Yet another 1UZFE swap

Discussion in '1989-1995 Build-Up/Project Threads' started by Toyotaboost, Aug 30, 2017.

  1. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    So I have done quite a few builds both personal and for some others. But I never done a swap which 90 percent of the American car enthusiasts population has at least done once in their life time. The V8 swap. Yup never done one. So what vehicle have I chosen for the cherry pop. Well right to the point, a pickup. Toyota pickup that is. Don't get me wrong, the 22R is lengendary for being indestructible and the V6s were ok. There of other options of drivetrain for these trucks but as usual, America always draws the short straw when receiving the "Best" from Japan.

    I have been about a few months into this swap and had learned a lot from it. Mind you I have no welding abilities and have amateur fabrication skills. But what I think makes this 1uz swap a little more unique why I choose this chassis. A clue is that I'm in socal.

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    I bought this 1993 standard cab short bed 5 speed manual for $1900, a bit pricey since it ran on 3 cylinders and has right front end damage.
    But, here's what sold me on it.
    Repainted 1 year ago
    25% tinted windows all around
    Pioneer stereo with pioneer speakers powered by an amp I forgot the brand of
    The most important part functioning Air conditioning.
    Interior is fully intact except for the bench seat. No cracks, or tears in the doors panels or in the dashboard
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    The day I drove 120miles both ways to pickup the 1uz heart from a 94 SC400.
    Even managed to hit 100mph with almost 800lbs of drivetrain and tools aboard.

    Got the engine on a stand to perform a compression test results are very good
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  2. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    Engine tear down begins
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    Looks like a minor leak occurred in the past. pervious owner claims only 93k miles on it.

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    Definitely time for a belt change
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    Intake manifold, yuck. no more EGR or PCV recirculating for this thing



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  3. yotarip

    yotarip Veteran

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    Welcome fellow 1uz swapper. Getting the SC400 motor gets you the correct exhaust manifold and the oilpan that will allow you to position the motor as close to the firewall as possible. Hopefully you are going to do a manual trans conversion. It's expensive but the increase in power to the ground and decrease in wiring complexity makes it worth it. Getting a cheap welder and learning how to weld will make these swaps much easier (and cheaper) in the long run.I have three running 1uz swapped cars, a fourth waiting for a 1uz swap and a mr2 getting a v6 swap. I couldn't afford all these projects if I had to farm out welding or wiring jobs.

    Looking forward to updates.
     
  4. yotarip

    yotarip Veteran

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    One more thing. If you have access to a local pick and pull, whenever a sc400 shows up in the yard, grab the ecu. The early lexus models have can issues with faulty ecu due to leaking capacitors. A couple of spare ecu's are good to have on hand. The 91-96 sc400 ecu will run all sc400 non-vvti 1uz's regardless of the year. It's plug and play. The LS400 ecu/harness are a different situation.
     
  5. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    I'm actually a lot further ahead in the project, I'm just posting for the pic lovers and progress watchers.
    This engine is from a 1994 as well the ecu.

    Parts began to show up. Some advice avoid using the tensioner in the Gates kit. Use the OEM tensioner, as the gates' push pin does not come out long enough to tensioner the belt
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    Had to get rid of the hydro fan, as yall know there's not enough room in the engine bay and the hydro would rob some power operating.
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    These will be cleaned up
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    After hours of careful clean, with a vacuum tube, wire brush and tape. All the connectors were very brittle and broke the second I touched them, so I tried to avoid removing them as much as possible


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    Something I've learn from being a Lexus Tech, a lot people tend to forget to reseal the "moon caps", they're meant to inspect the cams and are the cause of oil leaks under the valve covers. Pull them with some pliers, clean both surfaces and applied a thin strip of sealant and placed back. Make sure you put it on the right away and leveled with the valve cover gasket surface. It's best to install them back when you already have the gaskets put in the cover and ready for install.
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  6. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    Reassemble
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    After a few weeks of using the truck to pickup parts I decided it was time to take apart the truck.

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    22re Getting prepped to be pulled out


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    Size comparison

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    First install attempt
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    This is when I realized a lot work is required.
    1. Exhaust flange had to be cut off
    2. Using those ebay motor mounts, the engine sat crooked and tilted more to the driver side making contact with the cross member. So some adjustment (cutting and drilling) needed to be done to the mounts to get the tilt right.
    3. The heat shields on the exhaust had to go, along with their tabs
    4. Brake boost spacer had to removed as well.
    5. Oil filter adaptor needed to replaced with a relocation kit because of frame and trailing arm bracket contact.
    6. AC compressor need some modification as well the steering box needed to be moved slightly over


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  7. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    Engine bay cleaning


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    Erwin Merida likes this.
  8. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    Being is Los Angeles, you experience the county 24/7, traffic, taking 2 hours to travel 15 miles, police chases, hot ass weather, road rages, mostly over populated areas and ridicules taxes. One thing that all my past builds and projects had in common and its most sought out luxury that they all had functioning AC. Also a good stereo system

