sunny416

I think ill do the manual swap for winter build. Then look at the supercharger route down the road. I only got the car in summer and its lowered on coils. i am thinking of widebody and a nice set of rims for next year. (maybe lxz )

CIGLexus

iTrader: (1)

Depends on what your goals are. I come from the JZ community, so certainly that is much EASIER. You can toss in a 1JZ/2JZ, 5 speed, single with injectors and put down 400 rwhp in a few hours. Everything bolts in for the most part. I have done it.

If you are looking for gobs of power and torque, while being unique, 1UZ. But it might take you a while to get there.

UpInTheLex

iTrader: (5)

haha... yeah 12 years later as an sc400 owner, and I've upgraded everything else but power/torque. It definitely takes a while to get there. I have a 2.3 whipple sitting on the shelf. Just need to get motivated.

NYKnick101

I really like the UZ V8 Motor. Makes the SC sound like a real (JAP) Muscle car. Plus the UZ+manual swap is a lot of fun minus the turbocharged headache from what I hear. if you have all the parts for a swap, then might as well do it

pogoism9

iTrader: (1)

Not to resurrect the thread, but the 95 SC has the 1st gen motor, the 95 LS got the gen 2, sc didn;t get it until 96.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

I have always heard it was 95 for all of them, people who break the belts on 95's report that they have ruined the top end indicating 2nd gen motor. are you sure about the 96 SC thing? if its true then 95 becomes a good year again for the sc400 but i am pretty skeptical on that.

pogoism9

iTrader: (1)

Here is the 96 SC400 new car feature paper for the 1UZ.

On top of that, I own a 95, its the old style motor

95 LS400 and 96 SC400 got the following:

Low drag pistons and rings
Slight bump in compression (.4)
Changed to sequential fuel injection
Changed over to OBDII
Spiffy new plastic engine cover

I'm not entirely sure why Toyota waited a year, especially when the 95 car was the refresh car. I will tell you this, god help you if you have to buy rings for a 95 LS or 96 SC, they are stupid expensive dealer only parts. Last time I priced them they were about $300 more expensive than a full set of 1st gen rings

UpInTheLex

iTrader: (5)

+1 agreed. I swapped a 1997 1uz engine into my 1995. The egr system, intake plenums, coolant crossovers, engine wiring harness... All that stuff had to be swapped over onto the 97 engine to retain the 1995 obd-1 ecu and chassis harness.

The maf sensor is different on 96+ cars. The knock sensor setup is too.

The lighter weight rods started in 96 on the sc400. They're not that weak and FI with proper tuning on stock injector power levels (ie 5psi) and you're fine. If you want more than that, you'lll probably want to build the bottom end anyway.

I've broken a timing belt on my 1995 engine and no bent valves. It's still non interference.

From what I remember, only vvti engines are interference...although some claim 96-97 engines are interference engines. I'm not sure whether or not that is true.

The 1997 engine is noticeably more responsive and more powerful than the 1995 engine was in my car.

pogoism9

iTrader: (1)

You think the rods got lighter, you should see the pistons. They don;t even look like they are from the same engine!

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

well that makes the 95 start to look better again. good to know.