Ebanks

Not sure on fitment of 98+. We were thinking of making a kit for the 4.3, because my mother has a 02 GS430 I guess we could check the kit for clearance on her car for the 430, but on the 98+400 I would have to find a car to test it on (if the bolt pattern for the exhaust manifolds are even the same). If GS owners had enough interest on top of this we could just end up making a comparable kit for that car anyways. The problem with the real new cars a lot of times is no fuel return line (which could be changed of course), but if you live somewhere with strict emissions laws, or don't know someone who will pass your car this could spell trouble.

We will see what happens. I should know this week or next whether we have the shop space we need to do this (I think we will) and if that is the case I will start looking locally for a high mileage SC400 to use as a test bed.

-Ethan

SC400Turbo

This post is from your old thread :

Hey guys

I've been working on turbo charging my SC400 for a little over 6 months now. I usually get to spend about 1 days a week doing actual work because of my fulltime job and family. Most of the work has been in R&D to this point. I've been taking measurements and trying to find the best way to fit the turbo system. I've also been purchasing the proper tools to do the job, welder, air compressor, repair manuals, spare 1UZFE, etc... I have 2 website that I just recently posted my current project status and pics, but my sever crashed on me. I will have them up soon. My websites are www.sc400turbo.com and www.turbozilla.com . If you guy are serious then we should work together. Once I get the site up I will also have a forum on it so we can exchange information. Let me know.

machinegt

ooh i have 98 sc400 too,

me finds rwhp of 400-450hp via turbo on pump gas very attractive!

auto trans: yah thats what i'm wondering about too, will it make me have to replace it after a short while or are they durable?

i'm speaking up with interest in a turbocharger for the sc400!

MadMaxSC400

with a couple exceptions the guys who want to mod their SC400's have older ones.. if you want to make a setup for the GS400 you'll already be making one that mates to the SC400 of that generation. Computer stuff is another concern, I have a reprogrammable timing and fuel mixture chip that can be cloned and used. Or would you want to go stand-alone with everything preprogrammed?

Bean

iTrader: (1)

a piggy back unit such as the Greddy Emanage would do wonders here

I also hear that the injectors on the 1UZ are pretty big.

The only thing I'd be wondering about is the transmission strength; because if you're going to build a kit; you can make some CRAZY horsepower numbers with some decent turbos and spool them very quickly.

twin T28s or TD05s would be freakin nuts man

lex400sc

Are there any readily available tranny swaps out there, or are we SC400s once again screwed in the aftermarket??

Ebanks

You could run a GM trans, but that is some $$$ by the time you get it all.

I am sure someone could build the stock trans to hold reasonable power, but probably not much more than 500-600 RWHP for very long, and you would have to have a converter made too because I am sure the stock converter wouldn't hold the power.

Just keep the boost down until you get tranny issues figured out

Hopefully before too long we can figure out the limitations of the stock trans

-Ethan

lex400sc

So how much horsepower and torque would you estimate the tranny can take? 400-450hps is plenty for me unless this turbo kit ends up costing major bucks, in which case I'd want at least 500-600hps for the troubles.

Are you saying a GM tranny would cost a lot to get a hold of or to install? LT-1/LS-1 tranny looks to be bigger and longer than ours, how would you compensate fitment differences? Shorter driveshaft? What if the bell housing is bigger too? How would a GM tranny work with the Lexus engine-tranny ECU? Wouldn't this require reprogramming of shift points also? Seems like a lot of work I think it'd be more worthwhile to swap a SC400 5-speed auto and get the gated shifter that comes with it. That way at least the ECU isn't confused to hell. I assume the 5-speed is much stronger than the 4-speed?

Ebanks

For the troubly of swapping in a built Supra Trans you might as well get a GM trans. If you went with a GM trans you get an adapter plate and flywheel made, then it bolts up. You have to get a driveshaft and trans mount made as well. All of these parts are fairly simple. As far as the trans itself, it will fit no problem, what you run into problems with is the bell housing and the fact that the adapter plate makes it sit about 3/4" further back towards the firewall. On my car we had to cut the firewall a bit for it to fit, but it was really no big deal, it only took like 45 minutes to do, and it was a very small amount that needed to be cut.

Again, this is all useless talk until we get a kit put together and figure out what the stock one will hold Personally I would like to provide a kit that came with head gaskets, and could run around 15psi on pump 93 octane, and 20-25 on race gas, but I understand that most people don't want to take it that far, so we could also offer a kit with similar components, but smaller turbos, not head gaskets, minimal fuel upgrades. This kit would probably be in the 400-450 RWHP range with incredibly fast spool, and the other kit would probably be like 550ish RWHP on stock bottom end with thick head gasket, and 700+ on built motor.

Let me emphasize thought that these are just goals of mine for the kit if it happens, and whether or not this is realistic we won't know until we start playing around with different setups.

Hopefully enough people show interest that it is worth me and my guys spending 30-40 hours a week on it, so we can get this thing rocking!

-Ethan

joelchicago

Level 10 builds auto Supra trannies really nice to handle a lot of power. Maybe they'd be interested in helping out here? Just a thought.

I know my 250hp is plenty, really. I have no interest in a turbo kit. Heck, it would cost more than my car was to buy it.

lex400sc

Ebanks, good stuff. I like the numbers so far, but any idea on a price range yet?

Ebanks

Level 10 has had a lot of people file suit for how terrible their products are!

As far as price, I would like to see a kit with twin pumps, larger injectors, FMIC, twin turbos, twin wastegates, downpipes, i/c pipes, head gaskets, all heat coated, FPR, lines, BOV, etc. for @$7000-$8000. This would probably be something like twin 60-1s or twin T3/T4 with a fairly small hot side, so it would support as much power as most anyone would want. On a smaller kit where people just want a but of power I don't see why we couldn't do a kit with the same manifolds, but smaller turbos, smaller wastegates, no head gaskets, smaller or no injectors, but with an in tank pump and FPR for like $6000 or less. We may even be able to get a boost controller and a boost gauge into this price, but then again, we may not even be able to hit this price It is anyones guess at this point!

Once again this is just speculation, so please no one take this as gospel. The kit for $7k-$8k would be enough for you to fully build your motor and run 800+RWHP, or keep stock bottom end with the head gaskets and hopefully be at like 600+ RWHP. I will see about getting a VPC chip to work with this setup.

DISCLAIMER: This is all random thoughts and goals, once we see what we can really do with the car (if we do this) I will post two different kits that we will make, what they will include, and what type of cost we are shooting for. These are preliminary goals and figures.

Q: Are the early model 400s distributorless ignition?

-Ethan

Ebanks

BTW I am going to TX2k2 this afternoon, so this will probably be my last post until early next week.

-Ethan

ChrisK

iTrader: (1)

For some strange reason I have an idea in my head that SC400 trans is really strong, and actually the Supra TT auto guys where using them because the SC400 trans could handle 500hp.
Can anybody confirm this? Or it's simply only in my head.

Ebanks

I have never heard this, but if that is the case then awesome!

-Ethan