    My 1989 supercharged MR2
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    1988 Camry All trac
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    My first car 1990 Cressida (turbo swapped)
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    My 1989 Toyota Van 4x4 (engine rebuild) Almost v8 swapped


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  9. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    The truck came with manual steering and after driving it for a few weeks, I wanted power steering.
    So two luxuries are being added to the truck. Power steering and Air conditioning

    Now fitment really became an issue.
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    Thinking damn, how am I going to get around this obstacle.
    After doing research on drag link steering from rock crawlers sites. I decided to just move over the box
    Using 1/4 thick steel plate for reinforce along with 3/4 thick steel space in between the box and plate to give the 1inch space I need to clear the compressor

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    After removing and relocating the pressure relief valve from the compressor and a little grinding on the compressor's output and input housing I finally the got clearance, just need to have someone weld up the opening from the valve hole. I also tried a screw-in cap to plug up the hole, but I was not able to grind away enough because the tread does not go in far as I was hoping it would. (I will not be using this compressor since its leaking, bearing is shot and clutch is completely gone)

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    Last edited: Sep 1, 2017
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  10. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    So quick update
    After trying to figuring out how to fit the engine in. I was ready to install the clutch and transmission.
    Using ToyotaV8 kit, I ran into a problem with the transmission adapter using the truck's original transmission (W55)
    The plate was not sitting flat against the transmission to properly seal the input shaft bearing. So I contacted ToyotaV8 about the problem. Long story short, I shipped back the plate and the OEM plate back to him, and have plate cut to accommodate the odd fitment.
    So in the meantime the truck is sitting.
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  11. Orlando Muniz

    Orlando Muniz Veteran

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    NICE BUILD! what other plan do you have for the truck?
     
  12. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    So update I finally got the kit back from ToyotaV8. The story is in the video if you're interested in why the hold up.

    Overall the guy behind ToyotaV8 was very helpful and got everything right after all free of charge. I'm overall happy with the kit fitting with very minor modification.


    I'm starting a series of videos regarding the build and other things on my channel, you can subscribe if you want, its another hobby I'm just starting to do.

    If you already know how to put together the adapter kit, don't watch it. About 7 mins of the video is about that
    x



    Got the clutch masters bolted up.
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    Transmission all put together and ready to go

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    Getting closer

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    CONTACT!!! Waited months for this to happen
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  13. Orlando Muniz

    Orlando Muniz Veteran

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    Good stuff man!
     
  14. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    Now shove that big bitch in there
     
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  15. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    I will as soon as I can figure out the crooked sitting of the engine. Also has anyone had any problems with the oil drain plug being block by the cross member? I'm using the ebay mounts on 22re.
     
  16. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    Has anyone had any problems with the oil pan hitting the cross member. After grinding and porting the brackets to make the cross member sit lower. I'm still have difficulty getting the engine to sit only on its mounts. Am I going to have to chop the member off or weld it lower or is there some way around that? Also I think may be dealing with the bent frame, as you see in the picture even after modifying the mounts still sits crooked.
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  17. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    I said Screw it!!
    Off it goes, the cross member, that has been giving me issues. I will mostly weld in a custom one later on. No more oil pan resting on top of it.
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    I'm dealing with some more fitting issues, maybe because I don't have the transmission bolted to level it.
    But I'm dealing with linear leveling. I think the frame is to blame on this.

    What do yall think?
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    As you can see in the pic the engine doesn't sit level in the bay, but the drive side sits lower than the passenger.
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  18. yotarip

    yotarip Veteran

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    I wish I had seen your posts earlier. Was busy all weekend with Luxsupra's truck. That was a nice mod you did to the mount prior to cutting it off. I wanted to do that but my motor is an inch lower than yours so I had to weld in 1"x2" steel tubing in place of the original crossmember. I'm also running solid steel mounts. No rubber at all. The torque this engine puts out will rotate the motor atleast an inch with the oem rubber mount. That's just reving it under no load. My engine and exhaust are tucked so tight that something would hit the frame, crossmember, swaybar or draglink if I used rubber mounts. Motor still feels silky smooth even with the steel mounts. The sc400 manifold are a tight fit but they work. They are the only OEM manifolds that will make this swap work.
     
  19. 90DailyDriven

    90DailyDriven Veteran

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    I cut my crossmember in half then welded flat stock to the bottom for reinforcement. That solved the drain plug issue. Like yotarip said the torque is crazy and im about to make some solid mounts. The ebay mounts over the rubber OEM mounts are giving me issues since my exhaust is tight on the passenger side.
     
  20. Toyotaboost

    Toyotaboost Member

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    Hmm what are my options for solid mounts?, The passenger mount is being twisted up ward to mount flat onto the stock frame points. I'm actually trying to figure out the exhaust now, since I don't want to have to fight the engine to prevent the exhaust form scratching my engine bay. I want to put a flange just a few inches from the headers so I can disconnect when a removal is required
     
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