I'm making; you know, bragging rights and all.
BTW, I complained earlier of the power being not to my expectations, now after having it tuned properly with MAF elimination mode, it is really getting close to my expectations. I suspect when winter comes and the air gets denser and colder, it will exceed my expectations. I will put it on the Dyno then, to see how much power I'm making; you know, bragging rights and all.
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Luckily you had a spare to swap out with. Saved a tremendous amount of trouble. Despite how much of a chore it is anyway. Have you yet devised a tensioner style pulley setup?
You work very fast. I must admit. :top:
With your more successful tuning in Maf elimination mode, I am quite curious to see the difference the tuning has made in power as well.
You work very fast. I must admit. :top:
With your more successful tuning in Maf elimination mode, I am quite curious to see the difference the tuning has made in power as well.
I'm not actually fast, I needed this one to be fixed quick, so I didn't do it myself, I took it to a shop to be done. They work all day long and have nothing else to do, so they finished it fast. It is now being my daily driver, so I can't keep it out of service for long.
I replaced my timing chain cover and my Fortuner is back on line. I have a theory why this happened. I think my previous mistakes when I installed the SC the first time slightly distorted the drive pulley of the supercharger, which caused it to not revolve perfectly circular. Several years ago when I did the installation for the first time, I did not torque down the crank shaft pulley bolt properly. The SC drive belt is held on the crank shaft pulley using that bolt. I didn't know how to torque it correctly, because it is an automatic and I didn't know how to hold the engine from spinning. So when I drove the car out for the first time to test it, the supercharger belt loosened the bolt and the drive pulley, and the pulley was banging around between the bolt and crankshaft pulley as the engine was running, so that probably distorted the center hold a bit, which caused it to not sit perfectly centered. So there is a slight movement that is causing the supercharger belt to vibrate right after it exits the drive pulley. Plus, I had the belt tensioned really tight, so this and that caused excessive strain on the pulley mount.
I have kept the belt looser than last time, which still seems to be adequately tensioned, no SC slippage. Hopefully this will not happen again. If it does happen again, I'll order another pulley from Alpine.
I looked at various Supercharger vendors, other than URD, and many of them use a static tensioner, so that should not cause a problem if things are done correctly.
I'm optimistic it will not happen again. First time I installed it I used it for about 10,000 KM before the engine broke, and nothing happened to the mount, and the pulley was suffering from the same issue, as it is still the same pulley.
Some pictures:
The timing chain cover, with a hole in it:
I got it cleaned up and washed:
I'm going to glue on the broken piece with EPoxy then I'm going to hang it in my workshop wall and use it as a tools rack. For good ol times sake.
About the MAF Elimination mode, I really had to use it, because my MAF wasn't giving a consistent reading to the ECU, so my AFR would go all over the place if I do anything sudden, like accelerate suddenly while cruising. This is why I had to go for this mode. Now it is very consistent and linear, and drives really nice like factory. I still have minor issues at gear shifts, as the gear upshifts during hard acceleration, say from second to third, the AFR gets too rich for a split of a second before it goes back to normal, which is slightly affecting my acceleration. I think the bypass valve is venting the excess air out, but the injectors and ECU don't know it yet because boost has not changed, since it is relying on MAP not MAF. Not sure how to fix that. And I still have that annoying starter problem, which I'm suspecting is caused by the replacement harness, cuz it only started showing up after I replaced the harness.
I replaced my timing chain cover and my Fortuner is back on line. I have a theory why this happened. I think my previous mistakes when I installed the SC the first time slightly distorted the drive pulley of the supercharger, which caused it to not revolve perfectly circular. Several years ago when I did the installation for the first time, I did not torque down the crank shaft pulley bolt properly. The SC drive belt is held on the crank shaft pulley using that bolt. I didn't know how to torque it correctly, because it is an automatic and I didn't know how to hold the engine from spinning. So when I drove the car out for the first time to test it, the supercharger belt loosened the bolt and the drive pulley, and the pulley was banging around between the bolt and crankshaft pulley as the engine was running, so that probably distorted the center hold a bit, which caused it to not sit perfectly centered. So there is a slight movement that is causing the supercharger belt to vibrate right after it exits the drive pulley. Plus, I had the belt tensioned really tight, so this and that caused excessive strain on the pulley mount.
I have kept the belt looser than last time, which still seems to be adequately tensioned, no SC slippage. Hopefully this will not happen again. If it does happen again, I'll order another pulley from Alpine.
I looked at various Supercharger vendors, other than URD, and many of them use a static tensioner, so that should not cause a problem if things are done correctly.
I'm optimistic it will not happen again. First time I installed it I used it for about 10,000 KM before the engine broke, and nothing happened to the mount, and the pulley was suffering from the same issue, as it is still the same pulley.
Some pictures:
The timing chain cover, with a hole in it:
I got it cleaned up and washed:
I'm going to glue on the broken piece with EPoxy then I'm going to hang it in my workshop wall and use it as a tools rack. For good ol times sake.
