cation

...here's the caveat(s):

-The mileage on the engine is unknown.
-The entire front of the engine is taken apart like work was stopped right in the middle of a timing belt/water pump job.
-Cam pulleys are aligned to the TDC timing marks, however the crank pulley is not, but the scrap yard owner indicated that he put the crank pulley bolt in to see if the bottom end still turned. He could not recall how much he rotated it.
-It's been sitting out in the rain with no hood over it for a few months.
-All parts necessary to put it back together are present.
-What appears to be the original timing belt is in the trunk of the car leading me to believe that the belt did not break. I could tell it wasn't a new belt because it was devoid of the appropriate timing marks that a new belt would have.
-The donor vehicle is completely intact leading me to believe that the timing belt job was most likely abandoned and the car junked because of it.


I'm looking to use this engine as a Toyota/Nissan hybrid swap into my 240sx.

The scrap yard owner is willing to sell me the complete engine with wire harness, ecu, radiator, and all ancillary parts for $200 cash.

To me it sounds like I can't go wrong because even if the motor is toast I still have all the parts for use on another junk yard motor...

What would CL do?

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

don't do it.

buy a 89-94 if you plan on using it for a swap BECAUSE 95+ 1uz out of the LS at least are all interference engines, and use different heads.

since you're putting it into a s-chassis car i'm assuming you want to supercharge/turbocharge it? if so then the 89-94 would be a better motor because supercharger manifolds are easier to come by, and more importantly it has much thicker rods which have been proven up to ~10-12psi whereas the later 95+ rods are much skinnier, ~6-8psi at most, with rod failure being documented at least once that i can remember.

cation

Crap, yeah I forgot about the rods being different.

I don't have any immediate plans to boost it, but it would be something I would want to do eventually... maybe.

My ultimate goal is not big power, but rather a well balanced street/road track machine. I'll be happy with the 220-230whp I'll get with just the swap... for at least a few weeks
I'm thinking 300whp peak which is doable with a mild Supercharger setup at 6-8psi.

It's going to be hard to say no at $200 though since the motor is sitting within 10min of me...

I don't know, I've got to mull this over some more. Thanks for your input though PD.

PS: What are you saying about S/C intake manifolds between 90-94 and 95+ being different? I thought that all 1UZ cylinder heads up until 98, when vvti was implemented, were the same... I'd be interested in more info in this dept. Thanks.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

95-97 have different heads and likely different intake manifolds since Lexus changed the head design in order to get some more hp out of the motor, that's why 95+ cars are interference, not just 98+.

you might wanna ask on lextreme to make sure you can/can't use an 89-94 supercharger manifold on a 95-97.

either way, if you buy the 96, while you have the motor out go ahead and throw some 89-94 1uz rods in it

cation

I've gotta do it I've decided.

For $200 even if the motor is junk and I scrap the project i could at least get my money back out of it by parting out the good parts.

No guts no glory right?

cation

Picking up the motor set tomorrow... let's hope it doesn't turn out to be a dud... I'll post compression test results as soon as I have them...

cation

Sooooo.... I wound up with 2 1UZs after setting out for 1.



And after 5 months my 240 has gone from this:







To this:





The "after" pictures I have kind of suck since I took them with a cell phone, but I'll be sure to take good ones once I tie up some of the loose ends with the car. Suffice it to say, the 1UZ really wakes up the 240 shell. It's an absolute blast to drive!

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

what did you do for the trans? quantum bits with a w58/r154?

cation

I'm using the stock Nissan trans which has plenty of capacity for this application. I fabricated an adapter plate from 3/8" steel to mate the engine and trans. The clutch assembly consists of an MR2 flywheel and pressure plate with a 300zx (Z32) clutch disk.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

wow hodgepodged much? lol
how much was the adapter plate to have made? or did you diy?

my biggest issue (not for the LS boys ) is the hydraulic clutch release setup that quantum uses. did you use it? or the normal nissan clutch fork and stuff since you're not using the auto bellhousing?

cation

Oh it's definitely a hodgepodge, but that's what makes it cool. Especially since the entire swap cost me less than $1800 and I have a spare 1UZ to play with.

To get back to your questions, I made the adapter plate, engine mounts and pilot bushing adapter myself. I'm using the stock clutch master cylinder, slave, fork, and TO bearing on the clutch. I did have to make a custom push rod for the slave cylinder in order for the clutch to fully disengage, but besides that everything is stock. One thing that I am going to do in the coming weeks is fabricate a TO bearing press fit bushing adapter to put the TO bearing closer to the pressure plate with the clutch engaged (pedal up). The MR2 pressure plate isn't as tall as the KA pressure plate and there is some slack there that I don't like. You can't feel it, but I know it's there and I know I can improve it so...

Thermactor

iTrader: (1)

Cool car man, great job!!! Timing a 1uz with an aftermarket belt sucks until you find out the nuances of it. Then it becomes cake.

cation

Thanks for the kind words Thermactor.
Yes, installing the timing belt on any car is a bit of a painstaking venture the first time doing it, but once you've done it once, it becomes easy.