Thursday, August 30, 2007 - 11:15 pm, by: Terry Kilpatrick(Terry_kilpatrick)
well after buying my MZ21 soarer the engine has given me nothing but trouble. having the 7m-gte engine in it which had a slight heating problem and could not hold down a head gasket. i had already blown the turbo up and replaced it with a big one and the car was really starting to cost me some money and heartache. well the 7m is actually a legendary engine and capable of some calateral hourse power if wanted. but to get it fixed properly would have cost me almost as much as the total conversion e.g. needs water pump, head and block surfaced, knock sensors, radiator fan etc. so after replacing two head gaskets i decided to cut my loses and take the engine and transmission out and replace it with a 1jz-gte on an auto gearbox. i would have liked to convert the car to a 5-speed manual but that would have cost alot more and i am not really fussed as i just want a nice car not a racing machine.
I started taking the car apart on a weekend. this poses a great threat as you can be easily distracted by other events...
first i removed the bonnet and then drained the water from the radiator and then the oil. Then I just started removing things off the engine that might get in the way or hold it in the car. removed radiator and fan, all intake pipes up to the turbo and the exhaust from the turbo back. The more I pulled off the engine the better i felt about doing the conversion as problems where found such as alot of oil in the intake system and alot of corrosion around water pipe conections.
Wiring! in a few write ups i have read that it is a good idea to keep your old wiring uncut as they might need to be used later. there is a length of loom around the throttle body which i left weaved throu it and unpluged it. a very good idea when unplugging any wiring is to label both male and female connections with masking tape. because i have no idea what each plug does i labeled the ones i didnt know with a simple 1,2,3... and so on.
the engine mounts where then unbolted, all it needs now is the tail shaft disconected from the gear box as well as a few crossmembers and then the engine and gearbox can be lifted from the car in one piece.
this is as far as i have gotten so far. enjoy the pictures and i will post more as i go.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007 - 01:35 pm, by: Terry Kilpatrick(Terry_kilpatrick)
G'day! im not actualy sure what the front cut is but its a rear sump and has all the electronic digital speedo etc. Engine has been tested and is basicly brand new by what the certificate says but we will see tomorrow when it gets hear on the truck.
Ok so i got under it and removed the tail shaft and cross members and gear changer. i found out that you do not have to pull apart the console to get that off. also the throttle body hade to be removed to the wiring loom can come off it. i had originally hoped that i could just leave it on but never mind.
so with everything that i could see unbolted from the engine and gear box i made a strap out of seat belts to be able to hoist it out from the metal hooks at opposite corners of the head. Then hooked the chain connected to the block and tackle to start hoisting it up. this is actully quiet a balancing act to make the engine come out square. id recomend to start with the chain mostly towards the rear of the seat belt and move it when the engine frees itself from the frame.
hoist the engine out slowly and check very often for things still attached to it e.g. power steering hoses, earth leads and fuel lines. the engine will come out with patients but you will need someone to help you in pushing the car back and farwards when the engines at the correct height
so with the engine and gear box finaly out in one piece i reconnected its throttle body and any other parts that could go on it for safe keeping and then i pushed the car out of the shed and washed off its 20years of road grime out of the engine bay.
so after a fair bit of stuffing round with the transport company the front cut should definatly be hear tomorrow and i will have a keen crack at putting it in.
i am a little bit worried about the wiring so if anyone has any information they can email would be great. if i can get the car to start and run i might take it to an auto elec to do the rest and tidy it up. maybe.
Monday, September 17, 2007 - 09:44 pm, by: Terry Kilpatrick(Terry_kilpatrick)
It’s been a while since my last post but things are still moving along. I finally got the front cut and it’s a JZZ30 with a rear sump and looks in fairly good condition except that the front had been cut off it and significant damage had occurred to some of the wiring as so it had been taped up but still looks messy and discouraging. I got the front cut from Jap Auto Imports in Melbourne at a very reasonable price and I got to work on it as soon as I could. I had never seen a 1JZ engine before and to have a good look at it is really quiet inspiring by the way it is made and works. The turbo piping and set up is simply a work of art.
The engine was disconnected from the front cut along with the transmission much the same as the last engine come out. While getting the front cut out of the trailer I broke both the front engine mounts. Do not lift front cut by the engine hooks! Everything was labelled as it come out and the wiring was disconnected from the computer and is still intact with the engine to reduce work later.
A problem I am having is with the air conditioning. I had originally hoped to leave the old air conditioner compressor connected to the car and then connect it to the new engine so I wouldn’t have to replace the gas and mess around. However the widths of the pulleys are different and it would be a lot of work making the old compressor fit the new engine. The new compressor is going to be attached later with new hoses so it’s all sweet.
The only real modification I have done so far is the rear cross member that holds the gearbox in place. I measured up the old one and then tried to simply swap the bottom parts but that would have made the gear box sit too low. So a stainless plate was welded on top of it with holes drilled in the appropriate places and to the correct measurements of the old transmission. When measured up it was exactly the same position as the old one and the front engine mounts sit the same distance from the spline as the old one did. What was even better was that the front engine mounts where already the correct distance apart and the tail shaft fits its new transmission spline without having to change anything, this was something I dreaded would have to be done as they might have been different.
As you can see by the rubbish that has blown into the shed we have had some pretty dreadful weather which hasn’t aloud me as much time to work on it as I would have liked.
After checking some more compatible components of the car e.g. fuel lines and power steering the engine is ready to go in. I started to try to put the engine in by hoisting it up but it is really a two man job to get it to angle right and to roll the car into its right places. I put the engine safely back on its truck tyre engine stand to have another attempt when I have better day light and some help.
Hope to have more done soon and a few more posts hopefully not as much of a break this time.