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My Indecisive 4.0 V8 1UZ-FE Project - Printable Version

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My Indecisive 4.0 V8 1UZ-FE Project - Adarmo - 11-01-2020

Can I ask who supplied the bits ?

I was unaware there was any RX7 kits except for LS V8s

My Indecisive 4.0 V8 1UZ-FE Project - toxo - 11-01-2020

There aren't. It's a kit for the JZ series engines. I'm expecting plenty of mucking about with engine mounts.

It came from tech2motorsports in the states

My Indecisive 4.0 V8 1UZ-FE Project - toxo - 25-01-2020

Hurricane popped over last Friday and we had a bit of a play around with the engine. The sump bolts up nicely to the block now the holes have been machined out which is great. I just had to order some bolts as per my diagram a few posts ago. Unfortunately after using the depth gauge bit of my new verniers I ordered 90mm bolts and they are about 2mm too long, so I should've gone with my original hunch!

The engine mounts on the Tech2 subframe are about 10cm too far forwards. Obviously they are supposed to be in the middle of a 6-cylinder-long block, and the V8 is only 4 cylinders long. Not a problem, I will cut them off and weld them on in a different place.

Pete suggested that it would be much easier mocking up where the engine has to sit etc, with a bare block rather than a full engine, heads and all. So I'm currently stripping my spare non VVTi engine to use the block as a template. I've got loads of pics of it in pieces but I will put them in a different thread as the insides of the old 1UZ aren't really relevant here.

Oh and the snapped off cam cover bolt is definitely not moving - the head will have to come off for that and I'm not doing that at this stage, so it will have to be fixed later.

One thing that has come to light is that the oil filter location will clash with the steering rack. The oil cooler + filter are sat out on the end of an arm about 150mm long which protrudes well into the cutout in the Soarer sump for the steering rack.. I've already sorted in my head how I'm going to get around that particular problem Smile

My Indecisive 4.0 V8 1UZ-FE Project - toxo - 31-01-2020

Bought this lot today:
  • 1 Timing Belt
  • 2 Timing Belt Idlers
  • 1 Timing Belt Tensioner
  • 1 Engine Gasket Set
  • 1 Aux Belt
  • 1 Water Pump
  • 1 Oil Pump
  • 1 Thermostat
  • 8 Iridium/Platinum Spark Plugs (standard Lexus spec)

All original Toyota, of course! I'm gonna service/rebuild the engine in 2 stages, easy stuff first (pumps and belts) then once the car is built and all the niggles are out of the way I'll take the heads off etc. I've got oil filters by the box of 10 and longlife coolant coming out of my ears so the only thing I need to finish the engine off is a spot of paint and some oil!

My Indecisive 4.0 V8 1UZ-FE Project - nimrodmk3 - 31-01-2020

Great project,when I you hoping to have the RX7 up and running

My Indecisive 4.0 V8 1UZ-FE Project - toxo - 31-01-2020

It likely won't be ready this year. I've got a few months I can get stuff done now before things get hectic over summer and I'll run out of money again.

My Indecisive 4.0 V8 1UZ-FE Project - nimrodmk3 - 31-01-2020

Sounds like it will be worth the waitSmile

My Indecisive 4.0 V8 1UZ-FE Project - toxo - 04-02-2020

toxo So then we did a test fit on the Soarer upper sump. I was aware that some of the holes would need enlarging, but not which ones or how many, so this was the only way to find out!

Soarer upper sump test fitted:

[Image: IMGP3341-e1328037659335.jpg]

Unsurprisingly it fits straight on. I didn't bother with the oil pickup etc as it's not staying on there long.

This is what we found out after a bit of mucking about (you might have to click to open it up big to see the highlighted bits):

[Image: IMGP3341-bolt-layout-e1328037507596.jpg]

Key:
GREEN: Reuse bolt from Soarer engine (M6x1, 20mm long, 10mm head)
PURPLE: Use either bolts from Soarer engine or VVTi engine, they are the same (4 M8x1.25, 80mm long, 12mm head and 2 M6x1, 20mm long, 10mm head)
BLACK: Hole in Soarer upper sump needs enlarging from 8mm to 10mm. New bolt required, M8x1.25, 20mm long
RED: No modifications required, just needs a new bolt, M8x1.25, 20mm long
YELLOW: Hole in Soarer upper sump needs enlarging from 8mm to 10mm. New bolt required, M8x1.25, 80mm long

So now I need to find somewhere who can enlarge these holes for me. I'm happy doing the ones in the thinner parts of the sump myself, but the 2 in yellow are through an 80mm thick bit of metal and there's a bit too much scope for veering off to one side. I don't have a pillar drill but I think there's one at work I might be able to grab the use of briefly. Once the sump modifications are done, I will need 8 new 20mm M8 bolts, and 2 new (likely) 100mm M8 bolts.

