Turbo Charging A Tundra!

My fuel economy went up quite a bit after supercharging. A turbo would be great too.

 

Hey guys, back to our testing on lowering IATs in general. We did get one of the Stillen Intakes with the patent pending intake scoop. Unfortunately, the location and geometry aren't going to work with the filter location on the turbo, so before we send this baby back. Does anyone want a killer deal on the intake to save us the extra paperwork?

We have the TP403203 - Trupower by STILLEN Stage 2 direct flow cold air intake with dry air filter 2014-21 Tundra 5.7, BRAND NEW and can ship right out. Thanks!

Link: https://www.turbokits.com/2014-2021-tundra-5-7l-stillen-trupower-cold-air-intake.html

 

Damn! That thing is HUGE!! I have a big ass air compressor sitting back in that corner.

GLWS good deal!

 

Status update on my now Stage 1.5 install:

TUNING: Tune is coming along and Dragy times are supportive of this statement. Since the last update, Jesse sent me a 3.5" MAF tube (increase from 3.25") which matches the Stage 1 coupler sizing. This, paired with some changes in the tune have it happy with improved MPGs. I'll be getting some towing tests in this weekend and next week while we lock it in for my next trip in just 2 weeks. Really happy with the findings throughout all of this testing and making the most of the solution, especially still down in the mid-3s on boost with the new tunes.

TRANS COOLER UPDATE: I met with Jesse @TurboKits.com at his fabricator's shop yesterday so we could work out a few kinks. We were able to rework the transmission cooler.

In this thread (https://www.tundras.com/threads/turbo-charging-a-tundra.115951/page-33#post-3569246) you can see the initial installation of a 20-row SETRAB cooler that I brought to them. This was replacing the GCS 15-row I had originally had until Stage 1.5 got installed. The sizing of the SETRABs just would not work anywhere with the intercooler due to dimensions and where the ports were. Trans temps during my last tow ran up to just north of 221* which wasn't really acceptable.

The solution is a new double pass cooler with very different dimensions, but more importantly, inlet/outlet ports on the side. This allowed us to pull the entire cooler up by over 6", directly in the lower most vent in the bumper cover. The fabrication work was fast, simple, and IMO, extremely clean. I was able to reuse everything except for the cooler itself and the old SUSA PL fittings. Jesse was able to work with Mishimoto and get the right fitting, without needing an adapter like previously installed.

Initial drive home: ~50 miles, 88* ambient, running at "the new 65MPH", and I stayed right at 195*. The best I had ever seen with the 15-row in original GCS location ran 206-209* at this speed. Around town it stays between 181-187* which I would typically only see in the winter with the 15-row.

Will have towing numbers included in my next trip report since this was an important performance metric for me to retain since I tow heavy. Really impressed with this version and I am excited for any future 19-21 customers to have this resolved.

ENGINE TEMP UPDATE: After brainstorming with Jesse, we agreed to try and open the top of the radiator back up to air flow in hopes it would get rid of the ECT spikes I was seeing while towing. In the link above, you can see the top bracket of the intercooler mount was a solid piece of aluminum, essentially blocking the top 20% of the radiator. We saw no issues with unloaded weights, but did see some spikes while towing. The photo below shows the relief added to the bracket without impacting rigidity or structure. During my return trip home yesterday, and more driving today, the ECT holds between 194-199*, regardless of idle, stop and go, or >65MPH.

AIR FILTER ANOMALY: Something not discussed yet was that I have run into an issue where a direct fit air filter to the nose cone of the turbo was causing me issues. Specifically, the clamp had melted through qty 2 AFE flanges. We discussed adding a thermal break between the turbo and the air filter, and Jesse came through! No photos of that, though, since it is just a coupler, with an inner sleeve cut to mate the air filter to it. Essentially, we made a non-metallic spacer. Will know more after the first few tows if this has resolved this issue. AFE states their flanges are tested against high heat, so the issue is a surprise.