About the MAF Elimination mode, I really had to use it, because my MAF wasn't giving a consistent reading to the ECU, so my AFR would go all over the place if I do anything sudden, like accelerate suddenly while cruising. This is why I had to go for this mode. Now it is very consistent and linear, and drives really nice like factory. I still have minor issues at gear shifts, as the gear upshifts during hard acceleration, say from second to third, the AFR gets too rich for a split of a second before it goes back to normal, which is slightly affecting my acceleration. I think the bypass valve is venting the excess air out, but the injectors and ECU don't know it yet because boost has not changed, since it is relying on MAP not MAF. Not sure how to fix that. And I still have that annoying starter problem, which I'm suspecting is caused by the replacement harness, cuz it only started showing up after I replaced the harness.
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I solved the frustrating starter problem. The stupid guys at the shop that did the harness replacement used the wrong screw on the ground wire that bolts on to the engine block, the screw was too long, so it reached through all the threads without holding the ground wire properly on the block.
I went down there ew this morning and found the wire loose, even though the screw seemed torqued down. I replaced it with a shorter screw and now the problem is gone.
I went down there ew this morning and found the wire loose, even though the screw seemed torqued down. I replaced it with a shorter screw and now the problem is gone.
It turns out I wasn't doing any TPS enrichment. Update on the richness during upshifting at WOT. The graph below illustrates how during an upshift on a WOT, the AFR drops all the way down to 11:1, before it goes back to normal. Has nothing to do with TPS enrichment.
I think the OEM ECU does some enrichment in between shifts, and due to the larger injectors it gets excessively rich for a split of a second. No solution so far to the problem. It is not really a problem, though it does slightly impact acceleration. I don't use this car for drag racing anyway, so I don't really care much about it, but would be nice to fix it. Only can happen on an automatic, as in a manual you will not stay at WOT in between shifts. I'm hoping the geeks at MAP-ECU will devise a solution to lean out during sudden drops of manifold prssure, like they do enrichment during sudden increases in pressure or TPS %.
I think the OEM ECU does some enrichment in between shifts, and due to the larger injectors it gets excessively rich for a split of a second. No solution so far to the problem. It is not really a problem, though it does slightly impact acceleration. I don't use this car for drag racing anyway, so I don't really care much about it, but would be nice to fix it. Only can happen on an automatic, as in a manual you will not stay at WOT in between shifts. I'm hoping the geeks at MAP-ECU will devise a solution to lean out during sudden drops of manifold prssure, like they do enrichment during sudden increases in pressure or TPS %.
It actually rises two degrees, it was -3 before that point. Yes it isn't too bad, just a little annoying.
CRAP! My timing chain broke again. That's it, time for a new supercharger bracket. I'm not using this Alpine unit anymore.
CRAP! My timing chain broke again. That's it, time for a new supercharger bracket. I'm not using this Alpine unit anymore.
Timing chain cover, yes.
I'm talking to Australian BulletCars to have a replacement supercharger bracket from them.
I don't have a spare one this time, so I'll have to find one from the scrap yard.
Exactly. which is why it is a very bad design. I got a deal with bullet cars, they will supply me with their bracket system for AU$1500 excluding shipping. That's about $1000. That's expensive but I have decided I will only go forward, not backwards. It is a really good design, top notch quality with a proper dynamic belt tensioner like the one in the TRD kit, and all idler pulleys are on the bracket, nothing sits on top of another pulley on the timing chain cover. Really impressed with the design and finish. I can't share the pictures sent to me unfortunately, to respect the secrecy and protection of their design. I'll send pictures once I've got it installed. They were kind enough to sell it to me separately, without the whole kit.
While I'm going through the tear down I kept getting more and more frustrated with the crappy work the shop did when they replaced my timing chain cover the first time. Finally, the biggest disappointment, it turns out they ommitted fitting one of the bracket mounting screws that sits underneath one of the idler pulleys, which is why I didn't detect it earlier. This could have contributed to this incident. Such a crappy job. I'm so frustrated. Never will I leave my pride and joy with a local shop again!
While I'm going through the tear down I kept getting more and more frustrated with the crappy work the shop did when they replaced my timing chain cover the first time. Finally, the biggest disappointment, it turns out they ommitted fitting one of the bracket mounting screws that sits underneath one of the idler pulleys, which is why I didn't detect it earlier. This could have contributed to this incident. Such a crappy job. I'm so frustrated. Never will I leave my pride and joy with a local shop again!
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Quality of craftsmanship. Some people don't take pride in their work like we do. It is sad that some people don't have the integrity to hold themselves to a higher standard. In the end, they will lose out.
On the other hand, I admire your resolve. A good shop has been kind enough to work with you, and your determination to press forward. As there is no fulfilment to leave endeavours incomplete.
On the other hand, I admire your resolve. A good shop has been kind enough to work with you, and your determination to press forward. As there is no fulfilment to leave endeavours incomplete.
