Wednesday, May 30, 2018 - 02:02 am, by: Evan Young(Upgrade_complete)
Hello everyone.
A few years ago I imported an auto 1989 gz20 with 1g-gte.
About a year ago it started to smoke some out the exhaust. I ordered valve stem seals and swapped those out. Unfortunately that was not the issue. After putting it back together I still had smoke so investigated turbos. Found some excessive shaft play and evidence of oil bypass into both compressor and turbine side.
I found someone on eBay selling Chinese "CT12" turbo rebuild kits. After messaging them and confirming the kits were not for CT12 a/b I bought them, ripped the turbos out took apart the center section and found out many of the kits parts do not fit.
With all that I believe I have given up on the little 1g and am leaning towards putting in a 1jz vvti etcs.
The soarer is currently on 17x7desmond regamaster marquis promada and has a wood nardi wheel. I think that's all the modifications.
Friday, June 01, 2018 - 08:25 am, by: Scott Vim(1uz1jz)
Hey mate. I don't know how hard a swap is but I personally don't believe in it. Firstly the car won't be original and you don't see many of those z20 Soarers now. Also the headaches after it's done is just not worth it.
I would either just find a good used turbo or what I like to do is when something has to be replaced I go the slightly more expensive option to gain some performance. I would probably high flow the turbo. Boost it up a bit more and be done with it. I've done the engine swap and whatever you estimate the cost double it and double it again. I have blown up the w58 gearbox with too much power. The 7m-gte comes out with one and it has much less power then a 1jz. The good news is the R154 will work and it will fit the bad news is all these things start adding up and costing big.
Just wondering how does the little 1g go? I'm thinking about buying the Mrs an IS200 which has the 1g vvti in it.
Friday, June 01, 2018 - 11:23 am, by: Evan Young(Upgrade_complete)
Yeah, wiring for the 1jz seems pretty easy, getting it running anyway shouldn't be a problem. Getting it working with the cluster will take some doing especially speedo if I swap missions. I haven't done much research on vss options. Putting the engine in shouldn't be a problem. The older 1j combined with parts from a ja70 make it pretty simple to get even things like a/c functional. So going vvti with throttle cable should remain pretty straight forward.
As for the 1g. It is an ok little engine but is really lack luster. The CT12 turbos are mostly garbage. Spending money to improve them would cost much more than the 1j swap and there is no cheap off the shelf option to convert the little guy to single turbo with a common flange type.
Replacement turbos even from china are $150 a pop and those are rolling dice that they aren't CT12 a/b.
Swapping just seems like the best route.
I can take the 1g out and play with it as nothing is wrong with the engine itself, but I do not see a major advantage to spending all the cash to keep it in the car.
I will do a bit more research, but putting a $2000 1j in it with lower miles seems better then throwing money at the 1g hoping to improve from meh performance to just slightly better than meh performance
Keeping the 1g make some sense in other areas of the world but they were never sold State side so there are no parts and no support.
Oh and I would be keeping the vehicle auto but would like to use the newer a30
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