Bit of info on my ES250 buildup

[lexusmech]

Hey guys, well I thought someone might be interested in the mods I did on my car. It all started when I thought I had rod bearings going out. The ticking noise sounded like bearings but turned out to be a broken ring landing. The problem is I changed the bearings first without plasticgauging the old ones. I replaced the pistons after the ring bearings. It was all good for about 2 weeks, then the bearing crapped out. I think I tightened them too much. Not really sure what happened, but it ruined the crank.

Bought a reman short block from Bayside services in Bacliff, TX (281-339-5487). The rods were shot peened, magnafluxed, and the rotating assembly was balanced. The only problem I had was the guy that shipped it sat on it for 5 days before it went out. He didn't have my shipping info, but he could've called me or the guy at Bayside for it. Whatever. Out the door the motor was $1350. I spent an extra $1000 for the flywheel, machining, gaskets, and misc. parts.

I installed a Fidanaza aluminum flywheel onto a 99 camry manual trans. It was a direct bolt up.....period. I had to make zero mods. I used a new stock clutch and it works fine since I'm only running like 170 hp ish. I did some gasket matching (mild porting) on the intake and heads, and milled the heads .010 to up the compression .4 tenths( I hope). I also put in new valve stem seals.

I'm glad I got the balancing. Unfortunately this motor doesn't have much low end. I don't know if its the cam timing or ignition timing or what. But it LOVES 3500-6000 rpm. That is the pull. It's hard to feel the extra HP that I may have gained because the gears are a little taller in this trans. In those higher RPM's, you can feel how much better the balanced motor feels. Plus I don't have that irritating no. 1 bearing rattle.

ON the trans: on my old A52, I would cruise on the freeway at 3400-3600 rpm. With no muffler it was kind of loud and got about 25mpg. Now I cruise at about 2900 rpm. Sometimes to pass I need to down shift, but thats fine for better cruising speed.

My only thing I wonder about now is the low end power. Does anyone know? The only thing I could see would be ign. timing. The cam timing is not variable, so I don't see how it could affect the power that much. Is it the vane style air flow meter? The ACIS? Anyone have any inputs? If anyone has questions, just ask.

[Toysrme]

The ACIS doesn't open until 3900rpm @ 50% TPS
The AFM is good for severial hundred hp
Neither of those are problems

Go back and smoothe down the the short side radious with strips of sand and paper and do some minor porting in the bowl area. You'll probably gain a little low end from that, but defiantely get more mid-high rpm power.




Glad you got a lot more power out of it! Don't think Army of One is going to take that lieing down.

[JetspeedCamry]

Looks like i'm in luck for my E153 swap..as the ES250 uses the 2VZ..YAYAYAYAYA!! haha.
Mine is auto atm..soo...will be a bit more work involed tho!.

May I ask...what did you do for the trans mount? did you have to custom make one? This is what im reserchn atm. The bracket on the E153 is for a Gen 3 on mine..so its nothing like the Gen2!!!

You say your VSS just came out and speedo gear/cable just went straight in without mods!!??

And...how does the engine run with the Fidanza flywheel? I'm getting one of these for mine.

Thanks buddy! And WELL DONE!

[lexusmech]

as for the trans bracket, I can't help you. Don't know why you have a gen 3 bracket on a gen 2. I'm also working on trying to get some polyurethane to make my own mounts.

The fidanza flywheel works fine. I don't know how much it helped because I changed so much at the same time...so...?

Hm wonder if I could get the ACIS to open a little sooner. Seems thats when the power kicks it, at 3900rpm. Maybe if it opened at 3200rpm would be nice to fool around with.. Maybe that would be part of the programming Jetspeed (the company) would change...?

[Toysrme]

That is where I always found to be the best time to open it.

If you put the ACIS hose onto one of the semi-switchable vacuum lines on the throttle body it will activate much earlier. On v6's they all are so you don't have to pick and choose.

They are low vacuum/high vacuum. At 3,000rpm they swap to high vacuum. The abd news is that their low vacuum around 1250-1500rpm is enough to open the acis valve! What you *can* do is use alot smaller vacuum line, or partway block the line in an attempt to lower the amount of vacuum needed to open the acis valve. <cough> Fish aquarium air adjustment valve! <cough>

BTW if you drive around with it opening under 2500rpm, you will definately get the "acoustic" partof the name. Your intake will be fairly loud.









I did it for a six months or so with my SMT-6 triggering the vsv valve. Honstly, there isn't a big differance. More than anything it helps smoothe the dip in the torque curve between the 2500rpm and 4400rpm peaks (2vz-fe has the same curve, with different rpm peaks)

[fredk]

your missing low end power went with the old transmission with the lower gears

[lexusmech]

First gear is the same as the A52. The rest of the gears are a little taller but not too bad. Since I was able to scrounge up some more HP in the buildup, it's not so bad.

As for the ACIS, what would be interesting is to use a diagnostic vacuum pump with the line running to the ACIS and play with that and see what happens...hhmmm.......maybe I'm thinking about this too much.

[fredk]

is the final drive ratio the same?

[JetspeedCamry]

Well..the transmission CAME with a Gen 3 mount on it..because it's off a gen 3!! haha.
I wanna know..how did you use a 99 model transmission, and make it bolt up with the mount of your chassis? The mount that came with the transmission is different to that of the one on my car atm (mine is auto atm..) I don't see how it could've just "bolted" up to the chassis. Even the bottom crossmember, althought I havnt looked at it closely yet, i assume is different. Ill take pics of the mount off the 2VZFE (my current one) and the one I got with the trans (Gen 3, 3VZFE) if you like.

Thanks.

[JetspeedCamry]

Also..where is this ACIS valve and hose..and what do you mean by using a different vacuum line to control it? Hearing induction sound under 2500RPM would be quite interesting!!!

Thanks.

[Toysrme]

Take it off the VSV switch it is on now, and run it's vaccum line to somewhere else.

Use one of the lines on top of the throttle body.

[JetspeedCamry]

Any possibilty of pics?
That would greatly help.
Just to get a proper idea of what goes where and how.

Thanks