Well, all of today I have been disassembling the motor to a short block so I can clean it some more and inspect some more mechanical components and see what everythings condition is in, and let me tell you this thing is AWESOME.



The inside of this engine makes me giddy its an engineers happy place, Also you can still see the cross hatch on the cylinder walls and its just nice and clean inside. Next thing to do will take the Lower Intake off and perhaps even the heads, havent decided yet.

But for those of you that cant read or have the attention span of a gnat here are some pictures.

 

thats pretty exciting. . . so, why didnt you go with the coil-on-plug option? i saw some guys on lextreme working on an aem ems setup for the 98+ motors.

what ARE your plans for the transmission and ems issues?

 

well this is a 92 engine, but the Tranny is going to be a dellow auto TKO 600 bellhousing with a Mcleod adapter to the TKO to T56 and thats that.

The EMS will be a microtech LT8 EMS with stock ignitors and stock coils for a while.

After its all running I will be doing a little more

 

Looks nice,interesting choice. I'm wondering if this engine uses a cast aluminum oil pan? I'm relocating to NC in July seems theres a lot of guys there with interesting car projects. I will be in the Greensboro/Highpoint erea. Hope to see you out driving this thing by next summer,Shawn

 

Yeah, there've been some of these with over 200k on them still showing the original crosshatching. In stock form, I think it's impossible to kill one without trying really hard and doing something stupid like running it with no oil.

I'm glad you're doing this project! I wanted to try the 1UZ in an FC but now I've got other options floating around in my head. Cool to see this being done though!

 

well to answer that, Yes and no. The oil pan itself is a stamped peice with a cast aluminum mid-section. And by next summer it should be driving around hopefully with a built tranny, but I can only hope for a decent cash flow.

I know all my toyota friends say these things never die, only if someone runs it without oil.


But once again today I have done more cleaning, prepping and basic fixing of my "junkyard" motor. I started polishing the block, which however tedious, will be worth it in the end when I give the engine a nice coat of paint. Some problems I have right now are brittle electrical connectors and things being dirty.

But here are the pictures. BTW if anyone can tell me what the numbers on the First crank balance mean I would appreciate it.

 

ITS IN ITS IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well sorta, I was just test fitting but still a V8 in my engine bay makes me happy even if it isnt bolted in.

but fitment will be very easy considering the porpotioning valve and swap bar will be my biggest delimea.

But I just wanna show off my pictures






I am also keeping another log of my work in a Lexus forum So check that out if you want

 

hmm.. i was under the impression an lt-8 can only run 4 cylinder and 2 rotors while the lt-12 can run V6's and 3 rotors. are you sure it works on a V8? doesnt it only have four injector/sparkplug outlets?

 

the LT8 can run a 4 cylinder with TRUE sequential injector firing while if it was running a V8 it would be firing as pairs so its not true sequential. But microtech recomends the LT8 for the Toyota V8 it also comes preloaded with a basemap which says more then some other EMS's out there.

 

man, i wanna do this to my car. . . hehe. . . thanks for keeping me in a "ruined" status!!!

 

You should all the cool kids are doing it.

 

On your test fitment was there any oil pan clearance issues? Just curious ....seems like a tough pan to modify.

 

I am not sure yet I did the first fitment without the pan just because of the pan not being bolted on, But the pan is very thin at the front about 1/2" and then fillets to about 1" so its not much of a concern to me.


BUTTTTT updates

OK so tonight I continue my cleaning of the block on heads and assesment of the motors condition.

I did a compression test and 120psi across the board, But I did find that the rotors are cracked so thats one more thing I have to purchase to freshen the motor up. The timing belt also had a tooth that is becoming frayed, but it is a moot point because its getting replaced any way.

I did become curious tonight, I originally said I would be polishing the block, but I just had to take a look at silver sprayed on the engine with some of my extra paint. I must say that Pasti-kote Silver base coat looks AMAZING on the engine. The pictures I have attached really DO NOT give the color justice on the engine, Left side is no paint, right side is silver coat.

 

Looks nice I agree. Honestly I would just clean it throughly and leave it alone. Bare metal dissapates heat better than painted being my logic. If you are determined to paint it I would use a car paint not a spray bomb. Spray paint is soft and chips and scrapes away easily because it does not have hardener in the can. It cant have the hardener or it would solidify inside the can before you used it up. You can paint a engine with standard car paint its durable...I have done it many times. Visit your local autobody paint shop and ask to look thru thier returns and paint that didnt color match properly,you can usually buy this very cheaply. If you dont have a spray gun you can get a cheap harbor freight one that will work great for painting engines,control arms etc etc. They also have small cheap compressors that are fine for small painting jobs. Once you learn to paint with quality paint and a spray gun youll love it and start painting all kinds of underhood items. You can also just clearcoat the engine block to protect the cleaned up look. It wont be as cheap as spray bombs but it will look professional and last. Just my 2 cents...you do whats right for you,Shawn

 

Wellllll i did another test fit today and the tensioner no longer interferes with the sway bar, I also put the pan and Intake on to check out my clearences. The Proportioning valve still gets in the way and the oil filter mount is being ditched for a remote mount filter. But the pan fits so beautifully over the rack its like it was meant to be there. I also figure I will have to modify the transmission tunnel to accept the T56 like with most FC V8 swaps. But the engine located where I want it is about an inch from the most rearward point to the FC firewall, which gives me my magical number of 30" to the shifter which if you dont know is the exact length of the T56 from the front to the shifter location .

But now for the daily pictures

 

That focker is huge! Not as big as the Ford / Lincoln 4.6 dohc but still big enough to have trouble with the brake booster. Good luck.

 

just the proportioning valve, other then that its a shoe in

 

that should be easily repositioned, though.

 

So easy I already did it.

 

hahaha, thats good. i have a question about your tranny setup. i noticed on lextreme that some guys mentioned the adapters may not allow the input shaft to have the correct length. i was curious as to why you decided to go the t56 route instead of the supra tranny route, since dellow makes bellhousings to go straight to the supra gear box. . . well, besides the gearing. was there anything else?

 

this is such a cool swap. I love the 1UZ.. the only downside is the price/rarity of engine mods like cams, etc. and the impossibility of smogging it in CA. (no way I'd use the stock ECU with this motor)

 

Wow man... A year ago at the Chargrill when you told me about this crazy idea, I thought it was nothing more than a crazy idea!

I'm impressed! I gotta get up there and see this thing sometime!

 

Well the R154 has very steep gearing and I did not want to have a V8 reving in the high 3,000rpm range on the highway, I had also read somewhere that the Supra gear box is somewhat short compared to the T56. The T56 also gave me the right length from front of the bellhousing to the shifter (my magical 30").

Also the T56 offers alot of different gearing options where I have only seen the R154 get steeper and steeper gears which in a street car and a V8 AND 4.10 rear end would not mix too well. So the T56 offers my wide gears lots of parts availability, and its a domestic trans and I can get parts for it more readiliy then an import tranny.


I would say that parts are pretty abundant, you just have to know where to look, crower and crane make cam parts for the engine. Sealed power, total seal, and some other domestic companies make parts for it, I also seem to remember Eagle makes rods for them too. The only thing I may have to outsource is my bellhousing and cams If I want to upgrade in the near future.

I don't live in CA and NC does not give a crap about the enviroment so no tailpipe test for Pre 96 vehicles, just visual and mechanical

 

how are you planning on making the mounts?

Also, what kind of hood clearance is there?

 

Heh, looks like the brake valve is free mounted to the master cyl. and could be moved easily. I didn't see it at first, nice!