I'm not totally sure about the holes marked in yellow. On the Soarer these were long thin studs. I can't reuse the Soarer studs because they're too thin to fit the thread in the VVTi block. However the oil pan bolts directly on to them so if I replace them with a larger bolt that has to fit inside the lip of the oil pan, and the holes on the pan will need enlarging too. More thought required there.

toxo Hurricane popped over last Friday and we had a bit of a play around with the engine. The sump bolts up nicely to the block now the holes have been machined out which is great. I just had to order some bolts as per my diagram a few posts ago. Unfortunately after using the depth gauge bit of my new verniers I ordered 90mm bolts and they are about 2mm too long, so I should've gone with my original hunch!

Just to close this off... I eventually got some more 80mm bolts and they were perfect length. I've replaced all of these bolts with allen-key bolts as you can see here:

[Image: IMGP3398-e1331978508117.jpg]

The original bolts I ordered had 13mm heads (and to be honest you wouldn't be able to get much smaller than 12mm heads on M8 bolts anyway) and a 12/13mm socket doesn't fit inside that indent in the sump around the bolt, so you couldn't actually do them up tight! Same with the oil pan on the right, the socket doesn't fit inside the lip. Don't have that problem with allen key bolts! So that's sump conversion done, now it needs to come off and go on the spare block! The original bolts had washers, so I put some on these too as the heads are fairly thin.

I've been getting my bolts from this place: http://www.namrick.co.uk/ who don't make you order boxes of 100 at a time and have next day delivery! Also got the high-tensile bolts for the engine stand from them as M12x100 fine pitch bolts are a pain to find Smile

My Indecisive 4.0 V8 1UZ-FE Project - Fozzy - 04-02-2020

Good work matey. Almost time to start mocking up, get that gearbox ordered!

My Indecisive 4.0 V8 1UZ-FE Project - toxo - 04-02-2020

Who wants to see what the best part of £900 worth of Toyota spares looks like? :lol:

This is what you get when you order an Engine Gasket Set:
[Image: IMGP3399-e1332005522475.jpg]

There are 2 envelopes underneath all that lot with the head gaskets in. Doesn't look like much until you start investigating the little bag...
[Image: IMGP3400-e1332005545859.jpg]

Oil and water pumps:
[Image: IMGP3401-e1332005570139.jpg]

Belts, sparks, tensioners, idler pulleys, thermostat, etc:
[Image: IMGP3402-e1332005591941.jpg]

So once I'd sorted that lot out and cleared up the remains of the Soarer's engine, I took Pete's advice and made a 'template' engine for mocking up engine location.

Take now completely empty Soarer block, put Soarer sump back on it:
[Image: IMGP3408-e1332005729388.jpg]

Add oil pan and gearbox bellhousing and we get something useful:
[Image: IMGP3409-e1332005749153.jpg]

First problem... bonnet is in the way!
[Image: IMGP3410-e1332005425812.jpg]

Bonnet off (easy 1 man job on the rex as it's aluminium) and engine hanging around in the bay:
[Image: IMGP3411-e1332005448965.jpg]

I did this without fitting the subframe to check clearance to another few bits and bobs. Then I took the engine back out again as I had a sudden brainwave about engine mounts...

This is the subframe offered up to the VVTi engine:
[Image: IMGP3403-e1332005615253.jpg]

There are a number of problems.

Problem 1. The engine mounts don't line up. They are too far back and too far out:
[Image: IMGP3404-e1332005640701.jpg]

[Image: IMGP3405-e1332005661600.jpg]

Problem 2. The oil filter is going to get in the way:
[Image: IMGP3406-e1332005681875.jpg]

The gap between the silver bit and the black bit is where the steering rack sits.

[Image: IMGP3407-e1332005711470.jpg]

Problem 2 is easy fixed with a relocation + cooler kit (that way I can bin the stock oil cooler off as well which saves on coolant pipework). You can actually buy an off-the-shelf plate that completely removes that cast arm that the oil filter + cooler sit on, so you can run your send and return lines straight off the oil pump. Problem 1 not so much... but then as I said, I had a brainwave!

As you can see from the pics there wasn't a lot of the LS400's rubber engine mounts left. There are 2 mounts in the Tech2 kit which I bolted up on the LS400's brackets, and then swapped them around. Normally they are angled backwards, but the bolt pattern is the same on either side of the block, so with them swapped around they are angled forwards instead...

Here's the subframe offered up against the template engine, with the new engine mounts attached to it:
[Image: IMGP3412-e1332005470397.jpg]

You can see here they're still not quite right, but they're a lot closer.
[Image: IMGP3413-e1332005500835.jpg]

Obviously without a gearbox I can't tell if the engine positioning is correct. But comparing the Tech2 engine mounts and subframe with the engine etc I don't think it's too far out at this stage.