Another Update:

I got to working on the car tonight. I made some awesome progress.

The adapter plate is sufficiently trimmed to avoid forseeable contact with the headers. The adapter plate is back on the motor, along with the transmission itself (the hardest step for me with my limited tools and man power). The driveshaft is attached back to the differential (looking great with my original SC400's center carrier bearing installed).

Left to do: bolt the pp to the flywheel, reassemble the clutch fork/slave assembly, reinstall the exhaust, put back together the interior. If the car is not on the road tomorrow, I ran into an unforeseen stumbling block.

Here are the photos of the exhaust headers I received from Neil just this week, as promised...

The headers sure are pretty. It's too bad they will not in clear view once installed. The hat is there for scale:


Long tubes bias the power band to the low end. The larger primary pipes will put peak torque right in the sweet spot for the centrifugal blower:


I am no expert on welds, but these welds look pretty clean:


Here is a shot of the welds on the 4-to-2 collectors, as well as the "pre-cat" oxygen sensor bung:


Here is a shot of the 2-to-1 collectors, as well as the "post-cat" oxygen sensor bung. I am using quotation marks since these long tube headers really leave no room for catalytic converters: no big deal for me in Indiana:


Here is a shot down the 2-to-1 collector:


Here is a shot down one of the primary pipes. The primaries on these headers are 1.75", which will move peak torque closer to the redline:


Here is a shot down another primary pipe. All of the steel is stainless, which not only keeps everything looking better longer, but -more importantly- keeps the inside of the pipe free from corrosion, which can maintain 2-3% more horsepower compared to aged mild steel headers:


Here is a shot of the primaries from the outside, looking down the body of the headers. Again, I really love the look of these. They are utterly massive and smoth flowing in comparison to the stock headers:


I was unaware that the headers came with a pair of flanges and full metal gaskets. That is a nice plus, since there will be less fabrication time for my exhaust guy (and less cost for me).


With my fall break next week, I am hoping to get a big chunk of the header job done on Sunday and Monday, perhaps opening up time to get the exhaust work done before I head back to teach on the 1st. I would be thrilled if I could pull this off, because I would then be able to focus all of my energies to supercharging during the winter, using free time when the weather breaks to tune the set up so that it is fully functioning by spring.

All in all, everything is going great with the car. My transmission install has gone completely smoothly to this point, and the hardest part is behind me. I look forward to driving the car tomorrow so that I can break in my new clutch. By the way, I went with an ACT 6 puck with springs in the hub. The friction surface will have a much better heat tolerance than the kevlar disc that melted on me back in July...man, it has been a long time.

 

Those look nice Mark! I need a set of those with my build! Cant wait to see how they fit in the car.

 

sexy time! looks awesome.

 

Looking awesome Mark, Glad to have you back. I plan on installing the TRD LSD that I picked up off of you sometime this winter.

 

Terrible news:
I am trying to bolt up my pressure plate to the flywheel this morning, and the guide pins do not line up. I am nearly certain that the guys who resurfaced my flywheel did not return them to the appropriate spots (as there are six pin holes on the Lexteme flywheel since it will work for either a W58 or R154). I suppose I should have chekced this prior to this point, but I wish I would have been forewarned by the drivetrain shop that they were not completely certain where the pins would go.

I was really looking forward to taking the car out tonight. I have a school function at 7pm tonight that I have to wear a suit for, and the Lexus would have been the car to take. Perhaps I was asking for too much for everything to go smoothly.

At this point, I need to uninstall the driveshaft, pull the transmission, and take the flywheel down to the shop where I had the work done. I am not sure what exactly they can do for me. I hope I get something out of the deal: it is not easy to do all of that work by myself.

I still have the week off next week, and I still want to get my headers installed so that I can have my exhaust work done. Tonight is shot with my school function. Tomorrow, I am heading into Chicago for a day trip. Sunday, I will tear down the car yet again. If I have time, I will try to get my header uninstall underway.

 

Mark,
Any chance of pulling the dowels with some Vise grips? Clamp it on side ways and then use a small pry bar under the vise grip to force it out. Just a idea, dont know how much room you have. Pulling that tranny is a lot of work. Sorry to hear this.

 

Are you installing the pressure plate while it is on the trans input shaft?

Anyway, you should be able to pull out the pins yourself and figure out where they need to be. This will at least save you a drive to the shop.

KC

 

I did not think of this. There is not a ton of room, but there is enough room to get a pair of vise grips on the dowels (the openings on the bellhousing were designed to get a wrench in there to bolt down the PP). With the flywheel bolted firmly to the crank, I imagine I could get enough resistance to pry out the dowels to reinsert them in the right spots. I really can't believe I did not think of this.