Thanks again, Jesse! I know you had better photos, so please share if you are willing. I think everything came out great.

 

Great hanging and working with you again yesterday. Pumped with how the trans cooler came out. I think this will be an easy additional option for our kit and the fact that is uses the already in place lower Intercooler bracket for mounting. Its a super simple, with minimal extra part installation!

Mishi Double Pass Cooler


Attachment to Lower FMIC bracket.



Tons of airflow, which also does not block any part of the radiator or FMIC!

 

The Solenoid and check valve were delivered this week.





Also, the AEM nozzle has a filter but I decided to add an AEM inline filter:

https://www.aemelectronics.com/prod..._methanol_injection_accessories/parts/30-3003

ordered but still on its way.

 

Looking good!

 

Got the first towing test done on the latest tune on the Stage 1.5. It def woke up. Below is some of the only log I have while being in positive boost. This was a climb in fifth with a downshift to 4th afterwards. 30 second snapshot, peak boost on the SCG-1 was 2.2PSI.

Towing fuel economy has nearly doubled to 7.8MPG on the 35 miles test. Ambient was 78*. The max trans temp I reached was 201* for about 15 seconds or so, then immediately returned to the 192-197* range. Looking forward to getting more testing in before the next trip, but I'm also really excited to have this tune dialed in. It should only continue to improve.

Thanks a ton for all of your effort, Jesse @TurboKits.com The results are showing.

 

The pleasure is all ours, you’ve been amazing and understand during the whole process, as we push the limits of it all. Kudos and cheers to you Bri!

 

Second Blackstone Report, based on 2k miles of the Stage 1 only kit.

Baseline: An upgrade from 0w-20 for the first sample to 0w-30 for this one, both with OEM filters. A ton of first round tuning due to ECU # not matching any of the others they had on file. Also included is the replacement and then break-in of the center section/rotating assembly unit on the turbo itself.

I'm right at 2k miles again with the Stage 1.5, so I'll be changing it out early to get a better snapshot since they noted the copper. Will report back in about a month when the results come back. Promising that they recommended an increase to 4k mile OCI.

 

More great info!!! I love how personal and specific they are to your exact specs in the notes. These guys are the real deal!

 

I'm glad we did the baseline of stock engine on stock oil since I'm not sure they would have raised a flag on the copper otherwise.

Regardless, another 2k mile sample post turbo break-in should help determine some of this, and will also clear the stage between that first Stage 1.5 tow and this upcoming trip on the new tune. It'll be interesting to see how early August results, and then another (I'm assuming) around late October after towing season (and before Stage 2).

 

Yes, 100%, can't have too much data!!

 

AEM filter delivered.





Full turbo kit install starts the 3rd week of July!

 

Be safe down there!!!!!!


Just saw a wind report from the last flight and what they are calling 150 is really 180 mph winds registered the last flight!! Big storm! It should be past you though but two more are right behind.

 

Thanks, definitely! We have to be prepared for the worst. Luckily for us, it stayed away. I was impressed by how quickly it went from 1 to a major hurricane. And this is just the beginning of the season. Let's see what happens now, especially with those behind .

 

**** THIS IS A POST ABOUT TEST RUN RESULTS - PERFORMANCE CONFIRMED ON A 6 HOUR TOW - UPDATES IN BOLD BELOW ****

Got another 1.5 hours of towing in today.
Journey: Towing in MetroWest MA along RT2 from Mile Hill in Belmont, MA out to Lancaster, MA, and then back to somewhere in the middle near 495. (6-hour tow to Moosehead Lake in ME)

Wins:

