Z-Gad

Oh yea, the smoke will gradually increase as you put miles on the engine...

well Tim, I took mine down to a buddy of mine's shop. He had the proper equipment to do the test. It only took the time to remove the plug, blow compressed air into the chamber and read the gauge in his hand. There were two gauges, one showing the amt of air entering the chamber and one showing the pressure of air which remained in the chamber. He also had me remove the crankcase breather tube to see whether the air was escaping through the crankcase. You may want to call around to a couple of local shops and see whether or not they can do it. A compression test would be the next best thing, but isn't as diffinitive. I drove mine to the shop. It ran fine for me too, but the oil pressure was a little down and just had smoke coming out from under the hood (very noticable at stop lights). Mike

Yep Kenny, sounds like you win. Tim, atleast after the leakdown test, you'll know where you stand. How many psi were you running before it happened?

My turbo motor was doing the same thing...turned out to be 2 broken ringlands on one piston and one cracked ringland on another. Do a leakdown test to see how much pressure you are leaking down and what cylinder(s) is (are) the culprit.

thanks for the ideas guys. I was in a hurry to get the car back on the road and ordered from ROSS today. They were very polite and thorough. I tried calling JE on two different occasions, and both times the receptionist answered, but noone in the "import" division would pick-up and I was asked to call again. I didn't look into Arias (any farther than a few websites), might be kicking myself in the future, but was happy enough with the service and detail at ROSS that I purchased. I wanted a set of strong forged pistons for a turbo application and for the $ I was willing to spend, I figured any of the major manufacturers would probably due. this time it boiled down to customer service...or lack of.

Sure is purdy though

Hey Jeff, No damage or scoring to the walls whatsoever. I am thankful for that anyway. The part of the ring land which crumbled was inside the hollow area of the piston and apparently did not get drug up and down the wall. I couldn't find any signs of detonation or anything, and the rings were all in good shape as well. Oh well, just what I needed, an excuse to spend more money. By the way, when I called back to order the pistons, I found that the price I was quoted was for a 4-cylinder. The pistons, rings, and pins will actually run me ~$650 for the 6 cylinder 89mm bore. Shoulda done it in the first place I guess...

Well, after the bad news on the compression and leak down tests, I finally got around to pulling the engine apart. As suspected, #3 and #4 were where the problems were. I guess those cast 720 truck pistons didn't care for 15 lbs of boost. I found 2 broken pistons. The ring lands were cracked and the one of the little "ears" on the rod side of the piston was in my oil pan. I am now getting quotes on 89 mm forged pistons ... best so far with rings and pins ... $590 from ROSS and 3.5 - 4 weeks to make them.

Very SWEET Tony!!! It really looks impressive and it fits in there VERY nicely. Mike

try http://www.belaircomposites.com they made some pretty tricky stuff for me...

That's awesome Jeff!! How 'bout I swing by sometime and see it in person

you can convert the hydraulic head to mechanical. You just have to romove the hydraulic lifters, and replace them with mechanical. You may have to helicoil the holes for the mechanical lifters, since I am not sure whether or not they have the same diameter. I talked with my local Z guru and considered this before I decided to stick w/ hydraulics...

Very Kewl James I believe a couple of these are in order

Len, yes, you can just use a large screwdriver to pry the valve springs down. Just be careful not to damage the cam when doing it (probably goes w/out saying). I have done it a number of times. Your torque sequence looks to be by the book as well. As far as the four allen head looking things...I've wondered what those are as well. They appear to be just plugs...

Oops...just re-read the post...I guess it did have the 8mm bolts

Tony...major bummer on the L24ET...did it have the 8mm rod bolts?? Just cuious... Anyway, I have a turbo crankshaft if you still need one. Drop me an email and I'll get it to you for a little bit-o-nothin. Mike

Drax, please post which year 4-runner calipers you ended up getting. I appear to be in the exact same boat... ~Mike

I tried using the Taurus fan (1990) for an L6 application. It was too deep 4.5", if I remember correctly. There just wasn't enough space between the water pump and the radiator to fit it in.

Those donuts look awesome . I'm tempted to buy one just as a conversation piece!!

I bought a couple of mandrel bent 2.5" u-bends from J.C. whitney...it was the least expensive of anywhere I checked and I purchased them online. I am unsure of the website, but a search should find it pretty easily (that's how I found it anyway).

I bought my T3/T4 through a guy on the internet. Here is his email address: jaime0719@hotmail.com It was $510 or so delivered I believe. The turbine housing was all wrong for use w/ Scottie's downpipe, but I had my stock T3 housing honed to accept the larger T3 wheel of the hybrid turbo. I sold the other turbine housing for $50 which covered my hone job. HeHe I said hone "job"

Thanks Mat. I'll check them out.

James, first of all...looking good!! Second, what type of tubing is that from the air filter to the turbo? I have to get my air intake to poke out the front and it would seem like a flexible hose, like what you are using, would be a good bet. thanks, mike

My bad...I meant to refer to the hydraulic rockers being very similar to the non hydraulic. The lifters are a completely different animal and you are right, there's no mistaking them.

The Z32 body style has grown on me as well. The major short-coming of the Z32 is the engine. The components used in the Z32 n/a simply aren't very strong and are prone to break down. The Z32tt engine is put together a bit stronger for obvious reasons...ask any Z mechanic who has had to work on them and they'll have a similar opinion... One mechanic I know has made an oil pan for an L28 swap into a Z32 for a customer, but now the customer, for whatever reason, backed out. I'd love to see someone do the GN swap into the Z32 and when they do, DOCUMENT IT!! ~mike