Yes. The service manual for the MK3 Supra turbo recommends this because of the pull type clutch design. I believe the clutch hub protrudes too far from the pressure plate to allow the input shaft to slip in conventionally: the bellhousing would be running into the floor pan. There are a pair of plates that remove from the bottom of the bellhousing to offer the clearance to get a wrench in there to tighten the PP to the flywheel after getting everything back together.

I am going to be hitting the road for Chicago in a bit, but I am going to try and remove the dowels myself on Sunday with the transmission where it is. I will make it work, since it will take way less effort than removing everything. Scott, I owe you one.

 

Sadly, this did not work. There was not enough room for the vice grips to get good traction on the dowel pins.

I had to pull the transmission to get the issue fixed. I went down to the shop where I got the flywheel resurfaced and they fixed the dowel pin issue. The next day (Wednesday of last week), I put everything back together.

Yet again, sadly, the car is not working properly. When I release the clutch pedal, the clutch will not engage. I can actually release the clutch pedal and give the car no gas: it will neither go anywhere nor stall out. If it give it gas, the clutch will slip its way enough to barely pull the car up my driveway that is ~5deg uphill.

I degreased the friction surfaces with brake cleaner before installation. I seated all of the pressure plate bolts fully into the flywheel, and the hydraulic system is presenting no strain on the pressure plate springs when the clutch pedal is not depressed. The pressure plate is the same one I was using from before, and the clutch disc is brand new.

I am thinking that perhaps the step height on the flywheel was not machined right by the shop. Given their recent history with the dowel pin issue, I have become skeptical. If anyone else has ideas, please share. I am all ears.

 

I am thinking that is the flywheel is to thin and below the spec then the clutch will barely touch it. maybe thats ur issue.

 

Mark,
The news on your clutch is very disapointing, It really could only be a couple things.
1. Like you said the step is not machined right.
2. something is hanging up the throwout bearing.

Does the throwout bearing/arm act loose in there when the pedal is realeased? If it is loose then it has to be the flywheel, if its tight then something is preventing it from realeasing.

As far as the squeal, could it be the clutch surface its self? Is it a organic, Bronze or kevlar disc. (I am sure I could read above, lazy)
Maybe the throw out bearing is bound up against the input shaft sleeve and thats the squeal. Just some ideas, if only you were closer I would come take a look at it.

 

That's bad news mate, how frustrating.

Not all clutch setup's require a step in the flywheel face. Most steps I have seen aren't very big anyway and I would be suprised if that would cause total loss of clamping pressure.

When you tightened the pressure plate bolts, was there pressure on them ie was the pressure plate sitting proud of the flywheel and when you tightened the bolts did it pull the plate in to the flywheel face?

Matt.

 

Mark,

Sorry I haven't emailed you back yet..

I would think that the machine shop would take as little as possible off the flywheel. I wouldn't think they would over machine it, although I'm sure it's possible to do so.

Is it possible you have installed the clutch disk backwards? Or, installed the release bearing backwards? You had said it's squealing and it get worse when pressing the pedal, this makes me think something is going on with the release bearing.

KC

 

Hadnt thought of that, very possible.

 

I know the clutch disc is not installed backward. The pressure plate will not get within 1/2" of the flywheel with the disc on backwards. I experimented with this back in March of last year when I was fooling around with my flywheel, clutch disc, and pressure plate on the bench. My new disc had a marking that said "Flywheel Side," and that marking was visible from the bellhousing when I installed the transmission.

The issue could certainly be with the throwout bearing. Since I put the car back on the ground at Thanksgiving, I have not taken the time to jack it back up and diagnose whether my engagement issue is at the clutch hub or between the friction surfaces. I know that upon installation of the clutch fork, the fork could be wiggled within the confines of the clutch hub. However, that could obviously have changed dramatically once the clutch pedal was depressed the first time if the throwout bearing is hung up somehow. Assuming it is the friction surfaces, I will try to track down the specs from Rob (SuperRunner from Lextreme) so that I can make sure my flywheel is resurfaced correctly.

I am hoping that the solution will not require disassembling eveything again; although, at this point, I am not hopeful of that. I suppose it is not the end of the world: with winter upon us here in the midwest, I wouldn't dare take out a V8 powered RWD vehicle with a 4.27 rear gear and no traction control in this icy/snowy weather. I do need to diagnose my problem, however, so that I can get over the transmission hump and get on to the exhaust and the supercharger. The car needs to be on the road by the time the weather breaks in March/April. In reality, a time frame like the beginning of February for these items should not be out of reach given that I have essentially all I need for these jobs in my garage right now.