• Mileage is up again to 8.1mpg with 8k lbs behind me - fantastic since I was intentionally hitting some hills for testing. (Mileage held around 8.2/3mpg)
• After adding some new heat protection for the crossover pipe collector (?) up to the uppipe/crossover pipe connection, trans temps never broke 196*. HUGE win since this is the coolest I have ever seen towing, regardless of ambient temps (which was 84*). This includes pre-turbo towing. (Peak trans temp seen was 203* in 90* ambient - still best I've ever seen)
• The logs, to my untrained eye, look extremely happy even when riding 2-4psi of boost for a mile or so. Otherwise, I can now mostly hold 0.0psi in 5th and maintain speed. Downshift to 4th and I'm nowhere near positive boost. We'll see if this holds true while crossing over the Appalachians on Monday. (All held true during the 6-hour tow. 1/2 gallon of water/meth, SCG-1 controlled peaks of 3.8PSI boost, but mostly held at 0.0psi in 5th gear)

1/2 Win:

• Had a single spike on the long boosted run in ECTs to 214*. Since replacing the t-stat a few weeks ago, 192-199* is my unloaded constant. (Peak seen was 211*, mostly held at 198-206* in 90* ambient)

Why the 1/2 win? Because the trans temps show the new heat "mat' is working to control the heat coming off the hot side plumbing. I think the coolant temp spikes are due to the uppipe coming within a few inches of the metal coolant tubing along the passenger side of the block, which did not get any heat treatment at all, not even tape. I'm going to attempt to get that rear most section of those lines wrapped before my trip on Monday, and if it works as well as it did next to the transmission portion of the lines, then I might just be wrapping the entire uppipe in this stuff. I like how simple it is to work with compared to the actual header wrap, which is anything but forgiving with any friction or movement. Time will tell how well it holds up..

DEI branded version will be here tomorrow, currently rocking the knock off:

$47 AC PERFORMANCE Basalt Laminated Aluminum Heat Shield Insulation Armor for Exhaust headers, Manifolds, Turbo housing, 1/2" Thick x 1' Wide x 2' Long

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CQY42DV9?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

First: I made it to major without major issue.

Truck ran the best it has yet, NA or FI on this trip. Held 5th in every hill =>65mph. Peak boost seen was 3.8psi (repeated). Mostly riding -3.4 - 0.0 though. Gas mileage is at 8.3'ish and is a bit strange since I'm not resetting both trips and this appears to have an immediate negative impact. As in, 8.6 down to 6.8 per the onboard system. I didn't lose 2mpg within 10 minutes of off time.

Knucklehead move of the day! I drained off about 1/2 quart of oil this morning after a fresh oil change. Cold showed a little high and I figured the turbo didn't require that much. So, silly me forgot to tighten the oil cap afterwards. Thank goodness it only showed an issue for the last 10 miles of the trip. Some towels cleaned it up, and thankfully the cap fell onto the block. Tell tale sign? Couldn't get it to go positive boost. Just held at 0.0

Will know tomorrow how much I lost. Probably going to do an entire oil swap so it doesn't skew my next Blackstone report.
Heat mat seems to be working. Peak ECT (both time after oil cap) was 207. Averaged 201-203 trans temps in 5th averaged 203. Peak of 205. Drop it =<65 mph and both dropped into the mid 190s.

Overall, pretty gosh darn happy.

 

Wanted to report back that the oil cap issue ended up not losing much oil at all and the level was still at the full mark, so I closed it up and I am just rolling with what I have in this OCI. Whatever made its way in has been filtered at this point so there wasn't any point in wasting 8.5qts of Mobil1 with only ~600 miles on it.

Turns out the oil cap issue wasn't the direct result for no positive boost. It appears the truck had been working off of the manual 1.5psi wastegate spring spring all along and the issue was something to do with the Innovate MAP sensor not reading positive. We troubleshot the heck out of it while we were up there and I was able to confirm the AEM was kicking in and the SCG solenoid was working with "lung pressure", but for whatever reason, it wouldn't read positive pressure while driving despite the water/meth lighting up. I ended up having to call a stop to all troubleshooting due to an emergency appendectomy on Monday.

The trailer is in local storage, I'm home, and surprisingly, the truck started reading positive boost again about 1.5 hour in to my drive home. Peaked at 3.8PSI.

Jesse being Jesse had already overnighted a new MAP sensor to me (arriving today) and offered up a tentative plan for next week to smoke test the system if it persisted. Thanks again for your support @TurboKits.com

So, what does this mean? It means nothing overall since we got some fantastic data on the tow up and the SCG-1 not reading positive boost is just an anomaly that doesn't appear to be related to the turbo install at all. The other parts of the system were working as designed and helped with troubleshooting, so that's pretty awesome. I did lose out on 12 more hours of towing, but at this point, the first 6 showed us pretty much everything we wanted to see, and it only consumed 1/2 gallon of water/meth. It really like holding at 0.0psi. I'll be quiet here during recovery and I won't really have anything new to report until my return tow about 1 month from now. At most we'll only be doing minor tweaks to the tune and I'll be enjoying it until Stage 2 gets installed (late Sep/Oct at the earliest).

Looking forward to @Jego filling the silence as he kicks off his own install.

 

What a crazy week Bri. Glad you are alive and recovering! Keep us in the loop on everything and we'll do the same!

 

I'm glad to hear from you and I hope you can recover 100% soon! I returned from vacation this week. I spent most of my usual free time catching up on work matters. But I'm back on schedule and will continue installing the Turbo kit this week! Let's see how it goes!

 

Some progress with the installation of the AEM kit. I spent some time figuring out where to install the pump. I ended up installing it on the molle panel next to the tank. Also, made some modifications to the base of the tank to accommodate the hose connection to the added in-line filter. The tank was relocated for better clearance and fitment of the filter and pump.







Disappointed with the in-line filter. It broke when tightening the hose connector. Next time I am not going to tie it to the end, let's see. The new one is on the way. Should be here during the week.







I bought grommets to protect the cables and hose that run through the bed of the truck. Additionally, I bought connectors for the pump connection.

 

I like how clean that Molley panel lets you install things, and I absolutely love the idea of having all the components protected in the bed instead of the pump on the frame rail. I'll be curious as to how loud it is mounted back there since these beds act a bit like drums. Also, try a bit less force on the fittings next time. That side of the pump isn't exactly high pressure. Perhaps an easier way to handle things is to have a filter at the fill cap instead of south of the reservoir. I'm looking into this type of option:

$5 DSparts Fuel Tank Fuel Filter Strainer Fits For Generac Centurion Gas Generator 0H1326

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P82JMJ...automotive&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw

 

Agree, the molley panel is ideal for this setup. That was the main reason of installing the pump in the molley. Also, is nice to have everything in the same place for maintenance, inspection, repairs.... The filter at the fill cap is a great idea. I will test it this week using the manual activation, let's see how loud it will be.

Quick update today I installed the wires for the level sensor and pump.

I found a spot to run the 4 wires without making a hole in the bed of the truck. There is a small open area behind the tail light in the upper section. See pictures below.

 

Pump and level sensor connections completed.

 

Engine Jig Tested and Complete!!

Got the motor in from the salvage yard and quickly tested it as a jig for the hot side of the kit. We installed fresh gaskets on headers and hot side piping to assure 100% proper clearances. It came out great and we got some cool content from it. Next step it to hard mount it to an engine stand, which will most likely require custom brackets, as the back of the stand supports are right where we need to run the piping. But for the best pics, we did it on the engine hoist. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/EoyQlgMOsqY

 

Quick update, here is a new intro video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQsfr272MS4

 

Love it!!!

 

Here is an updated Blackstone report with the start of the Stage 1.5 kit running on Mobil1 0w30. This included torture test in the White Mountains on the first "conservative" tune we had built for towing. Lots of lessons learned on this OCI and I'm happy to see the copper dropping back down, which leads me to believe it was the turbo rotating assembly break in that caused the initial spike.

Left column is this OCI. Middle is Stage 1.0 OCI (with center section swap). Right is the last NA results (stock baseline).

 

I guess the “abuse” we have put your truck through during all of these tests has really just been perceived abuse. Great report after quite a bit of Extreme Duty, HEAVY turbo usage